Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

His face and body were burned with a blowtorch so that his eyes popped out of his head. He was beaten with a wide, flat object, like a belt or a wide plank. His wrists were hacked with a cleaver and he was partially castrated.

He was John C. Jones, a black, 28-year-old World War II veteran of Minden, La., who was the state’s last lynching victim. His widow, Carrie Lee Jones, of Los Angeles, sued Sheriff Oscar H. Haynes for $50,000 ($473209.30 USD 2005) for failing to protect her husband from a mob Aug. 8, 1946.

The sheriff said Jones and a companion were arrested after being identified by a woman as two men who tried to get into her house through a window.

Haynes said the men were released after they denied the charges. Jones’ body was found the next day.

The Times never reported the outcome of the suit. According to Internet sources, Louisiana attorney A.P. Tureaud led a team investigating the lynching and gave the names of three killers to the U.S. Department of Justice, but no action was taken. Minden, La.’s website makes no mention of the killing.