A mob numbering hundreds of people sprang him from the jail, dragged him through the city behind a car, and then hanged him from the courthouse.
[1] The sheriff's wife, Mrs. Wiley, alerted the "Negro cook of the jail", Ella Gant, that a group of men were going to come and kill Choate.
[5] During the lynching, Sarah Harlan's mother begged the mob to let Choate live and instead let the case go to trial.
While acknowledging that the lynching was a criminal offense, the grand jury stated in their ruling that witnesses were unable to positively identify any perpetrators.
[1] In 2023, Choate’s lynching became the subject of renewed media coverage due to the use of the Maury County Courthouse as the main filming site for Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town” music video.