A lynch mob broke into the jail where Cameron and his two friends were being held. According to Cameron's account, a lynch mob of 12,000–15,000 at the Grant County Courthouse Square took all three youths from the jail. The older two were killed first: Shipp was taken out and beaten, and hanged from the bars of his jail window; Smith was dead from beating before the mob hanged both the boys from a tree in the square. Cameron was beaten and a noose was put around his neck; before he was hanged, the voice of an unidentified woman intervened, saying that he was not guilty. Frank Faunce, a local sports hero and football All-American from Indiana University, intervened and removed the noose from Cameron's neck, saying he deserved a fair trial. Faunce escorted the young man to a return to the jail. Cameron's neck was long scarred from the rope.