Investigation of the Lynching and Rioting on Tuesday night, June 15, 1920, at Duluth, Minnesota. Conducted by Adjutant General W. F. Rhinow.
Type of event: Lynchings
Location: Minnesota; United States
Document date:
Document type: Report(s)
Citation:
Minnesota. Governor (1915-1921: Burnquist).
Records.
Subject Files (File 648c): Duluth Lynchings, 1920
Investigation of the Lynching and Rioting on Tuesday night, June 15, 1920, at Duluth, Minnesota. Conducted by Adjutant General W. F. Rhinow.
Image text
Investigation of the Lynching and Rioting
On Tuesday night, dune 15, 1920,
At Duluth,
Minnesota.
Investigation Conducted by Adjt.-Gen. W. F.
Rhinow.
J.J. Cameron,
Reporter,
Duluth, Minn.
INDEX.
______________
Beecher, Maj. Fred W., 37
Magie, Frank L., Sheriff, 44
McKenna., W.
E., 13
Moerke, Capt. L. J., 52
Nystrom, Jacob
N., 20
Schulte, Frank A., 30
Stevens, Wm. Edw., 1
Streeter, Leo E., 27
Toewe H. W., 4
Tracy,
Albert W., 49
Investigation of the Lynching and Rioting
On Tuesday night,
June 15, 1920,
At Duluth, Minnesota.
_____
The above entitled matter came on to be heard at the City Hall, in
Duluth, Minnesota, on the, evening of June 23, 1930, before Adjt.-Gen. W. F.
Rhinow,
WHEREUPON THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS WERE HAD, to-wit:
____________________
EDWARD WILLIAM STEVENS, called.
Examination by Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow:
Q. You are a detective, are you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. For the City of Duluth? A. Yes, sir.
Q. On the
Duluth police force? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where were you the night of the
riot here, the night of the lynching-affair? A. Until about 11:45, I was out to
the West End, visiting some people.
Q. You were off duty? A. Yes,
sir.
Q. And you were called on duty? A. Well, I imagine I was; someone
called up the house for me, and I wasn't at home, and a gentleman that was out
there was coming down town. so I rode up with him and got off at the
station.
Q. To whom did you report when you arrived here at the station?
2
A. If I remember correctly, when I got up in front there was orders given---I
couldn't say who gave the orders---for every body to come into the City
Hall.
Q. You didn't report to Sergeant Olson, then, did you?
A. No.,
sir, not to my knowledge.
Q. Did you see Sergeant Olson in the police
station at that time, if you remember?
A. I don’t remember of seeing
Sergeant Olson at that time.
Q. Had the lynching taken place before or after
you came?
A. Before.
Q. Did anybody give you any instructions as to what
to do?
A. We were instructed, while we were all in there, to go out and watch
the front of the building, line up and take care that no one came in the
building.
Q. You were in, civilian clothes, I suppose?
A. Yes, sir.
Q.
You don't know who gave you those orders?
A. Well, now, I don’t know
whether it was the chief or the captain; both of them were there at the
time.
Q, What time was that?
A. I imagine that would be a little bit
before twelve; around 12 o'clock.
Q. Was that before or after the first negro
was hanged?
A. Well, now, I wouldn't say, to my own knowledge. From what I
heard, it was after the Negroes had been hung.
Q. During the day at any time,
or rather, right after the Negroes were arrested, did you
get any
instructions from the chief
3
or the captain to make investigations around the city anywhere, to find out
what the opinions of the citizens were pertaining to the Negroes in jail and to
find out whether any action was being taken by the citizens to form a mob to
lynch these fellows?
A. None whatever.
Q. You didn't receive any
orders?
A. No, sir, because at the time I left the station was at 6 o'clock
and I had been told that the chief and the captain and the chief of detectives
had gone to Virginia, Minnesota.
Q. Well, at 6 o'clock you say you reported
to the station here?
A. Yes, sir, reported off at 6 o'clock.
Q. There
was no indication of anything going on that would show that there was going to
be a riot or lynching-party, or anything like that, to your knowledge? A. None
whatever, sir.
Adjt. -Gen. Rhinow: That is all.
_____________________
4
H.W. Toewe, called.
Examination by Adjt. -Gen. Rhinow:
Q. You are one of the city detectives?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Mr. Toewe, where were you on the night of the riot and
the lynching-party here?
A. I was right here in the station,
Q. You were
in the station here?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What time did you report to the
station?
A. I reported back to the station about 7:30.
Q. Was that your
night on?
A. No I am working days altogether; that was extra time that I was
putting in.
Q. You were called in for extra duty that night?
A. Yes,
sir.
Q. In the anticipation of trouble, was it?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who
ordered you in?
A. The sergeant in charge called me down; he said I had
batter some down.
Q. Sergeant Olson?
A. I guess that is who it was; he
was in charge that night.
Q. It was Sergeant Olson?
A. It was, yes---I am
not positive; it may have been the operator that told me to come right down. I
think now, when I come to remember, I think it was the operator that told me
that I had better come down.
Q. To whom did you report when you, came down?
A. I ,just walked right into the station and stayed there.
Q. Isn't
it customary, when you are called on extra duty, to report to a certain
man? A. No. I come in the station,
and they see I was theme, and that is all there is to it.
Q. You are not
accustomed to report?
A. No, not when you are doing extra duty.
Q. You
knew Sergeant Olson was in charge?
A. Yes, I saw him there; I knew he was in
charge.
Q. Did you take any active part in trying to keep the crowd, the
rioters, out of the jail?
A. Yes.
Q. In any way, shape or manner?
A.
Yes, I did.
Q. Under whose instructions was that done?
A. Well, I don't
know that anybody was giving instructions; everybody was doing the best they
could, as far as I could see.
Q. During the day at any time did you know
that there was any anticipation of a riot or a lynching-party being formed in
any part of the city?
A. No, sir.
Q. You were not informed by the chief,
or anybody in authority, to make investigations throughout the city?
A. No,
sir.
Q. To make observations as to whether any crowds were congregating?
A. I was not, personally, no, sir.
Q. You did not personally know there
were any crowds congregating anywhere? A. No, sir, I didn't.
Q. Which part of
the building did you protect, or attempt to protect?
A. Well, when they were
trying to enter the basement which leads into the garage, I was down-there with
probably six or seven men, and they were trying to break in the doors. I had,
braces against one door and my foot up against it, and there were four or five
men at the other door, which they were actual-
6
ly at. I told the boys there to use their clubs and which they did, and when
the boys started to use their clubs, why, the bricks began to fly, or whatever
they used to force in the door on the men, I don't know, but they got it in, and
the bricks was flying so fast the boys couldn't stand it; there were four or
five of them hurt by the bricks.
Q. Well, isn't is the custom, or rather, the
regulation of the police department here that all officers, while in uniform,
carry clubs and revolvers, and that the detectives just simply carry revolvers?
A. They all carry revolvers and clubs. I don't carry a club myself. I think
sometimes my fist is better than a club; that is what I always found it was the
best, and have always used it when it was necessary. I never hit a man with a
club in my life, but I have hit them with my fist.
Q. While bricks, stones
and other missles were being thrown was any attempt made by any of the police
officers to draw their revolvers and shoot, in any way shape or manner?
A.
Not that I see.
Q. Why not?
A. I wouldn't do it myself.
Q. You would
not?
A. No; unless somebody else fired a shot.
Q. In other words, if a
man threw a rock at you and hit you and knocked you semi-unconscious and you
came to again and he was going to throw a second rock, you would let him throw
the second rock?
A. If he went to throw the second one at me, he wouldn't
throw it, no.
7
Q. You would probably pull your gun, then, wouldn't you?
A. Well, Probably
I would and probably I wouldn't. I have gotten more murderers in this town than
any man on the police force and I never fired a shot; and I have faced guns. I
don’t want to say that I am any braver than anybody else, but I will stand
my ground, I don't like anybody to say that I am a coward, because I never was a
coward.
Q. Nobody is intimating that.
A. There was a remark made at the
station that night that the police were yellow. I will tell you that same man
wont say it to my face alone; I will say that much.
Q. I don't know a thing
about that.
A. I don't care who he is or what he is.
Q. Did you receive
any orders whatsoever, from anybody in authority of the police department, not
to shoot?
A. No, sir, I did not, for I haven't heard such orders
given.
Q. Do you think the line of defense that was used there that night in
defending the station was just right? A. Well, I think it was put up pretty
well, yes, that the boys did all they possibly could
Q. If you had to do it
over again, knowing the same situation was coming up, would you meet it in the
same way?
A. I couldn't say, because I wasn't in charge.
Q. In your own
personal opinion---?
A. The thing is over, and I am not going to give you my
opinion of what I am going to
8
do or what I would do.
Q. You were saying, that you had never used a
gun?
A. No. I haven't; I never f fired a shot at anybody---
Q. Now, wait a
minute: You make your statement that you have
never used a gun. Now, having
it to do over again, you personally knowing the situation as a whole, would you
have pulled a gun?
A. If I saw fit, yes.
Q. Under the same
circumstances., would you use a gun?
A. If I saw fit to use a gun, I would.
Q. Isn't throwing of bricks a sufficient provocation to cause you to defend
yourself?
A. I wasn't struck by a brick.
Q. Even if he struck you with
it?
A. I probably would, yes.
Q. Even if the fellow standing next to you
was hit and dropped, and was out, unconscious, you wouldn't shoot because you
were not hit, is that it?
A. That is a different thing. There wasn't anybody
unconscious. You are just surmising. I ain’t under oath; I don't have to
answer your questions, if I don’t want to, Mr. Man.
Q. All right. All
you have to do is to say you don't want to, then?
A. Well, I am giving you
just the truth, but I ain't going to surmise nothing.
Q. I am just getting
your opinion is all.
A. Well that is all right. I will protect the station,
or anything else, as long as I am on this job. I have been on this job eighteen
years. I have seen a little bit of service, and I have always
9
gotten credit for my work, too, from anybody that is over me since I haft
been on it.
Q. Don’t you think the trouble is, Mr. Toewe, you have got
the wrong idea about this?
A. No, I don't think so.
Q. This investigation
is not to make anybody out a coward, or anything of the kind?
A. That remark
was made over at the police station that night by one of your men.
Q. Not by
one of my men.
A. It was one of the men out of the service.
Q. That in
his affair, not mine?
A. But he wouldn't say it to me, to my face, that I
was yellow, because it would be him and me for it, if he did.
Q. Well, that
is all right.
A. The way them men worked over there I don't believe they
were entitled to be called such a name as being yellow, because they done all
they could in their power, every one of them.
Q. You didn't hear anybody say
anything about not using a gun?
A. No, I didn't.
Q. You heard that remark?
A. Yes, I heard that remark, and I was in this station from 7:30 on. I got
home at 2:30 in the morning. I took the last three niggers that was in there; I
took them out with the machine at 12 o'clock, when they had the other three up
there, for fear they would comeback and get the other three.
Q. Isn't it an
officer's sworn duty that he is to protect
10
life and property if he once becomes an officer and takes his oath?
A.
Why, most undoubtedly.
Q. In your opinion, then, the entire police force
protected life and property to the best of their ability?
A. That is what I
figured they did, because when the men were all overpowered, why, of course, it
was too late; of course, the thing was over.
Q. You were in the front end of
the building?
A. I was at both front and rear, and upstairs.
Q. Then you
reported, you were in the front part of the building, sitting there?
A. Yes,
sir--I wasn't sitting. I may have been sitting there a little while, but I was
back and forth, in the front and rear, and I was upstairs; that is about when
they wanted to break into the detectives' office, the Bertillon room. I said,
"There is nobody in here; if you will detail one man, I will take him in and
turn on all the lights and leave him look around and satisfy you there are no
niggers up there," and he says, "All right," and I opened the door and turned
all the lights on and let this man look around. I don't know who he was; he was
a stranger to me; and he come back and told the rest there was nobody in there;
that is how we saved the upstairs.
Q. Was there a crowd gathering at 7:30,
when you reported?
A. No. I wouldn't say that there were; I wouldn't say.
They didn't start to gathering until probably after eight.
11
Q. Was there any attempt made to disperse the crowd?
A. Yes, there
was.
Q. Who ordered the crowd to disperse?
A. I wouldn't t say whether it
was sergeant Olson, or who it wag, but I know they were told to disperse, but
they would move a couple of feet and move back again, and there you were. We
finally ordered the fire department down, with their hose, and they cut the
hose, and afterwards they brought two loads of hose down here, and there would
be probably a hundred of them fellows grab hold of the hose and run away with
it.. We fought for the hose, back and forth, in the middle of the street, and
three of them took hold of that and poured right into their faces, grabbed hold
of the hose the firemen had and turned it right onto them. Not only that, but
throwing bricks into them at that time.
Q. Do you know the names of the
officers who were down in the basement who got struck with the bricks?
A.
Mr. Stewart was one; he was hit on the shoulder, I think. Oh, there was four or
five of them. Now, I don't just remember which ones of them they were. Mr.
Stewart was one who was struck with a brick, up in here, (indicating)
somewhere.
Q. And there was really nobody in charge that night?
A. In
charge?
Q. Yes.
A. Well, the only one that---I didn't hear anybody being
put in charge, but I figured that Sergeant Olson was in charge of the office;
there is always one man in charge.
12
Q. You didn't get any orders from him, did you?
A. Why, no, he didn't
give me any orders. I know that he was doing the ordering. He called up the fire
department, to come down.
Q. Don't you have a custom here of seniority on the
police forcer that when a number of officers come together that the senior one
is in charge?
A. No, I haven't seen it that way here.
Q. There ways
nobody in charge of the basement, then, when they broke into the garage?
A.
Everybody was down there.
Q. Everybody worked for themselves?
A.
Everybody worked for themselves, and I want to say, they stuck by one another,
too.
Q. I just want an answer to the one question. If I want any more
information, I will ask you for it. If you don't want to give it, all right.
A. No use getting huffy about it. I don't know who you are.
Q. I am
representing the Governor.
A. That is all right. If I want to explain all of
that, I should have the privilege of explaining.
Q. I will ask you for an
explanation, if I want it.
A. If you want to put me under oath, all well and
good. You put me under oath, and then I will answer questions.
Q. Then you
are of the opinion that in a case of that kind it is not necessary to draw your
gun and protect yourself with your gun, even if the crowd does overpower you?
A. I ain’t giving any opinion at all of what may happen again.
12 [sic]
Q. Well, the crowd overpowered you, and you didn't t pull pour gun, did you?
A. Well, I wasn't the only one that was overpowered.
Q. I am asking you
that one question. The crowd overpowered you, and you didn't pull your gun, did
you? A. why, no, we didn't pull our gun.
Q. I am saying "you,” I am not saying "we"?
A. I, or nobody else did.
Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow: Well, that is the answer I
want. That will be all.
___________________
13
W. E. McKENNA, patrolman, called.
Examination by Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow:
Q. Where were you on the night of
the riot and lynching, Mr. McKenna?
A. At headquarters.
Q. Were you on
duty there?
A. Yes, sir,
Q. What time did you go on duty?
A. At 4
o'clock in the afternoon.
Q. How long a shift did you have?
A. Eight
hours.
Q. Go off at twelve?
A. Yes, sir, 12 at night.
Q. Where is your
post or your beat, in the police station?
A. No, sir, I am acting as plain
clothes man.
Q. Were you at the station all that time, from 8 to 12 o'clock
or did you go in and out?
A. I was in and out of the station, yes, sir,
from 8 at night till 12.
Q. Where were you from 4 to 8 o'clock?
A. From 4 to 8? I was in the station from 4 till 5, then I was detailed on a case from 5 till pretty close to 8 o'clock, when I come into the station to report.
Q. Who was in charge of the station when you were there?
A. Sergeant Olson.
Q. You take your orders from Sergeant Olson, do
you?
A. On that shift; I do, yes, sir, if the chief of detectives is not
there.
Q. Who was in charge of the station that night?
A. Sergeant
Olson.
Q. You say you are a plain clothes man? A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long have you been a plain clothes man?
A. I have been acting in that capacity since the 13th day of
February,
1920.
Q. Before you went on duty at 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
where were you before that time--home?
A. At 4 o'clock in the
afternoon?
Q. Yes. A. I was home until about ten minutes after
three.
Q. Did you hear any rumors before you rent on duty, or after you went
on duty, from 4 to 8, that there was going to be a riot and lynching-party of
any kind?
A. I heard that a little after 5 o'clock, that there was liable to
be some trouble.
Q. What kind of trouble? A. Well, that there was--some of
the bunch were talking about getting a colored man.
Q. From whom did you hear that?
A. From a couple of taxicab men, down on the street,
on the Lyceum Taxicab Stand.
Q. Did you report that to Sergeant Olson?
A. I told Sergeant Olson what
I heard when I come into the station.
Q. At what time was it that you told
him that?
A. I think it was about--it was between 7 and 8 o'clock.
Q. By
that time the crowd had congregated out in front of the police station?
A.
No, they hadn't got right there when I got in.
Q. They hadn't congregated
yet? A. No, sir.
Q. But there was a larger crowd going on either side of
the
15
street than there usually was at that time, wasn't there?
A. Well, I am
not absolutely sure of that.
Q. After the crowd started to work into the
police station and to throw bricks or whatever missiles they could get hold of,
where were you, in the front of the building., the rear of the building, or
where?
A. When the crowd first started to congregate around the front, why,
I went down the back end, into the entrance, into the garage, with Patrolman
Webster, and him and I closed the big doors in the garage.
Q. Who else was
down there with you?
A. That is the only party that I can remember that went
down with me, that I see down there at that time, when we went down to close the
garage door.
Q. Did you stay down there the rest of the time?
A. No, sir.
Q. Where did you go from there?
A. I came back upstairs.
Q. Then what did you do?
A.
I was in the chief's office for a while, answering the telephone; there was
calls coming in.
Q. Where were you when they finally broke into the jail and the police
station? A. Into the front end?
Q. Yes.
A. I was on a hose line in the
front door.
Q. You were on that hose line at the front door?
A. Yes,
sir.
Q. You had your civilian clothes on?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You didn't t
have any uniform on?
A. No, sir.
16
Q. Did you have your revolver with you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you have a
club with you?
A. No, sir, I never carry one.
Q. When they came in
pretty thick there and started banging around from place to place, why
didn’t you pull your gun and use it?
A. I couldn't tell you that. I
don't know why I didn't.
Q. Did you receive any orders not to shoot under any
circumstances, from anybody?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you hear a rumor around, at any time from the time you went on duty
until la o'clock that night, that under no circumstances were any guns to be
pulled?
A. There was a rumor around the station, yes, sir.
Q. Or any
shots to be fired?
A. After that, yes, sir.
Q. How did you get that
rumor?
A. Why, it was amongst the men.
Q. You don't know where it
originated from at all, then?
A. No, sir.
Q. After the crowd had gotten
beyond control of the few men who were in front there, what did you do then?
A. I stuck out there until they cut our water-line on us and the bricks got
so blame thick couldn't stand them, and had to move.
Q. Where did you
go--to the rear end of the building then?
A. No. I moved inside the
hall.
Q. And crowd came in so fast you couldn't hold them?
17
A. Sergeant Olson stuck at the door with the empty hose until they come
through the line and the door busted in, and then we backed up.
Q. You knew
they were trying to get those Negroes, didn't you?
A. I had a faint idea,
they were, yes, sir.
Q. I presume you also know that it is a custom here in
the City of Duluth, the same as it is any other place, that an officer must take
an oath to protect the life and property at all costs?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. I
was informed that there were about six or seven men trying to protect the front
of the building and also protecting that hose line that ran from the corner to
the station, which, I will say, is about 75 or 100 feet. Was that all the men
that
were there, to your knowledge?
A. Well, I doubt if there was that
many at the time I was there.
Q. The rest of them were probably around the
building somewhere, so far as you know, trying to protect all sides of the
building?
A. I presume they was.
Q. Did you stay in the hallway any at
all during this time?
A. What time do you mean?
Q. During the time that
the crowd was going on through and getting the Negroes out?
A. No,
sir.
Q. Where did you go?
A. I was out--after I lost my foothold there at
the front door I moved out into the crowd and tried to size up some of the
bunch.
18
Q. Did you find that you knew anybody there?
A. Why, I knew quite a few
of them there; they was standing around.
Q. You didn't know any of the gang
that got in, though, and burst through?
A. Not positively, no, sir.
Q.
How many rounds of ammunition do you carry?
A. Six.
Q. No extras?
A.
Very seldom.
Q. Was there any extra ammunition issued that night, prior to
this affair?
A. If there was., I don't know nothing about it.
Q. You
didn't get it?
A. No, sir.
Q. Was there anything said about using those
rifles that were in the building there, prior to the riot?
A. Not that I
know of.
Q. Did you know those rifles were there?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did
you make any suggestion yourself as to their use?
A. I made a suggestion
there once, but it wasn't taken up at all.
Q. Do you ,know to whom you made
it?
A. I just can't recall who I made it to.
Q. Now, Mr. McKenna, don't
you think that, on account of a little fracas that happened sometime ago, when a
man was shot, that the boys around the police station were a little reluctant
about using a gun?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. That had quite a bit to do with it?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. They didn't want to go to shoot anybody unless they knew
they had to do it, is that it?
A. Yes, sir.
19
Q. That was sort of sent out to the boys in the station, wasn't it?
A. We
all had that feeling. I had quite a case myself here six mouths ago, the same
kind of a deal.
Q. How long have you been on the force, Mr. McKenna?
A. I
went on the first day of September, 1914.
Q. Well, now, your opinion is of
considerable value. Would you think, if you had six men at the front door and
four at the back, and they used their guns, what is your opinion--do you think
they could end it?
A. No, sir.
Q. Nobody could have ended it?
A. No,
sir, not with that crowd.
Q. On the other hand, Mr. McKenna, in the
excitement there was a lack of co-operation among the boys, isn't that
true?
A. I could not truthfully say that, no, sir.
Q. Don't you think
there was a little lack of system?
A. I couldn't say that.
Q. Well, now,
that would be lack of system if they had only a few men at the front door and at
the back door, wasn't it?
A. I believe there was a few at the front and a few
at the back, wasn't there?
Q. Yes, there were for awhile, but they didn't use
their guns, did they?
A. No, sir.
Q. That is why the crowd got in, wasn't
it?
A. No. doubt of it.
Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow: I guess that is all.
________________________
20
JACOB N. NYSTROM, Patrolman, called.
Examination by Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow:
Q. Mr. Nystrom, where were you on
the night of the riot and the lynching?
A. I was right in the station and
outside the biggest part of the time.
Q. What time did you go on duty that
night?
A. Why, I am on days this month. We got through at 4 o'clock, and I
had already gone home, and was notified to come back and report for duty right
away, and I think I received that telephone call about 7:30 or 7 o'clock.
Q.
What time did you report for duty?
A. About 7:30.
Q. About 7:30?
A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Are you a plain clothes man?
A. No, sir, uniform man.
Q.
When you got to the station, to whom did you report?
A. To Sergeant
Olson.
Q. What duties did Sergeant Olson put you on after you reported?
A. He put me and five more in front of the station, and not let anybody come
into the station.
Q. There were seven, all-told, including Sergeant Olson, at
the front of the station?
A. The Sergeant was in front of the station,
inside, but we were placed outside.
Q. When the rioters started to mob the
police station and the jail what did the sic men do. there? Did the try in any
way, shape or manner to keep the crowd out?
A. We done everything we
possibly could to prevent the crowd from getting into the
21
station, without shooting.
Q. Without shooting?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did
you have orders not to shoot under any circumstances'?
A. Yes, sir.
Q.
Who gave you those orders?
A. Sergeant Olson.
Q. Did Sergeant Olson, when
he gave those instructions, tell you why you were not to shoot?
A. No,
sir.
Q. He didn't give any explanation at all?
A. Not that I can think of or remember.
Q. How long have you been on the
force?
A. I have been on the past five years.
Q. Don't you think, with
the experience you have had--your experience is quite valuable--but having been
on that length of time if you had pulled your guns, don't you think you could
have held the crowd back?
A. It was impossible.
Q. You think they would
have come, right in the face of guns?
A. Yes, sir. I heard them make several
remarks in the crowd they were going to break into that hardware store right
across from there and get all the shotguns and rifles and ammunition.
Q. You
heard them say that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know the fellows who made
that remark?
A. No, I don't; there was so many around there; it was hard
telling who was talking.
Q. Did you recognize any of them who were in the
crowd there?
A. Yes, sir.
22
Q. Did you report their names to the chief of police?
A. Why, I went up to
the county jail twice, and I identified two different parties up there; and I
also testified to that in front of the grand jury.
Q. Oh, you were before the
grand jury?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where did you go after the crowd got in and
burst the door open?
A. I was struck by a rock--or, I mean, a brick; and
after they succeeded in getting in I tried to get in myself, to the main jail,
where I saw them working on, but the crowd was so thick there was no possible
chance to get that far, and I had only one arm after that. The brick struck me
right on the elbow and after that I couldn't lift that arm at all, I couldn't
use it whatever, and I didn't succeed in getting as far as the jail.
Q. What
did you do after that?
A. Why, I couldn't do very much after that.
Q.
You went outside then, eh?
A. Why, I just were in I amongst the crowd there,
to try to stop the leaders there.
Q. And you stayed right in the hallway
there?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you see them when they brought the Negroes
out?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you know about those rifles being downstairs in the police station?
A. No, sir.
Q. You didn't know about that?
A. No, sir.
Q. It those
six men had had rifles, with bayonets on them, do you suppose they could have
kept the crowd back?
23
A. No, sir, it was impossible.
Q. It could not have been done there?
A. No, sir.
Q. If you had shot low with your revolvers, not trying to
kill anybody, but low, don't you suppose the crowd would have stayed back?
A. Why, that would have started the trouble right there.
Q. How do you mean?
A. I am pretty sure that the biggest part of us police officers would be shot
and killed.
Q. That is the reason you didn't pull your guns; is that the
idea?
A. Well, that was our orders.
Q. If you hadn't had those orders,
Mr. Nystrom, do you think you would have used your guns?
A. No, sir, I
don’t think so.
Q. For fear of being shot?
A. No, sir, not that,
but it would not have been a good policy.
Q. Didn't you subscribe to an oath
that you will protect life and property and use every effort to do so?
A.
Why, yes, but by doing that I would not have protected any life; it
would
have been a lot of life lost, without question.
Q. Those Negroes
were in jail there, under the protection of the police department of this city,
and they were taken out of there and hanged?
A. Yes sir.
Q. Without, you
might say, any resistance--with a small resistance?
A. Well, we done
everything we possibly could, without shooting. If we had done any shooting, we
would have had to shot right into a crowd of women and children.
24
Q. You mean to tell me there was a crowd of women and children in front
there?
A. Why, I saw several children around there.
Q. How far back?
A. Why, I should judge about fifteen or twenty feet, perhaps twenty-five; a
lot of women around there.
Q. But within that distance---there were no women
within twenty-five feet?
A. Why, Officer Olson, and a few more, held the
crowd back with the water-hose, then there was hardly anybody within that
distance.
Q. Right in the front line of those rioters were women?
A. I
saw one or two right in the front line, and I also heard them holler, and that
sounded like they were in sympathy with these men, And I know that right on that
picture there, that was taken after the niggers were hung, there is a woman
right by the pole, within a few feet of it.
Q. Do you gentlemen of the
police department have pistol practice?
A. Yes, sir, but not lately.
Q.
But you have had considerable, haven't you, since you have I been on the force?
A. I have had some, yes, sir.
Q. In other words, if you had drawn your
gun and aimed at a man, you think probably you would have hit a woman; is that
the idea?
A. Why—
Q. In other words, you are a poor shot?
A.
Well, people were running back and forth; they were not standing still, and it
was a very hard thing to aim in particular; they were running
25
back and forth there as fast as they could in one mass, the whole
works.
Q. How many rounds of ammunition did you have with you that night?
A. Why, I had about---Oh, about four or five rounds, I should judge.
Q.
Did you have your gun full?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Six in your gun?
A. Yes,
sir.
Q. And you had about four more complete, full loads?
A. Just
about.
Q. About twenty-four shells?
A. Just about.
Q. Were any of them
issued to you prior to the riot, or was that amount some you had had?
A.
That was the first thing I done, when I got into the station, I went to get some
ammunition.
Q. So that your first intention was to protect the building, by
firing, if necessary, wasn't it?
A. Well: I didn't know what would arise.
For that reason, I didn't feel that one round would be enough; for that reason I
got some more.
Q. But you thought you--Did you think you would have to use
your gun when you first started out?
A. Why, I didn't know for sure; for
that reason, I got some more. I didn't know whether or it would be necessary, or
not, but I played safe; I thought I would get some more.
Q. To play safe, you
got the extra ammunition?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you receive orders not to
shoot?
A. Yes, sir, I
26
did; that was afterwards.
Q. After you got the ammunition, you received
orders not to shoot?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Under any circumstances?
A. Yes,
sir.
Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow: That will be all. I thank you.
_________________________
27
LEO E. STREETER, called.
Examination by Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow:
Q. What is your business Mr.
Streeter?
A. I am City Editor and Night Editor of the "News Tribune."
Q.
Mr. Streeter, did you see any of this excitement around here the night of the
riot and the lynching-party?
A. Yes, sir, I was here, except at intervals,
from 8 o'clock until after the first lynching took place.
Q. You were a
newspaper reporter prior to becoming Night Editor, were you not?
A. Yes,
sir, I had served about seven or eight years.
Q. In the newspaper game?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Have you ever been through any other riot in any other
part of the country, Mr. Streeter?
A. No. not a riot of this size, or
nothing of that sort. I have been through police troubles.
Q. You have been a police reporter?
A. I have been a police reporter for about two and a half years, I think it
was.
Q. On what paper?
A. On the "Minneapolis News.”
Q. Did you
interrogate the chief of police, or any other police officers here, that night
or early the next day?
A. I questioned Lieutenant Barber that night, and Mr.
Murnian the next afternoon.
Q. Just what was that conversation with
Lieutenant Barber?
A. I asked Barber what he was going to do. He says, "I
don't
28
think there is a hell of a lot we can do . They were--at that time there were
two men in the street with a hose that failed to work, they couldn't get the
water and they got a nozzle, they stole a nozzle off the wagon, and then they
came towards the police station with this hose. I asked Barber why they didn't
pinch these two men. He says, "I'm afraid if we do, we'll start a riot;”
and I asked him if they were going to
use guns. He said, "No." And I didn't
ask him at that time by whose orders. I asked him if they were not going to use
guns, and he said he was afraid that they would start real trouble if they
did.
Q. Lieutenant Barber told you that?
A. Yes, Barber.
Q. You
had an article in the "News Tribune." I believe it was, Mr. Streeter, that
Public Safety Commissioner Murnian had made a statement that he had issued
orders that under no circumstances were any of the police officers to use their
revolvers. Did he make that statement to you sir?
A. He did in this way: The
"Herald" carried the story--this was the following afternoon. I came in, and at
the same time he had just gotten the paper and was reading the story, and after
he read it through, I asked him if it was correct. I was reading it thru at the
same time, with a paper of my own. He says, "Yes, it is, as far as a newspaper
man ever gets a story right." He says, "If we hadn't stopped the use of guns, I
am afraid there would have been a lot of people killed; there would have
been
more than just the three niggers." He questioned me then as to why we gave
Barber credit for handling the crowd that night, and he said that Barber didn't
take charge, that he personally had handled the men during their work, that is,
during the riot.
Q. And he told you directly that he issued the orders that
under no circumstances were any shots to be fired?
A. He didn't put it in as
many words. He said it that way.
Q. It is customary, is it not, Mr. Streeter,
in newspaper work of that sort, where the paper carries a statement, to ask the
man who had made the statement to repeat it, or to confirm or deny the
same--isn't that the custom in your work?
A. It is the custom. I asked him if
he had any corrections or changes to make in the statement, and he said he had
none.
Q. So far as you were concerned, you would print that as his statement?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Coming from him direct?
A. Yes, sir.
Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow: That is all. I thank you.
________________________
30
FRANK A. SCHULTE, called.
Examination by Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow:
Q. Mr. Schulte , where were you
the evening of the riot and the lynching-party here?
A. At Virginia,
Minnesota.
Q. What time did you leave for Virginia?
A. Two minutes after
twelve.
Q. You went with the chief of police, I understand?
. A. Yes,
sir.
Q. What time did you get back to the station here?
A. We got back
to the station at--I believe it was about a quarter to twelve, midnight.
Q.
That was after the first negro was hanged, is that true?
A. Well, I don't
know just when any of them was hung. We left here just exactly two minutes past
twelve, because I looked at my watch; I wanted to see what time we would make
going to Virginia, and up to that time I hadn't heard anything, there was no
complaints of any kind, and having the matter fresh in hand it was my duty to
proceed to apprehend the balance of the Negroes; for that reason, we started. If
we hadn' t went with an automobile, would have had to wait till 3 :50, but we
beat the train. We were in Virginia before the train left Duluth.
Q. You are
the chief of detectives here, aren't you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. There were no
reports brought in to you prior to your departure from here a few minutes after
twelve as to any intimation
31
of the proposed riots or lynching, of these Negroes--you didn't know a thing
about that.
A. None whatever.
Q. None of your men brought any
information to you?
A. I hadn't heard a thing up to that time. The first that
I knew of anything was when we met Commissioner Farrell on the road, coming back
with four of the Negroes, out near Rice Lake. Then things seemed to be quite
serious, from what the commissioner said, and we turned the Negroes over to Mr.
Farrell and a friend he had with him, and I believe the chief gave Mr. Farrell a
firearm, and we came to town, and knowing that they were smashing up everything,
we took our car to fire headquarters and walked down.
Q. It was practically
all over with when you arrived here, wasn't it?
A. They were still in the
cell-rooms and in the hallway, quite a crowd. We rushed right into the big door,
the captain and the chief and I. It was hardly possible to get thru the crowds
and pushed the captain in as far as the door. We tried to call on some of the
citizens to aid us, but none of them seemed to respond. We then left from the
doorway of the big jail and went into the chiefs office, to hold a consultation,
and tried to use the telephone, but it was out of order. In fact, I believe all
of the telephones in the building were, and I said to the chief, "I believe I
saw the, janitor outside here; we might get in the City Hall." We came over
here, the captain and the chief and I, and tried to do some telephoning, but
they
32
were unable to get anyone. We had a little conference there, and we decided
to call all the police that we could find and devise some plane or take some
action. We did that. We got about twenty, twenty-two or twenty-five men,
intending to go over and try and clean the place up. When we got over there--in
the meantime I had looked out through the engineers room, across into the
cell-room, and I suggested that they were evidently leaving. As soon as we got
all the men, we started over to the ,jail and got in it. There was a few
stragglers left, and what was left in there we chased them out, and we got some
old muskets up there in the store-room,--we got them down and got a bayonet on
them.
Q. They were up in the store-room?
A. They were up in the
store-room, yes, under look and key, and the clerk was there at the time, and he
had a key to the store-room, and we brought them down and lined the men up in
front, and as soon as we lined the men up with the guns, outside, we didn't know
whether they were going to come back again or not, so we immediately got one of
the cars ready, that was considerably damaged, the only, car had left, although
the engine was running and the tires were all right,, got the three Negroes out
when the coast was clear and got them away.
Q. Those are the three that were
taken over to Superior, weren't they?
A. Yes. The crowd seemed to be coming
down the hill again, but when they saw the officers---I don't know
33
whether they intended to come over again or not---but they seemed to stop,
that seemed to stop them--I don't know that their intention was, any further
than that, but it seemed to stop right there.
Q. Mr. Schulte, due to your
unfortunate incident that you had a little while ago, isn't it true that the
majority of the police officers on the Duluth force were more or less timid in
using their revolvers the night of the riot?
A. Well, I could not say as to
that, General. I never talked with any of them about it. In fact, I talked very
little about it, about the sad affair. It was regrettable on my part. I think it
was pure and simple an accident.
Q. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings on
that. You understand that?
A. Yes.
Q. You say that when the crowd came
down the hill again and saw these officers with the rifles and bayonets, that
you feel that that is what stopped them?
A. Well, I wouldn't say that
altogether. They didn't come any farther. They had--the officers had orders to
keep them off of this side of the street, and keep them beyond the car tracks.
We had one or two men stationed at the corner directing them that if they wanted
to pass, they had a perfect right to pass to the other side, but didn't want
them in front of the police station, and there wasn't any one of them
came.
Q. Don't you think that if you had had that same equipment
34
out in front of the station prior to the riot that you would have been able
to have stopped them?
A. Well, I don’t know.
Q. Your experience on
the force is long, as I understand it?
A. Yes.
Q. And your experience is
valuable. Don't you think, with the experience you have had in handling crowds,
that that would have stopped them, even though you may not have had to use them,
don’t you think that the sight of all that equipment might have stopped
them?
A. It might have stopped them, although at the time I don't believe
there was so very many there. From what I have talked with the boys there were
very few of the men there. They telephoned them and tried to get them in as
quick as they could and try and help do something, but it seemed they didn't
respond quick enough.
Q. Was there quite a little preparation made for a
possible riot?
A. As far as I know, there wasn't anything made, only we were
trying to get the balance of the Negroes. As far as the riot was concerned, I
don't suppose that anyone anticipated anything like that, especially up around
this part of the country.
Q. You were in Virginia, Minnesota?
A. Yes,
sir,
Q. Were you in the same car with the chief and Captain Fiskett?
A. I
was.
Q. Did you hear Captain Fiskett, on the way up there, advise the chief
to phone the office and see if there was not some rioting, or possibility of it?
A. We talked of that, to keep
35
in touch, and the captain did advise the chief, or asked him, suggested to
him, rather, that it was a good idea to telephone down, and the chief did
telephone. I think it must have been a little after half-past 3, directly after
we got there, but there was some mistake. We were in the chief's office, at
Virginia, and the call came in at the desk in the jailer's room, and the call
was delayed, so the captain went to the jailer, or the man in charge, and asked
him if that call had come in yet, and he said, "No," and he said, "Make him call
again." In a few minutes the chief got the call. I didn't hear the conversation,
what took place over the telephone.
Q. You didn't hear what the chief told
Sergeant Olson?
A. No.
Q. I am not familiar with police customs, but
during this inquiry it has impressed me as being sort of strange that sergeant
Olson should be in charge of this station with a lieutenant on duty?
A. I
don’t know what time the lieutenant came. The sergeant would be on duty
until the lieutenant came, arrived.
Q. Upon the arrival of Lieutenant Barber,
did he automatically assume command of the station?
A. He should.
Q. Then
the senior officer present at the police station automatically takes command
whenever he is present?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Regardless of what time of day or
night it is?
A. Yes, sir. That is, if he is on duty.
Q. But, in cases like
during the riot, he should have taken
36
command?
A. He should.
Q. Would that automatically place the
commissioner in command when he got there?
A. The commissioner is, in my
judgment--I wouldn't say that it would put him in command, for the reason that
he has other branches in his department; they are police, fire and health.
Q.
In other words, Mr. Schulte, if the commissioner came in and gave you an order
even while the chief may be sitting there, you would accept it from him, without
it coming through the chief, would you not.
A. Well, that depends. It might
be a direct violation of police regulations. If he would ask me to do a certain
thing and I felt that it was not my duty to do it-
say, for instance, he
would want me to go and arrest some fellow, I have no right to arrest that man
for a misdemeanor without a complaint or warrant, and he might instruct me to do
it, and under the law I have no right to.
Q. Well, if he told you not to do
a certain thing in the line of police regulation, would you accept it as an
order?
A. I am a police officer and sworn to do my duty and to uphold the
law, to protect life and property, and as an officer it is my duty to carry that
out.
Q. Regardless of what orders you may receive?
A. Yes.
Adjt. -Gen. Rhinow: That will be all. I thank you.
________________
37
MAJ. FRED W. BEECHER, called.
Examination by Adjt. -Gen. Rhinow:
Q. What is your business, Major--In
civil life, I mean?
A. The wholesale paper business.
Q. How long have you
lived in Duluth?
A. Since about the 25th of April, this year.
Q. Prior to
moving to Duluth, you lived where?
A. Minneapolis.
Q. What business were
you in--whom were you connected with there?
A. I was in the wholesale paper
business, with the McClellan Paper Company.
Q. You are a member of the
Minnesota National !Guard?
A. I am.
Q. And you hold the rank of Major in
the First Minnesota Field Artillery?
A. I do.
Q. Prior to being a Major
in the First Minnesota Field Artillery, you were a major in the Fourth Minnesota
Infantry, as I understand?
A. I was.
Q. During your term of office as
Major in the Fourth Minnesota Infantry you were in charge of troops in
connection with several calamities and also minor gatherings of crowds is the
anticipation of becoming a riot in the State of Minnesota?
A. I was. I might
add, that as a Captain in the same regiment I had a little more experience along
that line than I had as a major.
Q. So you are quite familiar with the manner
of mobs conger-
38
gating, you have seen in advance an anticipated riot, you might say?
A. I
have made a very close study of the subject. Have studied the history of
practically all riots that have taken place in the United States in the past
seventy-five years.
Q. In the evening of Tuesday, June 15th, the date the
riot and lynching took place here in Duluth, when did you first notice that
there were crowds congregating in front of the police station of this city?
A. I remained at the office until quite late and went out to get some
dinner, and I went into the Congress Cafe for dinner. I came out and came up to
the police station, feeling that there might be some trouble up there. I had
made the remark to the secretary of my company --we were hearing of this
assault--that it looked to me like there would be an attempt at lynching. So,
immediately upon leaving the cafe I came toward the police station and upon
arriving within about three blocks of the station I saw the water pouring, into
the front of the building. Upon getting up here, I found the front windows all
smashed in and the crowd surging into the hallway. I went through the crowd, --
I was in civilian clothes, naturally,--and brushed around and took hold of
fellows, to find out whether any of them were armed in this crowd that was out
in front of the station; I felt their pockets, and I did find a few with what I
thought was guns, but a very small number. The crowd impressed me as being the
most orderly crowd for that type of mob that I have ever seen.
39
Q. Let me ask you a question there, before you go on Major Beecher, you say
it was an orderly crowd for a crowd of that kind at that time. In your opinion,
if the police department had taken action right then and there, called in all
their reserves and what other available men they could have called in from
outlying beats, without leaving the city wholly unprotected, had called all
those men in, and ordered this crowd dispersed, it could have been done at that
time?
A. With proper equipment, yes, sir. I believe that twenty-five men, in
my opinion, could have handled--could have protected that building against that
very crowd, and I looked them over very carefully.
Q. In your opinion, Major
Beecher, do you believe that if a proper person had been in charge of the police
station at that time this unfortunate incident would not have occurred?
A. It
is my opinion, that had they been-properly commanded the men of the police
department, while totally unorganized, could have been equipped with the
equipment that I later found in the building, and could have saved the--and
could have protected the building from any entry.
Q. And the crowd could
have been dispersed without any bloodshed whatsoever at that time?
A. Had
the police dispersed the gatherings as fast as they were organized and cut off
the entire district surrounding this station, which could very easily have been
done they would not have been able to get within a block
40
of the station, so say nothing of getting into the building.
Q. Will you
proceed, Major Beecher, where I stopped you there?
A. Yes, sir. The yell went
up from somebody in the crowd that they had better hurry up or the militia would
be there. Naturally, I felt it my duty, as a member of the National Guard, to
get in touch with my organization, or with the Adjutant-General's office in St.
Paul to ascertain if troops had been called for. I attempted to get into a
number of stores around the block, to get a long-distance connection, but I
found long lines at every telephone, so I went down to my own office, which is
located down on Michigan street, where it was quiet, and asked the
long-distance operator if she knew if troops had been called. At first, I was
informed that information of that kind was not given out, but when I insisted
upon having this information and identified myself as being interested, I was
connected with some person at the long-distance office, who told me that to
their knowledge no connection had been made with the State Capitol for the
purpose of asking for troops. I immediately put in five calls, for the Governor,
for Adjutant-General W. F. Rhinow, Maj. Harry L. Brady, Col. Geo. E., Leach, and
Col. Henry A. Bellows, the latter being out of the service, but being a former
commanding officer of my regiment, an expert on riot tactics and a man whom I
knew would get action regardless of the hour at night, being particularly
interested in handling conditions of this kind, and I was fortunate in getting
connec-
41
tions with three of the five. Upon talking to the Adjutant General, I was informed that it would be impossible to send troops unless asked for by the sheriff whose name I didn’t know at the time, nor whom I didn't know by sight, first, by calling his home and being informed that he was at his office, and I asked the sheriff to come immediately to my office. Again calling the Adjutant-General, who was on duty at the State Encampment at Fort Snelling, I held the wire until the arrival of the sheriff who immediately verified the statements that I had made with reference to the immediate need of the dispatching of the troops to this city, and he made the request that the same be sent. At the same time I was ordered upon duty myself, and I spent the rest of the night making arrangements for the arrival of the troops or for the transfer of those troops to Virginia, in the event that trouble started there. I was getting numerous reports of the situation at that point. Having completed the arrangements for--or, having completed my phoning, I immediately returned with the sheriff in his car to the scene of the rioting, at a time that the last two Negroes were being taken up the hill. I left the sheriff's car and went up the hill and learned from some rioters that they were coming back to get the other three
42
who were left, inasmuch as some of them expressed the opinion that they
didn't have all of the guilty. I immediately left the scene and returned to
police headquarters, where I found rifles of the United States Army Model, 1873,
Caliber 45, Springfield, with fixed bayonets, being issued to the men on duty. I
suggested to the chief of police that steps be taken immediately to disperse any
further gatherings which at that time were forming from the crowds coming down
the hill from the scene of the hanging, and I was told by him to go out onto the
sidewalk, where a part of the patrolmen had already gone with their rifles, and
to take a sufficient force to clean out the block. I informed him that I was not
known by any of these policemen and didn't expect that they would accept
instructions from me. To the best of my belief he himself went out onto the
sidewalk then and instructed the patrolmen to accompany me in clearing the
street. We immediately went up to the corner of Second Avenue East and Superior
Street and threw a line of skirmishers right across the street, stationing two
men of the guard at that corner to permit no one to form into further crowds,
and went on down, through the block to First Avenue East, breaking up all
gatherings and keeping everybody moving. At the corner of First Avenue East and
Superior Street, I instructed two patrolmen to remain there, whom I found very
efficient, and upon returning to the corner at least an hour and a half or two
hours later, found them still on duty, although the crowd had been dispersed.
The
43
Adjutant-General ordered as to get in touch with Colonel Weaver, of the Home
Guards, and have him order out his organization, and to also get in touch with
the commanding officer of the tank company and to order them upon immediate
duty. I was unable to reach Colonel Weaver over the telephone, but met him in
the hallway of the station upon my return to the station and gave him your
instructions. I then left, after the streets were cleared, for the armory, where
I was fortunate in locating Captain Moerke, of the tank company, and gave him
orders that he mobilize his unit. I left there and went to my room and changed
clothes and dressed in my uniform.
Q. It is your opinion, then, Major
Beecher, that it the proper steps had, been taken by the police department in
organizing and calling in all the reserves, that this entire unfortunate
occasion would not have happened?
A. It would not have happened. I base that
opinion upon the experience of other cities, where a lot more serious rioting
was anticipated than that the other night, which was prevented by proper
preparation.
Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow : That will be all.
___________________________
44
FRANK L. MAGIE, sheriff of St. Louis County, Minn.,
called.
Examination by Adjt.-Gen. Rhinow:
Q. Mr. Nagle, I
understand you were out of the city at that time, were you?
A. No; I was in
the city.
Q. Did the police department make any call upon you for assistance
during that tins?
A. I think it was about 8:30 or 9 o’clock,
somewheres along there, I had a call from the police department, saying that
they expected trouble down to the police station and that a mob was congregating
and they would like to have some assistance, and I immediately tried--I got two
or three of my men that I could get on the telephone, and left orders for my
wife to call up my driver and send him down to the station and had--we had a
list of the deputies and I had her call up the rest of the deputies and send
them down to the police station. At the time that I got to the police station
the mob had congregated here on the avenue, (2nd Ave. E.), mostly out in the
back, and I think there was quite a considerable--I didn't get around to the
rear, but the police were playing with the hose and had it attached to the
hydrant down here and had it inside, squirting water down that crooked stairway,
and bricks were being fired up that stairway. The crowd kind of seemed to come
in towards, the station. I got back there and tried to prevent them, myself and
two deputies, and Mr. Barber, I think, was the only one that was in the street
at that time. We were succeeding in keeping the crowd back there until the water
came out from the station. They had brought their hose back, and of course then,
when the
45
water--of course, in the meantime this fire wagon had come down with a line of hose, and the crowd had grabbed the hose away from the firemen and, took it all up the hill, while they tried to get a stream of water, but they didn't get any water to amount to anything. It was just a small stream of water coming out of this hose. Of course, when the police came out with that other hose, us fellows in the street had to get out of the way or got a drenching, and we got out of the way. Well, I stood around there a few minutes and then the--I think about that time, before they broke in, the report came to me that about forty automobiles were going to Virginia to get the rest of them, and I got hold of my driver and went up to the jail to telephone to Virginia. And, of course, there were rumors that they were not there, that they had taken them out and taken them to the county jail, and when I got up to the jail I immediately telephoned to the police department at Virginia, and these colored men, I afterwards learned, were in the county jail at Virginia, in charge of my deputies. I notified the police at Virginia to get in touch with my deputies and acquaint them with the situation, that it was rumored that a great many automobiles had left here for Virginia. While I was telephoning, my wife came in with the telephone message to call a certain number. I called that number and got Major Beecher. And in the meantime I got some rifles that we had boxed up there in the closet in the jail and got those out and got them loaded, in case of an attack on the county jail, and then I jumped into the
46
automobile and went down to Major Beecher's office and got into communication
with you--I think he had you on the line at that time. And by the time that we
got back to the police station, why, I understand that they had just got the
other two Negroes and hanged them.
Q. What time was it, about, Mr. Magie,
that the police department asked for assistance?
A. Well, I think it was
around 8:30 or 9--I think it must have been about 9 o'clock; somewheres along in
that vicinity.
Q. You had some Negroes up in your jail, too, did you, at
that time?
A. No, we didn't have any up there, but it was reported on the
street that they had taken them out and taken them to the county jail.
Q.
Then you used all of pour available men, outside of what you let the chief of
police have, to protect your jail up there?
A. Yes; I got hold of the
deputies that I had and took two or three of them and we went up--I think there
were three or four of us went up to the county jail, and I had got these rumors
that they were going to the county jail, or that, they had got about forty
automobiles, loaded, and had started out for the Range, to get the rest of the
Negroes, so I immediately went up there and telephoned to the police department
at Virginia to be on the lookout for them.
Q. And you had no intimation, or
nobody reported to you, that this lynching-party was going to happen?
A. I
never thought
47
of such a thing until I got word from the police department.
Q. You gave
them all the assistance you possibly could, when they asked you for assistance?
A. Yes, sir, I did.
Q. That is, outside of protecting your own county
jail and your own prisoners up there?
A. Yes, sir. When I left here, of
course, they were turning water onto the men in the street and from the police
station shortly after that. There was nobody at that time had got into the front
of the police headquarters.
Q. After they started cutting the hose and the
rioting became a little greater than it was prior to your departure from here to
protect your own property at the county jail, or you were informed --I don't
know how --?
A. Some of my deputies came to me and said that they had heard
that forty automobiles, I think he said, had started for the Range, to get the
rest of the Negroes, and he heard some talk in around the mob that they had
taken them out and they had gone to the county Jail. Well, I don’t know
who had started that, but maybe some of the citizens thought it would be a good
place to disperse the crowd from the City Hall, by starting this rumor that they
had been taken to the county jail.
Q. What I was trying to get at, Mr.
Sheriff, it was your opinion that the crowd got beyond the control of both the
police department and your department?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And therefore you
made the decision as to conferring with
48
Major Beecher about calling troops?
A. Yes.
Adjt. -Gen. Rhinow: That is all. I thank you very much.
____________________
49
The following proceedings were held in the private office of Mr. F. L.
Magie, Sheriff of St. Louis County, Minn., at the Court House,
Duluth, Minn., on the afternoon of June 34th, 1920.
_______________________
ALBERT W. TRACY, called.
Examination by Adjt.-Gen.
Rhinow:
Q. Your name is Albert W. Tracy?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is
your position with the "Herald"?
A. My position on the "Herald" is a
reporter; my official capacity is "Automobile Editor.” Through a shortage
of reporters, they have assigned me to cover the City Hall.
Q. At what time
following the recent riot and hanging did you talk with Mr. Murnian, the
Commissioner of Public Safety?
A. It was sometime between 11 and 12
o'clock.
Q. On the night of the riot?
A. On the night of the riot.
Q.
Would you mind tolling us the conversation that took place, as nearly as you can
remember it?
A. Well, it would be pretty hard to say everything, because I
met Mr. Murnian three of four different times and talked over the different
events. Naturally, I asked him his version of it and what had happened, and so
on, and it is pretty hard for me to remember the entire conversation.
Q. You
published a statement, attributed to Mr. Murnian, wherein he acknowledged having
given orders to some of the members
50
of the force to the effect that they were not to use their guns, did you not?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you get that statement from Mr. Murnian yourself?
A.
The sense of that--I looked for a copy of that article, but was unable to find
it, before I came over here. In looking over the "Tribune," I found an article
there which, if my memory serves as right, is practically verbatim of the
article that I ran in the "Herald".
Q. What was the date of that
"Herald”?
A. The date of my article in the "Herald" was on the 16th.
This in the "Tribune" was on the 17th.
Q. Mr. Tracy, did you interview Mr.
Murnian prior to having written that article?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And is that
the statement that he made to you, that he had issued such an order prohibiting
the use of firearms?
A. If I recollect correctly, we were talking over the
orders not to shoot, and I think the remark was made something after this form:
“That he would not want to sea the blood of one white person shed for
three Negroes." I think the word "dirty" was used in there, but I am not
positive of that. And then I--then there was something said about shooting, and
I think I coined the phrase, "Then you gave orders that under no consideration
were the men to use firearms on that crowd.” And if that was the way I
worded it--it was something of the same similar effect anyway, and he said,
“Yes.” And I asked him again,--not only asked him once, but I
51
think twice, if I could use that, and I think he said emphatically
"Yes.” Now, understand, I am not quoting this word for word.
Q. I
understand.
A. The sense of his answer, and, what he wished to convey, was
carried out in the way I put it.
Q. Did he mention to whom he gave those
orders?
A. No, he didn't, not that I know of.
Q. You took it, then, that
he gave that order to the officer in charge of the station at the time?
A. I
gathered as much, yes.
Q. Or to a number of the patrolmen individually?
A. Yes. The fact that this was published that evening and I talked
with
him about it the next day, and he took no occasion to contradict or
question the correctness of it.
Q. Was that the statement wherein he
justified his having given those orders?
A. Why, I think the conversation
led onto the statement that the results would have been much more serious if he
had given orders to shoot, something to that effect.
Q. You know Mr. Murnian
personally, I presume?
A. Very well; I have known him for a number of
years.
Q. And you are positive that it was Mr. Murnian of whom you were
making these interrogations?
A. Yes. In fact, Mr. Murnian is a personal
friend of mine and we have been very close, and he has been very free with his
opinions and talks, but not for publication; that is how close I have been to
him.
______________________
52
The following proceedings were held in the private office of
Mr. F.
L. Magie, Sheriff of St. Louis County, Minn., at the Court
House,
Duluth, Minn., on the morning of June 26, 1930.
______________________
L. J. MOERKE, Captain of Company M, Tank Corps, Minnesota National Guard,
called.
Examination ion by Adjt . -Gen. Rhinow ;
Q. Captain Moerke, you are
commanding officer of Company M, Duluth Unit of the Tank Corps?
A. I am.
Q. On what night does your organization have its regular weekly drill?
A. Every Tuesday night.
Q. Was your unit drilling on the night of
Tuesday, June 15th, 1930?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. At what hour did they complete
their drilling?
A. It was completed at 10;10 o'clock on that night.
Q.
At any time during the course of that evening did you learn that there was a
possibility of trouble in connection with the Negroes who were imprisoned for an
assault upon a white girl?
A. At 8 o'clock, when the men came in, they
reported an assemblage down town in front of the city jail. l hadn't seen it
myself, because I had been out there from about 6 o'clock, taking care of the
company records, but I asked one of the boys to take his car and, without
excusing him, he jumped in the car and drove down town, to Second Avenue
East--to First Avenue East, and
53
turned around there and headed east, stopping in front of the Service Motor
Company, about fifty to seventy-five feet from the entrance of the police
station. There was some policeman--I believe it was the Sergeant, standing
there, and I asked him if Chief Murphy was around, and he to1d me that neither
the chief nor the Captain were there, and he said the Night Sergeant was looking
after some prisoners. I gave him my name, telephone number and told him that in
case the crowd became unruly, he was to call me and we would come down as best
we could, but that we had no equipment and would have to have about an hour's
notice to get some from the Home Guards, and he told me that there was no
possibility of the crowd starting anything, and thanked me for the offer.
Q.
Do you know who the officer was to whom you gave that information?
A. No,
sir. I can give you a description of him. He was about five feet, ten or eleven
inches--very close to six feet, quite broad shouldered and dark complected and
somewhat sharp features.
Q. In case that you were called upon to do so, you
undoubtedly could pick him out from the balance of the officers?
A. I think I
could.
Q. Was the officer in uniform?
A. He was.
Q. Were you in
uniform?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. At any time during the course of that evening
did you receive a call from the police department for assistance?
A. No,
sir.
Q. At what time did you receive orders to mobilize your unit?
54
A. Well, the first that I had--I had no orders to mobilize, but the first
that I did on that was to call the men; the minute that I received the
information that three men had been lynched, I called the adjutant of the
company and the other officers from home and told then to notify the men that
had been assigned to
them and to report to the armory immediately. I left
then for the police station, arriving there, and saw the chief of police and a
man that said he was Judge Cant. I met Major Beecher there and Major Beecher
asked me where my organization was, and I told him they were forming at the
armory. I left for the armory immediately and arrived there about 12:30.
Q.
At what time did you receive a formal order for the mobilization of your unit?
A. I don't remember the exact time; about 12:30, just after Major Beecher
had talked with the Adjutant-General.
Q. At no time during the course of the
evening did you receive a call from the police department for assistance?
A.
No, sir; excepting for a period of ten minutes, I was in headquarters all the
time.
Q. And, to your knowledge, none of your subordinates received such
request?
A. No, sir.
____________________________