Troops Guard Duluth After Lynching of 3.
Type of event: Lynchings
Location: Minneapolis; Hennepin County; Minnesota
Citation:
Minneapolis Journal, June 16, 1920, page 1, 2.
“Troops Guard Duluth After Lynching of 3”
Image text
Troops Guard Duluth After Lynching of
3
Negroes Hanged in Downtown Streets
Following Attack Upon Young Girl
Inquiry
Began and Special Grand
Jury Called to
Consider
Violence
Act.
Police
Overpowered
Refuse to Fire on
Mob
13 Suspects Lodge in Jail
by
Rhinow Under Heavy
Guard.
Duluth, June 16–Following a night of rioting,
during which three Negroes suspected of an attack on a 17 year old school girl,
were taken from the city jail by a frenzied mob and lynched in the heart of the
business district, the city had regained its usual aspect today. Nothing but
the wrecked police station and state militiamen rushed here from camp at Fort
Snelling walking pots gave evidence of the scene of disorder that had
prevailed.
Thirteen Negroes are under heavy guard in
the St. Louis count jail today. They were brought into the city today in
automobiles by Adjutant General W. F. Rinow and an armed guard. The geenral
was, accompanied Sheriff Frank L. Magie and Chief of Police John
Murphy.
All of the 13 men are roustabouts of a circus
which showed here Monday. The attack was committed by roustabouts. Six of the
men had been arrested at Virginia by Chief of Police Murphy, who followed the
circus to that city to arrest suspects. Four had been arrested here and three
were brought over from Superior where they had been spirited to guard against
mob violence.
Led by County Attorney Warren E. Greene,
officials today began an investigation in an attempt to fix responsibility for
the lynching and punish the lynchers, and a special session of the grand jury
has been called. Prosecutions will follow wherever evidence of guilt is found
the county attorney said.
Believe One Innocent Man Victim.
Several of the officials express the opinion today that at
least one innocent man fell victim to the mob, and they are not certain of the
guilt of some of the others they said. The girl victim of the attack is
reported to have identified nine of the men held in the county jail as the ones
who attacked her.
Indignation against the Negroes was
at first so strong that the full horror of the lynching did not seem to impress
itself on the men who discussed the hanging on the streets early today, but
gradually the lawlessness of the proceedings began to make an impression and the
indignation was turned on the leaders of the mob that had brought the disgrace
on the city.
Although the eattack on the girl was
committed late Monday. It was not until late yesterday that it became known to
the general public and the first indications that trouble was brewing came about
7 p.m., when automobiles filled with young men, said to be from the west end,
the girls home drove along Superior st and called for volunteers to avenge the
“wrong done to a white girl.”
5,000 Attack Jail.
Within an hour the mob had swelled to 5,000 men who surged
toward the police station where six Negro suspects were confined. The police
had scented trouble and called in all available men, but there were only 30 of
them to withstand the assault on the jail that
followed.
For hours the battle raged. Bricks from a
pile where a building nearby was under construction were utilized as missiles.
Windows in the station were smashed and the back door leading to the basement
was battered down.
In an effort to stem the storming
party, the police called in the aid of the fire department. Four lines of hose
were laid and the streams turned on the mob, but after a short battle the hose
lines were wrested from the defenders of the jail and turned on the police, who
were forced to retreat.
Mock Trial Employed.
By using an improvised battering ram made up of heavy planks
the front door to the station was forced. Sledges and axes were used in
breaking down the steel cell doors and soon the six frightened Negroes were in
the grasp of the mob.
Dragging their prisoners to the
second floor of the building, the lynchers staged a mock court with “Judge
Lynch” presiding. A jury of 12 men was picked defenders and prosecutors
appointed and the “trail” proceeded.
Three
of the men were promptly found “guilty” and sentence to death
pronounced. The other three were turned back to the police.
Accused Beg for Mercy.
Shouting and singing the mob dragged their victims to an
electriolight pole at First st and second av E and proceeded to carry out the
execution while the condemned men were crying out their innocence and begging
for mercy.
The Negroes hanged were Isaac McGhie, Elmer
Jackson and Nate Greene, all about 22 years old, roustabouts with the John
Robinson circus. They were lynched in the order name at 11:30, 11:38 and 11:45
p.m., respectively.
Girl’s Escort Threatened.
The crime for which for which the three Negroes paid the
death penalty was committed on the circus grounds, according to the story told
by James Sullivan, 19 years old, of West Duluth, who was the girl’s
escort. While one Negro held a pistol to his head, he told the police, several
others dragged her away and attacked her.
It was
reported late today that the girl who was the victim of the attack will recover,
although she is suffering from a severe nervous
breakdown.
Clear skies with a cold wind from off the
lake greeted curiosity seekers as they viewed the scene of the rioting today.
While the mob was in action
there was a penetrating chill in the air and some rain fell during the night.
Special July Called.
Four judges of the district court today signed an order today
signed an order convening a special grand jury at the courthouse tomorrow at 11
a.m. to “inquire as to grave public offenses recently committed in this
county.”
Two of the judges, Judges A. W. Cant
and Bert Fester, witnessed the gathering of the mob last night in front of
police headquarters but neither saw the
lynchings.
Efforts of judges of the district court,
two priests and other well known Duluth Citizens to stem the fury of the crowd
bent on the lynching proved fruitless. The mob pushed the speakers aside and
hooted them down with cries of “lynch the black
snakes.”
Judge Cant made an appeal to the mob at
police headquarters. He appealed to the fair mindedness of the citizens to
observe law and order.
Judge Fesler asked several
reputable citizens in the crowd to assist and some responded, but most of them
would do nothing Judge Fesler said.
Nine Injured in Water Battle.
Eight policemen and a newspaper reporter were injured during the water battle that took place while the jail was being stormed. Some of them were struck by bricks and others were hurled to the pavement by the force of the water pressure from the fire hoses that were taken away from them and turned on the defenders by members of the mob. None was seriously hurt.
Troops Arrived on Scene.
Adjutant General W. F. Rhinow ordered Company I of Long Prairie commanded by Captain Wilbur Miller, and Company H of Faribault, under Captain W. P. Townsend from Fort Snelling to special duty in Duluth. The troops left from St. Paul at 1:30 a.m. and arrived in Duluth at 7:30 a.m. No disorder greeted the troops upon their arrival. General Rhinow took personal command.
No Shots Fired.
Not a shot was fired during the disturbance the mob
contenting itself with bricks and planks in the assault on the
jail.
All available policemen were ordered in at the
first sign of threatened violence and 30 men were gathered in the station when
the attack was made, put proved inadequate to handle the situation. The police
were ordered not to use their firearms for fear of precipitation a riot that
would have meat a possible great loss of life.
Chief
of Police Murphy reached Duluth safely with four men he took from Virginia.
They gave the names of Albert Smells, Charles Harris, Edward Black and Joe
Lehorn, Sheriff Magee made a trip to Virginia and arrested six more Negro
employees of the circus and brought them to Duluth. They are Clarence Grain,
Max Mason, Louis Hays, Norman Ousley, Frank Spencer and Eugene Jeffries. The 10
men are now in the county jail in Duluth, where they are considered safe, no
disturbance having occurred since the soldiery arrived.
Victim Protests Innocence.
When the first Negro, McGhie, was dragged to the foot or the electric light pole and the noose adjusted round his neck, he screamed: “God be with me I’m not the right man.” But he was jerked to his feet and fell to the ground again when the rope parted. The hanging was repeated a second time with the same result and it was not till the third trial that the execution was successful.
Priest Pleads With Mob.
One priest Father F. J. Howard climbed 15 feet up the pole
and exhorted the mob to turn the Negroes over to the law courts, but he was met
with hoots and cries of “Remember the girl lynch them!” A few
minutes later Jackson and Green were dangling beside their
companion.
Nothing had been said about the attack on
the girl until late yesterday. Newspapers reported the attack and small groups
began forming in the streets early in the
evening.
“I knew there was something
doing,” said the police Lieutenant E. H. Barber. “All of a sudden
the groups seemed to melt into a big howling mob and they came tearing down
Superier st. It sure looked like they meant business.
Police Refused Demand.
“They also came to the jail doors and demanding the
Negroes. This of course was refused, but they said they would either get the
Negroes or wreck the jail. Then they started wrecking things. We saw it was
useless to resist the mob, but in the line of our duty we did the best we could
to protect our prisoners.
“All six of the
Negroes had been arrested on suspicion. I do not know positively whether any of
them were guilty of attacking the girl, but I think two of them were. I believe
the mob may have killed one innocent Negro.
“As
soon as they got to the Negroes, the mob leaders decided only three of them
looked guilty. They took them down the street a block to an electric light pole
and strung them all up. Not a shot was fired. As soon as they Negroes were
dead the mob disappeared and quiet reigned
again.
“It all happened so quickly it
doesn’t seem possible. The bodies of the Negroes were put down shortly
after midnight and taken to undertaking establishment. The three Negroes who
were lynched were taken out of town for
safekeeping.”
The three Negroes who escaped
violence were Louie Williams, John Thomas and Harry Richardson.
Good Humor Prevails.
One noticeable feature of the mob was that despite the grim
work in which it was engaged, good humor and comparative order pervaded it.
With the exception of the storming of the jail, when doors and windows were
broken, there was no destruction of property. The leaders went about the work
they had set for themselves with unyielding determination, but when their idea
of justice had been carried out, there was no further demonstration. None of
the bodies of the hanged Negroes was mutilated.
County
Attorney Greene, who is conducting the investigation and whose duty it will be
to prosecute men suspected of participating in the lynching party said today he
faces difficult problem, as no one appears to be willing to give evidence
against any of the others and the police say they did not recognize any of the
active members of the mob.
Inquiry to Start at Once.
“It is a terrible thing to have happened” he
said. “An investigation will be started at once and everything possible
done to bring all offenders to justice.”
So far
as the police could learn today, the nucleus of the lynching party was formed by
automobilee loads of young men from West Duluth, where the girl lives. They are
said to have driven rapidly down Superior st, Duluth’s principal
thoroughfare, and asked for volunteers to avenge the wrong. Some of the
pedestrians along the steet met them with jeers, but others started toward the
jail and soon the crowd was beyond the control of the police.
Plan to Stop Sheriff Rumored.
Detachments of guardsmen were sent out by General Rhinow to
patrol the roads between Duluth the Virginia when it was rumored several
truckloads of the lynching party had started for that city with intention of
intercepting the police chief and the sheriff who were rounding up other
suspects from the circus grounds there. None of the party was encountered,
however and the police are inclined to discredit the rumor that such a plan had
been formed. Other guardsmen were detailed to protect the county jail against
attack, but no such attack developed it was reported
today.
Among the spectators to the lynching were many
Duluth Shriners, who were in the Shrine auditorium preparing to leave for
Portland, Ore., to attend the national conclave there. The lynching took place
immediately outside the auditorium a block north of the very heart of
Duluth’s business district.
Today the city is
calm. Men stand in groups discussing the night’s tragic work. Gradually
the horror of the event is being driven home and a feeling of regret and
abhorrence over the lawless act is expressed.
Although
it was generally a laughing mob, it was learned today that a few instances of
brutality had appeared. When McGhie fell as the rope broke, it is said that a
white man grabbed him by the throat and tried to strangle him. Another white
man is said to have climbed the pole and kicked one of the dying Negroes in the
face. One member of the mob is reported to have attempted to shoot one of the
Negroes before he was taken out of his cell, but the revolver was twisted out of
his hand before he could fire.
The police force of
Duluth was totally inadequate to handle a situation like that which developed
last right was the assertion of Commissioner of Safety W. F. Murnian today.
Every effort was made to control the mob, but it was so large that the police as
well as the sheriff’s forces were handicapped from the start. Strict
orders from Commissioner Murnian that under no provocation were any of the
police to use firearms doubtless prevented much bloodshed, although many of the
policemen were injured by flying stones. None of them was manhandled by the mob
except Lieutenant E. H. Barber, who strove to the last to prevent the mob from
reaching the prisoners.