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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1919)
1 THE BEE: OMAHA; v MONDAY, SEPTEMBER ' 29, 1919. jOjLQRED ASSAILANT OF AGNES LOEBECK PAYS FOR HIS CRIME Grriaha Mnh Harifrs AnH "Rums Mporvn WViAlConductor's Nerve ll Iki i m "hi Omaha Mob Hangs And Burns Negro Who White Girl Aftei Court House Is red By Fire And Many Are Injured Destroy Crowd Gathers Early . Sunday Af ternoo n in front and Rear of Court House and ; ;,,:Is Swelled From Then On Until in Evening Thousands Aid in it Building Set ; . ' Ablaze and Prisoner Finally Turne d Over to Crowd Mayor Smith Almost Lynched Court House Completely Gutted. ' -....V i, .. . I '.""V. , ' "' ... (ContisiMd Tnm Pm-e Oh.) i . Part of the rope with which the negro was lynched was cut up into short lengths and carried off as "souvenirs." "Givex me a piece of that rope," one man shouted to another. "Can't do it, Bill, it's got a hunk of blood on it and I wouldn't parfr with it," was the reply. ,:. "' '; ' ' - . . Lieut.-Gov. P. A. Barrows called Secretary of War Baker on the long distance tele phone and troops from Fort Omaha and Fort Crook were ordered out. It was necessary for the order to come though Major-General Wood, who is enroute to Deadwood, S. D., and as soon as he reached the order came to Omaha. . ) Jn direct charge of Major Henry C. White of Fort Omaha, the Ninth,, Twelfth and Twenty-seventh' Balloon companies of soldiers were detailed on downtown streets at 11 o'clock to disperse the crowds. A radius of one . block around the court house was under heavy patrol. No one, save firemen, was permitted to pass the lines. Lieutenant Gibson was in charge of the Twenty-seventh company. ; Lieutenant Batson was in command of ,tne lwentn. Many oi tne men nave seen auty overseas. At midnight Lieutenant Governor Barrows and Phil Bross, secretary to 'Governor , AicKeivie, naa 4uu special state agents sworn in ana a special train ready to bring them to Omaha. When the mob started to disperse state officials decided to hold the men in Lincoln. . - . w " 'r CROWD GATHERS IN AFTERNOON. ' , The outbreak which resulted hvthe lynching of Brown was started early Sundav 'memoon wnen a crowa oi neariy x,uuu gamerea at tne narney street entrance of the t court nouse. At 5:45 sergeant bamuel Morns of the police department telephoned head , quarters lor assistances In about 15 minutes a patrol wagon responded with a -few policemen. . . ' ' t ':; , " The crowd gathered in numbers and increased in boldness. Two lines of hose were lextended through second-story windows and water was turned on the crowd. Bricks and stones were obtained from a vacant lot across the street and the missiles were hurled through windows as high" as the third floor. One pf the Harney street doors was battered in and many gained admittance, running upstairs and quickly appearing in the windows tncourage others to follow. v j . Every "minute after 6 o'clock added to the tenseness of the scene. Several incipient gasoline blazes inside of the court house occurred about 8 o'clock and it was not long be fore the flames were seen enveloping the office of County Treasurer Endres. The flames spread to most of the court house, breaking out of windows on the Eighteenth street side. ) V FIREMEN COULD NOT WORK. , , When the fire department responded to an alarm the crowd was in no mood to allow the firemen to extinguish the fire. ' , - All through the evening the crack of pistol shots was heard in and around the court house.. Victims were carried out to nearby drug stores for attendance. Many of the mer chants in the vicinity of the, court housetosvi their doors shortly after 9 o'clock. - During the early evening some M the crow mounted the stairway of the court house to the sheriff's office and were met by fumes of liquid formaldehyde which had been" strewn upon .the floors. : ;.:'..;.:,.': ,.: t : Pandemonium reigned among the prisoners in t!ie county jail when the smoke 'reached the cell rooms. Tae negro prisoners were panicstricken. ' : A neara named . Smith' wag1?'' negro nanged to a telephone m was across. . . - v . IT W trora the Boyd tneater 'At years ago. -This negro was charged with assaulting a" white g'rl The Omaha uaras, wno wexr' suptng at -tne in' the Jtfeater, in bhenan " jp summoned, from the bur were unable to avert1. the mg. Td to Be Ready Passed round Early Sunday Morn day morninir th word wai d" around ik Gibson that an at- t would be .made to lynch wn in- the afternoon and that all rested should meet at Bancroft eet school, Eighth and Bancroft ts, at 3 mi the arternoon. ree hundred residents of Gib- some of them women. but By boy 9. ' met at the appointed and loliowed Millard Hoffman, le. who witnessed the attack pigs 'Loebeck, to tfie court iiile the mob marched north on teejith street, fcord was re- Id at Central, police station of intentions and Chief of Detec ts joiin uunn, witn a crowa 'ot ifcfirs. met tne iaob at ihirteenth lid William streets. 'When Dunn ordered them to dis- ere. shouw ot uo to Hen. came ffbm tlie exkited crowd. Hoffman! 'is said to have brandished a revolver and screamed "follow me." ; At the court house the mob was met by two dozen police officers. Colored Officer on Guard. I"1 Officer William Jtanfeom, colored, was on guard at the south or Har- iiev streec entrance o tne court ihousc When the crowd pushed to- Ivard Ransom he drew his revolver, ncmbers of. the mob say, and Ircssed , it to the stomach-, of .a h.nth. : v ; 'i,ynch that black came torn tntny mroats ana Kansom sea into, tne court nouse pocKeting his gun., i wo nours later Kansom utif tuna in tne Dasement oi tne ig. II is believed he escaped i i Ti . ' tt . id every officer on the force to scene. Soon the court house surrounded by more, than 150 formed men, wad unit The jnob consisted principally of iM(Mir mrri inu uura. maiiv ni wnam uuu v ------- detrians and autoists from all parts t the city .gathered at fte court House as soon as tne wild-hre news spread. The crowd? soon numbered 6,000 people. . , : The mob surged about the county ... r r building for more than an hour bV fore a real1 attempt was made to gain entrance to the building. In the . meantime the police kept breaking up the larger crowds and keeping them away from the build ing. . -V- ' J. T. Thomas, Gibson, Neb.; a mechanic tor Andrew Murphy and son, appeared , netore the crowd about 4:30 wearing, a badly 'torn shirt He had no coat. - The crowd pushed along behind him until he stood at the curbing in front of the Harney street entrance to the court house. Thomas addressed himself to the police who stood between the mob and the doors. "If that Loeback girl had been a sister of yours you'd throw down your, badges and clubs and lead us into the bunding, Thomas said. "Don't be afraid of losine vour iohs Just let two or three of us in and release the negro to them." . ., His appeals brought laughs from the police. The crowd listened to Thomas for several minutes and then with ru,sh stormed the doors, 1 forcing DacK the omcers who were guarding tnem. . " , -. : The glass panels in the doors crashed in and a few minutes later with another rush the doors them selves splintered. , ; 25 Officers in Building. Twenty-five police officers vester day took their places inside the build ing. Kush alter rush against the doors was repelled by the police, The mob seized Robert P. Samard ick, a police officer, and beat him badly. Officer Harry Askwith res cued bamardick and pushed him in to a niche in the building. Ask with fought valiantly to defend his fellow officer. In a few minutes a dozen officers . and detectives pushed through the crowd and res cued Samardick. , : ', A fire hose secured inside the building sent a stream of water into the crowd storming the doors. A shower of bricks and stones from the vacant lot west of the Y.' M. C. A. building answered the stream of water. Window after '. window on the Harney street side of the, county building was pierced with missiles. Another hose shot a stream of water from a second story window and the aim of the missile-throwers went to the upper floors of the building. , - . Rope Across Saddle Horn.' - William Francis, Thirteenth dnd Vinton streets, a "close friend of the Loebeck girl," was mounted on a horse. He was clad in a high school cadet uniform. A rope lay f 113 oi 5 mo Some Table Beverages such as tea and coffee are. not .considered ood for 7 J yofunc people, but nothing is missed when.;you have INSTANT POSTUM lis rich flavor pleases, and it contains absolutely nothincL harmful. . 77iere s a. Reason ' across the saddle horn. Francis Stood in the saddle in front of the court house and said a mob of ne groes was forming at Twenty-sixth and Grant streets. The excitement of the crowd grew to fever ieight with that announcement. The police inside the building be gin shooting down the elevator shaft to frighten the crowd. That move only intensified the mob's ex citement. The crowd gradually Walked around the building. A lone negro, about SO years old, appeared at Seventeenth and Far nam streets about 5 o'clock. A mob was on him at once. They struck and kicked him several times before Johnnia Lee, Omaha puglist and an unidentified soldier could rescue him. But for Lee and the soldier the negro would probably have been seriously injured. Lee and the sol dier hurried the negro north on seventeenth street toiiowea by a raging mob. At Douglas street they pushed him onto the running board of a touring car bearing license number 193858 Neb. in which two men and two women were' riding. The driver of the car hur ried east on Douglas street with the negro. v oaves Negro From Fury of the Mob The nerve of a street car con' ductor saved a lone negro from be ing mobbed at the corner of six- teenth and Farnam streets just about dark..;:';,, The negro had jumped on the car at seventeenth. ipt conductor swung the door shut and the car shot down the Farnam hill. A mob of jboys and young men failed to get on, the conductor ' boldly, ignoring their demands of "open the door." Just as the car passed Sixteenth the trolley was "pulled down. The car sped down the hill at top speed, too fast for the rioters to follow. At Thirteenth the conductor swung open the door and the negro, safe, 4 jumped .off and darted up Thirteenth street. Loebeck Girls Chum Appeals to the Crowd With , Tears in Eyes An incident that might have in flamed the crowd to a frenzy was an address attempted at the south side of the court house Jof Miss r ranees HobDs, a chum of Miss Agnes Loebeck, assailed by the ne-( gro Brown. , . . . Breaking into tears, she appealed to tne mob to hear her, and . was hoisted to the shoulders of some of the men. , "This poor, innocent girl was my chum " xh rriH "anrl T ocV -. -w..w a aiv yu . Yells interrupted her, and her es cort, apparently fearful of the cofr sequences, pulled her down and hur ried her away. T Negro Seen in Car. A necro was seen in an eastbound frarnam. street car as it passed Sev' enteenth street. A youth clambered into an open window, struck the negro twice and then leaped out Some one pulled the trolley from me. wire ana tne car roiiea aown the hill to Sixteenth street without power.- Most of the mob then directed at tention to the front doors of the court house. The glass panels were smashed in, but when police officers in tne rotunda of the bnildinar be gan to shoot the Crowd refused to enter the portals. Claude L. Nethaway, whose wife was murdered m a lonely railroad cut north of Florence two years ago by a negro named Charles Smitt, pushed his way through the crowd to tne court nouse steps. . Facing the crowd . "My wife was murdered hv a neorm' If I get mv hands on this one T'tl i i. r .. . : ..." - uurn nim. to tne stake i" r Cheers greeted his announcement and he started into the building. xwo snots rang through the ro' uinaa ana iMetnaway returned to tne crowd.. . : Guns and Ammunition Arrive. When darkness bee-an to fall tne mob. began to shoot in answer to tne police. Guns and ammunition began to arrive from the olundered sporting gooas nouses and pawn shops. ; -. .. , bomenone brought a laree ouan- ttty of gasoline. Members of the mob poured it throuirh' a window into the city treasurer's office in the Farnam street side of the uuilding and touched a match to it. As th file cases took fire brilliant blaze lighted up the whole court yard. The fire soon burned down but it was started aeain. This time it spread to other offices on the first floor and then upward through the building. At 9:30 police - Officer Earl O. Risk from South Side . station es caped from the building. He had fought his way from the fourth floor, through the smoke and flamej Risk ran for help to the fire sta tion at Eighteenth and Harney streets. "When I left the fourth floor the smoke and flame were terrible," said Risk. "Police Commissioner Ringer, Captain Haze and some of ficers are still up there." ins police waved a white flac from the top floor of the court house at 9i42 o'clock. Momentarily firing ceased. The hook and ladder crew of the Omaha fire department drove up and stopped before the main span of windows directlv under where the officers were waving their flag. Four omcers appeared in the window. At 9:50 the ladder began to raise. . Mighty Cheer Goes Up. A mighty cheer went un from the crowd. At 9:51 o'clock the ladder's top touched the window sill on the top floor. A few hit. and miss shots were fired from the crowd. The window pane above the officers crashed and three of them ducked to escape the bullets. A few seconds later an officer he. gan t0 descend. At the base of the ladder a half dozen members f th mob began to mount the ladder. The officer at the top descended slowly. Meanwhile the oowerful Search light Of the fire denartm.n'- played on the policemen in the win- uow. , Two other noli tn other, began to descend. The first had reached the automo bile. : , .' He was seized hv iUm J aragged bodily across the street jviu mm, uon t let him get away,' were heard. The mob began to beat the officer. He was soon unconscious. Across Harney street the mob held the man against tuc sicps oi me i. M. c. A. Men jumpea up and down on him as sauuing mm mercilessly. Four or five pulled at his legs. Burst Through Y. M. C. A. Doora, The mob burst through the doors of the Y. M. C. A.rcarrying their victim with them. Officials and at tendants ot the association along wini vuiumeers oi tne mob attempt ed to defendthe man from assault, to no' avail. H UIoo aia through the main lobby of the building to the rear door leading iu inc gymnasium. Here the reporter lost sight of nim. 1 Meanwhile the physical director office at the association building had been converted into an emergency siauon tor wounded and injured i wo young men, one wounded- in the left shoulder by a glancing blow and the other unconscious, said to be suffering from internal injuries and a broken leg, were cared for. uthers came in at short intervals. The officer is believed to. he dead. The other officer with Commissioner Kmger are thought to have escaped from the buildins later. Late in the afternoon Police Chief Eberstein mounted the ledge of a window on the Harney street side of the county building and began to address the crowd: , - f ""No, man in the city of Omaha or the slate of Nebraska regrets the crime this man committed more than I do.', he said. "Give us the negro 1" yelled the crowa.' ; , Brick It Thrown. The chief attempted to continue, raising his hand for silence, when a oric crashed throueh the window -i i . butc nis neaa. ! Immediately a hose was turned on the mob. which scattered. Tt tormed acain withi however, and the chief resumed. ,'I want to say that the police are uoing mi m tneir power to run down the men who commit these crimes i, . wumcn, De tney white or DiacK, he cried. Got 90 Days. "The last one got 90 davs." veiled a man. The crowd followed the re- manc with jeers and yells that were iieara diocks away. We have xot the man " chneJ tne ponce chiet desperately," and we have got the gun he used. He has been identified. But I aooeal to you not to do this thing. Don't do it, don't do it, boys. I ,ask you to uispersye ana go home." At this the cries of the mob arowned Out the voice of' the chief yc want inc nigger, tney yelled n concert. The chief 4hen gaveup inc auempi 10 oe neara ana retted irom tne window. A negro who was walkinc .1 . . . . . . . oixieenin street last nient esc being shot to death when 1001 pie who had stolen shot euns ati volvers from the pawn shops mat street tired at him. The ran the negro down an allev he fell and thinking he was nis pursuers waixea away, the crowd learned that thei fell to save his life and walke uninjured. The crowd fired,? snots at tne The foUon Sheriff Clark Tells Story of How Wegro Prisoner Is Turned Loose to Lynchers Will Brown was handed over to thirty members of the mob on tne tourtn noorvpt tne court house by Brown's fellow prisoners according t Sheriff Mike Clark. , Here's Clark's" story otothe capture of Brown: "The deputy sheriffs had orders to hold Brown and they did all in their, power ttb do so. When the flames and smoke crowded us on tn tourtn floor,. Commissioner Winger, Chief EDerstein, Mayor smith and some police of ficers started for the freight elevator. The last men into the elevator were Mayor Smith, Commissioner Ringer and vThe women prisoner were screaming at the tops of tneir voices. , we, iook iMieen women prisoners and re leased them rather than, flave them burn like sheep there in their cells. They escaped from the building. "Later we took the Jlale prisoners out of their cells when it became too hot ttfere and led them to the roof of the building. They were panic-stricken. The colored prisoners seized Brown alid tried to push him over the cornice into the crowd below. The white prisoners and deputy sheriffs restrained' them. "I was on my way ufc 'a stairway to the roof when a mass of bodies tumbled down over my head and sprawled on the floor beneath me. I . "The colored prisoners had bolted by me with Brown in their clutches. They hurried him to the floor hoW an turned him over to a cfowd of thirty, or more who had cnmDea mio xne winao-vy irom an extension ladder. That was the last I saw of Brpwn. "We had 126 prisoners in the' jail Sunday morning. We released fifteen women. Three men nriannprs p. caped, two were confined for petty offenses and nr. fr.,- burglary." , rested during the course of the riot and booked at Central ponce nation for investigation: William Johnson, 881 North Twenty- Lflfth street; Floyd Roblnron, Thirty-Becoiid ' i ... . , n n ... .... J"" Etna IN BirtltolBi D rvuiy, 1111 va.a Bircvi, John Wllllems, 523 North Twenty-fifth street; Frank KIchardson, 17, 236 Sprague street; Paul Tapley, 2555 Manderson stret; Homer Steeles, 2427 Parker street; Onond Showalter, 805 South Eighteenth street, and Lester Price, 222S Seward street. Later arrests for carrying con cealed weapons included: Gale Jrwin, 17. 4907 Some Twenty-thlrd street; Charles Rhoades, 250S North Thir tieth street; Irwin Wyer. 3435 Saylor street; Frank Goggin, 18. 620 North Eight eenth street; D. Smith. Tenth and Grace streets: Joseph Watson. 18. 3230 Parker street, and Leonard Kleldialy, 2563 Mason street. Loads of guns and ammunition of all description were sent to the po lice station by police from lower Douglas street. When police ap proached crowds firearms were dropped and scattered and the guns were collected and sent to the police station.' Wilson Arrives Home; Condition Remains Same Washington, Sept. 28. President Wilson returned to ' Washington Sunday from his interrupted tour for the peace treaty. He was able to walk through the . railway station from his special train to a White House automobile, and was taken at once to the White House, where it was said there was little change in his conditibn. Mob Enters Gun Stores to Secure Firearms--Nothing Taken but Ammunition Police Arrest Negro Armed With Three Guns in Jack-. ,. son Street Basement and by Clever Ruse Escape With Prisoner Armed With Shotguns, Police Barricaded in Fire Hall, Hold Mob Back. Approximately SO men broke into the Townsend Gun company store, 1514 Farnam street, at 8 o'clock and took 30 rifles and all the revolvers and ammunition in the store. Employes of the store said noth ing was missing but the firearms and the ammunition. The lock on the, front door of the store was broken. Walter G. Clark, sportine eoods house, 1408 Harney street, was also entered by the mob and all of the stock of guns and ammunition tak en., - Jackson Street Riot. A negro and a white soldier en gaged the police and the mob at Eleventh and Jackson streets at 7:30 in front of fire halt No. 1. The negro was armed with a revolver which he fired into the crowd. The white, soldier was armed with a club. When a policeman interfered he beat the officer. Here the mob took hand.v The white soldier was knocked unconscious and the negro took refuge in a cellar at 1110 Jackson street. The mob, 'growing to more than 4UUU prsons, many of them girls and women, together with the police stormed the house. The negro held them at bay for 10 min utes. A riot call was sent to po lice headquarters and two automi- bile loads of police and an ambu lance responded. Smardick Arrests Negro. Policemen .Woods and Samardick attempted to invade the cellar, but were halted by shots from the negro's revoiver. bamardick-crept into the cellar way in the darkness, during an in terval of silence that followed, he turned his flashlight into the cellar and, locating the negro, ordered him to surrender. The negro, taken by surprise, surrendered. The mob. learninor of the caoture by the police, rushed into the door way. Crys of "Lynch him.' "Let us have him," were frequent. One man pressed forward with a rope. The police, led by Sergeants Russell and Kose and Laptain Bnggs, held the mob off while Officers Samardick and Woods remained below with Wie negro. Use Clever Ruse. Finally by a clever maneuver the . man was rescued. Officer Samardick later relating the story said: "We agreed on a plan," "Sergeant Rus sel instructed me to fire two shots at the same time yelling "He' got tne gun again," which I did. This threw the crowd back for a mo ment." s In the interval that followed the police pressed forward out of the celler, and rushed the man (into a waiting automobile in the 1 alley. ine car darted up the alley artd to the police station. The mobfol- lowed to the police station. The police were powerless to hpld it off. Captain Heitfelt, in chalge at headquarters, announced tlat the negro had been taken to CouV- cil Bluffs. The mob was uncoil . 1, .. - -r 1 ..lj; 1 1 mite vi uicm soiuirrs. were oroue into the police station and shouf through the jail. There was b one negro. Turn Out 'Lights. ' waiter a. Hvrne. alM manas-J U , . . . a L LUC 1 1. 1 1 111.-. L . , I LIIK TCI aepartmenr, disconnected all of, t Ak-Sar-Ben ornamental street jight William Francis. Thirteenih and Vinton Streets, a "erooH frienrJ nf Miss Loebeck." rode horseback through the rowd. At 8 o'clock a mob. estimated at about 1,000 men, accompanied by about 300 automobiles,' formed out side central police station. Cries of We want him. We want him." filled the air. The few police on dutr at the station tried to reason with the mob and explain that the negro was not there, and would not be broueht there. A rumor spread that the nesrro. Brown, had been taken from the county jail and rushed to Council BluHs, but the story was said to be without foundation. I II I .Mlf, 1 1 1 1 1 1 For Your Service Red Crown Gasoline service stations are placed for your service your convenience ; stations where you are always assured a supply of Red Grown Gasoline, the pure fuel, and Polarine Oil, the perfect protection against friction, at all times. 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