“THE CONTEMPLATION of OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” Vigilante Acts against African Americans in Southwest Minnesota, 1903

Christopher P. Lehman ilantism against African Americans ended, giving residents an ever-​ had taken place in the South, where present reminder of the South. Afri- n the last week of July 1903, the great majority of African Ameri- can Americans were restricted to such Minnesotans congratulated them- cans lived, but Minnesota’s location in jobs as barber, laborer, and domestic, I selves in newspapers all over the the Northwest and dearth of African but the state was not keeping them in state. There had been at least two op- Americans did not insulate the state perpetual debt as sharecroppers nor portunities between and from the ethnic tensions gripping was it lynching them. Minnesotans to lynch an African American man, the nation. Montevideo’s expulsion did lynch European Americans and but they had refrained from doing of its African Americans and Olivia’s Native Americans, but those killings so. Many claimed that he deserved lynching performance initiated Min- were irrelevant to claims of moral lynching because he had robbed nesota’s contributions to the nadir of superiority regarding southerners and attacked a European American African American life—a​ period that and African Americans. On the other woman in her home near Montevideo reached its most violent point in the hand, both Minnesota and the South in southwestern Minnesota: “As- state with the lynching of three Afri- relegated African Americans to an saulted in Her Own Home at Dead of can Americans in Duluth in 1920.2 inferior social and political status, Night by a Negro Fiend, who Brains Throughout Minnesota history, and the European American residents Her with an Axe” read one headline. its people have distinguished them- of both places were invested in main- Nevertheless, citizens had abided by selves from those in the South despite taining the status quo.3 the law and would let the courts han- that region’s strong influence on the dle the criminal. They would not be state. From the 1820s to the 1850s, the as savage as those southerners, whose U.S. Department of War appointed homas Jefferson, an African vigilante killings of African Ameri- slaveholders to serve at Forts Snelling, American from Kentucky, arrived cans constantly appeared in “Stories Ridgely, and Ripley, and the White Tin Minnesota in 1862, about 25 across the Country” sections of the House appointed slaveholders to years old, and lived all over the south- state’s newspapers. No, Minnesotans positions in Minnesota’s territorial ern part of the state before settling were different.1 government. The slaves of these ap- in Chippewa County. He met Betsy Or were they? Their celebrations pointees remained with their owners; White in Northfield; after they mar- of self-​restraint left out incidents of Minnesotans did not use slave labor ried in the early 1870s, they moved terrorism-​by-​skin-​color during that for local businesses such as lumber- to Mantorville. The first of their ten same five-​day period. A mob chased yards and granite quarries. When all of Montevideo’s African Americans southerners left the state in 1861 to out of the city on the night of defend their region in the Civil War, CHRISTOPHER P. LEHMAN is a and, three nights later, residents of Germans and Scandinavians, who professor of ethnic studies at St. Cloud nearby Olivia held a mock lynching of comprised the state’s majority, took State University. He was a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s W. E. B. DuBois the criminal in lieu of actually killing control of government. Ex-​slaves Institute in the summer of 2011. him. Most of the country’s acts of vig- flooded into the state after the war

268 MINNESOTA HISTORY children was born there, and Thomas about money. As he later confessed, Page one of Montevideo’s two weekly papers, started his lifelong profession as a he needed money and so decided to the Leader (left) and Commercial, , 1903; barber. The Jeffersons relocated to rob the house. That decision would newspapers of the era did not mince words. Zumbrota in 1880 and Howard Lake have grave consequences for the in 1885; Thomas found work cutting county’s single-​digit African Ameri- until between four and five a.m. to hair wherever the family went. By can population.5 break in. After finding what valuables 1893 at least two family members Thomas Olson, the Norwegian he could on the first floor, he went resided in Chippewa County: the pa- widower who owned the house, was up to the second floor, awakened triarch in Clara City and his daughter not at home. His daughter Helen, the women, and demanded Olson’s Winnie in Granite Falls.4 a milliner in her twenties, was left money. He then dragged her down Joseph Henry Scott, a 25-year-​ ​old alone, but her cousin Julia Torgerson the stairs. When she yelled to her African American, came to Chippewa had come to stay overnight. The cousin to get the revolver, Scott struck County by accident ten years later Torgersons—Thomas’s​ in-laws—​ had​ her twice over the right eye with an ax when his train from Sioux Falls was looked after the Olsons since the death handle, smashing her skull.7 sidetracked there on , 1903. of Thomas’s wife in 1883; he and Helen Torgerson escaped through a win- The Kansas City native had just com- had lived for a while with the Torger- dow onto the porch (or kitchen) roof. pleted a 19-month​ prison sentence sons in Tunsberg, three miles north Scott stepped out of the house to fire for forgery, and he boarded the train of Watson. Eventually they returned his gun at her. He missed and then to start a new life in a new location. home, but the families stayed in fled. She screamed as she descended While stranded, he went looking for touch. By 11 p.m. on July 17, the last of from the roof and ran to a neighbor’s water and came upon a two-story​ Helen’s visitors for the day were gone. house. Many in the Watson commu- house on the outskirts of the town of She and Julia prepared for sleep.6 nity awakened to her screams, and Watson. He saw people outside the Scott lay in the grass outside the the townspeople quickly spread the house, and he overheard them talking Olson house that night and waited word about the incident. Neighbors

FALL 2015 269 Helen Olson (above), pictured in the , 1903, Montevideo Commercial along with reports that she would recover. The Olson house (right), showing Julia Torgerson’s window-and-​ roof​ escape route. who came to Olson’s house found her Olson girl at Watson this morning, Henry Halvorson—​fired four shots lying on the floor, blood pooled under and I hold every man responsible for from his .38 Winchester. The last her head. She reportedly cried, “O the arrest of the negro. Who will go?” shot hit Scott in the arm, and he my head, my head, be careful of my By noon the sheriff had dispatched surrendered.11 head,” as doctors arrived. They im- posses to the northwest, northeast, First, townspeople took Scott mediately declared that she was near southwest, and southeast. An eight-​ to a doctor to examine his wound. death, and the community started its man posse from Milan and several Fearing for his safety, Milan officials hunt for any suspicious-​looking Afri- others from Chippewa County towns wanted him transferred out of town can American man.8 assisted in the search. Meanwhile, as soon as possible. At 11:30 p.m., The residents of Montevideo, about Watson residents armed with rifles, Sheriff Hartley met the captive and six miles east of Watson, responded pistols, and shotguns scoured the his captors at a farm south of Milan quickly when they heard the news. countryside. The posses dispersed and assumed custody of Scott. As he The marshal rang the town hall bell with a mutual understanding that encountered groups of people while at 9:30 a.m., and residents swarmed whoever caught the perpetrator would traveling with the prisoner through to the building. County Attorney give him “short shrift,” as the St. Paul Chippewa County, he determined that Lyndon A. Smith, who only months Globe later put it.10 he could neither securely take Scott earlier had finished his term as lieu- All morning and afternoon, Scott to jail in Montevideo nor keep him tenant governor, approached the steps walked through the county. At 10 a.m. there. Lyndon Smith later confirmed of the hall and cautioned the crowd to he approached the Peterson house- to Gov. Samuel R. Van Sant, “There use restraint but to find the attacker.9 hold at Big Bend, about six miles were hostile crowds at both Watson As Smith spoke, Chippewa County north of Watson, and Mrs. Peterson and Montevideo, and I am of the opin- Sheriff Charles Hartley drove up in his fed him a meal. When her husband, ion that an attempt to lynch the negro buggy, and his actions set in motion Hans G. Peterson, came home and would have been made had he been a county-​wide manhunt. The Mon- heard about his wife’s guest, he rode brought through here on a regular tevideo Leader reported that Hartley into Milan to tell the community. train as was expected.”12 announced, “In the name of the State Meanwhile, Scott hid in a grove and Hartley decided that Scott would of Minnesota, I as sheriff summon then, around 7 p.m., headed toward be safer two counties to the southeast, you and each of you to go with me in Milan. There he encountered Milan’s about 90 miles away, at the McLeod search of the negro who murdered the posse, and one of its members—​ County jail in Glencoe. He and his

270 MINNESOTA HISTORY party waited at Milan’s station for the 3 a.m. excursion train to Glencoe. The newspapers published soonest after the It was now July 19. The sheriff and his deputies were armed, but their attack printed the most inaccurate accounts presence did not prevent an assassi- nation attempt. At the station, a man of the 24 hours following the incident. pointed a pistol at the captive’s head, but attorney Christopher A. Fosnes of Sparta convinced the gunman not to he said that he threatened to shoot leave the city of 1,700 people. The shoot. Eventually, all ticketed passen- the first person who tried to take African Americans complied with gers boarded the train, and Scott and Scott. Also, multiple reports labeled haste—​“Most of them did not take the the authorities reached Glencoe with the prisoner a “murderer,” although full time limit but left immediately,” none of those townspeople aware of Olson had not died. The Rock Island according to the Willmar Tribune—​ their arrival. The assassination at- Argus in Illinois reported on July 18 despite having to abandon much of tempt proved Hartley’s assumption that both Olson and Torgerson had their property. By noon the next day, about Scott’s safety in Chippewa been assaulted and “will probably one-​third of one percent of Montevi- County correct.13 die.” The papers assumed that a mob deo’s population was gone.16 The newspapers published soon- would lynch Scott. Such inaccurate None of the local newspapers est after the attack printed the most reporting threatened to agitate Chip- identified the expelled residents by inaccurate accounts of the 24 hours pewa County’s angriest residents to name, but the Jeffersons were most following the incident, and these fulfill the prophecy.14 likely the victims. As of 1900, only stories persisted as other papers The mood of the county was not the Jeffersons had at least six African reprinted them. Editors in Bemidji, soothed by the disruptions that the Americans in one household in all of Willmar, and Minneapolis, for ex- manhunt had caused to public events. Chippewa and surrounding counties. ample, believed the falsehood told by Clara City’s baseball team prepared At that time they were a household of Ortonville’s police chief, Charles S. to host a game against Montevideo’s ten in Lac Qui Parle County, bordering Denny, who simply happened to be club on Sunday, July 19, but the Mon- Chippewa to the west. Also, the Clara on the train that Hartley boarded tevideo team failed to show up. Its City Herald’s editor reported that he with Scott. Making himself the hero, players “had been on the negro hunt drove with “the barber” into Montevi- Denny claimed that a mob numbering all day Saturday till late in the eve- deo on July 19, the day of the baseball in the hundreds and holding firearms ning and did not feel like playing ball game. By placing himself among the and ropes awaited him and his party the next day,” according to the Clara tense and volatile residents of Mon- at the Montevideo train station, and City Herald. The hosts and spectators tevideo, some of whom had just re- were not pleased.15 turned from the previous day’s “negro hunt,” Thomas Jefferson would have been both visible and vulnerable. As n this climate of manhunts, one local periodical put it at the time, lynching talk, and cancelled “Any man whose actions are suspi- I events, European Americans in cious . . . is likely to be strung up.” The Chippewa County looked at their Jeffersons avoided that fate but only African American neighbors with by permanently leaving southwest suspicion. African Americans, in Minnesota, which they had called turn, sensed the danger and began to home for the past ten years.17 flee. Late at night on Sunday, July 19, Joseph H. Scott, a group of young European American his arm still men approached Montevideo’s six re- ith the African Americans bandaged at the maining African American residents, gone, Chippewa County’s res- time of his trial; who all lived in the same “shack,” as idents breathed a collective Montevideo W Commercial, the Olivia Tribune put it. The visitors sigh of relief. “I think the danger of November 27, gave their neighbors until Tuesday lynching is past,” Smith declared 1903, page 1. night to abandon their home and to Gov. Van Sant on . On the

FALL 2015 271 other hand, the county attorney Sheriff Murdoch McKenzie in Glen- Thomas and Betsy Jefferson, their seven and others saw the calm as tenuous. coe to bring Scott by train back to children, and a lodger, living in Lac Qui Parle “Should anything occur to change the Chippewa County, the scene of his County when the 1900 U.S. census was taken situation here I will advise,” Smith crime, for a hearing. Local news- promised. Indeed, a Minneapolis papers printed conflicting reports of from the pole and laying it on the reporter in Montevideo revealed that what followed, but the basic elements ground. Then they burned the effigy same day, “The feeling is still bitter are consistent. Lyndon Smith tele- until only its shoes remained. The here,” and the St. Paul Globe assessed graphed to the Minnesota Falls train simulation was not unlike actual that “lynching . . . would have been a station, an intermediate stop, to warn lynchings around the country, and it certainty.” Furthermore, local news- that a mob awaited at nearby Granite showed that Olivia’s residents knew papers reminded readers of the close Falls, but the sheriffs did not receive what they were doing and how to do call they had just experienced. On July the message. Meanwhile, Helen it. Fortunately, the town had no Af- 21 several of them revisited the com- Olson’s uncle Paul Torgerson and rican American residents to serve as munity’s angry feelings and heralded two other relatives spotted the sher- Scott’s proxy.21 the posses as heroes. The Granite Falls iffs and Scott. Seeing the train leave Meanwhile, the sheriffs had taken Tribune declared that Scott deserved to Minnesota Falls, the three quickly Scott to a farmhouse back in McLeod be lynched: “If the mob [in Montevi- pedaled their bicycles the five miles County, which served as a makeshift deo] had had a leader the negro would northwest to Granite Falls to tell the courthouse. Smith and a judge met never have been allowed to escape the mob of the train’s approach. When them there to bring criminal charges rope he justly merited.”18 the sheriffs and Scott arrived and saw against Scott. The prisoner confessed brought yet another re- the crowd, they dashed to a buggy to robbing and attacking Olson, and hashing of the Ortonville chief’s and retreated back eastward. Olson’s the sheriffs returned him to the Glen- account—this​ time in the Willmar Tri- relatives pursued Scott’s party on bi- coe jail. It was 2:00 a.m., July 23, and bune. Although the town lay only 40 cycle for 19 miles, gathering followers the saga of the attempted transfer and miles from Montevideo, the Tribune along the way, but the buggy out- pursuit was finally over.22 lazily reprinted an inaccurate article distanced them. Stopping at Sacred from the Minneapolis Tribune. How- Heart, Scott’s keepers telegraphed the ever, the periodical added its own Renville County sheriff for assistance. n the week following Scott’s postscript to the story, disclosing that After he arrived, they traveled safely return to Glencoe, Minnesota law enforcement in Glencoe worried through the county, passing through I newspapers rationalized both the about persistent anger in Montevi- Olivia before reaching Bird Island.20 recent expulsion of African Ameri- deo: “It is deemed necessary to keep Although the pursuers were too cans and local lynching sentiments. a heavy guard to prevent a mob from tired to continue the chase when They described Scott’s looks in detail, coming down and taking him out for they reached Olivia, they riled up as if to say that his appearance made execution.” Montevideo and Glencoe the townspeople for a lynching. him a criminal and worthy of lynch- were nearly 90 miles apart, but Glen- Angry residents obtained a life-​sized ing. The Glencoe Register called him a coe officials feared that residents of figure to represent Scott, dressed it “repulsive looking negro” and “black Montevideo were angry enough to go in clothes and shoes, and crudely as the ace of spades.” Milan’s Standard to nearly any extent to lynch Scott.19 hung it on a telegraph pole. The identified him as a “negro brute.” The The events of that day proved the mob waited the length of time they Clara City Herald was most expressive, Willmar Tribune article prescient. thought it would have taken for Scott noting Scott’s “retreating forehead,” Sheriff Hartley met McLeod County to die before removing the figure “charcoal skin,” “big eyes,” and “heavy

272 MINNESOTA HISTORY protruding lips”—​all of which gave disputes about the practice. Some could have been found to have pre- him a “repulsive brutish appearance.” Minnesota papers argued for vigilan­ vented the man from being jailed until These illustrations were similar to tism as a viable alternative to the a mob could have gotten here from those found in southern newspapers failure of due process. “The citizens Montevideo . . . . he would never have reporting on African Americans ac- of Olivia are ever ready to mete out been placed behind the bars again.” cused of crimes.23 justice, if the courts do seem a little The Montevideo Commercial, mean- Some of Minnesota’s journalists slow and uncertain,” declared the Ol- while, portrayed Glencoe as vulnera- discussed the events in the national ivia Times. The Montevideo Commercial ble to lynching. Residents had lynched context of African American migra- warned that “should [Scott] not pay two European Americans seven years tion. The Olivia Times saw the mob the penalty of his crime at the instance earlier, and the town “may not be free activity of the five-​day period as a of the law, he will get a speedy exit at from mob passion.”26 natural response to the actions not of the hands of an indignant people.” On The media excused the expulsion an individual but of the stereotypical the other hand, the Granite Falls Jour- of African Americans from Montevi- African American savage: “It’s rather nal declared, “We do not want a South- deo as if the evacuees were collateral hard on us Northerners, who have ern lynching charged up to us.”25 damage of Chippewa County’s reac- held up our hands in horror at the Newspapers described mobs in as tion to Scott. Indeed, their anonymity brutal acts of the southern negro, to harmless terms as possible, and they in the local press and the ease with awake to the fact that a terrible crime largely distanced their communities which the city disregarded them em- has been committed in the north, in from the mob activity. The Milan Stan- phasized their expendability in the our fair Minnesota, by a negro, pre- dard trumpeted its community’s lack community’s eyes. The Montevideo sumably a northern product.” The of involvement, boasting, “We feel Leader referred to the departed simply Montevideo Leader quoted a Minneap- happy in the contemplation of our as “the darkies.” Clara City’s period- olis Tribune editorial that referred to righteousness.” It identified the resi- ical actually rejoiced and mused, “If the migration as the “black shadow” dents as “a law abiding community” the negroes could be driven out of the that was “creeping northward” and and noted that “the people of this vil- United States as easily, the race prob- “has reached Minnesota.”24 lage . . . restrained their indignation lem would soon be solved.” The St. The media promoted Minnesotans and protected the inhuman wretch Paul Globe ludicrously described the as capable of lynching but reluctant from the irregular procedure of mob incident as a matter of Olson’s “class- to follow the South in actually doing law.” The Granite Falls Tribune reported mates and personal friends” who so. Still, the disagreement among the that there was “no mob or signs of “simply asked” Montevideo’s African state’s newspapers about the propriety one” in town, “but one or two went Americans to leave.27 of lynching was similar to southern down to [Minnesota] Falls to see how Only the Montevideo Commercial the nigger looked.” The city’s Journal expressed any hint of regret about the stated that townspeople were “law expulsion. Moreover, it broke from abiding”; the “crowd at the depot” was other local papers by describing the The journey of Joseph Scott, “hoping to get a sight of the negro if incident as vigilantism. It scolded, the lawmen, and their pursuers, traveling by train, taken from the train.” But it added, “The actions of a few irresponsible buggy, and bicycle before “Besides the relatives of the girl who parties in taking the law into their state highways existed live here, enough more sympathizers own hands as they did Sunday night is

Montevideo CHIPPEWA COUNTY

McLEOD COUNTY

RENVILLE Granite Falls 3 Minnesota Falls 2 COUNTY 4 Sacred Heart Olivia YELLOW 5 6 Bird Island Glencoe MEDICINE 1 COUNTY strongly condemned by the law abid- in Glencoe. Smith was concerned him before due process of law and ing and responsible citizens generally, that “some persons . . . say there is from publicizing him to the detri- not for the love of the negroes but for an organized body plotting [Scott’s] ment of African Americans. The the respect of law and order.” Resigned death,” and the governor telegraphed Appeal was especially sensitive to the to the city’s new lack of diversity, the Chippewa County’s sheriff to see if he media’s implied accusation of sexual Commercial predicted, “A black man needed assistance. Hartley declined, violence. “There was no attempt to will be a pretty scarce article in this and Scott was safely brought to Mon- commit rape,” it observed, “although locality for some time to come.”28 tevideo. He pleaded guilty to first-​ the papers at the time endeavored degree burglary, first-​degree robbery, to create the impression that there and first-​degree assault “with intent was.” The Appeal acknowledged he state’s weekly papers had to kill” and was sentenced to 30 years Scott’s criminality and reprimanded finished discussing the events in the state prison at Stillwater—​ten him for soiling the reputation of all Tof July 18 to 23 by the end of the years for each charge. Scott had sto- African Americans. “It is just such month, and both the expulsion and len $4.50 in coin and property (about criminals as Scott who do so much to lynching simulation were quickly $117 today), but the judge did not bring discredit upon the race, as the forgotten. The case was revisited in believe he deserved leniency on that entire race is called upon to bear the the next few months only to report count.30 villainy of any one criminal, but gets on Olson’s improving health. In Sep- At this point, the Appeal, the Twin no credit for the good which is done tember a few newspapers mentioned Cities’ African American newspaper, by the hundreds and hundreds of a doctor’s successful removal of the indirectly addressed the July expul- thousands.”31 part of Olson’s skull that had pressed sion from Montevideo by warning of Between July and November, Af- against her brain.29 the ramifications for African Ameri- rican American newspapers nation- A new wave of coverage began cans whenever communities treated wide had ignored the story altogether, in November 1903, when Scott was one man’s crime as proof of the crim- perhaps in order to avoid publicizing due to stand trial. People flooded inal nature of an entire group. The Scott and his bad example. After into Montevideo, and Smith wrote newspaper discussed Scott only after reporting the trial’s conclusion, Min- again to the governor to assure him the trial ended in November, thus nesota’s African American and Euro- that Sheriff McKenzie kept Scott safe refraining both from condemning pean American newspapers moved on to other stories, and public mem- ory of the case faded into oblivion. Meanwhile, the Jeffersons had settled in Minneapolis sometime between 1903 and 1904, and they

Three indictments against Joseph Scott: robbery, assault, and burglary in the first degree. below: Joseph Henry Scott, Still­water State Prison inmate #1161. ment of multicultural communities throughout Minnesota. None of the people who drove out Montevideo’s African Americans faced legal conse- quences, and Olivia’s newspaper ac- tually took pride in the town’s violent message to African Americans. Public memory of the events of 1903 faded, but the residual hostility toward Af- rican Americans lingered, and they stayed out of Montevideo and Olivia for many years. The same anger that nearly killed Scott in 1903 fueled the lynching of African Americans in Duluth in 1920. At that time, Min- nesotans revisited old debates over the propriety of vigilantism, but they failed to cite Montevideo and Olivia. Still, the Duluth lynching prohibited them from credibly claiming moral superiority over the South, and they did not try.33 African Americans did not receive federal protection of the right to live where they wanted until the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and Congress only passed that law because of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassina- tion days earlier. As late as 1990, no African Americans resided in Monte- video, and only three lived in Olivia. However, the African American Front-​page commentary on the problem of to the workhouse. Winnie was populations of both towns rose to the lynching nationwide, Minneapolis Tribune, charged with keeping a disorderly double-​digits by 2010—​still no more July 23, 1903 house and got 40 days in the work- than one percent of the total. While house. George was discharged. It was Minnesota did not preserve the mem- encountered hardship in their new a public disgrace that added insult ory of the expulsion and mock lynch- environment. Records are spotty, but to the injury of the family’s exodus ing, those events cast a restrictive pall Minneapolis city directories show from Chippewa County just two years that the passage of both time and law Thomas working as a barber from earlier. Thomas died on November have just begun to reverse.34 1904 to 1910, his daughter Jessie as 22, 1910, at 74 years old; the Twin City a charwoman in 1908, and his son Star, an African American newspaper, George as a driver from 1905 to 1910. remembered him as “one of the old Daughter Winnie quartered siblings school gentlemen.”32 Notes Jessie, Florence, and George at her home at 237 10th Avenue South. On 1. “Watson Girl Assaulted,” Olivia Times, July 23, 1903; “An Awful Tragedy!” Montevideo Leader, March 2, 1905, all in that household aw enforcement and the media July 24, 1903 (quote); “Murderously Assaulted,” were arrested and sent to police court. treated the expulsion and lynch- Granite Falls Journal, July 23, 1903; “Montevideo Jessie and Florence Jefferson pleaded ing simulations as acceptable Was Not in Hands of a Mob,” St. Paul Globe, July L 23, 1903, 2; “Kill the Brute—​Legally!” Zumbrota guilty to being disorderly characters, reactions to Scott’s crime, and this News, July 24, 1903. and each received a ten-​day sentence permissiveness hindered the develop- 2. See Michael Fedo, The Lynchings in Duluth,

FALL 2015 275 2nd ed. (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society 12. Lyndon A. Smith to Hon. S. R. Van Sant, Granite Falls Tribune, , 1903. On September Press, 2000). July 20, 1903, Correspondence, Samuel R. Van 6, 1896, a mob entered the Glencoe County jail, 3. Walt Bachman, Northern Slave, Black Sant Gubernatorial Records, State Archives, abducted two men who had been arrested for al- Dakota: The Life and Times of Joseph Godfrey Minnesota Historical Society; “Joe Scott’s Crime,” legedly killing the county sheriff, and lynched (Bloomington, MN: Pond Dakota Press, 2013), Milan Standard, July 24, 1903. them. See Bessler, Legacy of Violence, 20–22. 9–10, 68–69; David Vassar Taylor, African Ameri- 13. “Mob after Blood,” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, 27. Montevideo Leader, July 24, 1903 [p. 5]; cans in Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical , 1903; “Joe Scott’s Crime,” Milan Standard, “Brutal Deed,” Clara City Herald, July 24, 1903; Society Press, 2002), 3, 7; John D. Bessler, Legacy July 24, 1903. “Montevideo Was Not in Hands of a Mob,” St. of Violence: Lynch Mobs and Executions in Minne- 14. “Women Victims of a Beast Attack,” Rock Paul Globe, July 23, 1903. sota (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Island Argus, July 18, 1903; “Probable Lynching,” 28. “Brutal Crime,” and “Local Paragraphs,” Press, 2003), 5–22. Deseret Evening News, July 18, 1903; “Sullen Mob,” Montevideo Commercial, July 24, 1903. 4. U.S., Census, 1870, Northfield, Rice Co., St. Paul Globe, July 19, 1903; “Mob after Blood,” 29. See, for example, “Victim of Scott,” Min- Minnesota, 38 (Betsy White); Minnesota, Census, Bemidji Daily Pioneer, July 21, 1903; Willmar Tri- neapolis Journal, Sept. 10, 1903. 1875, Mantorville, Dodge Co.; U.S., Census, 1880, bune, July 22, 1903, quoting “Black Brute Is Cap- 30. “Sentenced for 30 Years,” Montevideo Zumbrota, Goodhue Co.; Minnesota, Census, tured,” Minneapolis Tribune, July 20, 1903. Several Leader, Nov. 27, 1903; “Insanity His Defense,” 1885, Howard Lake, Wright Co.; Minnesota, newspapers debunked Denny’s “newspaper Minneapolis Journal, Nov. 20, 1903; Smith to Van Census, 1895, Clara City, Chippewa Co.; Minne- yarns” as “hot air”; untitled paragraph, Montevi- Sant, Nov. 16, 1903, Van Sant records; State v. sota, Census 1895, Granite Falls, Yellow Medicine deo Commercial, July 24, 1903. Joseph Scott, case file 158 (Nov. 24, 1903), Chip- Co., schedule 7, p. 221. Census records for 1895 15. “Clara City and Vicinity,” Clara City Herald, pewa Co. District Court Records, State Archives, are incomplete for the other Jefferson family July 24, 1903. MNHS. members. Thomas Jefferson also served as a sol- 16. “Mob Is Cheated of Its Victim,” St. Paul 31. “Scott Sentenced,” Appeal (St. Paul), Nov. dier in the Civil War; see Minnesota, Census, Globe, July 20, 1903; “Murderous Assault,” Will- 28, 1903. 1905, Population, Hennepin Co., enumeration mar Tribune, July 22, 1903, quoting Minneapolis 32. “Family in Limbo,” Minneapolis Journal, district [e.d.] 38, ward 3, sheet 7. Tribune, n.d.; “Escaped J. Lynch,” Minneapolis Jour- Mar. 3, 1905; Minnesota, Census, 1905, e.d. 38, 5. “Tried in November,” Minneapolis Journal, nal, July 20, 1903; “Local Paragraphs,” Montevi- ward 3, sheet 7, showing the Jeffersons in Henne- Aug. 1, 1903; “Convicted Negro Makes Confes- deo Leader, July 24, 1903; “Clara City and pin County for one year as of June; “Minneapolis,” sion,” St. Paul Globe, Nov. 26, 1903. Vicinity,” Clara City Herald, July 24, 1903; “Watson Twin City Star, Nov. 25, 1910. 6. “Sullen Mob Waits for Prisoner,” St. Paul Girl Assaulted,” Olivia Times, July 23, 1903. 33. Fedo, Lynchings in Duluth, 116–20. Globe, July 19, 1903; “Awful Tragedy,” Montevideo 17. In 1900 Thomas, Betsy, and seven chil- 34. James W. Loewen, Sundown Towns: A Hid- Leader, July 24, 1903; “Watson Girl Assaulted,” dren lived one county west of Chippewa; see den Dimension of American Racism (New York: Olivia Times, July 23, 1903; “Murderous Assault,” U.S., Census, 1900, Augusta Twp., Lac Qui Parle Touchstone, 2005), 130–31, 395–96; Robert Willmar Tribune, July 22, 1903. Reports disagreed Co., e.d. 117, p. 8B. “Clara City and Vicinity,” Clara Loevy, On the Forward Edge: American Government about where Thomas Olson had gone and Helen City Herald, July 24, 1903. and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Lanham, MD: Uni- Olson’s age. 18. “Mob Is Cheated,” St. Paul Globe, July 20, versity Press of America, 2006), 291; U.S. Census 7. “Mob after Blood,” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, 1903; “Escaped J. Lynch,” Minneapolis Journal, Bureau, 1990 Census of Population: General Popu- July 21, 1903; “Escaped J. Lynch,” Minneapolis July 20, 1903; Smith to Van Sant, July 20, 1903, lation Characteristics, Minnesota (Washington: Journal, July 20, 1903; “Joe Scott’s Crime,” Milan Van Sant records, MNHS; “A Colored Fiend,” Government Printing Office, 1992), 375, 393. The Standard, July 24, 1903; “Watson Girl Assaulted,” Granite Falls Tribune, July 21, 1903; “Mob after population of Montevideo in 2010 was about Olivia Times, July 23, 1903. The events of July Blood,” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, July 21, 1903. 5,400 and Olivia, 2,400; African Americans com- 17–23 have been reconstructed from reports in 19. “Murderous Assault,” Willmar Tribune, prised 5.7 percent of total statewide population. various newspapers, using details that recurred July 22, 1903, quoting Minneapolis Tribune, n.d. U.S. Census Bureau, “Minnesota,” and “Montevi- and/or were corroborated by other sources. 20. “Has Two Close Calls from Lynch Law,” deo (city), Minnesota,” State and County Quick- Stories—​correct or not—​were quickly reprinted Glencoe Register, July 24, 1903; “Murderously As- Facts, factfinder.census.gov; U.S. Census Bureau, elsewhere; see, for example, “Probable Lynching saulted,” July 23, and “Some Facts about That “2010 Demographic Profile Data, Olivia City, Min- in Minnesota,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake ‘Mob,’” July 31, 1903, both Granite Falls Journal; nesota,” Profile of General Population and Housing City), July 18, 1903; “May Lynch Assaulter,” New “Local News,” Granite Falls Tribune, July 28, 1903. Characteristics: 2010, factfinder.census.gov. York Tribune, July 19, 1903. 21. Olivia Times, , 1903, [p. 5]; “Joe 8. “Awful Tragedy!” Montevideo Leader, July 24, Scott’s Crime,” Milan Standard, July 24, 1903. 1903; “Mob after Blood,” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, 22. “Held for Trial,” Montevideo Leader, July The map on p. 273 is by Percolator; all other July 21, 1903. 24, 1903. images are in MNHS collections, including 9. “Awful Tragedy!” Montevideo Leader, July 23. “Has Two Close Calls,” Glencoe Register, p. 274, from the Stillwater Prison files, by Eric 24, 1903; “A Brutal Crime,” Montevideo Commer- July 24, 1903; editorial, Milan Standard, July 31, Mortenson/MNHS. cial, July 24, 1903; “Sullen Mob,” St. Paul Globe, 1903 [p. 2]; “Brutal Deed,” Clara City Herald, July July 19, 1903. Smith was lieutenant governor 24, 1903; Leon F. Litwack, Trouble in Mind: Black under John Lind and Samuel R. Van Sant. Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow (New York: 10. “Awful Tragedy!” Montevideo Leader, July Vintage, 1998), 302. 24, 1903; “Mob after Blood,” Bemidji Daily Pio- 24. Editorial, Olivia Times, July 23, 1903, [p. 4]; neer, July 21, 1903; “Sullen Mob,” St. Paul Globe, editorial, Montevideo Leader, July 24, 1903 [p. 4]. July 19, 1903; “Joe Scott’s Crime,” Milan Standard, 25. “Brutal Crime,” Montevideo Commercial, July 24, 1903; “Watson Girl Assaulted,” Olivia July 24, 1903; “Murderously Assaulted,” Granite Times, July 23, 1903. Falls Journal, July 23, 1903; Olivia Times, July 30, 11. “Awful Tragedy!” Montevideo Leader, July 1903 [p. 5]; Litwack, Trouble in Mind, 292–94. 24, 1903; “Murderously Assaulted,” Granite Falls 26. Editorial, Milan Standard, July 31, 1903 Journal, July 23, 1903; “Brutal Crime,” Montevideo [p. 2]; “Lynching Mania,” Montevideo Commercial, Commercial, July 24, 1903; “Joe Scott’s Crime,” July 24, 1903; “Some Facts about That ‘Mob,’” Milan Standard, July 24, 1903. Granite Falls Journal, July 30, 1903; “Local News,”

276 MINNESOTA HISTORY

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