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URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/1987-4-Dennison_Riot.pdf Date: 2/10/2010 Article Summary: In the spring of 1921 Omahans returned James Dahlman to the mayor’s office, replacing Edward P Smith. One particular event convinced Omaha voters that Smith and his divided commissioners must go in order to recapture the stability enjoyed under political boss Tom “the Old Man” Dennison and the Dahlman administration. The role of Dennison and his men in the riot of September 26, 1919, remains equivocal so far as Will Brown’s arrest and murder. However, Dennison and the Bee helped create conditions ripe for the outbreak of racial violence. Errata (if any) Cataloging Information: Names: James Dahlman; Edward P Smith; J Dean Ringer; Will Brown; Louise Rickard; Tom Dennison; Edward Rosewater; Frank E Moore; Frank Shercliffe; Elmer Thomas; W J Connell; Erastus A Benson; Gus Jennings; William J Broatch; Victor Rosewater; “Boob” Milder; Frank Johnson; Agnes Loebeck; Millard Hoffman; Milton Hoffman; William Francis; Michael Clark; Police Chief Eberstein; Louis Young; James Hiykel; Russell Norgaard; Charles Van Buren; A C Andersen; Lloyd Toland; Bennedict “Ben” Danbaum; William “Billy” Maher; Tony Hoffman; John W Towle; Tom Crawford; Vaso L Chucovich; Charles E Cobbey; Titus Lowe; Leonard Wood Place Names: Douglas County Courthouse; Omaha, Nebraska; “Budweiser” bar; Red Oak, Iowa; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Ellisville, Mississippi; Longview, Texas; Washington, D.C.; Knoxville, Tennessee; Gibson neighborhood; Bancroft School; Harney Street; Ford’s Hospital; First Christian Church Keywords: “Cowboy Jim” “the Old Man” “Courthouse Riot” “racial tension” “Omaha Bee””World-Herald” “policy shop king” “Daily News” “Fontenelle Club” “liberal element” “American Water Company” “red light government” “home-rule city charter” “Monitor” “Bancroft Gang” “Pulitzer Prize” “Law and the Jungle” “Kansas City Star” “Ministerial Union” “old gang” “Omaha Women’s Club” Photographs / Images: Rioters on the south side of the Douglas County Courthouse, September 28, 1919; Tom Dennison; Edward Rosewater; James C “Cowboy Jim” Dahlman; political cartoon, Omaha Bee, May 18, 1918; J Dean Ringer; Edward P Smith; Riot damage to the courthouse interior; county clerk’s office inside the courthouse after the riot; burning of Will Brown’s body; Omaha World-Herald headlines, September 29, 1918 :~---,....--- ---== r~ .~~ .... ---~'- _.-£~"'- .- .. = :F ,. ,.... b 0\ ... 1 . .r ~- Rioters on the south side of the Douglas County Courthouse, September 28, 1919. TOM DENNISON, THE OMAHA BEE, AND THE 1919 OMAHA RACE RIOT By Orville D. Menard In the spring of 1921 Omahans Internal differences and squabbles was besieged by a rioting mob; its returned James Dahlman to the that had marred the Smith administra­ determined members set the building mayor's office they had denied him tion, plus dissatisfaction with law ablaze and cut to pieces hoses unrolled three years earlier. Dahlman's streak of enforcement under Police Com­ by firemen to fight the flames. four consecutive City Hall victories had missioner J. Dean Ringer, fueled by the Policemen and deputies were verbally been broken in 1918 by the reform tick­ influentialBee newspaper, were signifi­ and physically attacked, the mayor et headed by Edward P. Smith. Now cant factors in the reformers' defeat.l almost killed, and the rioters even­ the colorful "Cowboy Jim" once again But one event in particular convinced tually realized their central purpose - displayed his winning ways as voters Omaha voters that Smith and his the lynching of black Will Brown, registered their disillusionment with divided commissioners must go in accused of raping a white woman. "The Smith and his colleagues. order to recapture the stability enjoyed results of the riot were far-reaching. under political boss Tom "the Old Omaha's reform administration," Man" Dennison and the Dahlman Louise Rickard concluded, "already OruilleD.Menardisaprofessorofpolitical administration. under attack before the disorder, was science at the University of Nebraska at For several hours on September 28, now thoroughly discredited."2 Omaha. 1919, the Douglas County Courthouse Dennison's political machine and the 152 1919 Omaha Riot Dahlman slate were the beneficiaries of the "Budweiser" bar. His lack of educa­ the Courthouse Riot. However, the riot tion and social standing necessitated a was not merely a spontaneous reaction contact within Omaha's establishment to racial tensions that had been build­ to facilitate the necessary exchange of ing through the summer of 1919 in monies (campaign contributions) and Omaha and other American cities. In instructions between the organization Omaha an orchestration of racism was and its upperworld clientele.4 conducted and a campaign waged to Dennison's conduit to men and exacerbate an already volatile situa­ organizations far removed from the tion, setting the stage for an outburst lower reaches ofthe third ward became demonstrating the incoinpetence of Rosewater, who needed the votes the City Hall's incumbents. The sequence political boss came to have at his com­ of events from Brown's accusation to mand. Edward Rosewater had lived in his death cannot be attributed directly Omaha for aimost three decades by the to Dennison and his machine. time of Dennison's arrival and his Bee However, there is little doubt they newspaper was twenty-one years old. A helped create a climate ripe for mob leading Republican, editor, and a man action, thereby realizing the goal of dis­ of wealth and power, Rosewater crediting Smith and recapturing con­ nevertheless recognized the impor­ trol of city government in the next tance of allying with a man capable of election. producing votes. In the months preceding the riot, Rosewater's opinions, channeled Omahans read in the Bee recurrent through his newspaper, were influen­ attacks on Ringer, and they were tial but insufficient by themselves to informed that because of him, ineffec­ alter or direct city decision making. tiveness and brutality were rampant in The editor's ambitions and considered the police department. During the courses of action needed electoral sup­ summer and fall of 1919 the Bee port to be transformed from Rosewater stressed the baneful consequences of policy to public policy. To that end Smith/Ringer misgovernment and pro­ Rosewater and men like him in other vided sensational and lurid coverage of Ibm Dennison, Omaha political boss. cities sought out a political boss, a man assaults by black men on white women able to deliver an election. Differing in in Omaha and of racial strife elsewhere. class standing and profession, inhabit­ A longstanding alliance. between ing different worlds, business boss and Omaha's political boss and a major reward and punish, and like bosses in political boss united in their common newspaper of the community was once other cities, took advantage of the desire to manipulate political power to again in view. numerous opportunities to be benevo­ their mutual advantage. And the key Tom Dennison was a political boss in lent or cruel as loyal followers or the was America's mass male electorate at the classical mold, a man with little for­ unfaithful deserved. Obedience, the turn of the century, amenable to mal education but one with consider­ however, was dependent upon accom­ benefits such as jobs and welfare, able experience in dealing with people. modations with other powerful figures, which the political machine was A professional gambler whose skills for a.political boss was not an isolated prompt to provide in exchange for a were honed in the gold and silver boom autocrat. Tom Dennison accordingiy vote. towns ofthe West, he came to Omaha in developed a host of allies and alliances, Rosewater was a political fighter, 1892 from Denver. To be a gambler but in his early Omaha years one name once described as "the best practical where the games were illegal required stands out prominently as his partner politician in Nebraska," a man "who political influence, and Dennison in seeking to dominate Omaha's politi­ knew the Omaha battlefield better than turned his formidable abilities to gain­ cal life Edward Rosewater, any living man. He knew its underworld ing access to city decisionmakers. publisher of the Omaha Bee. and its upperworld, its captains, its Within five years his political talents Dennison was a gambler, a man lieutenants, its rank and file."s When were apparent, and his powerful role in whose base of operations was in and how the relationship between Omaha life was well underway.3 downtown's third ward, wmchincluded Rosewater and Dennison was initiated Dennison was keenly