The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 86 - Tom Dennison and The Omaha Riot

Episode Date: June 7, 2015

In one of The Dollop's darker episodes, Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine political boss Tom Dennison and The Omaha Race Riot.Sources Tour Dates Redbubble MerchPatreon

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twice a year. It's not true. It's an American History Podcast. Each week I read a story to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is about and this is this will come out in June and then another one in December. Nope, I don't think that's how this works. Not Gary Gareth. Dave okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not gonna come to tickling podcasts. Okay. You are Queen Fakie of Hade Uptown. All hail Queen shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do what? Fray. Hi, Gary. No. Is he done, my friend? No.

So there might be some noise in this one because we're at Gareth's apartment and there is a pool party happening next door where they're playing old 60s music and then there are gentlemen banging on the side. There's a bang party. There's a bang party outside. By bang party we're not talking about the pool party. Yeah, no, no. The pool party didn't just turn in. October 26th, 1858. That might be a little loud. How long do you think that's gonna go on? Okay, so we have moved. We are away from the room where they're banging on the window. Those are huge lemons. Thanks, bro. Holy shit. Oh, you mean those? I thought you were looking at my

pants. Oh, no, those are grapefruits. First time looking at fruit. So I already did the date. Okay, you know what? I'm gonna get a chair and get a little further away. No, no, no. You sit right there. No, I don't want that. Now, this podcast is a disaster. Now I feel you're all happy with yourself. Yep, very chuffed. Your homophobia. Excuse me. Tom Denison was born in Delhi, Iowa. Delhi. Nice. He was the third of eight children of Irish immigrants, John and Anna Denison. In 1860, the Denison's moved to a farm in Dakota County, Nebraska. Okay, the elder Denison remained there the rest of his life. During that time, he took an active

part in the life of his community, owning a modest but successful farm and serving in several minor elective posts. Well, thank you for the story, Dave. It was great to have you around. Thanks for listening. One of our best. Yep. Tom left home at the age of 15 and returned to Iowa. Tom spent six years as a farm laborer in Manona and Mills counties. Okay. There he once won a contest for the county corn husking championship. What does that even mean? That what is it? It's just removing the pieces of corn? Yeah. No, that's just taking the husk off the corn. Tucking the husk off and getting ready for corn. That makes sense why they

call it that. Yeah, it's cleaning the corn the fast. It's writing the name. Corn husking. You don't need to look at me like that. In 1879, Denison left Iowa and sought adventure farther west. He worked at a blacksmithing establishment in Kansas. He went prospecting in Colorado and railroading in New Mexico. While living at the Kokomo Colorado mining camp, he shot and wounded a man for any particular reason. Couldn't find out. Jesus. Maybe the guy deserved it. It sounds like you're a little gung-ho. He then moved to Leadville and became a floor walker at the Texas. Okay. Yeah, that's a weird. All right, so we know what

corn husking is. What is this floor walking? It was the town's largest and most notorious gambling hall. Oh, okay. So floor walking would be kind of just like managing the floor a little bit, keeping an eye on the floor. Yeah, making sure no one's doing like a pit boss. The business. Right. Yeah, a pit boss. Yeah, shittier. Much shittier. During this period, Denison showed a knack for taking advantage of business opportunities and within a short time rose from bouncer to owner of a quarter interest in the Texas. He then sold it using his profits to purchase part ownership in Leadville's Opera House.

Next, he started the old arcade in Denver, which would be the first of a chain of gambling houses in the Rocky Mountain area. In 1892, at the age of 34, he settled in Omaha. Okay. Denison was an imposing figure, six feet tall and 200 pounds, always immaculately dressed and usually wearing large, flawless diamonds. Whoa, that's interesting. He's a pimp. Yeah, the diamond look really just screams I sell pussy. Straight up pimp. Yeah. Photographs of Denison show a man with cold, penetrating eyes who often had a wry smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He had a deep voice with a slight speech impediment that only surfaced

when he was tense. That's interesting. Yeah, that's great, right? To just be like, yeah, I kind of don't like the way that guy's looking at me. Excuse me for a second. Excuse me, sir. If there's some sort of problem you have with me, if there's something you want to say to me, sir, because you keep looking at me a little funny. I'm just wondering what your deal is. I told you he'd do it if you look at him. Anyway, sorry about that. I didn't mean to lose my cool. It's just that fucking asshole. What's the problem with the guy? I don't like the way that that guy looked at me. Omaha had recently been going through an economic boom and was on

the was was the one of the new leading agricultural and meat packing towns in the Midwest. But most importantly for Tom, the city had a seamy side. This activity was centered in the Third Ward and it was responsible for the city being called the wickedest city in the United States. Jesus. And a wide open town. Oh boy. The Third Ward gained notoriety through its saloons, gambling dens, street games and brothels. Drifters, swindlers, gamblers, prostitutes and criminals compromised a significant segment of its population. The police, with the exception of a rare obligatory crackdown, generally ignored the

district's activities. City fathers looked upon the area as a necessary evil. Sounds like peeky blinders so far. I haven't seen that. Well, you're hearing about it a little bit. Yeah, just an area where it just seems lawless and yeah, you can do whatever the fuck you want. As goes the Third Ward, so goes the city, was the saying. The ward gave substantial majorities to candidates in elections. Candidates from other precincts of the city could rarely match the votes from the Third Ward. Denison only needed to further so consolidate and organize the ward and its activities under his control to make

himself supreme. And that's what he quickly did. Okay. A power vacuum had recently been created when the big four, Charles Bivens, Hiram Kennedy, Charles White and Jack Morrison, who had run the Third Ward for years, suddenly disappeared after a police crackdown. Okay. Denison was there to fill the void. Oh boy, Diamond Denison. In November of 1892, Denison established a gambling house in an alley near 14th and Dodge, from which he ran a policy game, an illegal form of lottery popular among low income classes. And within a few years, he and his brother John had opened branch shops in South Omaha and across the

state line East Omaha. These three dens formed the most successful enterprises of their kind in the city. During this period, Denison formed connections through silent partnerships with other saloon casinos. Cliff Coles was brought by Billy in Nestle house and was it was renamed Budweiser. Whoa. Jesus. A lot of bar named Cliff Coles, which is a good name for a bar. Yeah. And he renamed it Budweiser. Well, I mean, in retrospect, it was a brilliant name for a bar. You know, the fucking deal would be crazy if it was before Budweiser. Yeah, that would be interesting. Budweiser served as Denison's headquarters. By the early

1900s, Denison had established his ward machine, the key lieutenant Billy in Nestle house became the business brains of the organization and coordinated various vice activities from the Budweiser. Yeah, Denison recognized the importance of minority support, made sure these groups had representatives within the machine. For instance, he financed a black man to help him purchase a brothel with Denison's help. He got police protection and ran that district. If there were ever any disagreements, Denison would replace the black man with another to run the district. So he just sounds so he gets

him all in and they vote the way he wants. Yeah, that's all good to go. Jack Bloomfield ran the area for many years. As Denison's machine rose in power, so did the amount of vice and newspapers began to notice. Among the rogues frequently reported to be in the city were the John C. Maybray gang, a group of Iowa swindlers, Patrick Crow, a train robber and kidnapper and fainting Bertha Lebke, whose gambit was swooning in front of her unsuspecting victims and then picking their pockets when they came to her aid. I mean, that one has got to get old fast. I saw you faint yesterday, bitch. I saw you faint

yesterday, Bertha. Between 1905 and 1915, Omaha had the greatest increase in drinking establishments of any city in the nation. All right, fuck yeah. By 1910, there were an estimated 100 brothels and 2,500 prostitutes in the city. 2,000 prostitutes. Yeah, there's not that many people there. There's just so many whores. That's great. And you know what else? Like, I don't want to be gross. Go ahead. But they're not, you know, clean. It's the pull-out method, if anything, in this time, right? There's not like... I mean, they did have... What did they put like lamb skin on their fucking cunts? I don't know if they had condoms at that point, but

yeah, it's not a good... I'm not saying like going to whores now is a great option. Look, it's not a good time to put your penis in a random vagina, nor is it a good time to have a random penis in your vagina. Yeah, that's just... Either way, yeah, you're gonna end up with syphilis. Yeah, oh god. And then your nose will fall off. Welcome to reality. It was estimated the yearly average income from the brothels was $17,760,000. I mean, we've just always loved to fuck. It just... And the feet... It doesn't matter. We'll run out of water. Yeah. The one thing will be consistent. We're looking to fuck. Yeah. We're a fuck people. We're fuck. We like

to fuck. On the same day in 1914 that a grand jury reported finding no examples of harlotry in the city, a street rocker was quoted by the Daily News saying, it's a poor girl on the street who can't make at least $5 a night in Omaha, so it's a fuck town. So your main occupation if you go there is to fuck. Yeah. Okay. Denison knew he couldn't have the police in a few city officials in his pocket. He couldn't just have a few police and a few city officials in his pocket. And diamonds. To make this work. Yeah. He needed the political machine. He would throw a support behind any candidate from either party that would serve his needs. Most

importantly, he formed a bond with Edward Rosewater and his newspaper, The Omaha Bee. Rosewater was a bohemian immigrant who had built a reputation as a man who would fight rival editors both physically and verbally. That's a fun order too. Rosewater had gained control of a large faction of the local Republican Party. In 1906, Rosewater died and Rosewater's son and successor Victor inherited a strong role in Republican politics and continued the Bee policy of rarely mentioning Denison's name in print while going after his enemies. But the Democratic candidates backed by the World Herald newspaper and

the news were succeeding as they railed against city corruption and vice. One would have thought Denison was losing control, but he was quietly working behind the scenes. John Denison, his brother, was appointed a sidewalk inspector. Well, this looks good. Excuse me. I'm gonna go home. Off the sidewalk. Excuse me. Are you walking? Eight years later, his brother Pat took the coveted post of street department foreman. Hey, I've been watching you sidewalk guy. Holy shit. The Denison's have controlled the sidewalk in the street. Oh boy. I don't know which way. Anywhere you walk, you're walking in

the Denison territory. What's this town coming to? Next, Pat's son became a police officer and Billy Nestlehouse is a stepbrother, a city commissioner. Oh boy. Then Louis Burmeister, a third-war saloon keeper, was elected president of the city council. The following year, Johnny Lynch, Denison's most important ally next to Nestlehouse, was elected to the county commission and shortly thereafter became a chairman. Lynch's election was important to Denison because it gave him control over juries. Suddenly, no one was being convicted. Good. So, that's, I mean, this is Peaky Blinders. In 1906, James Cowboy Jim

Dahlman was elected mayor. A mayor Cowboy? Yeah, he had a Cowboy hat and the horse soul thing. He's a cowboy. I mean, I'm noticing a lot of commonalities between then and now. In regard to saloons, gambling and prostitution, the mayor adopted a hands-off policy. Which is the best. We need to get government out of government. You're like, you dumb motherfucker. The fuck did you run for then? To get no power? Everything ran smoothly. The machine rolled on and Denison brought in the money until 1918 when it all fell apart. First, in 1916, Nebraska passed a state constitutional amendment allowing for prohibition. Next, the state passed an

election law making it much more difficult to stuff ballot boxes. Good order there, too. And finally, the military barred all servicemen from the Third Ward. Wow. Yeah, that's fucked up. That's not good for business. Not good for fuck business. And it's not good for the military guys. It's no. Good lord. Yeah. All Jim Wano was a little syphilis. Just a little taste. Yeah, he just wanted to dip his fucking, you know, just dipping the syph. He wanted to just do a syph dip. Jesus. Let him syph dip. That's horrible. What? In the 1918 election, Denison lost five of the seven city commissioners as well as Mayor Dahlman. His political power was wiped out overnight. Turns out the people at

Omaha wanted reform and were tired of the scandals in county government, the corrupt police department, and the sanctioning of ridiculous city contracts. A new era was starting for Omaha. Edward P. Smith, a successful lawyer, was chosen to be new mayor. John Ringer was selected police commissioner and was given the task of cleansing the police department and putting a tight reign on the city's vise. Ringer was a radical who saw his election as a moral crusade. It's so funny when a radical is someone who's just gonna do the things that are legal. Like just, you know what I mean? When someone's like, this guy's a

real radical. All right, no prostitution. He doesn't want corruption. No murder in the people's. He's kind of a lunatic. Now without power, Denison looked around at the state of Omaha and the country to fix his problem. Omaha had changed significantly since 1900. The World War I era created a demand for labor in America's industrial regions beyond the south. Uh-oh. Time to move. Time to company move. Immigration was drastically curtailed during the war and close to five million Americans enlisted in the army. They were a huge job they can seize. A massive labor shortage was at hand. So, northern factories and

industries actively recruited southern African American laborers, often enticing them to move north by offering to pay their train fare. News of the jobs available in northern cities circulated via mouth and through African American newspapers. Omaha itself had a labor shortage with upwards of 20,000 Omahaans enlisted during World War I. African Americans wanted to escape the nightmare of sharecropping and Jim Crow laws in favor of the urban north. 450,000 blacks migrated north during what came to be called the Great Migration. Okay. Omaha's African American population changed dramatically. The

railroads and packing plants offered a wide range of unskilled job opportunities and economic prospects. From 1910 to 1920, Omaha's black population more than doubled to 10,315 out of a total population of 191 thousand. Wow. At the same time, many unions were going on strike because wages were so horrible. Many African Americans coming in on trains had no idea they were being shipped to take others jobs. Blacks quickly learned the exact thing they escaped from was being recreated in places like Omaha by their very presence. Got to be a great situation. Yeah. Just a great time to be black. It's a

great time. This is probably the best time to be black. A lot of good times. I mean, good vibes. A lot of great times. I think that's this is what the song Good Vibrations is about by the Beach Boys. Yeah, no, exactly. Now soldiers began returning from the warfront. They found black communities had grown throughout northern cities, often in areas that had been inhabited once by whites. So tell me how they calmly handled this predicament. A lot of handshaking, a lot of talks. Yeah. Look at the guy in the eyes and go, let's sit down and talk about it. Why don't we talk about this over a nice cold butt. That's right. Yeah, right. Economic

resentment built up as job availability became scarce for returning veterans, many of whom resent an African Americans who occupied formerly white health jobs and to top it off, the unions wouldn't take black members. So black workers would just say fuck it and take the jobs they otherwise may have passed on. Wait, what's the union time? The unions wouldn't take black members. So then, but then they would, oh, so then it left them fewer opportunities. Then they have no choice but to be scabs. Right. Yeah, you shouldn't even be called a scab. No, at that point you're just a guy. A human. An

optionless human. Optionless human. Hey, you're one of them optionless human guys I can tell by your skin color. Yes, thank you for finally calling us that. Good Lord. So you got like no options. Although back then being called a scab for black people was probably like thank you. That's a nice word. Finally, usually get what a relief. You have a Packers clock. Yeah. Yeah. Bay Packers clock like you're five. Listen, I haven't tattooed on my body too. What do you want from me? The year I like the Green Bay Packers. I get it. I get it. It's a great clock. Thank you. The year of the lynchings was upon us. It's not a good

start. What do you mean? That's a terrible start to a sentence. Good. This is gonna be a great paragraph. No lynchings killed 78 black people in 1919 and increased from 48 in 1918. Even worse lynchings. Yeah. It's almost doubled. But it's just crazy. Yeah. Even worse. The lynchings had a carnivalesque atmosphere. Dave. What's up? Is that a weird word to. Yeah. Put with lynchings. Yeah. Popcorn. Get your popcorn. Cirque du Soleil presents lynchings. Sit down. I can't see the black guy swinging. Come on. My kid has never seen this before. You're getting all over his taffy. Let my boy watch the black man hang. In the South, violent mobs of hundreds if not thousands

gathered with advanced notice of lynchings that were often advertised in their local newspaper. Wait, white people or black people? White people would gather in large crowds because the lynching would be advertised in the huge show. This is not. I will say this is not. Did you not know that we advertise lynchings in newspapers? I didn't. I guess I didn't realize it was like a carnival. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't realize it was the gladiator of lynchings near Ellesville, Mississippi. The lynching and burning of a suspected black rapist, John Hartfield, was advertised by the New Orleans States with a headline that read 3000 will burn Negro. Three. That was the headline. That means like 3000 people

will be there to watch him burn. Yeah. Boy, this is. Do you want some of that, Jameson? How do you want to handle this? This is a good time to point out that America is a really great place. Terrible. Thousands of people arrived to witness the spectacle. Mobs assembled and attacked African Americans throughout that summer without fear of government repisal. Mobs feared little recourse for their actions and gladly posed for lynching pictures. This lack of punishment tag me led to more attacks and finally riots. Selfie. I'm taking a selfie with a dead guy. There we go. This is known as the Red Summer. In most instances. Because it was hot. Blood me. I figured. In most instances, white attacked blacks. In some cases, blacks

fought back. The first birth riot broke out in Charleston, South Carolina on May the 10th. It was begun by sailors in the US Navy. Three black men were killed. Then smaller riots broke out in May in Sylvester, Georgia, Putnam County, Georgia, Montecito, Mississippi. In June, New London, Connecticut, Memphis, Tennessee, Annapolis, Maryland, and Macon, Mississippi. Then in July, Brisbane, Arizona, where white police attacked the Buffalo soldiers of the 10th Cavalry. Then in Norfolk, Virginia, a white mob attacked a homecoming celebration for African Americans, veterans of World War One. I mean, I like. Yeah. I mean, how do you, in that time, at least not. Say thank you. Well, like, how do you. I mean, it's

horrible regardless. Yeah. But how does the. How do you. How do you bridge that gap mentally for like. It's bewildering because they were marching through town in a parade and they were like, you can't march. You black bastards can't march through our town. I've always said I'm down for beating the shit out of people having a parade, but that is not race related. That is just literally anybody who thinks that's a good call. Well, maybe that's what it was. Maybe they just didn't like parades. I don't think that was the case. There were eight more riots in July before they hit Washington, D.C. There blacks fought back because watching people watching the watching police refused to intervene. The

rioting went on for four days. A week later was the worst of all in Chicago. The riots there lasted 13 days. Jesus. The red summer hit 25 cities in 1919. And Tom Denison was listening to the news from around the country and he saw the change that was occurring in Omaha and he went to work using his friend. I don't like what that means. What do you mean that he went to work using his friend Rose water in the Omaha B. The B was a very bad newspaper that practiced yellow journalism. Bias news using language and tone intended to arouse passions. Fox knows the Omaha B newspaper published a series of sensational stories of racial incidents from late June until early September. Throughout its summer

riots coverage, the B accentuated the increasing black and white casualties around the country. In early June, an article about a young white girl in Council Bluffs who said she was robbed, throttled and assaulted by a black male. Next, the B reported a woman was attacked by an unidentified man suspected as either being a Negro or Mexican. It's hard to... I mean, that's how you know you're racist. It's one of them. The original report said it's one of them. How can you not tell? Well, they're brown. I was in Miami once and I was there for hip hop weekend. Unless hip hop weekend. It's a great weekend to be there. It's a crazy weekend to be there. And it was like late at night and this black chick is

walking down the street and she put her arm around me and she goes, I need to find a fine ass Mexican dude like this guy. And I was like, ma'am, you are shit. I was like, you drink yourself to the point where I look Mexican. It's like fucking Irish. Reports of alleged assaults against white women by black men dominated the B's headlines, creating the perception that violence was a relentless problem in Omaha. In mid August, a white mob almost apprehended a man named Johnny Moore, suspected of assaulting four white girls between the age of nine and 14. Upon word of Moore's capture, a mob wielding corn knives and firearms attempted to detain the prisoner themselves before detectives

whisked him away. The B reporter on August 17th, another story of an unidentified one armed Negro who restrained an assaulted a 12 year old girl named Anna Glassman. Okay. By the end of the month, the B reported yet another incident where a black man named Robert King, a recent immigrant from Arkansas, was alleged to have assaulted a white woman and was nearly lynched by a mob before police officers arrived. With growing violence, the B then began to place blame squarely on Mayor Smith and the Omaha police forces of African Americans in Omaha. From June 7th to September 27th, the Omaha B reported 21 alleged attacks by black men upon white women. The B incessantly reported that African Americans were either

suspected or arrested for the alleged crimes. When police and prosecutors could not convict any of those arrested, some Omaha citizens became even more critical to the police department in Mayor Smith because none of them had done it. The B printed editorials on the front page assailing police commissioner ringer for practicing tyranny and abuse and complained that a carnival of crime is being visited upon the city with assaults, robbery and violence the consequences of incompetent police. Then came September 25th, 1919. Milton Hoffman and Agnes Lobeck were assaulted at Bancroft Street and Scenic Avenue as they were walking home after a late movie. My guess is they're white. Really? Yeah. I think you are correct.

They said their assailant robbed them at gunpoint, taking Hoffman's watch, money and billfold, plus a ruby ring from Agnes. He ordered Hoffman to move several steps away, then drag 19 year old Lobeck by her hair into a nearby ravine and raped her. Well, okay, sorry not to jump in, but then this white guy is a fucking little bitch in this story. It's a weird thing to figure out how someone can do physically. I mean, oh shit, Agnes, that sucks. Sorry about your ruby ring. Yo, I'm just gonna hang here. All right, oh boy. Girl. I hope it's fast, Agnes. I'll be here. Jesus Christ. On Friday the 26th, an Omaha headline read, Black Beast First Stick Up Couple. I mean, it sounds like the bee needs

to go to headline school. Black Beast. I mean, that's awful. But it's all, what's the rest of it? First Stick Up Couple. I don't even know what that means. Maybe at the time it meant something. It doesn't make sense to me. Yeah. I mean, maybe he was the first black man to stick up a couple. The most daring attack on a white woman ever perpetrated in Omaha occurred one block south of Bankoff Street near Scenic Avenue in Gibson last night. The article states that the black beast had assaulted the white girl. Police searched two hours joined by 400 armed men under the leadership of James Lobeck, Agnes' brother, and Frank Rom. A neighbor told searchers

of a quote, suspicious Negro living in a house at 2418 South Fifth Street. Isn't any Negro in a house suspicious to people at this time? I think that's what they're saying. Yeah. So they're looking for a black... Suspicious Negro just means Negro at this time. They're looking for a black person and someone goes, I know where a black person lives. Yeah. A suspicious one. Well, of course he's suspicious. He's black. Well, this suspicious black man was living with a white woman, Virginia Jones, and another black man. See. So that's where we know where the suspicion came in. Yeah. Oh, that right. Yeah. Breaking the rules. Yeah. Well, he's clearly hypnotized a whitey, naughty Negro.

Rom and four of his men found 41 year old William Brown at the house and held him with a shotgun. Arriving on the scene, police found Brown hiding under his bed. They took him to Lobeck's home nearby, bringing with them clothes found in Brown's room. So I just want to... I just want to break this down. So there's a guy just living in a house with a white woman and people are searching for a black guy. So someone says, hey, I know where a black guy lives with a white lady and clearly that guy's problem. And then they go to the house and they capture the guy and then they take him to the woman's house who said she was raped and they bring his clothes from the closet. They bring his clothes? Yeah.

Why? Fashion. Lobeck and Hoffman identified Brown as their assailant. Agnes also identified the clothing, including a white felt hat that had been worn by a man seen in the Gibson neighborhood. So it's not a hat that he was wearing when he committed the crime. It's a hat that a black guy was seen wearing around the neighborhood. Also, when your racism is so impenetrable, what is the point of identifying? Like, it's inherent that they all are the same to you. Yeah. You've already said that they all basically look the same. Yeah. What is the point? I mean, any dude you bring there, she's gonna be like, that was him. He's black and breathing. That's the one. He's got a face. I'd recognize him anywhere with those

two hands and shoes. His eyes, his brown eyes. He's blinking just like the man who assailant assaulted me. Black hair, I told you, black hair. Hoffman identified Brown, quote, with not the least bit of doubt, but what he is the Negro who held him at gunpoint while he raped Agnes. Later, however, Agnes stated that her attacker was black, but quote, I can't say whether he is the man or not. It's got to be a lot of pressure to not even like take the side of a, I mean, obviously, it's terrible what happened to her if that's actually what happened to her. But to have like nine foaming white dudes at your house with a black dude with clothes, just like with hard-ons for the conviction, I'm sure at that point

you're, you know, you're like, well, yeah, exactly. This is a weird lineup, but I don't point that guy at my living room. Out of all the guys here, the nine white guys and the one black guy, he's the closest. Man, we know you were just traumatized by a rape, but we're gonna bring your rapist into your house. So that's comfortable and smart. Is your rapist? Hey, welcome back to is this your rapist? If I say he is, will you stop bringing rapists into my house? I can't make any promises, ma'am. And no. By the large crowd of some 250 men and women had gathered around the house shouting that Brown should be lynched. They struggled with the police and twice succeeded in putting a rope around Brown's neck. The

standoff lasted for an hour. Despite slashing of tires and beatings, the police took Brown first to the new Douglas County Courthouse jail. There police chief of police, Marshall Eberstein said he did not know if Brown was guilty and that further investigation was necessary like a police officer. So think of how fucked up a time it is when black people are dying to go to the prison with the cops. Like when that was this is the time that was the best option. This is the time when black people were like, please take me to the prison. Oh, my God, the police, you're the only people I can turn to right now. The levelheaded cops. When he was taken to the county jail, Brown said he was working as a coal hustler, which

meant he would carry coal from trucks to sellers and limping because of rheumatism. A physical examination showed Brown was quote, too twisted by rheumatism to assault anyone. An Omaha World reporter interviewed Brown in jail and quote, confirmed by his observation, the man's crippled condition. His chronic rheumatism meant Brown would be unable to overpower Low Beck and Hoffman concluded Jim McKee, a Lincoln Journal writer. Well, yeah, I'm not surprising. I still stand by the fact that Agnes should not have gone out with such a pussy also. Ironically, Hoffman, the pussy was also he broke a leg when he was a kid and it healed

him correctly. So he had a limp. So in all the newspaper reports, they referred to him as the cripple, Hoffman, the cripple. Meanwhile, the dude with the rheumatisms in jail, excuse me, who's the who's the cripple storyline in this? Ironically, Hoffman was repeatedly mentioned as the cripple. He denied that description saying he had a disability because of his broken leg that never mended. Come on, I'm not the cripple. Yeah.

About 2pm. Focus on the right things there, pal. That's 2pm on September 28th. Hoffman got about 200 mostly young people at Bancroft School to follow him to the courthouse and try to seize Brown. Detective John Dunne told the marchers to halt, but they ignored him, their numbers increasing as they passed. By 4pm, several hundred people had gathered at the south side of the courthouse with 30 policemen cordoning off the building. Thinking there was really no threat, a police captain sent home 50 officers who have been summoned to police headquarters as a reserve.

And this year's shithead of the year award goes to... What a fucking idiot. Hey, what are you guys doing here? The captain called us down. Nah, we're good. Nah, even though there's 200 people out there in a lynch mob, we're calling it a slow Sunday. Why don't you guys call it? Huh? Get the fuck out of here. Yeah, come on, you don't need to work today. You don't need to call us five. You guys, the bag's under your eyes, please. Come on, get some sleep, gentlemen.

Come on, this'll be fine. We got this. There's like 30 of us and 500 of them. All right, do the math. Don't do that math. Take care. Inside, Chief Eberstein called... So, while that guy is sending him home, Chief Eberstein called the Council Bluffs, Iowa, Police Chief JC Jensen for assistance. Jensen replied he had no right to send his men out of the state. They then asked the Lancaster County Home Guard for help, but were told the riot would

be over before they could respond. I mean, that is like the, I'm washing my hair excuse for a date. You know you're getting the fucking run around when you hear that. Yeah, we're making a tuna casserole over here. We can't find our shoes, so I don't know how we could do it. You know what, our shirts are in the wash and our shoes aren't shiny. God. So, you know what, and I'm thinking by the time we get down there after the shirts get

out of the wash and we dry them and blah, blah, blah, the riot's going to be over. My most riots go for an hour forty-five. Where was the last place we saw our shoes? Oh boy. If we could figure that out. We're going to get back to you. I'll tell you what, we're exhausted. Good luck with all that. When Lieutenant Colonel Jacob West at Fort Omaha received a report that a riot was underway,

he told Omaha's police chief that federal troops could not get involved unless ordered by the War Department. The military's- It's a good thing there's not a lot of levels and hoops to go through. This is when there's just paperwork at this point. Yeah. I mean, it's literally like everyone's like, let me call headquarters. You know, I get that you guys are getting attacked by a giant mob, but I got stuff to

get signed. Let me float it up the chain. I'm going to talk to some fellows. Please hold. The military chain of command had to be initiated, delaying action while communication passed from Secretary of War Newton D. Baker down to the Fort's commanding officer. In an hour, police were confronted by some four to 5,000 angry people throwing rocks at the courthouse.

Four to 5,000. Yeah. Dude, if you're in the cell, I mean, you would probably want to fucking just hang yourself just to not give them the satisfaction but play the reality, which is that you're pretty fucked. You're pretty fucked. The North Doors gave way and the police chased the mob from the building several times. They attacked the police a little after 5 p.m.

One officer was pushed through a plate glass door. Two others became targets when they drew their clubs. Fire hoses were turned on the mob with no effect. Stones and bricks broke almost every window on the south side of the courthouse. The police tried to discourage the assault by firing their revolvers down elevator shafts. I feel like that's not good police work. Unless there's hundreds of people in the elevator shafts, that's useless. The elevators aren't attacking anyone.

Well, I think the idea is that they were trying to make it sound like they were shooting out and the only place they could shoot without hitting something was down in the elevator shaft. It really just shows you the disparity between the value of life of a white person and a black person. In order to dissuade the white people from murdering the black guy, they'll create the illusion of violence. Meanwhile, they're going to fucking hang this man.

Yeah. If he's lucky. Yeah. The shots only made the crowd angrier. Well, that's a crazy effect. That's shocking. They seem pissed. It seems like they'd be reasonable and go home with that white.

Or at least you don't get more angrier. Instead the crowd battered, wait, so Mayor Smith and police chief Everseen arrived and entered the building to restore order. The crowd then battered down a door and a 16-year-old boy on a horse, William Francis, appeared with several men hanging onto the horse's tail as he rode through the entry way. I mean, that's just awesome. Yeah.

Now there's a guy riding a horse into a building on his tail. His tail. He's 16. He's not even on the varsity football team. Yeah, he's skiing. He's JV. Yeah. JV.

And halfway through his life. With the courthouse surrounded and breached, police chief Marshal Everseen climbed to a second-story window to speak to the mob. He got out on the window sill and the crowd began cheering and shouting and throwing rocks. And Everseen was forced to retreat. Next city commissioner, Harry B. Zimmin, tried to talk to the growing mob only to be drowned out by shouts of, Lynch the damn Jew. Was that person confused why they were there?

I think Everseen, now they're going after the Jew. Jesus. Well, look. I mean, you got a building surrounding you. You might as well kill the minorities. Nothing will make you ditch the, like, don't kill this black man faster than, like, and the Jew, too. You're like, hey, you know what?

Actually, have at him. Yeah, let's bring the black guy out here. Let's get him out here. Now that I'm thinking about it, I kind of see their side a little bit more. Now that I'm thinking about it. Zimmin suffered a few blows from rocks before being helped inside by friends. But mechanic John Thomas lauded the protection of white women. He lauded the protection of, what do you mean?

If we were saying that, you know, it's great that women, white women should be protected and this is what we're doing here. We're taking care of white women. Man, this mob, this just sounds like a very chaotic mob. Oh, it's an idiot party. This is a giant idiot party. I mean, for someone to just in the middle of it, just be like, you know, it's great. We're defending women.

It's just like, dude, not now, let's not bottom line it right now. We're all a little fired up. Let's see the mob broke through the police barrier and officers caps, badges and revolvers were taken from them. Most of the police retreated inside the building by 7pm joining Sheriff Clark and his half dozen deputies. Half dozen, yeah, pawn shops and the Walter G. Clark and Townsend Gun Company were broken into for revolvers and rifles.

By 8pm, the mob had begun firing on the courthouse with guns. Mayor Smith came out of the east doors on 17th Street to confront the mob. He asked them to forget the prisoner and allow the firemen to put out flames that were beginning as they were starting to set the building on fire. Good. More emergencies. It is, the cause is terrible, but it is, it does seem like all the shit that we get fucked with today, you'd think we would be able to have some sort of reaction like this

to it. I know. Now we don't do anything. But now we don't do shit. Now we're just so apathetic. Yeah. And here it is just to kill a black guy, you've galvanized 10,000 people. So you're saying that the heartening part of this story is that people care.

If you dig deep enough, what you can say is that people united for a cause. Sadly, in this circumstance, it's disgusting. It's a horrific cause. But in this day and age, like I could never, like literally if we got rid of chicken fries is the only way that I could see like people acting like this. Like the, you know, the shit that we give a fuck about now, it's just, you would, to see this, it would just, what, what would it take? Oh, now you're right.

Yeah. Anyway. So the mayor's outside talking to the people. He was then hit with a baseball bat. Oh. A head attack by the mob. No, I will not give up the man, Smith said. I'm going to enforce the law even with my own life.

The crowd took his words to heart, shouting, hang him, string him up. With a noose around his neck, the mayor was dragged to the 16th street traffic signal. What? A rope was thrown, the rope was thrown over a bar and tightened around Smith's neck. Then a man named Russell Norgaard saved the mayor's life by removing the rope. Police reinforcements arrived with drawn pistols. They took the unconscious mayor to Ford hospital. I'll bet you that mayor fucking is switching positions a little bit.

Yeah. Do whatever. You don't have to go with the black eye stuff you guys were talking about. Starting to sink in. The mob rushed back, but you kind of be fucking impressed with the fucking white guy in this day and age. Yeah. He gives up his life to save a dude.

Totally. I mean. That's very, I mean, and then we have a hero. Well, and you all, like, I think we've been talked about this before, but like, it's so hard to know, like, you know, how much of just the culture forms your mind. Like to be an independent thinker, not even that this guy is doing it. I mean, I'm sure he would be fine to hang this dude if he was proven wrong. But the idea that you could actually, like, take a stance like that really is.

Yeah. That's some fucking backbone. That is. The mob rushed back to the courthouse and the riot escalated as gasoline was thrown into the building. Starting flames forced the police to retreat to the second floor. Firemen fought, firemen bought, brought hoses, which the crowd quickly hacked to pieces. What's good is when there's a fire and you're going upstairs.

I mean, that's the one way to go. Yeah. Riders took the fireman's ladders and used them to enter the courthouse's broken second story windows. Sweet. Good. Like, I mean, literally, if you're in the building, you have to be like, it was a bad thing.

The fire department came. It was bad. I get it, guys. I get you had a good idea in mind, but shit is so fucked when you wish the fire department never showed up to your fire. While leading a charge up the stairs to reach Brown, 16 year old Louis Young was shot and killed. Policemen and sheriff's deputies took to the fourth floor with flames and angry men

below them. Someone shouted, shouted, let no one leave. Oh, boy. The mob station armed men at every exit door. Sheriff Clark led Brown and his 121 fellow prisoners to the roof. But bullets fought. That's the other thing. All the other prisoners are like, what the fuck?

Hey, I'm getting out tomorrow. It was jaywalking, you guys. Guys, I'm sleeping one off. I'm getting a little too drunk for this shit. I shouldn't have drank all that alcohol. So 121 prisoners are on the roof and then bullets were fired from nearby buildings and they had to run back down the stairs. Clark convinced the rioters on the stairs to allow female prisoners to leave.

Officers and deputies began telephoning their wives with their final words. Sorry, that is a sentimental part. It is funny to think of the moment when you're negotiating with these guys for them to actually have a moment to be like, let the women go, let the women go. Okay, ladies are cool. What about the black ladies? It's ladies night. It's ladies night.

Those aren't ladies. Black ladies aren't ladies. Just the ladies. You guys got the flyers, right? It's ladies night. Ladies night. Okay, girls. You coming out of the mansion tonight?

It's a ladies night. And then at the bottom of there, there's almost like a bouncer to the outside who's like, yeah, but two more have to come in before you can go out, ladies. Sorry. Sorry about that. I was just doing a head count. Okay. So the cops are calling their wives and saying goodbye.

Deputy clerk of the court, Assel Steer, realizing that several large record books were threatened by the fire, made his way through an entrance and went to his office where he carried several district record books to a vault and safety. Along the way, he found three wounded police officers and he took them into the vault and then someone slammed the door behind them. Oh, fuck. Trapped in the blazing building. What?

The four men broke through a wall and escaped while being shot at. Bad vault. That's fucking amazing. Amazing. Not a good vault. Shitty vault. Not a good vault. It's just a door.

And we'll use the side. Hey, you know what, let's put a big vault, a door on this closet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 10 officers in courtroom one on the fourth floor were threatened by the flames, but their call for help was refused with calls of, let them burn, bring the nigger down with you and we'll hand you a ladder.

From the west side of the building, three slips of paper floated down, scrawled on one of them was, come to the fourth floor of the building and we will hand the nigger over to you. Oh my God. The nigger placed against the west side of the burning courthouse and two men, one with a rope and the other carrying a shotgun rushed up the ladder to the second floor. From there, they performed an aerobatic climb to reach Brown and his defenders two floors up, but by now it was dark and the automobile headlights illuminated the window ledges as

they climbed. So the shouts and shots came from the building south side. They yelled, Brown was in the hands of his executioners. Sheriff Clark claimed he surrendered Brown to save the lives of the police officers and deputies, fearing they would be killed if the struggle continued. He's right. He is right. He is right.

But it's still fucked. It's the most horrific decision you have to give up an innocent guy so that other innocent people can live because there's insane people outside. I had Will Brown moaned to Sheriff Mike Clark, I am innocent. I never did it. My God. By the way, I am innocent. By the way, I mean, that's the elephant in the room that probably not I've almost forgotten

about at this point is that this guy didn't even do shit. Didn't do anything. He was just in a house. He's just a guy. He had a white roommate. He had a white roommate. White roommate. Yeah.

White roommate, red flag. The day after the riot, a youngster said he read the note that urged others to come to the fourth floor and get the nigger with two friends. He followed the instructions and somebody handed Brown over to 30 men who had come up the stairs. They tied a rope around his neck and dragged him to the south side of the building. He was beaten into unconsciousness. His clothes were torn off by the time he reached the building's doors.

Bloody he was taken down the stairs and handed over to the waiting horde to hang him. Several men pulled Brown's body into the air as the crowd cheered. There he died swinging by the traffic sign. The swaying body then became a target for gunfire. He was riddled with bullets. Lowered after 20 minutes, Brown's remains were tied to the end of a police car that the mob had seized and dragged to the 17th and Dodge streets. There he was burned with fuel from the red signal lanterns used for street repair.

Brown's tried remains were then dragged behind the automobile through downtown streets. Nebraska born actor Henry Fonda was 14 years old when the lynching happened. His father owned a printing plant across the street from the courthouse. Henry Fonda watched the riot from the second floor window of his father's shop. It was the most horrendous sight I'd ever seen. He locked the plant, went downstairs and drove home in silence. My hands were wet and there were tears in my eyes. All I could think of was that young black man dangling from the end of the rope.

Estimates of the crowd vary from 5,000 to 20,000. As it dwindled, US troops began finally arriving in response to request for assistance. Colonel West ordered two companies to the courthouse to restore order and sent a third company to the Black District as a precaution. While the troops marched, Brown was being lynched, burned and his body dragged around the city's downtown streets. The next day, special trains brought reinforcements from army camps in Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota. Eventually 1,600 troops were on duty in Omaha.

You want to talk about the Packer Clock anymore? Can I just say that when people talk about horrible isises, this is not that long ago. Yes, everybody knows. Well, that, I mean, honestly, the problem is that, yeah, exactly. There's no perspective. No perspective. I mean, if you like, I always think that about like the Middle East, like it's terrible when somebody's killed.

It's terrible when anything like this happens, but you also have to think that like, there's like a generation of babies in Iraq who have like enormous heads because of us. And we like, in this period until 1930, we killed thousands of black people. Yeah. And we really don't. We really just have no interest in reopening it. How is this not taught in the history books? Yeah, right?

It's fucking disgusting. And you would think, like, and it just, like, it really is true that like the, I guess the problem with racism in this country is that it is, it's like a drinking problem in a relationship where you just don't want to talk. You just, you don't want to rock the boat because you don't want to like not live together anymore. You don't want to talk about the drinking. Yeah.

But really what you need is the therapy to be like, holy shit, we've got a lot of problems here. Purge them and then you can move forward because if you think about the shit with the cops now or even the reaction of the cops now, it's the same sentiment different times. We're still killing black people just legally. Yeah. Which is the fucking, yeah. The courthouse was in ruins, completed in 1912 at a cost of $1,500,000.

The damage to the building was estimated at $1,000,000. Tax records were burned as were land indexes in the office of register of deeds. The county clerk's office was gutted and furnishings and equipment and other offices were in shambles. Plus you need to fucking, you know, fire the vault guy. Right. The vault guy is an idiot. Three men were killed as victims of the mob's fury.

Will Brown, teenager, Lewis Young and H.J. Huykel, a businessman who was walking down the street two blocks away when he was shot in the abdomen. Oh, Jesus Christ. I loved it just random. There you are, Huykel, you son of a bitch. Oh! 50-some individuals were injured with cuts, bruises, beatings and smoke inhalations.

So think about the initial crime. And now three people of your own race who matter are dead. Well, two people of your own race. Yeah. County attorney Abel Shotwell proclaimed the law would be enforced and the rioters prosecuted. The army began to arrest mob ringleaders on the basis of photographs confiscated from the public. General Wood personally interviewed several suspected mob participants.

The army confiscated photographs of the riot from the public and began identifying and arresting a hundred men accused of taking part. So they would all take pictures with the body. That was like a big thing back then. Oh my God. That was a big thing back then. You would take pictures. You would watch people smiling and hanging out with the body.

It's really cool. It's a good time. The police compiled their own list of 300 alleged participants. One of the names high on the list was Milton Hoffman, the cripple. Who had worked as Denison's secretary. Oh, fucking A. Hoffman was accused of leading the mob from South Omaha to the courthouse and whipping them into a frenzy.

Get the fuck. As well as reporting the original rape and saying it had happened to him. Denison got Hoffman out of the city to Denver before he could be arrested, where he worked for another gambler for seven years before returning to Omaha. 50 men took the grand jury's oath on October 8, 1919. Sheriff Clark selected a 16th, Henry H. Dunn, a Denison loyalist and former chief of police. October-November indictments, including counts of murder with revolvers, hanging, striking, beating, bruising, wounding, shooting, choking, strangling, and suffocating Brown, along with

arson, breaking and entering, and inciting others to the same acts. The grand jury issued 189 indictments. 12-year-old Sol Francis was the youngest to be arrested. 12? He had urged other writers to follow him as he climbed a ladder. But who the fuck? I mean, look, get all the fuckers. And you shouldn't be listening to a 12-year-old during a riot.

Well, his brother, because the other kid who rode the horse was also named Francis. He was 16. So I think the Francis family is pretty fucked up. Yeah. But they're leaders. They're leaders. Look, listen, a 12-year-old could come and tell me anything right now. I'm probably not going to listen to it.

Okay. Okay? Fair. Only a few... Come climb this ladder, mister! Oh, woke, of course! Only a few of the arrested were ever prosecuted, mostly on minor charges. Two exceptions were Ralph Snyder and Claude Nethaway, both charged for Brown's murder.

From atop a burned police car, Snyder had shouted, We have showed the nigger what a northern mob can do. They were found not guilty after a brief jury deliberation. Mayor Smith said he was positive that a man named Davis was one of his assailants. Davis was charged with assault to murder to do great bodily harm, conspiracy to murder, unlawful assembly, and rioting. Davis claimed he was home during the riot and was not convicted. Now, how's it home, you guys?

Yeah, it's the way you heard the guy. He's at home. Well, not much else we can do here. Your story checks out. That's pretty open and shut there. He's got a great alibi. Take care, my man. Sorry about that mix-up.

We didn't realize you were at home. Oh, okay. Thank you. I'll see you later. Okay. Take care. Despite the presence of thousands of people, few cooperated with law enforcement. A conspiracy of silence protected the participants.

The grand jury report said people in the mob were under the influence of liquor. They had been fueled by local saloons. The courthouse gang had urged the crowd- Did everybody just get shit-faced all day during the- I mean, is that really- It was basically what would happen, right? Well, who owned the saloons? Of course. But in general, it just seems like- He was giving out free liquor. Yeah, but- What would you do if you're in a riot and there's free liquor?

What do you think I'm gonna fucking do? Turn it loose. I'm gonna fucking party, bro. I'm gonna be looking for coke. The courthouse gang had urged the crowd to drink up and spur enthusiasm for the task in hand. And most importantly, the accounts of black rapists turn out to be white men in black face.

Uh, one more time? If you're about to say what I think you're about to say. The- All the accounts of black men attacking white women in the Omaha B were just white guys. They were investigated. It turned out that they were white guys in black face. You can't even look at me. People on one side pointed the finger at Denison.

His supporters said he would never do anything like this. Denison never had anything to do with that riot, they said. Denison's stalwart William Billy Mayer denied the old man had anything to do with the riot, but added, I don't say he didn't get a kick out of it the way it ruined the administration that was in. That guy should not be talking. There was no evidence to prove Tom Denison's direct involvement in Brown's death. But his longtime relationship with the Omaha B, his campaign to discredit the Smith administration,

his political and legal influence, and his connections with Hoffman seemed noteworthy. Hoffman, the cripple whom was with young Miss Agnes Lowebeck on the night she was allegedly raped. I'm glad at least he still gets called a cripple. Yeah. On the night she was allegedly raped by Will Brown, it turns out Milton Hoffman was Denison's employee. His uncle had recommended him to the old man a few years earlier after teenage Hoffman

completed a business course. He worked as Denison's secretary, assisting with election ballots and voting before he was 21. Milton Hoffman disappeared right after the riot. He went to Denver where he married Agnes and where he worked for one of Denison's closest friends. There they returned to Omaha where they, later they returned to Omaha where they spent the rest of their lives.

Fuck this. There lived voices of condemnation were heard, but mostly a consensus of acceptance of lynching. Even approval was typical in Omaha and other cities. The violence did not evoke any initiatives to assuage racism or improve conditions for Omaha's African-American community. Two years after the riot, the Ku Klux Klan formed an Omaha Clavern. Mayor Ed Smith was politically damaged. Denison's machine won the next election.

During Henry Fonda's long career, two of his best movies, Young Mr. Lincoln and the Oxbow Incident, featured lynchings as major plot points. Jesus Christ, dude. That's America. That one is fucking dark. I told you it was going to be dark. Good God. That's awful.

I've been avoiding the black riots and the just straight-up horrific murder of towns. Rosewood. Towns were obliterated. St. Louis. Hundreds were killed. There's another city. I think it was in Arkansas. Just obliterated.

It went on for like 14 days. But then I was like, well, fuck. It's a history podcast. And this is America, right? And I think you're like, like I was saying, I mean, you know, I think you should know that it's good to know this shit. Nobody knows this. It's good to know.

It's not nice to hear, but it's good to know. No, it's not nice to hear at all. But sorry, you guys, sorry I bummed you out. Jesus Christ. Welcome to history. The next one we'll do about balloons. Yeah. Look at mine, man.

Give me the space to play. The next one's a lot lighter, the one we just did. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for me personally, the order switch would have been nice. You would have had the other way around. I think that this would have dragged into the other one.

Probably. Yeah. Yeah. I guess if you listen to the next one, I don't think there's a right way to handle it probably. There isn't. But yeah, but the next one certainly doesn't seem as tragic. I remember some of that information, I was like, Jesus Christ, man.

You're such a fucking vile country. Vile. All right. All right. Can't wait to see it. It'll be fun when it's time to just kill white people. That'll be interesting. See what happens then.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When the Mexicans commit a genocide against white people and we'll be like, how could this happen? Let's talk it out. All right. All right.

Have a nice day. All right.