The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-10-23
RACE RIOT
At COWETA
SUNDAY
Whites and Blacks So on q
Regular Rampage, Causing
Three Deaths
tcon,lnued tom Pace one.l

were Snpt llfolSu tNe uau4 anu AnfN
| @le chance OF recovery One negTo
was killed and one shot
Ed Russo, the negro who started
The trouble was shot but not fatally
wounded and I'd Suddeth, the negro
who killed BeaNens ard wounded the
other TWO men also was shot but not
killed After he lad been shot ne
was strung up TO the water tank at
the railroad station Init the rope was
cut before ne was dead Then cool
| er advice prevailed and under prom
ise that Suddeth would be legally
hanged within thirty days, the mob
agreed 10 let the negro live j. he
| did nor die OF his wounds
Negro RiddIed by Bullets.
AT O'Clock Sunday night Sud
deth, the negro who shot three white
men. was turned over TO Deputy Sher
| iff Flowers. Flowers had an autOmO
bile and endeavored to take Suddeth
to Wagner to get him away from
the scene OF his crime, fearing a
| lynching. Just as the negro was lit
ed into the automobile the mob broke
| loose and the negro was literally rid
died with bullets. There were prob
ably fifty shots fired into his body.
District Judge w. r. Allen, who
was in Coweta Sunday night and
| Sheriff James Long, of Wagner
| county. have called upon the state
militia for protection for the town.
Captain w, A. Green Of company F,
Muskogee, assembled the company at
the armory here and took out fifty
men at II o'clock.
A state of terror exists in Coweta.
The sheriifs of Wagner. Muskogee
and Tulsa counties sent help TO the
town and every possible means is be
| ing used TO prevent further outbreak.
which the citizens fear is inevitable.
Negro emissaries have hurried out
| to surrounding negro settlements
swearing that they will bring in
enough negroes to wipe the town off
the map. They propose TO set il on
| fire.
Trouble Started aSturday.
The trouble started late Saturday
afternoon A young man named
Swazer, telegraph operator for the
Katy railroad at Coweta, was walking
along the street with a young wom
an. A negro, Ed Russo. in passing
pushed the girl off the sidewalk into
the mud Swazer Immediately struck
at the negro and another white man,
whose name is being kept secret,
seized the negro and Swazer gave
aim a beating.
Sunday Ruse was walking the
streets OF Coweta with a long knife
in his pocket looking for the man
who held him. City Marshal Hurl
went to the negro in Inc afternoon
and ordered him TO give ~ the
knife The negro started TO attack
Hurl and the latter snOt him A.
that instant Ed Suddeth ran our OF
house on the opposite side OF fhe
street a ndopened fire with an al11c-
matte revolver d. j. Beavers as
shot through the head and died ln
stantly Oliver and Thompson were
shot through the body. All t8ree
we're bystanders and had taken nO
part in the trouble.
Shooting Becomes General
The shooting became general and
forty or fifty shots were fired. sud
OEVN WHO Hdu SUOL Aib tSlitf " as-Af-
men fled TO house and barrcaded
himself. A white posse opened fire
on this house and set it on fire Sud
deth ran out and was shot, but it is
not believed fatally He then Was
taken to the railroad water tank, a
rope placed about his neck and he
was swung up It was decided that
to lynch him would probably bring
on an instant war with the negro
population of Coweta and he VISA cut
down before he was dead,
Coweta is a town Of i,200 one
third OF the population is negroes, 1t
is located in a section Of Wagner
county largely populated with ne
groes.
we have been expecting to have
a fight for our lives now for two
years and TO night I believe it viii
come said a prominent business
man He also stated that he beliey
ed the night would bring a negro at
tack upon the town and that threats
had been made that it would be set
on fire The town has no fire pro-
lection.