Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1920-09-03
MOB 1900 STRONG
HANG WHITE BOY
VICTIM WAS ACCUSED OF PAR
TICIPATlNG IN MURDER OF
TAXI DRIVER.
HOME WAS IN KNOXVILLE
Boy Taken from Courthouse-AfteF
Automobile Parade Through Town
Mob Slips Moose Over
His Neck.

Tulsa. Okla.-A mob estimated mere
in the lynching of Tom NJ. Owens,
white, accused of the shooting Of Ho-
mer Nida, taxicab driver, who died
at local hospital last week.
At midnight 1000 persons descend
ed upon the Tulsa county courthouse
with the avowed intention of getting
Owens. There however, the mob stop
ped. Twelve masked and heavily
armed men separated themselves from
the crowd and ran up the steps of the
courthouse.
They were met at the main entrance
by Sheriff Wooley, who was covered
with sawed-off shotguns and pistols
and disarmed. The men TOOK the sher-
ifs keys, mounted to the jail in the
top story and forced the jailer to turn
over Owens.
Owens arms were bound and he was
escorted to waiting automobiles. Dur
ing the interim the mob had increased
in numbers and more than hundred
cars formed for the grim parade head
ed by the automobile bearing Owens
and his captoTs
Through the residential district the
cars passed and more machines joined,
The leading car headed for West Tul-
sa, a suburb Passing through West
Tulsa, the leader stopped Owens was
harshly jerked to the ground and told
that he was to be strung up" near
the scene of his alleged crime
Owens protested his innocence, stat
ing that he did not shoot Nida and
blaming a woman for the crime. He
was again taken into the car and the
procession started on. After circling
about the leading car stopped near
Garden City, another suburb, where
Owens was again taken from the car.
You're going to die now one of
his captors is reported to have said,
rs there anything you want to say
for yourself"
Owens reiterated that he did not
shoot Nida. He asked for cigarette
and his hands were loosened while he.
rolled the tobacco,
After being allowed few inhala-
lions he was again manacled, small
rope was twisted about his neck and
he was told to say his last
81 didn't do it," he said. Asked
whether he cared to send any mes
sages, Owens replied in the affirma-
tive, and one of the mob wrote down
a communication which Owens asked
that newspaper forward to his moth
en- 1t said:
Mrs. C. O. Belton 4O2 Burwell,
Knoxville, Tenn,-Your son, Tom,
lynched by mob as alleged murderer of
Homer Nida. He asked that you ar
range for burial"
Following the death of Nida rumors
of mob violence persisted on the
streets of Tulsa. According to these,
the mob was to have congregated at
midnight, but it got started before II
o'clock. Two extra guards had been
placed over Owens by Sheriff Woolley
and his courthouse elevator had been
stopped at the top floor in anticipation
Of trouble.
Saturday night, August q, Midas
cab was hired by two men and a wom-
an AMI after a drive about Tulsa, Nida
was told to drive toward Sapulpa,
nearby town, At lonely point in the
road he was dubbed over the head
from behind. Jumping from the car
he put up his hands and begged for
mercy, but was shot, the bullet lodg-
ing in his abdomen.
The three in the car then drove hur-
riedly away, Noda was found by a
motorst It is said the men and wo-
man later encountered a barb wire
fence which stopped their flight to-
Texas.
Owens and Marie Harmon were cap
tured. Later Raymond Sharp was
taken into custody, admitted having
known Of the plot and implicated Ow-
ems. Owens denied the charge at first,
then confessed when confronted with
statements by Marie Harmon, but later
said he was under the influence Of
drugs at the time of the alleged con.
fession. George Moore, implicated by
the other three, is still at large.