Phoenix tribune., 1921-06-11
envy and JEALOUSY
PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF
TULSA RACE RIOT
(By The Associated Negro Press)


Tulsa, Okla, June 9.-Tulsa lies
stricken unto death. Tho city is lit
orally in sackcloth and ashes and it
seems like a veritable miracle that it
Whatever it enjoyed in the matter Of
thrift, enterprise and fair name has
been, for the moment at least, de-
stroyed by a wanton, fiendish mob,
actuated by jealously and race hatred,
which sought to wipe out the Negroes
and their section of the city for the
simple reason their prosperity and in
telligent development was becoming
too evident to suit the wishes of
certain element of whites.
Whole Truth Not Told
But little of the real truth has
reached the outside world concerning
the whole, horrible afafir. The at
tempted rape incident has turned out
to be nothing more than a discovery
Of the fact that giddy white girl
had hecomeinfatuated with a comely
young Negro lad of scarcely more
than 20 years of age. He was arrest
ed at the instance of group of white
men and the charge of attempted rape
was lodged against him. The boy is
yet in jail but the girl has disappeared
and the rape charge is about to fall to
the ground.
Negroes Fear Lynching
1t is true that shortly after the ar
rest of the young colored man a small
number of Negro men gathered in the
vicinity of the Jail. Tulsa Negroes
had decided that no lynching should
take place in Tulsa without a blood
sacrifice to prevent it. Rumors had
reached the colored section that a
lynching would be attempted by the
whites. When the colored men ar
rived in the vicinity of the Jail they
found a number of white men who i'm
mediately assumed hostile attitude
toward the colored men. 1t was not
long before trouble started and the
riot well under way. The Negroes
fearing that their suspicious that a
lynching was to he effected was about
to be confirmed fought with great des-
ueration and courage.
Negroes Outnumbered
Within a short while the Negroes
were outnumbered by the whites and
they began an orderly retreat which
carried them to the north side of the
Frisco railroad tracks where they
made a stand so valiant and death
dealing that S. o. S. was sent out
by the chief of the local police for
soldier help. In the meantime the
casualties were mounting up with the
odds in favor of the colored combant-
ants. 1t was near midnight when the
militia arrived on the scene. This
turned the tide of battle to the whites
again. The Negroes retreated. Then
it was that the white hoodlums began
to apply the torch to the business con-
Germs of the colored people loated
along Greenwood avenue.
Prominent Negroes Killed
1t was but short step from the
business seton to the better resident
ial section in this locality. Here three
prominent colored men met death de-
Tending their homes from the torch
bearing mob. Dr. A. c. Jackson, the
leading colored physician of the city,
was killed on his doorstep and his
well appointed home touched by the
torch and totally destroyed by the fire
that followed. The same fate befell
Wesley Williams, the wealthiest Ne
gro in Tulsa and the owner of the
Dreamland theater, also destroyed by
fire. Williams was rcputed to be
worth more than 100000. DIR. John
Wayne died fighting protecting his
home which was destroyed by fire.
John Wheeler, one of the oldest en-
ployes at the First National, was kill
ed by a stray bullet while on his way
to the bank Wednesday morning. No
colored man in Tulsa was more highly
respected than John Wheeler. He had
been in the employ of the First Ma
tional for long number of years and
was one of the familiar and popular
figures of the city. He was buried
with signal honors, the officials of the
bank attending in a body.
Thousands Made Homeless
The fires spread. White brutes ap
piled the torch while the militia bust
ed itself with the disarming and ar
resting of such Negroes who were un
lucky enough to fall into their hands
In short period Of time great hosi