1. War on the Streets of Omaha
The 1919 Riot

2. Summer 1919 It’s a hot a humid summer in Omaha
Crime is at an all time high for the City of Omaha
More and more Black men are taking the blame for violent crimes in the city
Dennison’s men are blackening their faces w/ shoe polish to appear as Black men, then commit crimes
The Omaha Bee exaggerates the stories
Omaha’s Black paper the Omaha Monitor is outraged

3. Milton and Agnes go on a date
Friday 26 Sept 1919
19 yr old Agnes Loebeck & her boyfriend Milton Hoffman go out for ice cream one night
As they neared Agnes’s house, a man jumped out from behind a tree threw Milton to the ground
Next, he threw Agnes over his shoulder and dashed off w/ her and sexually assaulted her.
Milton finds Agnes and takes her home
Her father wants blood!
Agnes gives a description as a large “black man”

4. Black men are rounded up
Police begin to arrest and question every Black man they can find.
Not one man has a “prior”, they had to go to Council Bluffs to find a guy w/ a prior
Sunday, 28 Sept 1919
Will Brown is arrested and taken to Agnes’ house so she can ID him
When he walks in the room in cuffs she screams “That’s him!” and faints
Will Brown is taken to the Douglas Co Courthouse

5. A Mob Begins to Form
Will brown is locked up and mob of high school students and adults gather numbering 5K
The mob demands Brown, the guards try to hide him in the building, then on the roof
The Mob storms the building and finds Brown. They take to the street
On the way out of the building he is knocked out

6. The Courthouse today

7. Vigilantly Justice The Mob drags Brown outside to the street
He is hanged and shot while he was hanging
He was cut down, dragged behind a car, then burned
Mayor Ed Smith tried to reason w/ the Mob and was hanged along w/ Brown
2 Central High School Baseball players rushed through the crowd and cut down the Mayor and rushed him to the hospital – he lived

8. The Riot moves North
The rioters head north along 24th Street looking for any Black people to go after
Black Businesses are trashed
Soldiers from Fort Omaha are sent in to take the city streets back
Buildings & cars are set on fire, etc.
1600 armed soldiers arrive
Machine gun nests are set up on nearly every corner
A huge rain storm moves in putting out all the fires and quieting the riot.

9. The Grand Jury Investigation
In the end, Police Commissioner Roy Towl is convinced that Dennison is involved
8 Deaths
Dennison was in Los Angeles during the riot
Dennison owned the cab company that was giving free service downtown that night
Alcohol was provided to passengers
It was said that Dennison paid off cops to “call in sick” that day
Nothing stuck…..

10. The findings afterwards
Will brown was handicapped, he had arthritis in his arms and hands
He was fired from the meat packing plant because he could not work
There was no way that he could have picked up Agnes
Milton Hoffman disappeared to Denver to sit out the riot (it was said that he planned it)
He worked for Dennison’s friend there
Milton ended up marrying Agnes who died in the 1970’s

11. Through the gate & up & to the left

12. Will Brown