As a child growing up in and near Erick, Oklahoma, there was a wealth of stories and history about the area if one would just take the time to listen to older people. I did.
Oklahoma would celebrate its 37th birthday the year I was born. There were settlers there before it became a state on 1907, but Western Oklahoma was sparsely populated. Still, even if it was a short history it was a rich history and I delighted in hearing stories told by early day settlers of the region.
The 20th Century was marked by wars, World Wars I and II, Korea and Viet Nam. It was also marked by the Great Depression of the 1930s and in our part of the country by the Dust Bowl, also of the 1930s. The stories I listened to were often about these early events. But, as the story of America in the 19th Century cannot be told without telling of slavery and the Civil War, so America’s story in the 20th Century cannot be told without relating the struggle of African Americans against the evil of Jim Crow laws and segregation. To understand the 20th Century in America one must understand the struggle of African Americans for integration and civil rights.
In my small world in Western Oklahoma during my childhood there were no African Americans. At least not in Erick. There were very few living in and around Sayre and in Beckham County one had to go to Elk City before finding a significant population of African Americans. As a child I heard stories of an incident which occurred during my parents’ childhood which resulted in the expulsion of all African Americans from Erick and the surrounding area.
I was told in a very delicate way that a white woman was raped by an African American man, an event which would have occurred sometime in the 1920s. As a result of this crime, it was said, the African Americans were forced to leave and had they remained in and around Erick they likely would have been harmed or even killed. Even as a youngster it seemed extreme to punish an entire people for the transgressions of a single individual.
The story, as it was told back then, was based on an actual event. The story, as it was told then, was inaccurate and the true story, which was barely documented, shows the horror these people endured on that night they were ordered to leave.
Shamrock, Texas, is a small town west of Erick in the Texas Panhandle. It was and is of similar size to Erick and its culture and inhabitants were much the same as one would find in Erick. On July 11, 1930, there was a young woman near Shamrock who was killed allegedly by an African American man named Jesse Lee Washington. She was a young woman married to a prosperous farmer near Shamrock. Washington worked on an adjoining farm and was known to the family of the victim.
Washington would later confess that he was attempting to rape her and when she fought him he struck her with a lead pipe. He continued to beat her in a rage and when he was through she was beaten so badly she was dead and barely recognizable. As he rushed from the premises he was seen and recognized by the young woman’s husband and his younger brother. When the body of his wife was discovered, Washington was arrested and during the early days of his incarceration he confessed.
There are not very good records of the event and there is always some shadow thrown on the record we do have because of the racism which pervaded the white society of the time. We have no idea what motivated the confession, whether it was beaten out of him or not. We have no idea as to the truthfulness of the confession. It was long before Miranda warnings were given to criminal defendants and it was long before African Americans were given access to all the legal rights of other Americans.
The young woman had once lived in Erick where she and her family were well known an well liked. Even though this crime had happened in the Shamrock community, near that town, it was in Erick that action was taken against an entire race of people.
A mob of about 250 men was formed in Erick soon after the news of the murder arrived. They began going from house to house of all the African American families in town and told each of them to “Get out now.” It was a fairly peaceful mob, considering, and there is no record of anything being done physically to or against the African Americans. But they were uncompromising in their message. The terrified families grabbed what they could carry and left their homes immediately and began their trek, usually by foot, to safety. They would not have gone west in the direction Shamrock and there was only sparse population north and south. By going in an easterly direction they would soon encounter Sayre, the County Seat of Beckham County, and from there they could go another 15 miles or so to the more populous town of Elk City. That was the principal destination for most of them and it resulted in the higher population of African Americans in that town even today.
After the mob had run out all the African American from the town of Erick, in just an hour or so, they turned their attention to nearby farms where they were known to be living and working. All around Erick for several miles African Americans were being awakened by the mob and were told “Get out now.” The term “NOW” was the operative word in the message. These people also grabbed what they could carry and started walking eastward.
There is no record of concern for or intervention by the civil authorities on behalf of these frightened and terrified people. There is no record of anyone in the town coming to their aid. There is nothing even in legend that would suggest there were cooler heads who tried to prevent or stop this mob action. The only thing that might suggest there was some reason present that night was that no physical violence occurred to the people. They were forced to leave and take nothing more than what they could grab and carry while going out the door but no one was attacked or killed. It was a peculiar night.
Back in Shamrock a mob was forming to confront the African Americans living there. Their intent is unknown and had they actually been able to force the encounter it is not known whether they would be content with just forcing them out of town. The civil authorities there were more attentive to the safety of all people, including the African Americans. It is difficult to understand why they took the threat more seriously than did the authorities in Beckham County, Oklahoma. It may be simply that Texas was a much older state than Oklahoma and better equipped to recognize the threat to society when a threat was made to one group in that community.
W.K. McLemore was the Sheriff of Wheeler County, Texas. He immediately deputized a large group of men to be prepared in the event that a mob outbreak caused problems for the African Americans there. There was talk of lynching Washington and McLemore was, to his credit, determined that such an event would not happen on his watch. The actual physical presence of Washington in his county may have directed the desire for vengeance more toward him and less toward the populace of African Americans in general.
McLemore appealed to the Governor of Texas and four Texas Rangers were dispatched to quell any riots which might erupt and to ensure Washington’s safety until trial. The Texas Rangers were under the charge of M.T. Gonzaullas, one of the more celebrated Texas Rangers of the 20th Century. Born in Spain, he had come to this country as a young man and had made the Rangers his career. The Rangers of this era were determined to enforce law and order and so long as he and the other Rangers were present and responsible there would be no mob vigilante action without meeting the full force of the Rangers. And there would be no vengeance on Washington himself without meeting the fury of these four Rangers who were willing to defend him with their very lives.
A mob scoured the surrounding area of Wheeler County trying to find where the authorities were keeping Washington. They searched adjoining counties and even searched over into adjoining counties in Oklahoma. There were some rumors that he was being held for his own safety in the maximum security prison in nearby Granite, Oklahoma. They never found him.
Gonzaullas, who was nicknamed “Lone Wolf,” had kept Washington safe by keeping him on the road. He had not stayed very long in any one place while awaiting trial. His movement on the roads, together with the announcement by Gonzaullas that the Rangers would defend Washington “at all costs,” kept him alive. He was moved throughout the region, including even over into Oklahoma, and was eventually hid near Shamrock itself while the mob was looking at targets further away.
Today Interstate Highway 40 from Oklahoma City westward parallels the old Route 66. Route 66 was conceived and planned in 1926 but it would not become a completely paved roadway until 1938. The road from Elk City to Sayre was pretty well the same as what was later paved. The section of Route 66 from Sayre to Erick is not the same as the older road between the two. Route 66 still exists between the two towns today. Before Route 66, the original road between the two towns was an unpaved road, utilizing county roads. The road from Erick to Sayre ran north of the northeast corner of Erick about four miles. The traveler then turned east and eventually crossed over what was called the old Corn Stalk Bridge, crossing the North Fork of the Red River. From there it was pretty well a straight line east into Sayre with the first building coming into sight being the County Courthouse. My mother lived as a child in 1930 at the northeast corner of Erick. My father had just moved with his mother and sister about a half mile north of that corner where they lived with his stepfather, a Mr. Carlson. They both lived along the road one would take when going from Erick to Sayre.
Both of them told that during the night of the mob activity, African Americans, individuals and families, walked down the road carrying their meager possessions while fearfully and tearfully getting away from the danger of the mob and its vengeance. They could hear the people crying in the darkness as their homes sat near the roadway. They were eyewitnesses to this horrible travesty of justice and they would be haunted by it forever. The memory of this human suffering was something they would never be able to remove from their minds and they would only speak of it with shame.
My parents would have been 11 and 13 years old when this event happened. Their involvement would have been limited to watching the damage done to these people who were walking in the night to find a safe haven. Whether or not any of my relatives of an even earlier generation would have been involved with the mob is not known. It is not likely Mr. Carlson was with the mob since as a Swedish immigrant he was not raised with the prejudices of the group of townspeople whose roots were primarily in Texas. He is the only one about whom I would even speculate.
Sheriff McLemore took Washington to Pampa, Texas, for trial. He was brought by car disguised as an oil field worker and was placed in the jail on the top floor of the county courthouse where his safety was easily provided. The four Rangers entered the courthouse just seconds behind McLemore and his prisoner and this tiny regiment guaranteed Washington’s safety through trial.
Washington was tried and found guilty. Later in the same year he was executed in Texas’ state penitentiary. The tragedy of the African Americans in and around Erick was seldom spoken of and was eventually forgotten. Except by those children who witnessed the tragedy in the dark of the night.
Oklahoma would celebrate its 37th birthday the year I was born. There were settlers there before it became a state on 1907, but Western Oklahoma was sparsely populated. Still, even if it was a short history it was a rich history and I delighted in hearing stories told by early day settlers of the region.
The 20th Century was marked by wars, World Wars I and II, Korea and Viet Nam. It was also marked by the Great Depression of the 1930s and in our part of the country by the Dust Bowl, also of the 1930s. The stories I listened to were often about these early events. But, as the story of America in the 19th Century cannot be told without telling of slavery and the Civil War, so America’s story in the 20th Century cannot be told without relating the struggle of African Americans against the evil of Jim Crow laws and segregation. To understand the 20th Century in America one must understand the struggle of African Americans for integration and civil rights.
In my small world in Western Oklahoma during my childhood there were no African Americans. At least not in Erick. There were very few living in and around Sayre and in Beckham County one had to go to Elk City before finding a significant population of African Americans. As a child I heard stories of an incident which occurred during my parents’ childhood which resulted in the expulsion of all African Americans from Erick and the surrounding area.
I was told in a very delicate way that a white woman was raped by an African American man, an event which would have occurred sometime in the 1920s. As a result of this crime, it was said, the African Americans were forced to leave and had they remained in and around Erick they likely would have been harmed or even killed. Even as a youngster it seemed extreme to punish an entire people for the transgressions of a single individual.
The story, as it was told back then, was based on an actual event. The story, as it was told then, was inaccurate and the true story, which was barely documented, shows the horror these people endured on that night they were ordered to leave.
Shamrock, Texas, is a small town west of Erick in the Texas Panhandle. It was and is of similar size to Erick and its culture and inhabitants were much the same as one would find in Erick. On July 11, 1930, there was a young woman near Shamrock who was killed allegedly by an African American man named Jesse Lee Washington. She was a young woman married to a prosperous farmer near Shamrock. Washington worked on an adjoining farm and was known to the family of the victim.
Washington would later confess that he was attempting to rape her and when she fought him he struck her with a lead pipe. He continued to beat her in a rage and when he was through she was beaten so badly she was dead and barely recognizable. As he rushed from the premises he was seen and recognized by the young woman’s husband and his younger brother. When the body of his wife was discovered, Washington was arrested and during the early days of his incarceration he confessed.
There are not very good records of the event and there is always some shadow thrown on the record we do have because of the racism which pervaded the white society of the time. We have no idea what motivated the confession, whether it was beaten out of him or not. We have no idea as to the truthfulness of the confession. It was long before Miranda warnings were given to criminal defendants and it was long before African Americans were given access to all the legal rights of other Americans.
The young woman had once lived in Erick where she and her family were well known an well liked. Even though this crime had happened in the Shamrock community, near that town, it was in Erick that action was taken against an entire race of people.
A mob of about 250 men was formed in Erick soon after the news of the murder arrived. They began going from house to house of all the African American families in town and told each of them to “Get out now.” It was a fairly peaceful mob, considering, and there is no record of anything being done physically to or against the African Americans. But they were uncompromising in their message. The terrified families grabbed what they could carry and left their homes immediately and began their trek, usually by foot, to safety. They would not have gone west in the direction Shamrock and there was only sparse population north and south. By going in an easterly direction they would soon encounter Sayre, the County Seat of Beckham County, and from there they could go another 15 miles or so to the more populous town of Elk City. That was the principal destination for most of them and it resulted in the higher population of African Americans in that town even today.
After the mob had run out all the African American from the town of Erick, in just an hour or so, they turned their attention to nearby farms where they were known to be living and working. All around Erick for several miles African Americans were being awakened by the mob and were told “Get out now.” The term “NOW” was the operative word in the message. These people also grabbed what they could carry and started walking eastward.
There is no record of concern for or intervention by the civil authorities on behalf of these frightened and terrified people. There is no record of anyone in the town coming to their aid. There is nothing even in legend that would suggest there were cooler heads who tried to prevent or stop this mob action. The only thing that might suggest there was some reason present that night was that no physical violence occurred to the people. They were forced to leave and take nothing more than what they could grab and carry while going out the door but no one was attacked or killed. It was a peculiar night.
Back in Shamrock a mob was forming to confront the African Americans living there. Their intent is unknown and had they actually been able to force the encounter it is not known whether they would be content with just forcing them out of town. The civil authorities there were more attentive to the safety of all people, including the African Americans. It is difficult to understand why they took the threat more seriously than did the authorities in Beckham County, Oklahoma. It may be simply that Texas was a much older state than Oklahoma and better equipped to recognize the threat to society when a threat was made to one group in that community.
W.K. McLemore was the Sheriff of Wheeler County, Texas. He immediately deputized a large group of men to be prepared in the event that a mob outbreak caused problems for the African Americans there. There was talk of lynching Washington and McLemore was, to his credit, determined that such an event would not happen on his watch. The actual physical presence of Washington in his county may have directed the desire for vengeance more toward him and less toward the populace of African Americans in general.
McLemore appealed to the Governor of Texas and four Texas Rangers were dispatched to quell any riots which might erupt and to ensure Washington’s safety until trial. The Texas Rangers were under the charge of M.T. Gonzaullas, one of the more celebrated Texas Rangers of the 20th Century. Born in Spain, he had come to this country as a young man and had made the Rangers his career. The Rangers of this era were determined to enforce law and order and so long as he and the other Rangers were present and responsible there would be no mob vigilante action without meeting the full force of the Rangers. And there would be no vengeance on Washington himself without meeting the fury of these four Rangers who were willing to defend him with their very lives.
A mob scoured the surrounding area of Wheeler County trying to find where the authorities were keeping Washington. They searched adjoining counties and even searched over into adjoining counties in Oklahoma. There were some rumors that he was being held for his own safety in the maximum security prison in nearby Granite, Oklahoma. They never found him.
Gonzaullas, who was nicknamed “Lone Wolf,” had kept Washington safe by keeping him on the road. He had not stayed very long in any one place while awaiting trial. His movement on the roads, together with the announcement by Gonzaullas that the Rangers would defend Washington “at all costs,” kept him alive. He was moved throughout the region, including even over into Oklahoma, and was eventually hid near Shamrock itself while the mob was looking at targets further away.
Today Interstate Highway 40 from Oklahoma City westward parallels the old Route 66. Route 66 was conceived and planned in 1926 but it would not become a completely paved roadway until 1938. The road from Elk City to Sayre was pretty well the same as what was later paved. The section of Route 66 from Sayre to Erick is not the same as the older road between the two. Route 66 still exists between the two towns today. Before Route 66, the original road between the two towns was an unpaved road, utilizing county roads. The road from Erick to Sayre ran north of the northeast corner of Erick about four miles. The traveler then turned east and eventually crossed over what was called the old Corn Stalk Bridge, crossing the North Fork of the Red River. From there it was pretty well a straight line east into Sayre with the first building coming into sight being the County Courthouse. My mother lived as a child in 1930 at the northeast corner of Erick. My father had just moved with his mother and sister about a half mile north of that corner where they lived with his stepfather, a Mr. Carlson. They both lived along the road one would take when going from Erick to Sayre.
Both of them told that during the night of the mob activity, African Americans, individuals and families, walked down the road carrying their meager possessions while fearfully and tearfully getting away from the danger of the mob and its vengeance. They could hear the people crying in the darkness as their homes sat near the roadway. They were eyewitnesses to this horrible travesty of justice and they would be haunted by it forever. The memory of this human suffering was something they would never be able to remove from their minds and they would only speak of it with shame.
My parents would have been 11 and 13 years old when this event happened. Their involvement would have been limited to watching the damage done to these people who were walking in the night to find a safe haven. Whether or not any of my relatives of an even earlier generation would have been involved with the mob is not known. It is not likely Mr. Carlson was with the mob since as a Swedish immigrant he was not raised with the prejudices of the group of townspeople whose roots were primarily in Texas. He is the only one about whom I would even speculate.
Sheriff McLemore took Washington to Pampa, Texas, for trial. He was brought by car disguised as an oil field worker and was placed in the jail on the top floor of the county courthouse where his safety was easily provided. The four Rangers entered the courthouse just seconds behind McLemore and his prisoner and this tiny regiment guaranteed Washington’s safety through trial.
Washington was tried and found guilty. Later in the same year he was executed in Texas’ state penitentiary. The tragedy of the African Americans in and around Erick was seldom spoken of and was eventually forgotten. Except by those children who witnessed the tragedy in the dark of the night.
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