374 THE CLASS STRUGGLE DOCUMENTS 375 Myers, John Boyle, Charles Walsh, Walton, Mitchell, Jos. French, Hill, Gunnard Johnson, Robt. McDonald, John Fitzsimmons, Thos. Fischer, Gordon Dimikson, Ryan, Boyd, Jack Sneed (not an This is a copy of my sworn statement and every word is truth.
In answer to special inquiry the writer added to his statement as follows. It was very evident that the police force knew what was going to happen when they took us from jail, as there were extta gowns and masks provided which were put on by the Chief of Police and one detective named Blaine, and the number of blows we received were regulated by the Chief of Police himself, who was easily recognizable by six of us at least.
The above account is substantiated at every point by a former employee of The Federal Industrial Relations Commission, who at the request of the National Civil Liberties Bureau made a special investigation of the whole affair. His report names directly nine leaders of the mob, including five members of the police force.
The part played by the press in this orgy of Patriotism is illustrated by the following excerpts from an editorial which appeared in the Tulsa Daily World on the afternoon of the 9th: and another bunch of men with automatics and pistols, lined up between us. Our hands were still held up, and those who were bound, in front. Then a masked man walked down the line and slashed the ropes that bound us, and we were ordered to strip to the waist, which we did, threw our clothes in front of us, in individual piles coats, vests, hats, shirts and undershirts. The boys not having had time to distribute their possessions that were given back to them at the police stations, everything was in the coats, everything we owned in the world. Then the whipping began. double piece of new rope, 58 or 14 hemp, being used. man, the chief of detectives, stopped the whipping of each man when he thought the victim had enough. After each one was whipped another man applied the tar with a large brush, from the head to the seat. Then a brute smeared feathers over and rubbed them in. After they had satisfied themselves that our bodies were well abused, our clothing was thrown into a pile, gasoline poured on it and a match applied. By the light of our earthly possessions, we were ordered to leave Tulsa, and leave running and never come back. The night was dark, the road very rough, and as was one of the last two that was whipped, tarred and feathered, and in the rear when ordered to run, decided to be shot rather than stumble over the rough road. After going forty or fifty feet stopped and went into the weeds. told the man with me to get in the wceds also, as the shots were coming very close over us, and ordered him to lie down flat. We expected to be killed, but after 150 or 200 shots were fired they got in their autos. After the last one had left, we went through a barbed wire fence, across a field, called to the boys, collected them, counted up, and had all the 16 safe, though sore and nasty with tar. After wandering around the hills for some time ages it seemed to me we struck the railroad track. One man, Jack Sneed, remembered then that he knew a farmer in that vicinity, and he and Ryan volunteered to find the house. built a fire to keep us from freezing. We stood around the fire expecting to be shot, as we did not know but what some tool of the commercial club had followed us.
After a long time Sneed returned and called to us, and we went with him to a cabin and found an friend in the shack and gallons, of coal oil or kerosene, with which we cleaned the filthy stuff off each other, and our troubles were over, as friends sent clothing and money to us that day, it being about or 30 when wo reached the cabin. The men abused, whipped and tarred were: Tom McCaffery, John GET OUT THE HEMP Any man who attempts to stop the supply for one hundredth part of a second is a traitor and ought to be shot. The oil. country can take care of its own troubles. It does not need the In the meantime, if the or its twin brother, the Oil Workers Union, gets busy in your neighborhood, kindly take occasion to increase the supply of hemp. knowledge of how to tie a knot that will stick might come in handy in a few days. It is no time to dally with the enemies of the country. The unrestricted production of petroleum is as necessary to the winning of the war as the unrestricted production of gunpowder. We are either going to whip Germany or Germany is going to whip us. The first step in the whipping of Germany is to strangle the Kill them, just as you would kill any other kind of a snake. Don scotch em; kill em. And kill em dead. It is no time to waste money on trials and continuances and things like that. All that is necessary is the evidence and a firing squad. Probably the carpenters union will contribute the timber for the coffins.