On September 25, 1919, a woman, named Agnes Loebeck, said that she had been attacked by a black man. The next day the police brought a man named Will Brown to her home and Agnes identified him as the man who attacked her, although Will Brown vehemently denied attacking her.While all of this was going on, a group of white people gathered outside of Agnes’ house.  They demanded that the police give Brown to them so that they could lynch him.  The police were able to get Will Brown to the courthouse, but the situation was not over.

On Sunday, September 28, 1919, a group of men began to march to the courthouse.  By evening some 5,000 – 15,000 people had gathered.  They began to shoot into the courthouse and they set part of it on fire.  When firefighters came to put the fire out, the crowd would not let them through to the building. Members of the crowd then made their way into the courthouse and grabbed Will Brown.  By the time they got him to the front door almost all of his clothes were ripped off.

They took him to a nearby spot and the large crowd let out a roar in approval.  Brown was quickly hoisted up with a noose around his neck and his body was riddled with bullets. He was then tied to the back of a car and driven around for a few blocks.  The attackers then got oil from nearby lamps and doused his body.  They set him on fire and posed for pictures around his burning body. He again was tied to a car and driven throughout the streets of downtown.  The attackers cut up pieces of the rope that was used to hang him and sold it for 10 cents a piece.