Archive Record
Images
Additional Images [4]
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1984.002.221 |
Collection |
American Red Cross |
Object Name |
Clipping, Newspaper |
Date |
06/26/1921 |
Scope & Content |
Newspaper clipping from the Tulsa Tribune published June 26, 1921 and entitled "Gustafson To Face Prison On 1 Count; Malfeasance Charged In Jury Report." This article reports that District Judge Valjean Biddison suspended Tulsa Police Chief John A. Gustafson on June 25, 1921, at the recommendation of a grand jury convened to investigate the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Tulsa Police Commissioner James M. Adkison appointed Captain George Blaine as interim police chief. The article reports that the jury recommended filing five charges against Gustafson and called for his removal from office. The investigation found that he failed to do his duty on the night of the Race Massacre and that he entered into a conspiracy with fellow officers Bay Ward and Roy Meacham concerning an automobile theft case. The article reported that the conspiracy charge is a felony, punishable by a prison sentence. Gustafson denied the charges and welcomed his trial in open court. The report stated that Tulsa Mayor Thaddeus Daniel Evans supported Gustafson and believed that the police chief would be cleared of the charges. The article also states that Oklahoma Attorney General S. P. Freeling took the badges and service revolvers from five African American police officers after they failed to provide any names of "individual armed negroes who invaded the downtown district" during the violence. The officers included the following: S. G. Gross, H. C. Pack, Robert Louis, S. J. Johnson, and M. L. Robinson. The article concludes with more information concerning the Brady car theft case which implicates Gustafson. |
Search Terms |
arrests Blacks grand juries Tulsa Police Chiefs Tulsa Police Department Tulsa Race Massacre |
People |
Adkison, James M. Bays, F. J. Biddison, Valjean Blaine, George H. Evans, Thaddeus Daniel Freeling, S. P. Gross, S. G. Gustafson, John A. Johnson, S. J. Louis, Robert Meacham, Roy Pack, Henry C. Robinson, M. L. Ward, Bay |