Illinois, Nebraska to Georgia. In Omaha,

 "The most daring attack on a white woman

 ever perpetrated in Omaha occurred one

 block south of Bancroft street near Scenic 

 Avenue in Gibson last night."

 

Coverage in the World-Herald was slightly less inflammatory:
Pretty little Agnes Loebeck was assaulted by an unidentified
negro at twelve O'clock last night, while she was returning to
her home in company with Millard [sic] Hoffman, a cripple."
Will Brown was accused of assaulting Agnes Loebeck. That
evening, the police took a suspect to the Loebeck home.
Agnes and her boyfriend Milton Hoffman (they were later
married) identified a black packinghouse worker named
Will Brown as the assailant. Brown was 41 years old and
suffered from acute rheumatism. Before the police could
leave the Loebeck house, a mob gathered outside and
threatened to seize Brown. September 28, a group of youths
gathered in south Omaha and began a march to the Douglas
County courthouse. Eventually, thousands of angry people
gathered at the courthouse and by evening, the Omaha
police and city officials inside the courthouse were virtual
prisoners. The size of the crowd was estimated as between
5,000 and 15,000 people. By 8:00 p.m. the mob had begun
firing on the courthouse with guns they looted from nearby
stores. In that exchange of gunfire, one 16-year-old leader
of the mob, and a 34-year-old businessman a block away
were killed. By 8:30 the mob had set fire to the building.
Brown ended up in the hands of the crazed mob. He was
beaten into unconsciousness. His clothes were torn off by
the time he reached the building's doors. Then he was dragged
to a nearby lamp pole on the south side of the courthouse at
18th and Harney around 11:00 p.m. The mob roared when
they saw Brown, and a rope was placed around his neck.
Brown was hoisted in the air, his body spinning. He was
riddled with bullets. His body was then brought down, tied
behind a car, and towed to the intersection of 17th and Dodge.
There the body was burned with fuel taken from nearby red
danger lamps and fire truck lanterns. Later, pieces of the rope
used to lynch Brown were sold for 10 cents each. Finally,
Brown's charred body was dragged through the city's down-
town streets. The burning of Will Brown's body, Omaha,
Nebraska, Sept.. 28, 1919. Source Nebraska-born actor
Henry Fonda was 14 years old when the lynching happened.
His father owned a printing plant across the street from the
courthouse. He watched the riot from the second floor window
of his father's shop. "It was the most horrendous sight I'd ever
seen. We locked the plant, went downstairs, and drove home
in silence. My hands were wet and there were tears in my eyes.
All I could think of was that young black man dangling at the
end of a rope." .

 

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