Lynching of John Lee

Following the turn of the century, a significant influx of new residents arrived in Oklahoma, primarily from southern states such as Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

[1] The town of Caddo, Oklahoma, 14 miles northeast of Durant, had a small African American community on the east side of the MKT Railroad lines.

He was reportedly staying at a railroad YMCA camp in Denison, Texas, under the alias Jim Jennigan and seen in Caddo for only a few days prior.

[4] It is suspected that John Lee was responsible for the death and robbery of G. C. Freeman, the Secretary of the Denison YMCA, while in Armstrong, Oklahoma.

[5] In the early afternoon of August 12, 1911 John Lee came to the house, between Durant and Caddo, of Fanny Campbell asking for food.

As John Lee fled the house he fired 3 shots hitting Fanny Campbell once in the hip, lower abdomen area.

Newspapers across the state talk about the mass exodus of black people from the area often walking away from their homes, land, and personal belongings.

A report was sent down the line from Atoka, Oklahoma, on August 15 that an armed black mob had stopped and boarded a freight train, but when it arrived at the stations it was empty.

[12] On September 2, 1911, a gang of white men on horseback with torches surrounded the homes of the remaining black families living between Durant and Caddo.