September 30, 1918 – Olli Kinkonnen, the September 18th tar and feather victim of a group that called themselves the Knights of Loyalty, was found hanging from a tree one-half mile north of Lester Park around 5 p.m. today. Kinkkonen was attacked by the group for renouncing his citizenship to avoid being inducted into the U.S. army, and had been missing since the tar and feather party.
Coroner McAulliffe determined the hanging to be a suicide, believing Kinkonnen had tried to remove the tar from his body with his handkerchief, but was unsuccessful. Kinkonnen appeared to have been hanging there for some time. On his death certificate, his date of death is listed as Sept. 18-22, 1918.1
“Kinkkonen was buried in an unmarked grave in a poor people's section of Park Hill Cemetery, just a few rows away from the graves of the three victims of the 1920 Duluth lynching. The Tyomies Society, a Finnish cultural group, placed a marker on Kinkkonen's grave in 1993. It reads, ‘Olli Kinkkonen, 1881 to 1918, Victim of Warmongers.’"2
Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain September 30, 2014,
as long as acknowledgement included.
1The Duluth News Tribune; “Victim of Tar Party in Duluth Suicide, Belief; Body of Olli Kinkonnen Found Dangling From Tree Near Lester Park, Covered with Paint; Federal Probe, Hint; Kidnapping Charge Suggested by County Attorney Richard Funck. President’s Order Violated.”; October 1, 1918; p. 1.
2http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2001/06/lynching/olli.shtml
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=32692009&PIpi=45617651
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