Minnesota Family History Research: Duluth’s Vigilantes

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Duluth’s Vigilantes – Part II

The lesser known Duluth lynching took place in September 1918; the victim, a Finn named Olli Kinkkonen.

WWI was nearing its end, and patriotism was at an all-time high. After all, our boys in Europe were dying fighting for our freedom, and anyone not willing to fight was publically called a slacker, a term “commonly used to describe someone who was not participating in the war effort, especially someone who avoided military service, an equivalent of the later term draft dodger.” ¹

Duluth draft boards reported that Kinkkonen and five other aliens with first citizenship papers had renounced their citizenship rather than be inducted into the U.S. army.² Kinkonnen, who had immigrated to the U.S. in 1907, had signed his first papers on Sept. 28, 1912, and canceled and surrendered his first papers on Sept. 11, 1918,* a week before his kidnapping.

His landlord was the first to raise the alarm.

On the evening of Sept. 18, 1918, Kinkkonen was taken from his lodgings by men claiming to be from the draft board. Instead of going to the draft board’s office, Kinkkonen was driven to Duluth’s Congdon Park, where he was tarred and feathered by members of a group calling themselves the Knights of Liberty. As of midnight, Kinkkonen had not returned to his home, so his landlord called Duluth police headquarters to report his disappearance.²

The Knights of Liberty also called upon the other five declarants who had renounced their citizenship for similar reasons, but none of them could be found.²

The next day, the Knights of Loyalty (the group couldn’t seem to decide on its own name) mailed a circular to the Duluth News Tribune claiming the group had more than 2 million members across the country, including 2,000 members in Duluth. The notice said the group would continue its attacks against slackers, as they had proven themselves to be enemies of America.³

A Google and Bing search turned up a group in Tulsa, Okla., using the name Knights of Liberty in 1917 that tarred and feathered men during a labor dispute, which may be where the Duluth mob got their name and the tar and feather idea.⁴ Otherwise, I have been unable to find anything about this supposed large national group organized to attack slackers.

For several days, the Duluth newspapers ran short notices saying Olli Kinkkonen was still missing. After renouncing his citizenship, he had been planning on returning to Finland, and yet his luggage still sat in his room. His landlord had not heard from him.

Finally, around 5 p.m. on Sept. 30, Kinkkonen’s body was found hanging from a tree one-half mile north of Lester Park. Duluth Coroner McAulliffe determined the hanging to be a suicide, believing Kinkkonen had tried to remove the tar from his body with his handkerchief, but was unsuccessful (seriously?). According to McAuliffe’s theory, Kinkkonen had been so humiliated by the tar and feathering that he had killed himself, although none of his friends or fellow Finns believed that. Kinkkonen appeared to have been hanging there for some time. His death certificate lists his date of death as Sept. 18-22, 1918.⁵

Lester Park, Duluth, Minn.

http://www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/streams/images/historic/lester/58_lester_big.jpg

Who were these men who felt that killing a man in such a horrifying manner was justified? No one was ever charged with the kidnapping or the tar and feathering. Whenever a heinous event like this is found in a family tree, it should be viewed within historical context.

^{Many Finn men had immigrated to America to avoid being drafted into the Russian
Army. It’s possible Kinkkonen was one of them, although at 38, it’s more likely
he had already fought for the Russians and didn’t want to go to war again. As
noted earlier, this was a very unpopular view at the time.

“Kinkkonen
was buried in an unmarked grave in [what was] 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.’"⁶}

^{Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released
into the public domain August 15, 2013,

as long as acknowledgement included.

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released
into the public domain August 15, 2013,

as long as acknowledgement included.

Graves of the three victims of the 1920 Duluth lynching

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released
into the public domain July 31, 2013,

as long as acknowledgement included.

¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacker

²The Duluth News Tribune;
“Tar Coat Given Alien; Renounced U.S. Rights. Landlord complains to Police of
Olli Kinkkonen’s Involuntary Trip with Knights of Liberty”; September 19, 1918;
p. 1.

³The Duluth News Tribune;
“Tarred Alien Disappears; One Recants by Default. ‘Knights of Loyalty’ Issue
Circular Addressed to Those Who Renounce Citizenship.’”; September 20, 1918; p.
8

⁴http://libcudl.colorado.edu/wwi/pdf/i73704829.pdf

⁵The 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.

⁶http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2001/06/lynching/olli.shtml

http://zenithcity.com/september-18-1918-olli-kinkkonen-abducted-tarred-and-feathered/

*Written on his WWI draft registration card and his intent papers

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me help you find out what parts of Minnesota history your family played a role
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