Hanging From a Bridge: The Lynching of Laura and L.D. Nelson
But what happened to her baby?
The day: May 24, 1911. The place: a bridge near Okemah, Oklahoma.
A howling, violent, angry mob of about 40 white men stormed the jail cell holding Laura Nelson and her two-year-old daughter, Carrie. They raped and dragged Laura along with her 12-year-old son, L.D., to be lynched.
This is the story of Laura, L.D., and Carrie, and the rampant racism of early Oklahoma.
According to Baker Artists Portfolios, the scenario played out like this:
George Loney, Okemah’s deputy sheriff, and three others arrived at the Nelsons’ home on May 2, 1911, to investigate the theft of a cow. The son shot Loney, who was hit in the leg and bled to death; Laura was reportedly the first to grab the gun and was charged with murder, along with her son. Her husband pleaded guilty to larceny, and was sent to the relative safety of the state prison in McAlester. The son L.D. Nelson was held in the county jail in Okemah and the mother Laura in a cell in the nearby courthouse to await trial.
The Lynching
Then after midnight, the mob rushed to the jail, overpowered the jailer, and dragged Laura and L. D. from their cells.
