Witnesses in Seminole Burning Case , 1899 May

Item — Box: 1, item: 5

Identifier: 2011.020.5

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

A cabinet card depicting a group of the 38 men, appearing as witnesses in the Seminole Burning Cases. Pictured on the steps of the Muskogee courthouse. Stamp on back indicates former ownership by Mohonk Lake Library.

Dates

Creation: 1899 May

Access

This material is open for research use by any registered reader.

Biographical / Historical

The Seminole Burning case involved murder and execution of two Seminole men; Lincoln McGeisey and Palmer Sampson, as part of the torture and murder of a larger group of Seminole men as a white community was seeking revenge for the murder of Mary Leard of Maud, Oklahoma in January 1898. While the rest of the killings were handled as normal lynchings, because these two men were dragged from the Seminole Nation in Indian Territory to Pottawatomie County in Oklahoma Territory, it became a federal case.