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I posted this article elsewhere on this forum this morning. It is from one of two weekly papers published in Poteau, OK, at the time of the event. I obtained microfilm of the newspapers from the library of the historical association in Oklahoma City. The one article in its entirety is as follows:
"December 9, 1920. Poteau Weekly Sun “Negro Brothers Kill Officer. Deputy Sheriff Ike Person, of Braden, was beaten to death Monday afternoon, and Special Deputy Bert McKenzie was badly beaten by three negroes at Fort Coffey, near Braden.
"Deputy Person had deputized Bert McKenzie to help him raid a choc joint at the home of Henry and A. D. Toney, negroes, and had warrants for their arrest. It is said that the officers were unarmed, which accounts for the brutal assault by the two negroes, and another, who assisted them.
"Frank McKenzie, who became uneasy at the long absence of the officers, went from Braden to the scene where he found the two men beaten into insensibility. With the assistance of a negro boy he put the apparently lifeless bodies of the two men in his car and hurried to Braden, secured the services of a physician, and hurried them to St. John’s hospital, Fort Smith, where Mr. Person died Monday morning.
"Mr. McKenzie was severely battered up, but it is thought he well recover.
"Special Officer Ben Walker and his bloodhounds, of Fort Smith, were put on the trail of the negroes and traced them to the mountains, ten miles from Braden.
"Search for the murderers is still being continued, and five men have been arrested for the deed, although the Toney brothers have not yet been apprehended.
"Arthur Reynolds, a negro, claims to have seen the Toney negroes beat the two officers until he flourished an axe and told them they had to quit, when they fled hurriedly.
"Every means is being used to apprehend the guilty parties, and ere long they will be brought in to answer for their foul deed.
"In consequence of the murder, officers have threatened to clean out the bad element in the Braden community, forcing the bad negroes there to either leave the country or go to jail.
"Mr. Person was a fearless officer and was considered one of the best deputies on the force, who had lots of friends to regret his untimely death.”
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