Letter James E. Markham to S. P. Freeling, Attorney General, 1921 October 31

              October 31, 1921.
 Hon. S. P. Freeling,
 Attorney General,
 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

 Dear General:

 The governor of Minnesota has under consideration the application of the  governor of Oklahoma for the rendition of C. T. Smithie as a fugitive  from the justice of your state. The accused is a black man under  indictment in the Tulsa court for complicity in the race riots of May 31  and June 1 last. The accused requested a hearing before the governor,  much testimony has been introducted and the case has attracted considerable  attention. While upon a hearing of this kind the inquiry is ordinarily  confined to the question whether the accused is a fugitive from the justice  of the demanding state, yet in a case of this importance it frequently  happens, as in this case, that a somewhat wider range is allowed. The  accused claims, and has introduced some testimony in support of his claim,  that he was at Kansas City at the time this offense is charged to have  been committed. On the other hand the state has presented evidence which  very sustantially weakens, if it does not completely overthrow, the claim  of the accused in this regard. It was asserted by counsel for the accused  upon the hearing, and some witnesses who claimed to know the situation  were produced in support of the assertion, that a black man is unable to  secure justice in the Oklahoma