Editing Marlow, Oklahoma (section)

===Jim Crow era===
From the end of the [[Reconstruction era]] until the mid 20th century, municipalities in different parts of the country enacted [[Jim Crow laws]], which heavily restricted the rights of [[Black people]].  In Marlow, prominent signs were erected publicly that stated, "[[Negro]], [[sundown town|don't let the sun go down on you here]]."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carlson |first=Peter |date=February 20, 2006 |title=When Signs Said 'Get Out' in 'Sundown Towns,' Racism in the Rearview Mirror |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/02/21/when-signs-said-get-out-span-classbankheadin-sundown-towns-racism-in-the-rearview-mirrorspan/0e80ab6c-51a7-4412-a320-168315ced22b/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050609/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/02/21/when-signs-said-get-out-span-classbankheadin-sundown-towns-racism-in-the-rearview-mirrorspan/0e80ab6c-51a7-4412-a320-168315ced22b/ |archive-date=2019-02-15 |access-date=2024-04-04 |work=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

====Murders of Berch and Johnigan====
On December 17, 1923, Albert W. Berch, a [[White people|white]] hotel owner, and his [[Black people|Black]] [[Porter (carrier)|porter]], Robert Johnigan, were confronted and later murdered by an [[mobbing|angry mob]] of Marlow residents at the Johnson Hotel.{{efn|Source(s) erroneously called the site of the shooting the Thompson Hotel.}}<ref name=ray>{{Cite news |last=Ray |first=Mike W. |date=June 17, 2019 |title=Reviewed: Racist Mob Murders 2 in Marlow |url=https://www.southwestledger.news/opinion/reviewed-racist-mob-murders-2-marlow |access-date=2024-04-03 |archive-date=August 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240809043937/https://www.southwestledger.news/opinion/reviewed-racist-mob-murders-2-marlow |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=banner>{{Cite news |date=January 4, 1924 |title=Witness Says He Saw Kincannon Kill Two: Birch Killed As Went to Protect a Negro Porter |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/606476594/ |work=[[The Duncan Banner]] |volume=32 |issue=24 |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Berch had hired Johnigan as a porter 10 days before Johnigan decided to quit, citing racial tensions and a planned move to [[Duncan, Oklahoma|Duncan]], but upon the request of J. L. Campbell,<ref name=banner /> a guest from [[Norman, Oklahoma|Norman]], he decided to give one last shoe-shine.<ref name=ray /> A mob of at least 15 men approached the hotel after sundown, around 8:30 PM,<ref name=banner /> "who went to the hotel where the negro had been employed three days ago as a porter and shot down when Birch{{efn|name=Birch|text=Berch's last name was sometimes misspelled ''Birch''.}} attempted to persuade them to desist from their threat to [[lynching|lynch]] the negro."<ref name="casper" />

The mob entered the hotel via the lobby and continued into an adjoining room to find Johnigan shining Campbell's shoes, asking Johnigan to leave.<ref name=banner /> Campbell testified that one boy in the mob went into the room and grabbed Johnigan, but as Johnigan resisted, Campbell heard a gunshot, which prompted him to leave his chair just as Berch was falling.<ref name=banner /> Campbell testified that he was heading to the hotel's dining room and heard four shots in total but saw no weapon in Berch's hand or any person who fired a gun.<ref name="Slayer">{{Cite news |date=April 18, 1924 |title=State Will Ask Death Penalty for the Slayer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/606476826/ |newspaper=The Duncan Banner |volume=32 |issue=40 |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Berch had overheard the conflict between Johnigan and the mob, and he ordered the crowd to leave the hotel, stepping between Johnigan and mob member Marvin Kincannon, a man in his 20s alleged by Mrs. Berch as the leader of the mob.<ref name=kcj>{{Cite news |date=December 19, 1923 |title=Search Made for Youth Named in Negro Slaying |work=[[Kansas City Journal]] |location=Marlow, Oklahoma |page=6}}</ref><ref name=banner />

Conflict escalated when Elza "Roy" Gandy apprehended Johnigan and began beating him with a stick.<ref name=ray /> According to hotel patron and eyewitness Walter O'Quinn, Berch struck Gandy, who landed back against a table.<ref name=banner /> When Berch ran to Johnigan's defense, Kincannon fired a fatal bullet into the chest of Berch, who died within minutes, before twice shooting Johnigan, who died from his injuries at around 5:30 AM the following day.<ref name=ray /><ref name=news-star>{{Cite news |date=January 2, 1924 |title=Charges Kincannon Shot Hotel Porter |work=The News-Star |location=[[Duncan, Oklahoma]]}}</ref><ref name=banner /> Other witnesses testified that it was Johnigan who knocked Gandy across a table and that Kincannon fired when the two were separated.<ref name=news-star /> As Berch fell, Johnigan started toward the phone booth, but Kincannon shot him inside the phone booth.<ref name=banner /> Kincannon grabbed Johnigan out of the phone booth and shot him again in the chest.<ref name=banner /> Four shots in total were fired according to O'Quinn.<ref name=banner />

Dr. Richards, a witness to the scene, testified that he saw Berch on the lobby floor succumbing to his wounds: "Birch{{efn|name=Birch}} was dying, he only breathed a few more times after I got there and I saw I ocould do nothing for him and tried to do something for the nigger."<ref name="Slayer" /> Richards claimed Johnigan lie wounded in front of the shine stand about 10 feet from Berch.<ref name=banner /> He claimed that "one of the bullets struck the negro just above the right breast nipple and lodged in the intestines, probably striking a rib and being deflected downward into the stomach.... The second bullet struck in the left groin and came out near the lower part of the hip, apparently being nothing more than a severe flesh wound."<ref name=banner /> According to a contemporary report by ''[[The Duncan Banner]]'', "there had been trouble previous to the killing and that the negro had been warned by the defendants to leave the city."<ref name=banner />

Kincannon, allegedly the only member of the mob to brandish firearms, left the scene in an automobile with his companions after the shooting and could not be located by police.<ref name=kcj /><ref name=banner /> After multiple related arrests, Kincannon surrendered himself to authorities in Duncan around 3:00 AM on December 22, 1923; he and the other suspects were arraigned that afternoon.<ref name=banner /><ref name=preliminary>{{Cite news |date=December 27, 1923 |title=Kincannon's Preliminary Trial Is Set for Jan. 2nd |newspaper=The Marlow Review |volume=30 |issue=13}}</ref> A preliminary hearing on January 2, 1924, before County Judge Eugene Rice included Marvin Kincannon, Elza Gandy, Bryon Wright, Fred Stotts, Ollie Lloyd, Homer Thompson, Ellis Spence, and Frank Cain as defendants.<ref name=banner /><ref name=preliminary /> Kincannon was the only individual formally charged with Albert Berch's killing.<ref name=banner /> On April 18, 1924, Kincannon appeared at district court for the murder charge of Berch, for which the state initially sought the [[death penalty]] according to County Attorney Paul Sullivan.<ref name="Slayer" /> ''The Duncan Banner'' observed that the defendant decided not to refute that the shooter was Kincannon but instead plea self-defense.<ref name="Slayer" /> Kincannon was convicted of first-degree [[Manslaughter (United States law)|manslaughter]] for Berch's death and sentenced to 25 years in state prison, of which he served 11.<ref name=ray />

Gandy, whose father was a Marlow police officer, was also convicted of manslaughter for his role in inciting the mob, attacking Johnigan, and furnishing the firearm that was used in the killings. Gandy's sentence was declared as life imprisonment on May 15, 1926, but he received a 7-year sentence.<ref name=ray /><ref name=miami>{{Cite news |date=May 16, 1926 |title=Mob Leader Must Serve Prison Term for Marlow Killing |location=[[Oklahoma City]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |page=9 |newspaper=[[Miami News-Record]]}}</ref> An appellate court stated that "Gandy was one of the chief instigators of the mob which was formed to run the negro out of town."<ref name=miami /> Gandy denied that he instigated the mob or furnished Kincannon the gun.<ref name=miami /> Gandy received parole at least twice; once for seven days for his grandmother's death, reported on January 26, 1928,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 26, 1928 |title=More Convicts Granted Leave |newspaper=Nowata Daily Star |page=1}}</ref> and again for five days to visit his sick sister in [[Hobart, Oklahoma]], on August 13, 1929.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 13, 1929 |title=Gandy Gets Parole |newspaper=The Hobart Democrat-Chief |page=1}}</ref>

The story was featured in ''[[The Casper Daily Tribune]]'',<!-- The exact same story is reported in different papers, so subsequent citations on the topic should point to this cite to avoid ref clutter. --><ref name="casper">{{Cite news |date=December 18, 1923 |title=Hotel Proprietor and Negro Shot by Mob in Upholding Tradition |work=[[The Casper Daily Tribune]] |location=[[Casper, Wyoming]] |page=1 |volume=8 |issue=47}}</ref> ''[[The Albany-Decatur Daily]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 18, 1923 |title=Anti-Negro Creed Costs Man's Life |work=[[The Albany-Decatur Daily]] |location=[[Albany, Alabama]] |page=1 |volume=11 |issue=252}}</ref> the ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 18, 1923 |title=Hotel Man Slain and Negro Porter Wounded by Mob |work=[[Shreveport Journal]] |location=[[Shreveport, Louisiana]] |page=1 |volume=27 |issue=196}}</ref> ''[[The Vancouver Daily Province]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 18, 1923 |title=Shields Negro; Is Shot Dead |work=[[The Vancouver Daily Province]] |location=[[Vancouver, British Columbia]] |page=20 |volume=30 |issue=226}}</ref> and the ''[[Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 18, 1923 |title=Unwritten Law Against Negroes Causes Shooting |work=[[Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch]] |location=[[Norfolk, Virginia]] |page=1 |volume=45 |issue=116}}</ref> among others. Elza Gandy died on December 9, 1949, in [[Caldwell, Kansas]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 15, 1949 |title=Brother Dies |newspaper=The Fairfax Chief |page=1}}</ref> Marvin Kincannon died at age 71 in July 1972.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 24, 1972 |title=Marlow |newspaper=[[The Daily Oklahoman]] |page=44}}</ref> In 2019, Berch's maternal grandson, Albert Berch Hollingsworth, published a non-fiction book about the incident titled ''Killing Albert Berch'', which he spent five years researching.<ref name=ray /><ref>{{Cite news |date=May 16, 2018 |title=Docor to Share True Crime Story |location=[[Edmond, Oklahoma]] |newspaper=[[The Daily Oklahoman]]}}</ref>