Lynching of Olli Kinkkonen

Olli (Olof) Kiukkonen Kinkkonen (June 10, 1880 – September 18, 1918) [1][2][3] was a Finnish-American dockworker and logger. He was lynched in Duluth, Minnesota on September 18, 1918, for renouncing his citizenship because he wanted to avoid fighting in World War I.

Death

Shortly before the lynching, Kinkkonen[4] and five others renounced their rights to U.S. citizenship, because they did not want to fight in World War I. A small mob calling itself the "Knights of Loyalty" formed and went searching for him. They found him in his boarding house, preparing to return to Finland. He was taken to Congdon Park where he was tarred and feathered. The local newspaper received a letter saying that Kinkkonen had been tarred and feathered to serve as "a warning to all slackers", a term used for men who refused to join the military. His body was found two weeks later hanging from a tree outside Duluth in Lester Park.[5][6]

Duluth authorities declared his death a suicide, triggered by his humiliation at the event. His alleged murderers were never charged. Kinkkonen was buried in an unmarked grave in the indigent section of Park Hill Cemetery in Duluth, a few rows from where the victims of the 1920 Duluth lynchings would later be buried. In 1993, the Finnish-American cultural society, Työmies, placed a marker on Kinkkonen's grave. It reads:

Olli Kinkkonen. 1881 to 1918, Victim of Warmongers.[5][6]

References
  1. "Olli Matinp. Kiukkonen in Finland, Church Census and Pre-Confirmation Books, 1657-1915". 1909. p. 694. Retrieved 2019-05-21 – via FamilySearch.
  2. "Olof in household of Katrina Kiukkanen, "Finland, Church Census and Pre-Confirmation Books, 1657-1915"". 1890. p. 260. Retrieved 2019-05-21 – via FamilySearch.
  3. "Olli Kinkkonen, Minnesota Death Index, 1908-2002". 1918. Retrieved 2019-05-23 – via FamilySearch.
  4. "Olli Kiukkonen, United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918". 1918. Retrieved 2019-05-21 – via FamilySearch.
  5. "The other lynching in Duluth". Minnesota Public Radio. June 2001. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  6. "Lynching in Lester Park". Zenith City Online. April 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
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