Indianapolis (WISH) – The body of George Tompkins, his hands tied behind his back, was found hanging from a tree in the Municipal Garden section of Riverside Park on March 16, 1922.
On Saturday, the case of a 19-year-old black man was officially declared a homicide.
Riverside Park, built in 1898, still exists west of downtown Indianapolis. Last summer, an amphitheater was opened in the park in honor of a mayor who entered the 20th century in Indianapolis.
But Tompkins’ death was the same for a long time Indiana Remembrance Coalition Described in a news release as a “hidden chapter in Indianapolis history.”
The coalition, based at the United Methodist Church of St. Luke, held a ceremony for Tompkins on Saturday at Floral Park Cemetery near Holt Road, south of West Michigan Street.
The death, which appeared on the front pages of Indianapolis newspapers 100 years ago, was initially ruled a suicide on a death certificate.
At the event, Marion County Chief Deputy Coroner Alfie McGinty unveiled a revised death certificate that now says “murder.”
“I was very surprised that it happened back in 1922—that the circumstances of this death were not properly investigated,” McGinty said at the event, according to a news release. “But, given the time in which this happened, I am not entirely surprised.”
According to the news release, Mayor Joe Hogsett told the gathering, “In 1922, juvenile George Tompkins did not receive justice from his city—neither in life, nor in death. Today, by remembering and preserving its entire history, We commit ourselves to a more just and humane future for all residents of Indianapolis.”
Following the event, the Coalition unveiled a headstone commissioned for Tompkins’s unmarked grave.
The Coalition’s news release also stated, “Unlike the more than 4,000 lynchings after Reconstruction and before the civil rights era, George Tompkins was never charged with a crime. The motive for his murder was never determined.” Has gone.”