In the summer of 1920, a dedicated lawman named Homer Adrean, a 42-year-old Deputy Sheriff with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, met a violent and untimely end. After eight years of service to his community, his life was cut short during a raid on a house suspected of harboring illegal whiskey. Alongside him that fateful day on August 28, 1920, was Federal Agent Stanton E. Weiss, who also perished in the line of duty.
The raid quickly devolved into a deadly confrontation.
As Deputy Adrean and Agent Weiss attempted to enforce the law, they were met with gunfire. The exchange left both officers fatally wounded, and another deputy injured. In the ensuing chaos, one of the suspects inside the house was shot and killed at the scene.
The aftermath of the deadly shootout rippled through Oklahoma City. The second suspect was apprehended and taken into custody, but public outrage over the killing of the two lawmen reached a fever pitch. Before the suspect could face formal justice, an incensed mob took matters into their own hands. They stormed the jail where he was being held, forcibly removed him, and enacted their own brutal form of retribution by hanging him. Deputy Sheriff Homer Adrean was survived by his wife and two children, leaving behind a family to grapple with their profound loss in the wake of a violent chapter in Oklahoma's history.
