Ida B. Wells sent this typewritten four-page letter to President William B. McKinley. Wells-Barnett appeals on behalf of the Ida B. Well’s Women’s Club of Chicago, Illinois, for the President to apprehend and punish those responsible for the shooting of Frazier Baker. They seek support for the widow and children stating that “the nation owes that family the support and maintenance of which they were deprived by that brutal mob, in so far as money can requite their loss, these helpless ones should be indemnified.” She believes that their request for the family’s compensation will “not be in vain.”
The President later forwarded the document and the cover letter to the Department of Justice for further action.
