The daily gazette., 1883-09-27
A RIOTOUS NEGRO SHOT.
SHOOTING NECESSARY TO
QUELL A RoW.
TWO ooLoRED MEN WOUNDED.
One of Them Probably Fatally Injured
Riot at Tenth and Orange-Statemon
of an Witness.

Rows have been frequent in the vicinity of
Tenth and Orange streets fer some time
past, and the people in that neighborhood
living In constant fear. The police make but
feeble efforts to quell the disturbances
and In consequence are held In contempt by
the crowd. On Tuesday evening last
"Oflcer" Sherer stood by and watched two
men beat Spencer Greenwood terribly, max.
ing no effort whatever to interfere, being no
doubt afraid of the men. The trouble last
evening occurred in this wise: A crowd had
congregated in the neighborhood of Ninth
and Walnut and were ordered away by
the police; they went and about 10 o'clock
they appeared at Ninth and Orange The
mel commenced TO sing and officers Black.
burn, McKendrick and Sherer went over
to them and ordered them away. The
crowd moved down Orange street
and commenced singing again. The
officers again ordered them away and
Lewis Fl. Hamilton refused to go. Sergeant
Blackburn caught hold of him without any
intention of arresting him, when Hamilton
pulled out a razor and attempted to cut the
officer. A bundle of keys prevented any
damage further than cutting the officers
clothes. The officer then took his blackjack
and struck at him three times hitting him
once. About this time Hamilton got up
close to Officer Sherer and what followed is
told by lady who was an eyewitness to
the whole affair. "I was at nv
window and saw Sherer draw his revol-
yer and fire twice in the air, twice widely
on each side of Hamilton, and twice be-
tween his legs; some one said that lost shot
had more than powder in it. Hamilton
do that again." He turned to
the crowd and excllmed, "Bjys,
clear the way Pm agoing to
put this mans lights out; Sherer fired i'm
mediately, the shot taking effect in his back.
Hamilton groaned and turned for home.
This ended the row and the crowd dis
persed.
The people in the vicinity who were seen
by the GAZETTE representative, corroborated
the lady's statement in all the material
points, and particularly in the fact that the
firing was started by the police. Several
persons declare there were but seven shots
sred, and 1t appears, from the lady's state
ment before mentioned, the all came from
Shearer's revolver. One of the stray shots
hit Moses Watson in the shoulder, inflcting
nothing but flesh wound.
During the melee dozen stoneswere thrown
by the crowd none of them doing any injury.
Hamilton was shot twice, once in the leg
and once in the back. The shot which en-
tered the back, struck a few inches to the
right of the spinal column, and about six
inches above the small of the back, and
striking rib followed around to
the front and near the navel
The wound was probed by the doctor, who
was unable to locate the bullet, but is in
clined to the belief that it is near the navel,
from the fact that the patient is sore to the
touch at that point this morning.
A posse of officers went to the scene of
the disturbance q few minutes after the
trouble, but when they arrived the crowd
had left and the only one arrested was
George Patterson, who was doing nothing
whatever
The colored people in the neighborhood
are very idnignant over the affair and
severely criticise the officers, claiming that
the men were not doing half as much as
they were charged with, and guilty of no
more disorder than the police had frequently
smiled at before.