The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-09-02

conflict between the whites and blacks was
expected. Help was called for. as the
negroes outnumbered the whites six to one.
volunteer company of about forty men
was raised here in an hour or two. and left
on the 1915 train for tho scene of the
trouble. under the command Of the Hon. j.
=. Longstreet. A company of cavalry will
leave here tonight. A dispatch received
asks Us to send all available men through
the county at once.
BY order of the Governor the Winona
hlnes, accompanied by several citizens,
lett on a special train at 2 p. NJ, to-day, for
Greenwood. from which place they will go
TO Shell Mound to aid in suppressing the
trouble.
"A telegram from jackson says: No relia-
Die news has vet been received from Green
wood, the nearest telegraph office to Minter
lily, the scene of the threatened race riot.
lhe Governor was advised this morning by
the sheriff of LeFlore county that 500
armed negroes had collected. and that all
Efforts to disband them were futile, and to
send aid at once. The Governor left on a
spec,ai at A. NJ, accompanied by the Cap
ada, Winona and Durant are also there.
The trouble is said to have been started by
Onver Cromwell, an ex-convlct and a des-
perate negro. There is but one telegraph
wire to Greenwood and that is down to-
day.
A Greenwood special. just received. says:
There has been for the last month a negro
by the name of Cromwell, who has been or
ganlzIng, as it was thought. alliances in
TINS part of the delta. On Wednesday. of
to the alliance demanded that some
one beside Cromwell be placed at the
head OF the alliance movement as they
Claimed that he was an ex-convict, and
they We're afraid to trust him. This oc-
CURED at Shell Mound, ten miles above
here on the Tallahatchie river. Amajority
OF the. Negroes Alliance voted in fa-
vor of Cromwell, and he retained
his position. The next day
Cromwell received q letter. signed
ETC.. ordering him to quit his work and
leave the country, giving him ten days.
He showed the letter to the negroes, and
the same evening the whites at Shell
Mound received warning letter
themselves "Three Thousand Armed
Men," who said that they proposed
to stand by Cromwell, and that if any
efforts were made to disturb him they
would kill. burn and destroy Shell Mound.
into the town and talked in very loud
and threatening manner. The general
belief is that Cromwell wrote the
first letter himself, and had it addressed
and mailed to him at She'll Mound
with the object of arraying the negroes
against the whites, SO that the effect would
be to make members of the Negro Alliance
that were opposed to him come over and
join forces with the other negroes; but if
such was his. object it failed, as they
Last night our sheriff received
information from Sunnyside. fifteen
miles above Shell Mound, that there were
500 armed negroes who were massed in the
johnson field near, there and help was
needed. He wired the Governor the situa-
ton and asked for troops, which was re-
spOnded to promptly by Governor Lowry
in person. bringing with him five companies
of militia.
Governor Lowry has sent two companies
to- Sunnyside to report to the sheriff,
who went up there this morning to
see if he could do anything with the
negroes. The steamboat running
between here and Sharkey has
1us1 come and in chdIsSg bringing number Of
cautions the people to be free from all
violence, and not to violate the law in any
particular, but to assist the county au-
thorities to enfore it.
There have been several reports from the
scene of the trouble this evening, one of
which was that the negroes had left the
vicinity of Sunnyside. breaking up in small
bands of twenty or thirty, and seemed to
0ssuii u and mad.
Prospects OF a Riot in West Virginia
CHARLESTON, w. Va, Sept, lon Friday
a negro desperate, named Tom Smith, en-
tered the store of Berry, Cooper g. Co., on
New River. and made an assault on a
clerk, who drew revolver and shot him
dead. In the evening number of negroes
collected in the vicinity and threatened to
burn the town in revenge for Smiths death.
The whites are greatly frightened. and or
ders have been received in Charleston for
all available firearms. The negroes are
wall arp,ad opd q bloodv hoffla is oxnao ad
to take place.