The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-14
RUM0RS ALMOST START A RIOT
EXCITED NEGROES SURROUND ST.
JAMES DISPENSARY.

Peeped In the Dispensary VIM
| dOws and Imagined They Saw
Bodies on "A Table.
| The st. james Dispensary for the Medi-
cal and Surgical Relief of the Poor
has queer name among some
of the colored population. Notwithstand-
! ing the benefits in the way of treatment
they receive at the hands Of the physicians
in charge, many of the darkies in the
neighborhood of the dis9ensary hold alb
surd views of what is done within its
walls for the advancement of the profess
sional knowledge of the doctors.
Yesterday afternoon a report began to
circulate that the doctors had kidnapped
a boy and a girl, had killed them and had
! them stretched upon an operating table
for dissection. The news spread like wild
! fire, and Charlton and West Broad streets,
in the neghborhood Of the dispensary,
we're soon alive with negroes. All were
anxious to know what was going on, and
! they pressed about the door. They be-
| gan TO talk in the way they do when
crowd gets together and made threats to
| break in the building. The clerk of the
! dispensary was the only one there.
! She naturally began to grow alarmed
at the demeanor of the crowd and tele-
phoned for the police.
| By the time Policeman Murphy, who
answered the call, arrived the streets
were full of negroes, and it began to look
! as If there would be trouble. The officer a
once telephoned for more men, and
| Mounted Officers Cronin and Reilly
! and Policemen ConnaIly Mansfield, Brown
| and Spade came down in a hurry The
! officers scattered among the negroes, or
! dering them to move on. This they did
| not seem incline to do. They had been
| together long enough and discussed the
| idle rumors in a way that had deter
| mined them to see what was going on
in the building. Some refused outright to
! obey the orders of the officers to dispense
| and six We're arrested. They were John
! Middleton, William Phillips, Henry Free
man, Sam Harris, John Siegner and Eddie
! Cohen.
After the officers had been at work for
| few minutes the excitement began TO
cool down, and it was not long before all
but one or two of the policemen were able
to leave. The crowd had by that time
| been dispersed to considerable extent,
but a number hung about the dispensary
until night.
The rumor about the children be-
ing in the building was started by several
little darkies on their way home from
school The dispensary has been a place
of dread to some of the negroes for a long
time. The children have been accustom-
ed to pass it by with bated breath, only
the holder among them pausing long
enough to look at the building of which
such strange things were told AS time
has passed the tales have grown, and dread
interest in the place grew in the brains of
hn
them reached the dispensary yesterday
| afternoon it had lost none of it's attraction
for their fearsome curiosity.
There is a gnarled and knotted old null
berry tree on the sidewalk. From its
branches one can look directly in the Win
dows of the dispensary. Here was the
opportunity desired. Two or three of the
children climbed into the tree. After
time they reached a level with the win
dows. Whether it was to scare their COM
panions with the story or that they really
thought they saw what they reported Is
not known, but down they came from the
tree in a great hurry with a wonderful
tale
There were two children, a colored girl
and a white boy, in the room into which
they had peeped, they said. The
| little spies had evidently listened
to stories of the operating rooms
and knew just enough about the
| processes 10 set the fnln0S or their COM
| panions on fire 1t may have been that
their imaginatons had conjured up such
| a picture as they described while they
gazed.
As soon as the news had been received
from the willing mouths of those who
had climbed into the tree, it started on
| its rounds The darkies began telling ev-
cry one they met of the awful
things that were going on in the
! dispensary. The news Travelled fast and
| wide that two children had been kidnapped
| and carried there.
The only person In the building
at the time was the clerk. Miss
Mary Burgess She was upstairs dusting
off the tables when the little negroes
| looked in
The negroes were discussing the
occurrence long after it was over.
They are firm in the belief that the doc
| tors kidnap the children and carry thorn
into the dspensary to cut them to pieces.
| Some of them were overheard talking
about the "stoojents' and the way
they cut up folks. The dimen-
sions TO which the rumors of
kidnapping have grown and the
| effect they have on certain of the negroes
| is disclosed in the story OF a young lad
| who was afraid to go out last night. Ii has
been his duty for some time to carry sup
| per to a young man employed at
| the offices of the Plant system. Last
| night he refused to go saving
he was afraid of the kidnappers. He told
the lady for whom he is at work that
| the kidnappers have been stealing children
| right along lately, and he did not
| want them to get him. Nothing could in
duce him to travel his accustomed path
to the Offices
One of the physicians connected with
| the dispensary said that some
one they do not know who, has been cir
culating these reports about the institu-
ton with the intent to injure ii. The phy
stefan said as is perfectly evident to any
one with any sense at all, that there is
| nothing to be said about the matter II
! appealed to him as being manbfestlv 50
false and foolish as to make a denial I'M
necessary. ANY one believing such rot -
he said. lis a fit subject for the lunatic
asylum. There have been no children at
the dispensary, even for treatment. within
the last two or three days"
/
ARRESTED BY REQUEST.
Emmalina Whale Held by the Police
for Larceny