Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1902-05-18
FOUR OFFICERS SLAIN
BY BLACK OUTLAW
Desperate Battle Occurs In
Suburb of Atlanta.
ONE NEGRO BURNED; 2 KILLED

caded In House, Negro and Pals
Defy Troops, Platoon Gun, Police
Force and Thousands of Citizens.
Atlanta, Ca, May 17.-Four of
1icers of the law were killed
and one fatally wounded in an effort
to -dislodge VIII Richardson. negro
desperate, from a house on Mechanic
street, whence he had taken refuge
when being pursued by the officers.
The dead are:
City Policeman Tom Grant.
City Policeman Ed Crabtree.
County Policeman Bob Ozburn.
Bailiff Battey.
Besides the officers slain, three ne
groes were killed and three mer
wounded.
Will Richardson, the negro desper
ado, who killed the men and who af
terwards himself met death.
Milton Risby, a negro who attempt
ed to escape from his hiding place.
An unknown negro.
The wounded are:
w. A. Wright, a county policeman
who was struck in his left shoulder
E. T, Jackson, a street car man
struck by bullet in his right hip.
George Heard, a county policeman
struck by a bullet in his right arm.
The officers surrounded the house
and burned one house in which the
negro had taken refuge, but he dart
ed into another and again opened fire
on the officers. The negro was crack
shot and picked off the officers as fast
as. hhey approached the house.
The trouble began over an attempt
to capture the negroes who had at
tackled Policeman S. A. Kerlin, anC
had nearly killed him earlier in the
day.
Four Killed Outright.
The negroes were pursued into q
house 300 yards from the city limits
on South Mcdaniel street. The off
GERS were fired upon as soon as they
approached the house, and Over
Heard, a brother of County Officer
Heard, and a member of the posse
was shot through the abdomen While
the house was burning one of the ne
groes crawled on his hands and knees
to woodshed. Here he rose and fret
three shots, which killed officer Ton
Grant, Ed Crabtree and County Police
man Bob Ozburn. They fell in theil
tracks. The negro fired with the ac
curacy of a sharpshooter He ther
ran and entered another house. The
officers made an attempt sIodge
him here, but his firing was so swift
and accurate that he killed Battey. A
hurry call was sent to police barracks
and all the reserve men were hurried
out on special cars, armed with Win
chester rifles
This house was also burned and the
hunted negro managed to escape from
the building to a barn.
After the negro had been run from
the second burning house to the barr
in the rear he shot E. T. Jackson, oi
II Dodd avenue, a street car man
through the right hip. Jackson had or
blue street car uniform and carried
rife, and the negro took him for ar
officer of the law and shot him.
County Policeman w. A. Wright was
shot in the right shoulder and badly
wounded.
An officer saw the negro dart from
the barn and dash into a third house
which was also burned The house
was surrounded and not a person left
1t. Neither was there a shot fired.
One Negro Cremated, Two Killed.
The houses which were burned have
been searched, and in the last one was
found the skull and bones of the ne
gro. He had been shot and his body
was burned. The other negroes who
were in the mob have been captured
and have been sent to police headquar
trs.
-Four officers met death and three ne
groes were killed. Two of these crawl
ed from the mouth of a sewer and were
shot by the mob. The third was Will
Richardson, the negro desperate, who
killed the officers.
The excitement at the scene of the
killing has never been equalled here
since Sherman fired the city.
Besides a picked body of troops
with platoon gun, under Captain Bar
ker, sent to the scene of trouble by
Governor Gambler, there were at least
5000 people present and every man
was armed.
The dead policemen were carried
to the undertakers' and the wounded
sent to the hospitals.
The city is in a state of intense ex
element.