The age-herald., 1902-05-18


 for the past few days that the Civic Fede- ration is making an effort to terminate the anthracite coal miners strike
 MT. Easley and President Mitchell of the United Mine Workers immediately <, went into conference behind closed doors. 1 Secretary Easley was met at the railroad station by the correspondent of the As sociated Press, to whom he stated that his visit was for the purpose of looking over the ground. He said he brought no | message from Senator Hanna nor any | other member of the Civic Federation. | The conference lasted until Il o'clock. MT. Easley said that Mir. Mitchell in-
 
 ringleader. would not come out. remain ! ing till the house was burned down over l him.
 "The wholearouble grew out of the at- tach upon and the severe wounding of the | county policeman by the negro. l Three negroes are in jail and I have | ordered all the troops in the city under l arms and have heavy force on duty at | Pittsburg, the scene of the trouble and a dense negro settlement, to prevent fur ther trouble All harmless negroes and their homes will be protected at what l ever cost, and all riotous conduct on the part of anybody. white or black, will be met with whatever force may be neces- | sary to preserve order"
 Beginning of the Trouble. Yesterday afternoon while returning to his home on the McPherson road former Policeman S. A. Kertin was waylaid by l five negroes with whom he had had trouble while a member of the force. But | for the timely arrival of trolley car. which frightened his assailants away, l Kertin would have been killed. A ser geant stationed at Fort McPherson who heard his cries for help ran to the place and found Kertin unconscious. 1 At midnight County Policeman Golden l heard that Kertin's five assailants were located in a house on McDaniel street. and 1 hastened to the city and a war 1 rant for their arrest from Justice Orr.
 Policeman Golden was joined by, Officers | Dunbar and Cheshire. and accompanied by a number of Kertin's neighbors, in- cluding Owen Heard, the party started l for the hiding place of the five negroes. 1 The house was dark and showed no signs of life, but as the officers approached the | inmates opened fire and Owen Heard fell to the ground. He was borne out of range by his companions. This was at 30 this morning.
 1 House Surrounded.
 The house was at once surrounded by the posse and daylight was awaited before making another advance. They did not think 1t necessary to call upon the city | authorities for aid and determined to make the axrests unaided. The house in which the negro Richard son was located belonged to Anna Will burn, also colored. Richardson who is believed to have been half-Indian, owned the store adjoining the house. In his store | he kept ammunition and guns and was therefore well prepared for fight. 1 At o'clock this morning the little | group of officers who had been watch | ing the house all night approached the 1 place and called upon those within to surrender To their consternation they were replied to with a volley of shots one of which killed County Officer Bat tie. The attacking party backed off some distance and from behind trees telegraph | and trolley poles commenced firing into | the store. In a few minutes the door of the house was thrown open and Will l King, negro. ran out and gave himself | up to the. officers. Inside the house Rich- | ardSon had an unobstructed view in three l directions.
 | Another Officer Killed.
 One block away Policeman Tom Grant I of the Atlanta force, who was among those summoned to the scene, stepped | from his shelter to fire into the house. | shot rang out from the besieged house and Grant fell to the ground dead.
 The attacking police hastily sent word | to police headquarters and Chief of Police 1 Ball dispatched the reserves to the scene in several patrol wagons.
 The officers to whom King had given himself up determined to make use of the negro and at the point of a Winches- ter they forced him to walk up to the rear of the house and fire 1t. As soon as the flames were discovered, the officers, eager to get the inmates of the house stepped out from their shelter in every l direction.
 Again there was a shot from the house and this time 1t was Officer Edward Crab- tree who met death. An instant later there was third shot and County Po- liecman Robert Ozburn fell dead
 The shooting had by this time attracted hundreds of people and nearly every man who came to the scene carried a rife. The shooting into the house became gen. | erai, citizens and officers firing together.
 Militia Ordered Out.
 Governor Candler advised by telephone | militia. Capt. w. W. Barker, of the Fifth Regiment, was ordered to proceed with fifty men and a platoon gun to the scene | of the shooting and cooperate with the | city authorities and the sheriff of Fult on | County. Chief of Police Ball hurried to the scene on horseback and was joined a few minutes later by Sheriff J. w. Nelms.
 The desperado Richardson. had been | lost sight of The house burned rapidly and a number of inmates were seen to run from the store to a woodshed and to | a barn in the next lot. Orders were l given to fire every building into which the | negroes had been seen to enter, and in l few minutes several buildings were burn | ing.
 w. T. Jackson, a street car conductor | in uniform, was one of those who hurried | to the scene when he heard the shooting. As he was nearing the house he was shot in the right hip. presumably by Rich 1 ardson.
 A negro cabman, driving a spectator | to the vicinity of the rioting, was hit in l the hand by a bullet.
 Call Officer Spradlin. speeding to the scene on his bicycle, received bullet | wound in the arm.
 Tried to Go Through Sewer. A main sewer which runs through this 1 part of the city was utilized by two of | the negroes as possible means of escape. l but to m avail The crowd had increa sad