The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-18

trees and telegraph and trolley poles COM
menced firing into the store. In a few
minutes the door of the house was thrown
open and Will King, a negro, ran out and
gave himself up TO the officers. Inside the
house Richardson had an unobstructed view
in three directions. One block away Police
man Grant, of the Atlanta force, who was
among those m to the scene,
stepped from his shelter to fire into the
house A shot rang out from the besieged
house and Grant fell to the ground. dead.
The attacking posse hastily sent word to
police headquarters and Chief of Police
Ball dispatched the reserves TO the scene
in several patrol wagons.
THE HOUSE FIRED.
The officers to whom King had given him
self up determined to make use of the
negro, and at the muzzle of a Winchester
they forced him TO walk up to the rear of
the house and fire it. AS soon as the flames
were discovered the officers, eager to get
the inmates of the house, stepped out from
their shelter in every direction. Again
there was a shot from the house, and this
time il was Officer Crabtree who met death.
An instant later there was a third shot,
and County Policeman Osborne fell dead.
The shooting had by this time attracted
hundreds of people, and nearly every man
who came to the scene carried a rifle. The
shooting into the house became general,
citizens and officers firing together. Gov.
Gambler, advised by telephone of the riot
lhSg OuL III lAlllAAo 4noJs
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 Fulton county. Chief of
Police Ball hurried TO the scene on horse
back and was joined a few minutes later by
Sheriff j. w. Nelms.
The Desperate Richardson had been lost
sight of. The house burned rapidly and a
number of inmates were seen to run to the
store, to a woodshed and to a barn in the
naYt lnt Orders Warp nniCE1V given 10 fire
every building into which the negroes had
been seen to enter, and in a few minutes
several buildings were burning. r. L. Jack
son, a street-car conductor in uniform, was
one of those who hurried to the scene when
he heard the shooting. AS he was leaving
the house he was shot in the right hip. pre-
sumably by Richardson. A negro cabman,
driving a spectator to the vicinity of the
rioting, was hit in the hand by a bullet.
Call Officer Spradlin, speeding TO the scene
on his bicycle, received a bullet wound In
the arm.
A main sewer which runs through this
part of the city was utilized by two Of the
negroes as a possible means of escape, but
TO no avail. The crowd had increased I'M
til at least 5000 people, 1000 of whom were
armed. surrounded the burning area. Soon,
from the mouth of the sewer, Milton Rlsby,
a negro, was seen to emerge. A shout went
up and the fleeing negro, who struck out
over a vacant lot for liberty, was being pur-
sued. Shot after shot rang out, and in a
minute he fell dead. The pursuing party
quickly surrounded him and filled his body
with lead. He was literally shot to pieces.
SHOT TO FRAGMENTS.
The crowd of enraged citizens had scarce
ly finished this work, when another negro
was seen coming out of the sewer. He, too,
made a run for life and managed TO get
into the back yard of one of the ~neighboring
homes. where, surrounded by several head
of cattle and hogs he was shot to frag-
ments.
The fire, which had been started by the
attacking party, spread rapidly and soon
the entire block of buildings, composed en-
tirely of negro houses. was destroyed. The
police were busy arresting the few negroes
to be found in the vicinity. Two of them,
Steve Nisbit and Jim Singleton, believed to
be members of Richardson's gang, were ar
rested. The police had great difficulty in
getting out of the crowd of enraged people
with the colored men. A mob of 1900 surged
around the patrol wagon and cried for the
life of the men under arrest. The officers,
throwing their men into the bottom OF the
wagon, drew their revolverS and giving the
driver orders to drive as fast as he could,
forced their way through the crowd, and
twenty minutes later lodged their prisoners
in safety in the Fulton county jail, on
Butler street.
In less than an hour the block Of wooden
houses was burned to the ground and a
search of the ruins was at once enetered
upon. In a woodshed in the rear of Rich
ardson's store was found a skull, and near
it the steel barrel of a rife. 1t is believed
the skull represents all that is left OF the
negro who did the shooting.
The police believe they have arrested all
the negroes directly concerned in the shoot
ing. but have been given orders by the
chief to bring into custody all suspicious
characters found in the neighborhood.
The rioting caused the utmost excitement,
not only in the little suburb Of Pittsburg.
where it occurred. but all over the city.
This is the first affair of the kind that has
ever occurred in Atlanta. Ii was not in any
sense a race riot, but was the result of a
negro defying the law. The negroes who
set upon former Policeman Kerlin last
night as well as those concerned in to-day's
shooting evidently cherished a grudge
against Kerlin for something he had done
while on the police force.
Notwithstanding that the entire city was
much wrought over the killing of the Of
fcers. order was restored with wonderful
promptness and the passions of an enraged
people were remarkably restrained. Fifty
enlisted men Of the State militia will do
patrol duty tonight in the disturbed neigh
borhood and the police doing duty in that
part of the city have been reinforced.
There was some talk of closing all saloons
at 6 O'Clock tonight. but the mayor said.
after a consultation with the chief OF
pOlice IL was not Thought necessary.