Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1903-06-25
RIOT IN RICHMOND.

proclamation by the Mayor requesting
women and children to remain of the
streets, were the tangible results
Of one of the most turbulent days and
nights the city has experienced in years.
The clash in which blood was shed oc-
CURED yesterday on the city limits,
where strike sympathizers bombarded a
car guarded by armed men imported by
the company to protect it, property.
The guard replied with a volley of
buckshot and bullets. Six fell, one Of
them a mere boy. The guards were
placed under arrest charged with feloni-
GUS shooting. This was the most seri-
Gus occurrence last night, though in
other portions of the city much excite
ment prevailed The mobs were un-
manageable, and as there was no desire
to injure them no vOlleys were fired by
the soldiers. The shooting last night
was the natural sequence of the refusal
of the sheriff of Henrico county to ask
for military protection.
Those injured we're james Jones, Il
years of age, shot in hands and arms;
John Frost, II years of age, $50 buck
shot in back serious; Bascom Rowlett,
shot in eye and shoulder, serious; n.
F. Eubank, shot in back, serious;
Walker Ford, shot in foot; John Al
len, shot in arm.
The wounded were taken to the hospi-
tai. Several of the guards were seriously
hurt with rocks aud bricks before they
fired. While this was going on in the
West End there was serious rioting in
the East End Cars were heavily guard
ed by soldiers, and the mobs pushed
back by the soldiers bayonets until the
cars could get through. Matters were
so serious about 9 o'clock that the
Howitzers we're ordered to the scene
with a gatling gun, but about this time
the cars were taken off and the excite
ment ended.
The Adjutant General yesterday even
ing ordered six more companies OF troops
from Norfolk and Newport News, and
they arrived at midnight The city is
under intense excitement; the people
are sleepless and late last night were
congregated at front doors and on the
streets discussing the situation. Privates
Devericks, Croft and Dyche, all of Com
pany X, Stanton, were injured slightly
by the accidental explosion of a rifle
yesterday afternoon.
Richmond awoke yesterday TO find the
city practically under the control of the
State militia. Special trains had brought
in the out-of-town companies at intervals
during the night, aud they were i'm
mediately put into service, and, though
without sleep for &c hours, were on duty
all day.
The hope that the presence of the
militia would bring peace was disappoint-
ing. At Twenty-ninth and p streets,
where the worst rioting of the day be-
fore took place, there was more disorder
than before. The first car that was sent
out from the carbarns located there was
the object of the bitterest attack. Men,
women and children swarmed over the
tracks and piled bricks, rocks and other
distractions on the track As the cars
moved rocks, bricks and dirt were piled
into them, and many missiles whizzed
through the cars and over the heads Of
the street car men and the military
guard Of four men on each car. The
explosion of railroad torpedoes caused
considerable excitement as the car ran
over them, making the soldiers momen-
tarily believe they were being fired on.
As stated yesterday Capt. Geo. n. Skip
with, of Company C, Richmond, in COM
mand of his company, while walking
beside the car was struck on the leg and
blood gushed from the wound.
In the meantime the motorman moved
the car forward, while wild mob fol-
lowed. Time and again the guards on
the car pointed their guns at the crowd
from which missiles were thrown, but no
shots were fired. The military on
foot would lower their bayonets
and open the way, when the crowd
would again surge in behind and pile
other distractions on the track
80 feet from military protection.
The crowd yelled, jeered and OCCASION
ally threw stones. At one point a pile
of bricks five feet high was encountered,
and while it was being removed by the
car men, the mob howled and cursed. a
rope, to which were tied rags and tin
cans, dangled from the trolley wire
Motorman Kimberly, a veteran strike
breaker from New York, coolly mounted
to the roof of the car amid cries of 'Kill
him Knock him off," and removed
the obstruction. Stones whistled by his
head, and he called the attention of the
military guard to an alley from which
they came. None struck him, and he
resumed his place at the brake and drove
the car through the crowd, humping
over small stones and spikes piled in the
way. Five blocks farther on a switch
was found packed with so railroad
spikes. They were dug out, and the car
sped on to the armory, where Captain
Skipwith's wound was washed and
properly dressed. a piece of the tin
shell of an exploding torpedo was found
in his leg, and, while he lost much
blood, the wound is not a danerous one.
A piece of oyster shell was taken out of
the wound
Each car that left the car barns at
Twenty-ninth and p streets was the
signal for repetition of the disorders,
and could not have gotten away at all
without the solid phalanx of soldiers on
either side.
A few arrests were made by the troops,
and the disorders grew less as the bust
nesslike methods of the soldiers were