Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-08-05
ILLINOIS RACE RIOTS.
SCENES or etooDY VIOLENCE
AT DANvlLLE.
NexroI Is Lynched and BHrned-county
Jail and CITY Prison Are Almost
Demolished Troops Are Ordered to
the City.

After the terrible scenes or Saturday
when for six hours Danyille, H.,
was at the mercy Of a bowling, blood
mob of frenzied and half,drunken.
men, the city is quiet.
1t is the quiet, however. that is
brought about by the glitter of rifles in
the hands Of soldiers who are licensed to
kill. On the surface all Is peaceful, but
underneath the storm of rage and hatred
Is boiling and threatens to break forth
anew when the troops shall have depart
ed.
Tossed here and there on the public
square, as the capricious winds will il.
are the fragments Of clothing, bits Of
bloody hay and splintered wood, grew
some mementoes of Saturday nights
sickening tragedy, when the negro May
field was dragged to death and his corpse
hacked to biss and burned.
City Is in Dread.
Close by is the county jail, not a whole
pane of glass left in the windows. and
the doors and walls. bearing the marks
of the assault by the mob. Three blocks
is the city prison, demolished by
the mob. In the hospitals are a dozen
or more men suffering sanshot wounds,
and many more skunk away after che
sheriff made his determined stand. bear
ing with them testimony in the way Of
buckshot, that he was a man Of his
word.
Public feeling against the negroes had
been wrought to a high pitch by a terri
BILE assault Apon a white woman by
James Wilson, a negro in the Jail, and
there had been much talk Of lynching,
but it had not crystallized until Saturday
evening.
Shot by Negro.
About $50 p. IN. a negro named Met
calf became involved in an argument
with Henry Gatterman, a young butcher.
In front of an East Main street saloon.
which ended in the negro shooting Cat
terman dead.
The negro was caught and with much
difficulty the police took him to the city
prison. followed by a crowd which rap
idly grew into a mob that yelled itself
hoarse in demanding that the murderer
be lynched.
The police, assisted by Sheriff Fl. II.
Whitlock, gathered in the city building
trying to keep the mob out. but were
finally forced to admit a portion of them.
The colored murderer had previously
been locked in a vault in which the police
records are KEEP. and the officers hoped
that the mob would not find him.
Dragged from Jail.
The leaders were told that MetcaIf
had been taken out of the rear door and
carried into the country In a buggy, but
they refused to. believe the assertion.
Some went for railroad irons and others
for sledge hammers, aAd a few minutes
later the lock had been knocked eff the
vault door and the negro was dragged
forth amid the exultant shouts of his
captors. The victim made a fierce strug-
gle, but the blows that were rained upon
him soo brought him to the floor Of the
police station, and a ~-svciver in the hands
Of one of the % o. the mob put
a sudden end to his sufferings.
Body Is Rjsaied.
The mob then dragged the dying man
from the building, and placing a rope
about his neck dragged him che square
south to Main street and then FIVE
squares east to the saloon where he killed
Gatterman, where his body was struck
up TO a telegraph pole and riddled with
bullets.
Cries of Burn him. Burn him.
were then heard. and the mob leaders
soon had the lifeless body of the negro
cut down and were dragging him sog.ts
on the Wabash Railroad tracks.
At South street the mob leaders decid.
ed TO take the body to the jail, where
James Wilson, another negro captured
at Marshield, Ind, charged with trying
to assault Mrs. Mary Burgess. a white
woman, the previous day, Is imprisoned
Son to the Jail"
As soon as the word was given the
mob yelled, ITO the jail" Mob the
other niger" etc. and made a wild
charge for that building. whore quite 9
crowd had already congregated in antici
patton of another lyncling.
Arrived at the Jail, the body Of the
negro was placed in the center Of the
~conrerging streets, where dozens Of fren
zied men anG boys kicked and jumped
upon it. The body was totally naked
and blood was oozing from dozens q
BALLET holes.
Some n then threw an armful of hay
upon the body and touched a match to it
after which the mob backed away a short
distance and watched the awful spec,
tacle.
Demand More Blood.
Growing tired of this grewsome sight
the mob turned its attention to the coun
ty jail and demands were made upon
Sheriff Whitlock to surrender Wilson.
A dozen or more deputies and police.
men had hurricdly been gathered togeth
er and placed in the Jail. heavily armed
Sheriff Whitlock demonstrated with til
mob, but without effect. Finally a peep
hole was opened and the barrel Of d
Winchester gun was thrust through II
and another demand from the sheriff. this
time from a window in the second story,
for the mob to dispense, was made.
Shot Anglers Mob.
No attention being given to IL. a shot
was fired oFe= the heads Of the mob. The
fh0t seemed only % anger the mob. and
a charge was made with the battering
gam upon the door. The gun was again
fred, this time into the dense crowd
welding the railroad iron, and several
nlen were seen TO drop to the ground.
Several more shots were fred from
the jail door and windows by the officers
Inside, and the mob began to scatter,
leaving four or five on the grouad bleed
ing from bullet wounds, Others iimped
away, showing that many Of the buck.
shot and bullets had taken effect.