The daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Beltrami Co., Minn.) 1903-1904, 1903-07-08
MILITIA FIRES
INTO The MOB
ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE THE JAIL
AT EVANSVILLE is
RESISTED.
go .. y ..s..- s1:=..
SEVEN KILLED, MANY INJURED
OUTCOME OF FOUR DAYS OF RI.
oTlNG AND GENERAL LAW.
LEssNEss.
MORE TROOPS ARE ORDERED OUT
THREE MORE COMPANIES GO TO
EVANsvlLLE-DEc.AREs
MARTIAL LAW.
SEVEN KILLED, MANY INJURED
MORE TROOPS ARE ORDERED OUT

Evansville, Ind, July 8.-Following
four days of rioting and general law
lessness, Evansville last night saw
battle between a troop Of soldiers ana
mob of armed men in which seven
persons were killed and from fourteen
to twenty were severely injured, while
a score Of others we're Slightly hurt.
At 1O:3O O'Clock the members OF
Company A, First regiment, |. N. g..
after days vigilance guarding the
county JAIL and 100 deputy sheriffs
under Sheriff Chris Kratz. fired point
blank into mob of 100 men gath
cred at Fourth Division and Vine
streets. These lawbreakers were sur
rounding the Vanderburg county jail
and attempting to capture It.
From o'clock YESTERDAY morning
until the hour of the catastrophe the
crowd
surged About the Jail,
calling the militiamen vile names, as
sailing them with stones and beating
deputy sheriffs who guarded the Jail.
At 9 O'Clock the mob gradually be-
came more and more exc cd its mani
festations of uneasiness oecame more
frequent, and at 10 o'clock 1t was seen
that nothing could prevent an assault
on the jail At 10:30 o'clock the riot
ers pressed slowly forward and inno-
Il ,nnr
followed, Slowly they forced the
militiamen back toward the Jail until
the alley between Division street ana
the stone building was reached. Then
the leaders with bicycle in their
front as a shield to the bayonets or
the soldiers, attempted to enter the
alley and to storm the alleyy'ay en-
trance. Capt. Blum of the national
guard ordered charge on the rioters.
Gradually the crowd was forced back,
the soldiers
Using their Rayonets
and the butts of their guns. Suddenly
a rioter fell A soldier tried to drag
him to his feet, but before he could do
80 he was assaulted by q rioter.
Stones and boulders began to fly
through the air. A soldier was struck
with rock and fell. A rioter was
knocked down with gun butt and
then shot was fred.
The one shot started fusilade OF
musketry 9nd shotgun fire from the
defenders of the TAIL and scattered
return fire from the riote 9. Fully 300
shots were fired from the jail win
dows, the courthouse steps immediate
ly opposite and by the soldiers on the
streets. No one knows who fred the
first shot. The soldiers say 1t was the
rioters, while the rioters refuseto
talk. Gov Durbin is said to have in
structed the authorities not to lessen
the safety Of the Jail by halfway meas
ures The soldiers and deputies fired
into the retreating mob of men, who
ran into Division street falling, crying
and begging. For fifteen minutes the
firing continued The mob was gone
and the soltlters were holding the
place IN frost of the staggering band
of fifty-eisht soldiers lay the dead and
wounded
Means and shrieks
of agony and fear came from the in
jured The soldiers prepared for an
other struggle 1t did not come. The
rioters got out OF sight quick, and,
fearing that another charge would be
made scatfored They stood In knots
around the corners in the vicinity.
They could be heard at the Jail argu-
ing among themselves.
Let's go get the damned murder
fers," called one.
Down with them cried another.
"Kill them" shouted a score of 9TH
ers.
Some of the rioters tried to change
their positions, and heard cries OF
"halt," accompanied by the clickine of
rifles.
Within a half hour things had be-
come so quiet that care could be taken
of the dead and injured.
Inside the jail forty-three prisoners
lay terrified in the darkness, sixteen
of them negroes whose lives are not
safe If the mob attacks the Jail again
and effects q capture.
Calls Out More Soldiers.
Indianapolis, July s. - Gov. Durbin
has ordered out the militia companies
at New AlbanxT Terre Haute and Vim.