The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-07
THE EVANSVILLE RIOT.

THE RACE RIOT that terrorized the
city Of Evansville, Indiana, on
Sunday night is well calculated t.
make race problem theorists do some
hard thinking. There are some very
unusual features about this affair. The
trouble. according to the dispatches,
arose through an effort to lynch ne
eT9 who had shot a policeman to death.
The policeman became involved with
the negro because he sought to prevent
the fellow from killing another negro
with whom he had had a quarrel.
During the fight the officer shot, and,
It is thought, mortally wounded his
antagonist The latter was arrested
and taken to Jail. AS soon as It be-
came apparent to the authorities that
a mob was likely to be formed, the
prisoner. although practically in a dy-
ing condition. was taken to another Jail
IN a city not far away. When the
mob gathered. its leaders were in
formed that their intended victim had
believe the statement and a committee
was appointed to search the Jail.
This committee reported to the mob
that the negro was not there but no
oredence was placed In the statement.
The jail doors were battered down. as
well as part OF a wall, and the mob
surged through the building. Later
came reports that the negroes Of the
city were arming themselves and pre-
pairing to kill the whites. The re-
suit was a night Of terror such as
Evansville has never witnessed. Hard
ware stores were broken open and
rihed of their arms and ammunition.
shots were fired in every direction and
the total number Of casualties may
never be known. So much for the
story
Evansville is not a southern city. Al
though only across the river from
Kentucky. it is as much a part of the
north as Rhode Island is a part of the
east The city has upwards Of $4,000
Inhabitants, a large proportion of them
being engaged in Industrial and manu-
featuring enterprises. Fully IS PER
-Cse5llir of the total population is German
or OF German descent This state
ment is best proven by the fact that
The Evansville newspaper that has the
largest circulation is printed in the
German language.
The number Of Germans who took
part in the mob is not known, of
course. but there must have been a
good many of them in it. This is
surprising for several reasons. First,
the Germans are not. as a rule, very
excitable. Second, the negro had not
committed an assault. On the con-
trary his crime was Of a very ordi-
nary character. Third. the fellow was
so badly hurt that his death by the
policeman's bullet was almost inevi-
table. We must conclude, therefore,
that there was something more than
the killing Of a policeman behind the
demonstration.
It has long been a saying in the
country contributory to Evansville.
that the Evansville negro is the mean
est negro in the world This state
Inent is made, not from hearsay, but
from an actual knowledge Of the con-
ditions. The Evansville negro is I'M
pudent. lazy and strongly impregnated
with criminal tendencies. He rarely
works unless driven to it by dire ne
cessity and he almost invariably steals
when the opportunity is offered.
1t IS entirely probable that the out
break OF Sunday night was merely the
elimination OF an explosion. long re-
pressed. that was bound to come,
sooner or later.