The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-07
ODFLOWSIN EVANSVILLE
RACE RIOT CAUSES DEADLY se CLASH WITH MILITIA.

Seven Persons Killed and Fourteen In-
 jurcd-soIdIers Fire Point Blank Into
 Mob when Hard Pressed and Defend
 Inc JaII which Rioters Were Trying
 to capture- Governor Orders More
 Troops 10 City. .t, :@s 1
 Evansville, Ind, July 6.-Following
 four days of rioting and general law
 lessness this city tonight saw the most
 terrible of it's experiences with rioters. Seven persons dead and fourteen are
 known to be injured with at least that
 number more thought to be hurt.
 At 10:SO o'clock the members of Com
 pany A, First Regiment, Indiana Ma | tional guard, after a days vigilant
 guarding the county Jail and one hum
 dred deputy sheriffs under Sheriff Chris l lSratz, fired point blank into mob ot
 1000 gathered on Fourth, Division and Vine streets, surrounding the Vader-
 burg county jail and attempting it's
 capture. From o'clock this morning
 until the hour of to-night's catastrophe
 the crowd surged about the jail calling
 the rniiitianen vile names, assailing
 them With stones and berating the dep- I uty aferlfss who guarded the jail. g. | o'clock the mob gradually became more
 and more excited, its manifestations of uneasiness more frequent and at 10 o'clock it was seen that nothing could prevent an assault on the jail. At 10:S0 the rioters pressed slowly forward and innocent onlookers followed.
 Slowly they forced the militiamen back toward the jail until the alley be- tween Division street and the stone
 building was reached, Then the lead- CTS, with bicycle in their front as shield from the bayonets of the soldiers, tattempted to enter the alley and storm the alleyway entrance. Captain Blum. of the National Guard. ordered charge
 on the rioters.
 Gradually the crowd was forced back. the soldiers using their bayonets and
 butts Of guns. Suddenly a rioter fell
 A soldier tried to drag him to his feet.
 but before he could he was assaulted by a rioter. Stones and boulders began to fly through the air. A soldier was struck with a rock and fell. A rioter was knocked down with a gun butt and then a shot was fired. The one shot started a fusillade of musketry and shot gun fire from the. defenders of the jail and scattered return fire from the
 rioters.
 Fully three hundred shots were fired
 from the jail windows, the court house l steps immediately opposite and by the
 soldiers on the streets. No one knows who fired the first shot. The soldiers claim 1t was the rioters while the riot, CTS make no claim and refuse to talk about 1t. The governor Is said to have | instructed the authorities not to jeopar- dize the safety of the jail with half way measures. s The soldiers and deputies fired into the retreating mob of men who ran into Division street, falling crying and pray I ing. For fifteen minutes the firing con- | tinued. Then 1t ceased. The mob was gone and the soldiers held the place. In,
 front of the staggering band of fifty. eight soldiers lay the dead and wound- ed. Moans and shrieks of agony and fear came from the injured, Edward l Schiffmarl, a painter, who was seen In the first ranks of the mob during the. evening, lay on the sidewalk with the | top of his head blown completely off by Q 45-calibre rifle bullet.
 I A short distance from him lay two. other men. both dead and one with a l bullet wound over the heart. All over, l the street crawling and moaning,
 wounded rioters and onlookers tried to I ease their pain and escape by getting
 away from the jail. On Division street,
 lying between her griefstricken father l and mother. the little Altman girl was | dead with her breast torn away with . \ buckshot charge. She was out driving I with her parents who, attracted by the
 noise, stopped few minutes to watch l the excitement Tn the yard of the courthouse wounded rioters lay. and l back of the line of soldiers two of the nilitiamen had fallen. On the jail steps stood Sheriff Katz. At his side
 was Colonel Mccoy of the First regi-
 ment. Around them stood few doc- tors,
 l Indianapolis, July Ex-Governor Dur
 bin has just arrived at his office. He I has ordered out the militia companies at New Albany. Terre Haute and Vim
 cennes and is calling out Indianapolis companies to hold in reserve. He is preparing to declare martial law. He
 expresses indignation at the sheriff of l Vanderburg county and says if the
 sheriff had performed his duty instead l of relying on the state the catastrophe
 would have been avoided. G | y H