The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1903-07-10
MILITIA FIRES INTO THE MOB.
Attempt to Capture the Jail at Evans
Vile is Resisted. e.

vIIIe is Heol9tSa'
Evansville, Ind, July S.-FClloWlhS
four days of rioting and general law
1~essness, Evansville last night saw d
hattie between a troop of soldiers ana
a mob of armed men in Whlch seven
nersons were killed and from fourteen
to +woltv were severely injured, while
a 0 of others were slightly hurt.
AT 1890 o'clock the members OF
COMPANY A, First regiment, l. N. IT,,
after a DAVIS vigilance guarding the
county jail, and 100 deputy sherl11s
under Sheriff Chris Kratz, fired point
blank into a mob Of 1000 men a
cred at Fourth Division and VINE
streets. These lawbreakers were sur
rounding the Vanderburg county jail
and attempting to capture 1t.
From 7 O'Clock yesterday morning
until the hour of the catastrophe the
crowd
Surqed About the Jail,
calling the militiamen vile names, as
sailing them with stones and beating
deputy sheriffs who guarded the jail.
At 8 o'clock the mob gradually be-
came more and more excited, its mani
festatiOns Of uneaSiness became more
f~reJuent, and at 10 o'clock it was seen
that nothing could prevent an assault
on the Jail. At 1890 o'clock the riot
ers pressed slowly forwards and n
cent OnIOOKers and curious persons
followed. Slowly they forced the
miIitiamen back toward the Jail until
the alley between Division street ana
the stone building was reached. Then
the leaders with a bicycle in their
front as a shield to the bayonets of
the soldiers. attempted to enter the
alley and TO storm the alleyway en-
trance. Capt. Blum of the national
guard ordered a charge on the rioters.
Gradually the crowd was forced back,
the soldiers
Using their Bayonets
and the butts of their guns. Suddenly
a rioter fell. A soldier tried to drag
him to his feet, but before he could do
so 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 fusilade of
musketry and shotgun fire from the
defenders of the Jail and a scattered
rptlyrn fro from tho rjptDrG EnnV pnn
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 fired the
first shot. The soldiers say it was the
rioters, while the rioters refuse to
talk. Gov, Durbin is said to have in
structed the authorities not t lessen
the safety of the Jail by halfway meas
ures. The soldiers and deputies fired
into the retreating moi of men, who
ran into Division street falling, crying
and begging. For fifteen minutes the
firing continued. The mob was gone
and the soldiers were holding the
place. In front of the staggering band
of f~ifty-eight soldiers lay the dead and
wounded.
Means and Shrieks
or 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, scattered. 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.
ers," called one.
Down with them" cried another.
xiii them" shouted a score of 9TH
ers.
Some of the rioters tried to change
their positions, and heard. cries of
halt" accompanied by the clicking 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 II the mob attacks the Jail again
n effects a capture.
Calls Out More Soldiers.
indianapolis, July 8. - Gov. Durbin
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
Vanderburg county, and says if the
sheriff had performed his duty instead
OF relying on tie state, the catastro.
phe would have been avoided.