The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-31
CITIZENS AND SOLDIERS
TELL THEIR STORIES
TO COURT OF INQUIRY.
Continued from First Page.

telling the mob to stand back.
The few soldiers in the Court House
did just like him-got out of the way
of the mob
he knew Landrum George, but did
not see him with the rope. 1t got on
the table and got away by some sleight-
| of-hand
sheriff Did Not Try to Keep Mob
Back.
Henry Mack. one of the bailiffs in
the room with the prisoners, said ].
q. Mitchell, the other deputy in the
room' opened the door.
Sheriff Kendrick said: 1T looks like
we'll have to give the men up" He
and Kendrick did not make any eff
fort to keep the mob from taking the
men out, nor did he see anyone else
| try to keep the mob out. Had not
been sworn in.
The sheriff asked him to help keep
| the prisoners. He was one of the
| bailiffs in the ROOM Mitchell opened
the door because they heard Sheriff
| Kendrick call for the door to be OPEN
| ed.
Mallard, the man who was said to
! have disarmed Capt. Hitch, said he
was in the hallway towards the ho-
tel-not the stairway entrance He had
gone down to quiet the crowd-by re-
quest of the sheriff
! On Tuesday morning, he said, the
general opinion was that the negroes
would be lynched. but then changed
the statement
Said He Did Not Seize Hitch,
| He said he was not the man who
seized Capt. Hitch.
| He denied telling Col H. B. Strange
that he had seized Capt. Hitch and
thrown him down the steps. He said
that others said he was the man, but
that he was not. He was not sworn
in. but admitted having passed up
and down the front stairway several
times during the rioting.
| He said the corridors would hold
| 700 people and that there seemed to
be 500 or 700 there at the first rush
of the mob. Only few pistols were
seen.
He did not see any wagons being
used to carry the prisoners.
The mob did not run all the while.
The first run was for about ten min
utes
Said MaIIard Told Him He Had
Seized Hitch.
H. B. Strange, attorney at-law, who
assisted the state in the prosecution
of Reed and Cato, said Mallard came
up into his office and said he was the
man who caught Capt Hitch; that he
was a bailiff and could, therefore, pass
| the soldiers; that he caught Hitch and
told him he should either go with him
or be killed.
There was apparently less danger on
Tuesday than on Monday. but he saw
there would probably be trouble when
the verdict was rendered in Reed 5
case. There were about rs or 100 men
actively engaged in carrying the ne
groes.
He said that Mallard said he was
on the committee to seize the prisoners,
and that he got Cato and carried him
out. and that the mob had men sta
toned in upstairs windows to shoot the
soldiers if necessary.
MaIIard Took Growers Gun.
Sergt. George T. Grower swore NAL
lard took his gun from him while on
the front steps, and that he had orders
from Capt. Hitch to use only the butt
of his gun.
The guard of ten or twelve men had
all been captured. save about four,
when Capt. Hitch was caught.
He saw a Savannah soldier load his
gun, asking Lieut.. Nell if he would
allow his men to be beaten up in that
manner. and started for the Court
House to help his comrades, but Lieut..
Nell caught him and led him back.
There was a conversation between
Lieut.. Nell and Lieut.. McIntire, after
which the talk Of efforts to recapture
the negroes was abandoned. though
nearly all the men were willing to go.
Lieut. McIntire had charge of issu-
ing the cartridges, and he had received
only four riot balls. and some of the
soldiers had none. Lieut.. McIntire
said Let them go without"
There were sixty or seventy-five men
at the Jail when the mob carried off
the negroes. Sergt. Grower did not
see Lieut.. Griner during the violence.
He said most of the soldiers would
have gone with Lieut.. McIntire to res
cue the prisoners.
Didn't Know n One of Them.
]. G. Mitchell said he opened the
door and did so because Sheriff Ken
drick told him to. He said Kendrick
told the crowd not to bother Andy Bell.
The other negroes pointed out Cato
and Reed. No one in the room made
any effort to prevent the mob from TAX
ing the negroes. He would not have
opened the door had he known a mob
was coming.
He had lived in the county thirty
eight years, but did not know any man
who went into the room.
Judge DnIey's Examination.
Wooten: From where did you get
your first authority to use the mill
tary?"
Daley: 81 wrote Gov. Terrell and told
him that thought It best to have
Wooten: please furnish the court
with that correspondence. What IN