Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-25
RAGE RIOT
Reign Of Terror In the Capital Of
Georgia
ten NEGROES KILLED ON STREET.

LIN NLuhULu hhLLLD UN uluLLls
White People Worked to Frenzy by
Stories of Assaults by Negroes on
White Women, and Mob overruns
Negro District-ordsr Restored by
!. Fire. Department, Police and Mill
tary--More Trouble Last Night.
Ten negroes were killed in Atlanta
last Saturday night by an infuriated
mob of whites and forty or more per-
sons, including a few whites were In
jured, some Of them fatally. The trou-
BILE arose out Of the long developing
antagonism between whites and blacks
and was precipitated by stories of re-
peated attempted outrages against
women.
| About 10 o'clock Saturday niGhI q
negro man pushed white woman N
the sidewalk. On another nearby
street a negro woman addressed an
insulting remark to white man. The
white man knocked the negro woman
down. White men in the vicinity Of
the other occurrence gave the negro
Thorough beating. News Of the two
incidents flew quickly about the vicin-
there was collected a mob of several
hundred people which within few
hours grew to be several thousand.
AS the mob swelled 1t increased In
frenzy which began to vent itself In
attacks upon passing negroes, and as
the negroes disappeared from the
streets, the mob began to search for
them in their resorts and homes. Ev-
cry passing street car was scanned for
negro passengers, and as soon as a ne
gro was sighted the car would be stop
ped by throwing the trolley from the
Overhead wire. Then the negro would
be dragged out and beaten. II ne
made any show Of resistance he would
be killed. One car half filled with
negroes was passing. The mob made
a dash for 1t. Some Of the ne
groes resisted. A fierce fight en-
sued, and when the car was per-
mitted to move on three negroes lay
dead and two others unconscious on the
floor. A negro was found on a side
street with a pistol in his hand and
was promptly shot to death. Another
negro raised a window and appeared
with a gun in his hand. Somebody
struck him with brick and he fell
back dead.
/ = So-,swift and spontaneous was the
assembling Of the mob that the police
was unable to control Ii. Mayor
| Woodward went into the thickest porL
ton of II and made short speech In
which he plead for peace and order;
but the mob paid no attention to him.
Then he turned in the fire alarm and
the chief of the fire department came
on the scene with his entire force.
The mayor ordered the chief to clear
the streets. The chief obeyed the or
i h,,t tn or 9tQV
cleared, In the meantime the govern
i or had : ordered out the militia. The
militiamen came struggling on the scene
i In twos and threes and were made the
butt of jeering ridicule. All the ne.
groes having disappeared from their
accustomed haunts the mob went to the
carshed and pulled the negro porters
from the coaches and beat several OF
them. It gave further vent to Its law
lessness by breaking the glass from
the car windows and also numerous
windows from the stores along Mariet-
Ia and other prominent streets. Hun
dreds of dollars worth Of property was
destroyed. The, rioting lasted all night
and until daylight when the militia had
been mobiliZed in sufficient force TO
take charge Of the situation.
Most of the rioting took place In the
centre Of the city and as IL progressed
the male population deserted their
homes to congregate there. The fire
department, police and military were
already on the scene and the women
and children were left alone In their
homes. Not knowing what was going
on except In a general way that race
riot was in progress, they spent night
Ipf. genuine terror. l., -s.
| AS Is pretty generally understood this
| trouble in Atlanta has been brewing
for many years. There. are many me-
groes In the city, good negroes and
bad negroes. The good negroes are
those who cooperate with the whites
in all things pertaining to the pros
perity Of the community. The bad ones
are those who have drifted in from all
parts of the country, who congregate
to themselves, and have but little TO
do with the whites except to show In
science upon every opportunity. There
was a serious outbreak against this
class of negroes a few years ago and
as the result Of II several Of them were
killed. But the situation has not been
improved since then. On the contrary
| IL has been steadily growing worse.
There have been more reports OF as
saults by negroes upon white women
from Atlanta than from any other city
In the country. The papers have been
giving especial attention to the mat
ter, fiaring the news in big headlines,
often without investigation. One OF
the papers on Saturday printed state
ment that twelve assaults and attempt
ed assaults had been committed in nine
weeks previous, and gave list OF
four that had occurred during the day.
It was this publication, which precipi-
tated the trouble that had been brew
| ing all the while.
During some time past the police
have been giving especial attention to
the negro dives on Decatur street
Decatur street, one Of the great thor
loughfares leading to the centre or the
city from the country, has long been
given over entirely TO the negroes, and
| It is lined with barber shops, stores,
saloons, dives, clubs and other resorts
belonging entirely to and frequented
only by negroes. The walls Of many Of
the dives have been plastered with pic
lures of nude white women, and CO.
caine, morphine and whisky are sold
freely. The police, having come to the
conclusion that these dives were the
incubators Of most Of the crimes which
have been terrorizing the CITY,. last
week commenced a crusade against
them and shut many Of them up by
demanding $1,000 license for the priv
lleBe OI TeIIldlulll6 Opch. hC oPSio
tions of the police, which were mat
ter Of common notoriety, had much to
do with accentuating the feeling that
eliminated in Saturday nights out
break
1t will have to be confessed that the
rioting generally was the work Of the
tougher element, people who were but
little IL any better than the negroes
they were attacking. and also that
among the negroes killed it is doubtful
as to whether there was more than two
or three who have in any way provok-
ed disorder, or otherwise merited the
punishment of which they were the
victims.
A meeting Of citizens, bankers, bus
mess and professional men, represent
ing the best element Of Atlanta's cit
izenship, was held Sunday afternoon to
consider the emergency. Governor JOS
eph M. Terrell, Mayor Jas. Woodward,
Col. Robert Lowry, Col. James Eng
lish and others to the number Of three
hundred were present. Speeches were
made and warmly applauded. In which
the killing Of half score Of innocent