Los Angeles herald., 1906-04-16
VOTE SELLING
PRECEDEs RIOT
CONDITIONS IN SPRINGFIELD
EXPLAINED
Los Angeles Man Tells of Circun1-
stances That Led to Lynching of
Trio by Three Thousand
Citizens

Chalmers S. Baird of Los Angeles
just returned from Missouri, was in
Springfield, Mo-. recently and discussed
the race riots of last week and of years
past. Said he:
Gradually the race problem per-
meates territory heretofore for a quar-
ter of century considered sacred.
"The telegraph news told of mob
of 5000 citizens at Springfield, Mo-,
taking from the Jail three negroes and
after hanging them to the Goddess of
Liberty statue setting fire to their
writhing forms. And this on Easter
eve
Here is city of 10000 population
with 1000 negroes. 1t is the seat of cul
ture and education in the Ozark noun
tain country, and while nearly every
other locality in that part of the I'm
perial state has at one time or another
since the Civil War had it's race trou-
bles, the old aristocracy of the ante
bellum days welded such an influence
that it was often the proud boast that
Springfield had solved the race prob
lem and there the whites and blacks
could live side by side without a clash.
Southern Missouri is not healthy
section for the negro, but at that the
feeling there toward the black man is
no worse and conditions no more unfa-
vorable for him than in nearly every
section of the border country as it
is often termed.
"keep Moving" Signs
"There are plenty Of towns in South
ern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, as well
as well as Missouri, where the whites
will not permit negroes to reside. Signs
are not infrequently posted along the
railway tracks warning the travelling
negro to keep moving.
About five years ago a mob of sew
eral hundred whites in the town of
Monett, point about forty miles from
Springfield, notified the negro residents
to move-and they moved.
"a few years later the country was
shocked by the news that a mob had
hanged three negroes In the streets of
Webb City a point about SeVenty-fiVe
miles from Springfield. The mob was
the result, as at Springfield of the
atrocious assault on 17-year-old girl
Strange to say, also as at Springfield,
it was conceded afterward that the
mob leaders had failed to get the guilty
negroes and that the three hanged
were innocent of the crime.
But that made no particular differ-
ence. The mob burned and sacked the
negro portion of the city and men,
women and children were driven into
the country to find such refuge as was
possible. other similar events in
Southern Missouri are recalled by the
latest race riot at Springfield.
Only "BIack Town"
"It is not difficult to account for the
feelings of the component parts of the
Springfield mob. Other towns in that
section have driven out the negroes,
until gradually Springfield was pointed
to as the only black town in that
section. A series of crimes had pre-
ceded the assault of the girl. who wes
dragged from a buggy in which she
was riding with her white escort. The
crime was revolving and aroused SEN
sitive and intelligent community
Fresh in the memory of the people
were the atrocities in other towns ana
the suspects were taken from the jail
to pay the penalty which it was feared
the law would not enforce.
For quarter of a century there mas
not been a legal execution in the
county in which Springfield is situated.
About twenty years ago another mob
took man out of the Jail and hanged
him. He was a white man, so it may
be said that the Missourians are not
particular about the color of their VIC
Tins.
Murders and Nc Executions
"Since then there have been murders
committed but not single convicted
defendant has walked the gallows.
1.-The negro has been a strong factor
in Springfield politics for many years.
Like most of the other negroes in the
border states he has been purchased as
often by one party organization. 1t
was no secret among the political
bosses that the Fourth ward in Spring
field could be carried for most any can
didate who would furnish a small sack
of half-dollar pieces and two-gallon
Jug of white mule The political par
ties did not like the business and would
have ignored the negro vote If they
could but each side knew it was pur-
chasable and each wanted to keep 1t
from the other fellow. Naturally this
condition does not make good niggers,
and the inevitable seems to have re-
suited in "a mob of 5000 citizens
"When a Missouri community decides
to solve the race problem in the man
ner Springfield has done, it is probable
that if the sentiment of the leading
whites there could be secured it would
be, not that the mob hanged the wrong
negroes, but that it did not get the
guilty ones"
uAnI NAV Or CDEhkEP