Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-09-25

continually rolling for several hour,
to look after the dying.
Negroes were not the only victim.
OF the riots, for three of four white
persons were hurt
! The crowds began to swell until b,
oark they had reached at least 5000
About $3.50 o'clock somebody made
a speech from a drygoods box OF
Pryor street near the corner of De
catur. He waved aIoft a newspaper
with the flaming headlines about tht
four assaults.
Then a negro bicycle rider came
along. He was knocked off his whee
by white man. He got up and was
knocked down again.
The police rushed in and rescued
the negro. fhe mob followed crying
1eering and hooting The patrol wag
on was sent for and the negro was
hurried off. AT the barracks he was
| liberated and he ran off like a deer.
Fred Sheppard, an 18-year-old white
boy, was seriously cut across the
| thighs by an unknown negro. The
| names Of the other white persons cut
could not be secured in the confus-
ion.
The riots began about dark at the
corner of Decatur and Pryor streets.
Mayor Woodward, who heard of the
brewing trouble, hurried into the
| midst Of the mob and mounting the
| drygoods box made talk in which he
urged the men to go home, telling
| them that the law would hereafter
punish the guilty negroes. He told
them that it was not right to punish
| inOffending negroes.
He was given a respectful hearing,
but no sooner was he done than the
crowd began chasing negroes again.
For an hour or more the mob sway
ed up and down Decatur street from
Central avenue to Pryor street. 1t
turned into Central avenue and start
ed to make an attack on the negro
skating rink, but was stopped by the
police
For an hour the mob contented it.
self with simply chasing off the streets
every negro who came into sight.
Get the highball on you," he was
told, and If he did not run he was
cuffed and often knocked down. If
he ran he was chased a short dis
tance and allowed to go.
Negroes were chased on Peachtree,
Pryor, Decatur, Central, Edgewood,
Ivy and Wall streets.
The police tried to deal with the
mob by persuasion. They thought,
and SO said, that the crowds were
mostly composed of youths This was
so to certain extent, but the youths
were from 1G to 21 years old, and they
| composed only a portion of the mob.
Ihere were men and thousands of
them there, and they were in frame
of mind that took more than ordinary
police authority to curb them.
At 10 o'clock there were at least
10000 men on the streets, and they
were becoming more and more turbu,
lent and bent on mischief.
1t was about this hour when Mayor
Woodward again begged the crowd
to dlsperse and go home. They cheer
ed him and returned to their business
of chasing and beating negroes.
At 1920 o'clock Sunday morning,
the riot call was sounded on the fire
bell at headquarters.
The Is slow successive strokes on
the big bell were heard in all parts
of the city.
1t was summons to the militia
to appear at their armories, subject
to the orders of the sheriff or other
authorized officials.
The troops in most instances re-
sponded promptly to the call and as
sembled at their armories.
Atlanta has had it's race riot and it
was one of the most terrible since
the days of reconstruction. The
causes that led up to it were the re-
cent criminal assaults made by brutal
negroes on defenseIeSs white women
For months past there has been on
ans average of one woman assaulted
a week. The climax came Saturday
afternoon when it was reported that
there were four white women who
had been attacked at their homes by
negroes. The news given in extras by
the afternoon papers infiamed the peo-
pie beyond endurance.
The rioting started at 8 o'clock at
the corner Of Pryor and Decatur
streets.
Fifteen negroes and one white man
so far heard from have been killed.
The negroes said to be killed were
located at the following places:
Three in a Georgia avenue trolley
car; two in West Fair street trolley
car; one opposite the postoffice; one
on Peters street; one at 81 Peachtree
street; one on Forsyth street bridge:
two on Marietta street, opposite the
gas Office; one died in the hospital:
two opposite the Union depot; one at
122 Marietta street; one on Auburn
avenue.
One white man, name unknown. was
killed by a negro at the Seaboard Air
Line freight depot at late hour Sat.
urday night
Sixteen injured negroes, some of
whom will die, were taken to the
Grady hospital.
Property was destroyed by the mob
in the demolishing of a Greeks stand
and the smashing of large number
of plate glass windows on several of
the business streets.
The saloon of Campbell & Poole,
on Broad street, and the store of the
Pearson Hardware company, at Wal
ker and Peters streets, were broken
open and the stocks demolished.
Citizens residing in the suburbs
have become greatly alarmed, fearing
negroes might undertake. +O bavo