The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-24

some white man mounted a box in Mari
eta street, near the post Office. and holding
aloft a night extra announcing: Fourth
Assault by Negroes on White W ON en-"
cried:
Are we Southern white men going to
stand for thisP"
NO. Lets kill all the negroen NO our
women will be safe" vas shouted back
and the mob was soon at work. just then
a trolley car appeared In which were two
negro men sitting in the seat behind two
white women.
Look at that" some one cried. In a
twinkling white men boarded the car and
threw the negroes into the midst Of The
mob, where one vas cut to death and the
other fatally beaten. T he mob germ was
evidently In the atmosphere, for in less
than thirty minutes after the initial out
break in Marietta street there came re-
ports OF mobs attacking negroes at more
than q dozen places in the city.
The stories were all the same. The
whites would see q negro and cry; There
Ia one OF the black fends who assault our
women" and in a few minutes the negro
would be dead Or beaten into inscnsibility.
T here was nc question Of the negro's
guilt or innocenoe. He was simply q mem
Der OF the race that had been laying hands
IN white women, and that doomed him.
As a matter Of fact. no one believ es hat a
single guilty negro was killed by the mob.
T he victims paid the penalty for being
negroes.
For four hours the mob spirit revelled
In a very saturnalia. In Peachtree street
the. fashionable t~horoughfare Of the city,
the pavement in many places bore pools
OF blood which had gusbed from the negroes
who were shot, stabbed or beaten. At 10
O'Clock this morning traces Of blood and
brains were still to be found in places
sheltered from the rain.
One OF the worst battles OF the night
took place around the post Office. Here
the mob, yelling for blood. rushed upon a
negro barber shop just across from the
Federal building.
Get 'em, get EN- all; with this for their
slogan the crowd armed with heavy clubs,
canes, revolvers, rides, stones and weapons
OF every description. made a rush on the
barber shop. The two negro BARRIERS,
working at their chairs. made no effort
to meet the mob. One man held up both
his hands. A brick caught him in the
face and at the same time shots were fred.
Both men fell to tho flOor.
The bodies OF the BARRIERS we're first
kicked about and then dragged from the
place. The mob soon tore their clothing
from them, many Of the crowd taking the
rags home as souvenirs or waving them
over their heads to invite others TO join
the riot. When dragged into the street
the faces OF both BARRIERS were terribly
mutilated, while the roOr OF the shop was
puddled with blood.
In sheer wantonness Of "a gerry the mob
dragged the bodies across the street to the
monument erected In honor Of Henry W.
Grady. Here a negro was detected lurking
In the shadow Of the monumant. He was
summarily treated. Felled with q single
blow, shots were fred at the body until
the crowd, for its own Aafsty, called for a
halt on this method. Some one yelled:
Beat 'em up, beat EN- up; you'll kill good
white men by shootingi' BY way OF reply
the mob began beating the body, which
was already far beyond any possibility OF
struggle or pain.
Satisfied that the negro was dead, his
body was thrown by the side OF the two
negro BARRIERS and left there, where they
were found this morning, the eyes Of Henry
w. Grady, kindly even in bronze, gazing
down upon them.
One negro was killed on the Forsythe
street bridge, on which the windows Of the
Atlanta Constitutions editorial rooms look
Town. This negro was chased from Mari
eta street. Several bullets were fired at
him, but evidently these went wild, for the
negro kept on running and was gaining ON
the mob. Then from the southern end OF
the bridge came the cries Of several white
men: stop shooting and we'll stop him;
We'll kill the black; he'll get away II you
don't stop shooting and let US at him.
Seeming to realize the truth Of this the
mob on the north side Of the bridge, still
in pursuit. yelled: We've done stopped
shooting; stop the niggerl'
All OF his took only q few seconds. Then
Just before the negro was leaving the
bridge a man ran from the shadow ana
protection Of one Of the iron bridge Orders
and came down upon the negroes skull
with a club, the sound OF contact being
heard for a block. Thu black man dropped
like a shot and the mob was on him. Then
the body was kicked and dragged way
for a few yards, two or three MEMBER OF
the mob standing directly over the body
and pouring the contents Of their revolvers
into it.
One OF the most sensational acts Of the
mob was an attack on two Pullman coaches
at the Union depot, where porters and other
negroes had taken refuge. The mob
smashed the doors OF the coaches, dragged
the negroes from their hiding places and
beat them into insensibility.
These are samples Of the work o n in
the centre OF the city and it was duplicated
by a dozen other mobs in other quarters Of
Atlanta.
All this time Mayor Woodward was riding
from point to point begging the mObs to
dispense and not to disgrace Atlanta.
Oh, 60 home yourself, JIM the rioters
cried TO the Mayor. w are after niggers.'
The police were as helpless as babies.
What could a few men do against mobs
at work in a hundred placesp
Only once was the mob baked, and that
was when one section of it was raiding
negro saloons and restaurants in Decatur
street. A fire alarm was turned in and
Chief Joiner, recently nominated for Mayor,
came with three engines. In a few minutes
he had streams Of water playing and as
soon as the water touched the mob it dis
aoEved One fellow called out: -WhY are