The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-07-31
Was Attending a Circuit
Holy Meeting.
SHOT BY WHITE MAN
Man W antcd.
From News and Observer. July Is.

Man Wanted.
From News and Observer. july Is.
Walter Chavis, an unmarried negro.
aged - years, was shot III cold blood
and killed last night in front Of the
Holy Meeting house on Stronach'
Row. above George Lanes bottom, in
East Raleigh. Lynn Fowler, white,
about 40 years old. was arrested on
suspicion and is confined in tie police
| station, charged with the crime.
The shooting occurred q few min
utcs before ten o'clock, and was done
by one of three intoxicated white
men in a large double team wagon.
| Besides Fowler, sgd Williams, appar-
emily 80 or 40 years old. his son, 4
STRIPPING Of q youth, and an unknown
white man, barely % years of age,
were in the wagon, all but the boy
standing up. The wagon was stand
ing in front of the house in which the
meeting was being held, when sudden
ly there were fOur or five pistol re-
ports, the shots being fired in rapid
| succession. The yard and porch OF
the place., as well as the house, were
full of negroes. attending the circuit
holy meeting, attracted thither by the
peculiar and fascinating service. 1t
seems that no aim was taken at any
particular person, the man with tn
/ gun rGckleSSIN ltNelllHS II Will tlS
| crowd in the yard and firing at ran
dom. Chavis was the only person hi.
The bail struck him almost exactly in
the middle of the back of his head
penetrating the brain, which ooZed out
upon the ground, II protruded
through the skull from the center Of
the forehead, without breaking the
skin. Chavis died within twenty min
utes after being shot, without speaking
a word or regaining consciousness.
Coroner Charles Separk gave per-
mission for the family of Chavis to
take his body to an undertaking eStab-
| lishment to be prepared for burial,
land from there to be taken to his no
TIERS home, on East Cabarrus street,
where he will hold the inquest today,
unless he decides that an inquest is
Unnecessary
The team and wagon which the
three white men were using were OWL
ed by Mr.. Charley Mitchell, a farmcr
in st. Matthew'S township, and TIL
three men had spent the afternoon in
the city selling Watermelons. They
appeared to have been drinking
heavily, and on their boisterous drive
in the early night to East Raleigh
they nearly drove into several car
riages.
George Lanes store in the bottom
commonly known by his name, is Sit
uated on the extension of East Davie
street outside the city limits. 1t was
said TIA the three men with their
wagon had been in East Raleigh since
shortly after dark. At twenty mlll-
utes of ten O'Clock they drove to
George Lanes store, near where
Fowler dropped q pint bottle of WhiS-
key ana asked jim Marrow to pick il
iup. but the negro refused to do SO.
Later Fowler denied that he had been
with Whiskey. To get rid of the roWdy
white men Lane locked his doors aud
went to his home, a few yards away.
The men drove to the corner and turn
ed up S~tronach'S Row and the wagon
broke near the front Of the house
where the negroes were holding THEN
religious meeting. n woman from one
of the houses brought out a lamp in
the light of which the wagon was soon
repaired. They got in front of the
house and shot into the crowd. There
was dense darkness and it is not
thought that ChaVis, the unarmel
man, was picked out by the man with
the gun. Chavis had been talking To
a cOlored girl in front OF the
house. All three men we're said to
have been loudly cursing. Some of
the negroes asserted that before the
shooting occurred they heard sgd VIII
liams cry: Let me get out: | want 20
whip every -- - negro there
is But he made no attempt to leave
the wagon, and j. was also said that
10 attention of either displeasure or
curiosity had been given the whites by
the negroes, and h The dreadful pro
family and the deadly assault were abb
SOlutely u~nprOVOked.
Some say there were five shots, 9TH
ers that there were only four. Only
Chavis, however, was struck. Aftec
the firing the men whipped the two
big mules and drove away from the
scene at a furious pace. There WAS
great excitement among the negroes,
for several minutes, some giving alarm
ing yells, and others c~autioning
for order and quiteness. Only three or
four out of the fifty or sixty negroes
advised violence in incendiary utter
iances. They We're for lynching, but
theirs was not the sentiment of the
crowd. No one tOuched the FOUNDED
negro till ID. p. Lane, the negro law
yer, and Harry Wilder lifted him from
the ditch into which he had fallen to
where he expired within a few min
utes.
Immediately after the Shooting Geo.
Lane telephoned to the police station
for an officer, and police captain Mart
Thompson. with Patrolman Austin
land County Constable Byrum pro-
ceeded directly to the spot; but be-
fore they arrived on the scene Patrol
man Willis. whose beat was inside the
limits in East Raleigh. had beer mott
fled and went to Lanes store
The fleeing white men were said to
have passed the Soldiers Home in
their at a terrific speed as
though the mules We're runninr away
Charles Perry followed the wagon but
could not keep up with If and gave
up the Unmatched chase. Tohe Ionas
and another negro, called ..Sandv.r
whose full name is unknown arc said
TO have seen Fowler jump cut of the
wagon at the corner of Martin street
run up Martin and across HAYWOOD to
IhaVie and down Davie to Geo Lanes
store. lie did not try to 90 around
TIE corner to the scene of the shoot
ing.
Lane had ~-open hi. store and
toWleF said to Lane: Via the ma
81 Lane. down here in the bottom ."
ana Lane old him he did nor knoTv