New-York tribune., 1908-08-15
ILLIONOIS RACE RIOT
TROOPS IN SPRINGFIELD.
hob Swges Through City, Beating
Negroes Result of Assualt.

Springfield Ill.,, Aug. IA threatening mob
bent on wreaking vengeance on the negro in
habitants of Springfield because of an assault
committed to-day by negro on a white
woman is raging through the streets to- night,
beating negroes and disregarding the soldiers
of Troop of the 1st Cavalry, ordered out by
Governor Deneen to preserve order.
The Governor by telegraph tonight ordered
out two companies of militia and troop of
cavalry from Peoria, troop of cavalry from
Bloomington and also one from Pekin. These
soldiers rushing to Springfield on special
trains to assist the local troops in maintaining
order.
Negroes in various parts of town have been
attacked by the mob and in two instances the
negroes have turned with considerable effect
upon their assailants. In one mix-up a trooper
attempted to separate the combatants and was
nearly overwhelmed. A call for help brought
other cavalrymen to the scene. but they were
t1isarmed and their guns carried away by the
rioters
Most of the members of Troop B, of Taylor
vile, are on guard around the JAIL whence
George Richardson. the negro who assailed
Mrs Hallam at her home to-day. was removed
early in the evening to Bloomington The riot
ers who gathered in front of the Jail following
the incarceration of Richardson were enraged
by the ruse practised by the Sheriff in renov-
ing Richardson from the Jail A company of
tirrnen was sent down the street In front OF
The Jail in a spectacular run, attracting the
attention of the crowd. while Richardson and
another negro. charged with murder. were
stealthily taken from the JAIL across the Sanga-
mon River and placed In a train bound for
Bloomington.
Finding that - negroes were gone, the mob
amused itself for time by looting negro re-
sorts in East Washington street. The amuse-
nent of the rioters was tragedy for the negroes
many of whom were roughly handled and beaten
with pieces of their furniture
TWO WHITES SHOT.
A white man and his son. whose names were
not ascertained by the police, were shot and
injured supposedly by negroes. This encoun-
ter further enraged the members of the n1ob
and they began general search for negroes
wherever they could be found
The situation became so serious that Gov
ernor Deneen sent hurried orders for extra
troops. The local militia had been called out
earlier in the evening to prevent trouble that
was feared at that time.
The Springfield militia, after the shooting of
the two white men tonight seemed powerless
to- control the rioters and when the automobile
which had taken the two prisoners from the Jail
to the train across the river returned to Spring
field driven by its owner. Major Harry T. Loper.
of the Illinois National Guard. large number
of the rioters assembled around the machine IN
front of Loper's restaurant.
Despite a guardsof police and members Of ne
5th Infantry with a Calling gun. the crowd
wrecked the restaurant, tearing everything to
pieces inside, demolished Lopers automobile
and set it afre. The Fire Department was sum
moned TO extingush the burning automobile,
and another struggle ensued when the militia
men tried to drive back the rabble to allow the
fremen to play hose the fire. Three mem
hers of the Calling gun squad were injured and
the rioters took several guns from the soldiers.
These captured guns were used TO finish wreck
ing the restaurant
When the mob reached the bottom of the
stairway leading to the buffet of the restaurant
they sound the dead body Of Louis Johnson,
fourteen years old. A doctor, who examined
the body hastily, said the boy had been shot
in the neck, where there a wound but an
other doctor, who came up later, said that the
boys death was due to a broken neck