The San Francisco call., 1909-02-22


noon until far into the night
~ South Omaha. this citys big
suburb, has been the scene Of
rioting, murderous assaults and pillage-
More than 80 buildings have been
burned. wrecked or badly damaged, and
probably score OF persons injured.
half that number seriously. BY heroic
work the police have prevented actual
loss of life.
The immediate cause of the trouble
was the killing on Friday night Of Po-
liceman Edward Lowery by John Masu-
redes, a Greek, whom the officer had
placed under arrest. AIasuredes was
brought to the Douglas county Jail here
at once. and for fear Of an attempt to
lynch him he was taken Saturday after
noon to Lincoln and placed in the peni-
tentiary to await his preliminary hear
ing.
On Saturday petition was circulated
in South Omaha and signed by hundreds
of citizens setting forth that a large
number of Greek residents Of the place
were of the undesirable class and call
ing a mass meeting at the city hall for
Sunday afternoon to discuss methods
of ridding the city of them.
Speaker Incites Riot
More than a thousand men attended
the meeting. which was addressed by
men of prominence. including two
members of the state legislature. The
speeches were calculated to infiame the
passions of the more excitable. The
meeting ended. large portion of the
crowd started out with the intention
of carrying out the suggestion of the
speakers in the most summary manner.
A crowd of perhaps 500 or 1000
quickly gathered to augment the size
of the mob and a general assault was
begun on the homes and business places
of the Greeks. The maddened crowd
began it's work of destruction BY
throwing stones and bricks through the
windows of stores and houses known
to be occupied by the Greeks In a
very short time havoc was made with
the fronts of these places. and the
stocks of the store were laid waste.
Two blocks east another crowd
smashed the front Of a saloon and sew
eral daring spirits attempted to pilIage
the interior, when a squad of police
charged the crowd and prevented the
mob from securing the liquor. 1t was
at this place that two boys were shot
ard other persons injured The injured
boys are Frank Sweeney and Joseph
Gamble, each about Is years old. who
received part of the contents of a shot
gun fired into the crowd by the mad
dened Greeks The other persons in
jured were all foreigners. and after
their wounds were dressed they were
sent to their homes.
Mob PiIIages Store
A third crowd rushed to Twenty
fourth and L streets and attacked a
confectionery store run by Demos
Brothers. The big plate glass win
dows were quickly smashed. the doors
kicked in and the stock and show
casos destroyed Mrs. Mary Demos and
her aged father narrowly escaped death
at the hands of the mob.
The three attacks were made almost
simultaneously and the destruction
was completed before Chief of Police
Briggs could get his scattered forces
together. Meantime Sheriff BrayIey
collected all the deputies possible and
rushed them to South Omaha to aid the
police. 1t took some time to get this
force organized and during the inter-
val Greeks were attacked on every
hand. The members of the mob as
saulted many Italians and Roumanians.
who were mistaken for Greeks. The
Iawlessness lasted for three hours be-
fore a sembIance of quiet could be re-
stored. The police gained control
about o'clock. but were unable to dis
perse the crowd Every home and
business place Of the Greeks was sur