The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-03-29
Mayor and City Police are Blamed
for the Lynching Bee by the
Mob on Night of
Feb. II
THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT
Grand Jury censors the Militia Com
pany for its Delay in Get
ting on the
Ground.

CAltO, III, Mdfcn ne SpSCidl
4 grand jury called together to investi-
gate the attack upon the Alexander
county Jail on the night of February
| IL, and which indicted twelve citizens
of Cairo for being members of a mob.
completed it's work and made report
to Judge w. N. Butler, censuring the
mayor and police for failure to assist
Sheriff Nellis in resisting the mob
attack on the Jail, hitting Company K
militia for slowness in answering the
riot call, and blaming the sheriff for
not seeking the cooperation of city
officials sooner.
The jury sprung another surprise
by reporting indictments against the
owners of every house on Thirteenth
street, Cairo's red light district. The
matter was brought to the attention
of the grand jury by the Social Purity
league. an organization called into ex-
istence to clean UP the city The
grand jury found indictments against
the mistress of every house in the
street, and against the owners of the
property, as follows: Mable McFar-
| land, l.. A. Rink, manager of the Ser
/ fass estate; ]. Murat Guion, Clarence
Nichols, Herbert estate, John Wal
| Ter, John Sullivan, Robert Jones, Hat
/ tie o. Farrow.
A peculiar feature of the situation
4 is that three members of the grand
jury are interested indirectly in the
! I, ,,P ,x,hi
| indictments were brought.
| The jury in its report says that it
1 finds the city authorities "are either
unable or unwilling to bring about the
much needed and continuously solicit
ed REFORM and urges the county COM
missioners to appropriate sufficient
| funds for the use of the sheriff in the
employment of reliable, fearless and
discriminating deputies to enable him
/ to enforce the laws. The report on
the mob of February IL says.
1 The jury unanimously regrets the
circumstances and deplores mob law
and violence, especially in the abb
sence of any justifiable demonstration
OF passion such as prevailed on the
memorable night of November II,
| 1909. We find that there was no oc-
| casion for mob demonstration or law
lessness OF the character exhibited
on the night of February II, and,
| Furthermore, that the same could have
been avoided had the city authorities
wiz: the mayor and the police-at-
| tended to their sworn duties or made
any reasonable effort to go to the
sheriff's assistance, even though the
/ orders to do so were promulgated
about two hours later than the evil
dence and facts indicated or war
ranted.
The evidence shows palpable lack
| of vigilance on the part of the police
is manifestly impossible for the laws
! ismanifestly impossible for the laws
/ and ordinances to be enforced when
such chaotic and indiscriminating
methods prevail as are evidenced by
/ the information we obtained from wit
! nesses and the records.
i We feel, too, that the sheriff is not
4 entirely blameless in the matter, as
had he co-operated earlier with the
authorities some, if not all of the
shooting could have been avoided. It
seems to be regretted by the COM
| munity generally that the militia
Company K-allowed so much time to
intervene between the receipt of or
ders to appear at the jail and their
response and appearance. That was
due, however, we found, principally
to the inclement weather prevailing
that night and also the inadequate
facilities at their disposal for com.
munication with one another.
i We believe, apropos of this sub.
iect, that some steps should be taken
by the proper authorities to have in,
stalled in the company's headquarters,
also at police headquarters, modern
electric alarm signal. Same applies
to fire stations