The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-15
TWO NEGROES ARE CREMATED BY AN
 |NFUR|ATED MOB
A Quaker Community In Pennsylvania Burns
 Negro at Stake
OKLAHOMA FEARS
 SERIOUS RACE WAR
Posse Lynches Negro Murderer of White Woman and Serious Race War Threatened-Intense
 Feeling Is Aroused

|
 1 Coatesville, Pa, August 4.-No arrests
 have been made in connection with the l lynching of the negro, Zachariah Walker,
 who last night was dragged from a hos pital and burned alive on the outskirts of
 the town The authorities of Chester county, it is said tonight. possesses list of about 30 men who are alleged to have | been In the mob. Warrants, if any are l issued, will not be sworn out until the investigation has been completed. Borough county and state officials are
 uniting in efforts to bring the mob lead CTS to justice, but 1t is alleged some of the leading citizens of the town are in- volved and arrests will not be hastily made.
 The borough council held special
 meeting tonight and adopted resolutions deploring the lynching and similar reso- lrtions were passed by the Business
 Mems association.
 A coroner's jury with Chief of Police Umsted as foreman, was sworn in today and an inquest will be held on the body of Patrolman Rice. What remains of Walkers body was also viewed by the coroners jury, but 1t adjourned without trying to place the blame for his death Although the burgess of Coatesvile re- ported that he would be able to handle the situation without assistance, Sheriff Colder asked Governor Tenor to send a squad of state troopers here Acting upon this request Captain Wilhelm and 1s troopers started for Coatesville from Pottsville.
 Sheriff Colder and District Attorney 1 Robert s. Gawtherp of Westchester to- 1 day took Policeman Howe, who was on guard at Walkers bedside when the mob arrived and negro hospital attendant to Weschester. 12 miles across country, and l put them through a severe cros-examina- tion, seeking to learn the identity of the
 men who carried the negro from the hospital
 | The district attorney refused to di- ! Fslgs Gle s'ss II afs wefe fterni she,l
 him. of the persons who were active In the lynching. Everything Is quiet | here tonight.
 l The fearful work of a frenzied mob
 here last night when it dragged the wounded negro from hospital and burned him to death for the killing of Edward Rice, policeman, Saturday night. has aroused the greatest indigna- | tion in this community and everything possible will be done to bring to jus- tice the ringleaders of the mob. That | such an affair could occur in Quaker community like that in Chester county was mt heleyed nOssible Thousands Are Curious Thousands of persons journeyed out to the scene of the burning today. Even before dawn people began to gather at the spot. Nothing Is left of Zachariah Walker, the victim, but his ashes, all unburned portions of the hospital cot that formed part of his pyre had been gathered up by the souvenir hunters.
 Among the angriest people in the community are some of those who cap- tured Walker yesterday afternoon in woods near here. He had two revol- vers with him and when he was sur rounded by the posse he threatened
 them. Several of the man hunters fired at him and wounded him slight ly Evidently believing that he was to be shot to death. Walker tried sui eide, sending bullet into his head.
 He fell to the ground and was quick " captured DN tne CIOWu WllH HO thought of lynchng. but with the de- termination of having him tried quick ly for the murder of Rice. the posse laid him across three shoots and carried him to a waiting automobile. which brought him to the Coatsville hospital.
 When he reached the hospital, Walker confessed his crime to Chief of Police Umstead and District Attorney Gaw- throp.
 News of the murder of Rice, who was very popular among the people, spread rapidly There had been other crimes committed in this neighborhood that had been blamed on negroes and talk of lynching fell on willing ears, The main street of Coatesville is usually filled with people from the surround ing towns Sunday nights and&as crowd soon gathered at the hospital. As the crowd increased, the talk of lynching spread, and finally a masked man mounted the steps of the hospital and shouted:
 Men of Coatesville. will you let drunken negro do up such white man as Rice?"
 The orderly crowd was instantly transformed into a riotous mob. The attack on the hospital was then made. There were only the superintendent, four nurses and a policeman in the in- stitution at the time and defense of the negro was impossible. The crowd swarmed into the place through doors and windows and before most of the mob knew it, the wounded and frightened negro was being taken out of the building Still lying on the cot, he was carried through the streets and out of the city to the Newland warm He had been tied to the bed with ropes and as the crowd tore fence rails and gathered wood and other inflama- bles, Walker writhed on his cot and tugged at his bonds. but could not free himself.
 Pleads for Mercy
 The negro pleaded for mercy. He ue- clared he killed Rice in self-defense when the latter tried to arrest him for firing a revolver.
 Don't give me a crooked dea! because I am not white," he said Only vile oaths greeted his pleas.
 All the leaders in the crowd wore masks made of handlSerchiefs tied around theic faces up to the eyes They carried on tncir work quickly and after piing rp the rubbish. placed the cot with its shud- derng victim upon it over the pile. A aazen matches, 1t seemed, were simul- taneously applied to the pyre and in an instant the negro was enveloped in the flames. The fire burned the ropes that held him and he made dash for liberty Walker reached fence and was about to climb it when stalwart hands seized him and dragged him back and hurled him into the flames. He writhed in ter
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