The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-09-01
MANYNEGROES
CROWDED INTO
THE CITY HALL
ABOUT FIVE HUNDRED DARKIES
SHOWED UP EARLY, EXPECT
ING HAND-oUT FROM THE Of
FIcE OF THE MAYOR.

There was a grand rush of negroes
on the city hall during yesterday and
for hours not only the building, but
the sidewalks and even the grass plots
were thronged with the blacks. 1t
all came about, so the commissioners
saw. by some party or parties circu-
lating a report among the negroes that
the United States government had
sent $4,000 here for distribution by
the city among the negroes Of the city,
and as q result there was a rush on
the city building. They came from
all directions and all parts of the city
and required the services Of the po-
lice to clear the building and side
walks. 1t was estimated that fully
FIVE hundred negroes gathered at the
building at different times during the
day. Each of the callers thought he
or she was entitled to 81 or $50 in
cash or groceries 1t developed that
the commissioners did give out some
orders for groceries to the negroes,
one groceryman honoring five. each
for fifty cents worth of groceries.
Something For Nothing.
All expected to receive something
for the asking. but they were very
near all disappointed. Orders were
distributed to a few old women and
disabled men, the mayor explained,
and it was necessary to call in the
police to chase the black people away.
Nothing Of the sort has ever been
witnessed in Pensacola The mayors
early morning callers were not all
jobless darkies, for not a few readily
stated that they foreswore the idea Of
going to work yesterday morning,
when something for nothing could be
had-for the mere asking. Women
were in the crowd also, and not a
few readily stated that they had left
de white folks clos " to be at the
distribution.
The Mayors Statement.
For the past eight or ten days"
said Mayor GreenAut to The Journal
representative, aid has been extended
from the mayors office to needy ones,
and In many cases commissioners
have given fifty cents or a dollar to
applicants. Yesterday morning I had
but a few dollars in my pocket. and
had that changed up so that it could
be distributed. That was my own
money. 1t was not done for political
purposes, as we have heard some have
stated. but only because applicants
We're known to be in actual need.
Far rtFsolf distribution has been con-
i.~@ TO old negro women, disabled or
III negro mer There are many white
people who call during the course of
a week, who tell stories that the pub
lie would not believe if they were
printed. Now we are going to call a
mass meeting Of citizens, possibly on |
Wednesday Of this week, to try and |
provide work for an army Of unem- |
ployed. We are not doing this for |
purposes of politics On the contrary |
such was quite foreign to our inten- |
ton in first thinking about it. II the |
public could hear some stories the |
commissioners are told every day. they |
would readily see that it is no po-
litical move"
Hundreds Are Wanted.
Mr.. E. r. Malone, cashier of the
National Bank Of Commerce, who was
Informed OF the crowd which gathered
at the city hall, was at once inter-
ested. His brother, George Malone, of
Dothan, Ala, is in the city, and comes
direct from Dothan, having an init
mate knowledge Of conditions which
now obtain in the labor market in and
around Dothan, Ala.
I tried to get the mayor by tele-
phone and couldn't said Mr.. Malone
to The Journal last night, ''but I want
10 say that at least four or FIVE hun
dred men are needed right now in Do
than and vicinity. to pick cotton.
know for certainty that about all the
laooring men this town would send
there could be provided with work,