Bisbee daily review., 1917-07-03


 At g o'clock the mayor of East St. Louis called on the St Louis fire de partment for assistance in fighting the flames, which threatened to destroy large part of the city.
 The mobs in East St. Louis were swelled by hundreds of people who early in the evening crossed the river from St. Louis. This added such a menace to the situation that at 7:30 o'clock bridges were closed to all ve- hicle and pedestrian traffic.
 Bridges Closed.
 Street car traffic in East St. Louis and across the Eads bridge was stop ped at : o'clock. This automatically closed trolley trafic between St. Louis and many suburban towns on the east side. including Belleville and forced hundreds of residents of these towns to stay in St. Louis for the night.
 As soon as street car traffic ended, crowds crossed the Eads bridge into East St. Louis by the thousands. Au- tOmobiles were haled by the national guard and those that could not show a good reason for coming were held on the St. Louis side.
 The fires started about six o'clock this evening and spread rapidly. By e:30 vast clouds of smoke were visible from the St. Louis side of the river and soon flames visible for a mile were shooting into the sky.
 Hundreds of negro women, most of them carrying bundles that held their most precious belongings and leading small children, walked slowly across the bridge to the shelter and safety and friends on the Missouri side.
 All Wires Cut.
 Occasionally a tired negro woman carrying a small negro babe was met making the long walk across the bridge.
 As the crowds from St. Louis reach ed the east side they noticed that an awe.struck silence had come over the townspeople, who stood in the streets watching the glow of the flames.
 Telephone wires had been cut early in the evening by the fire department. As telegraph and telephone poles caught fire, other wires went down.
 After military rule had been pro- claimed the soldiers put more vigor into their attempts to quell the mob.
 Seventy-fve white men attacked a negro in front of a drug store on Broadway and attempted to drag him to a pole, beating him as they pulled him along. The troops charged the mob with fixed bayonets and the riot CTS scattered. Before the troops ar rived the negro was shot twice.
 With this show of force the riot CTS in part quieted down. Troops stood on guard at all corners and kept the crowd moving. Many persons were advised to go home. At S:3O o'clock fire broke out in the district known as the Valley" and at g o'clock four negroes were shot by snipers at Ninth and Missouri ave nues.
 Damage S3,0oo,ooo.
 City Attorney Thomas J. Fekete esti- mated the damage at s3.000,000 which was believed by some to be too high.
 At frequent intervals all evening trucks were bringing negro refuges from burning sections to argument the groups at the municipal building and the police headquarters where a strong guard of troops was stationed.
 Terror spread among the black men and women at 10:30 D. m. when all the lights in both refugee buildings sud denly went out. but the cutting off of the current was attributed to the destruction of electric wires in the downtown district.
 When a report came to Colenel Tripp, commanding the guards, that negro inhabitants at Belleville.. a city entirely populated by negroes. were moving on East St. Louis he sent a truck full of guardsmen to the 'black bridge 10 meet any dttdch that might be attempted.
 Flames Unhindered..
 At the. same time another truck load of soldiers was rushed to a cor ner near the postoffice where negroes barricaded in upstairs quarters had been firing at soldiers standing guard ;p tho ctreat hleOW
 At St. Mary's hospital it was stated about forty negroes had been brought in injured and that six white men were being cared for there. Almost an equal number of both whites and blacks were receiving care at the Deaconess hospital.
 The worst property damage was done along the tracks of the Southern Railroad company where the southern warehouse and between 100 and 15O freight cars. many of them loaded with merchandise, were consumed by flames.
 The damage here was estimated at between $3O0.OO and s500.000.
 The Broadway theatre valued at $1OO, ,0OO was entirely destroyed at II D. m.. the flames were moving steadily