The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-07-03

this noon is that the two days rioting
here against negroes has cost the
lives of 100 negroes while 500 have
been injured Two white mel were
killed by strong bullets and several
were injured
Washington, July 9.-An investiga'
ton is being made to discover whether
the riots at East st. Louis againsr
negro laborers were due to German
plots as some people suspect.
East ST. Louis, H., July 2.-Probably
$50 negroes were shot and killed by
mobs here tonight as they fed from
their burning homes which had been
set on fire by white mobs. The exact
number which perished in the burn
ing houses is unknown and will be not
ascertained until morning, when the
ruins are searched.
States Attorney Schaumloeffel of st.
Clair county, drove through the riot
swept district tonight with Police In
spector Walsh OF ST. Louis. The
states attorney estimated that the
dead negroes would number 25O. All
estimates, however, are conjectural.
Military rule was proclaimed at 8
o'clock tonight and at the same time
300 white men were arrested and lock
ed up at police headquarters. Negro
quarters in various parts of the city
are on fire and the flames reached the
edge of the business district. Hun
dreds of whites, stood about the edges
of the burning district and fired at tn e
negroes as they fed from their homes.
All saloons, stores and theatres were
ordered closed.
Vast clouds of smoke rolled across
the sky tonight from the burning dis
trict, flames made some downtown
streets as light as day, and now and
then a yelling mob rushed down a
street in pursuit of negro or in
search of new excitement.
National Guardsmen loaded in auto
mobile trucks, dashed after the mob.
The shouting died down occasionally
as bewildered people walked up and
down the streets wondering where the
last outbreak occurred.
The fires started about o'clock to-
night and spread rapidly, Soon flames
visible for miles we're shooting into the
sky. Hundreds of negro women, most
OF them carrying bundles that held
their most precious belongings, and
leading small children, fled across the
bridge to shelter and safety with
friends on the Missouri side.
Telephone wires were cut early in
the night AS telegraph and telephone
poles caught fire other wires went
down.
The mob in East st. Louis were
swelled by hundreds of people who
early in the night crossed the river
from st. Louis, Mo. This added such
menace to the situation that a $50
o'clock the bridges were closed. Thi:
forced hundreds of residents OF subur
ban towns to stay In st. Louis for the
night.
AS soon as street car traffic ended
at Z p. M, crowds walked across thu
bridge into East st. Louis by the thou
| sands.
The mobs got into a lynching mooC
| onight. One aged negro was strung vi
on pole, but was rescued just in TIM
| to save his life. Soldiers rescued still
another negro who was being dragged
| through the streets.
Six negroes were hanged to tele
graph poles in the south end of tn
town. A white man reports havin
counted nineteen negroes bodies on
side street. Mayor Mollman, accom-
panying a squad of soldiers to tn
lynching, came to a mob dragging
negro at the end of rope. Molina
ordered the troops to arrest everyon
in sight. A Gordon was thrown aroun
the crowd, most of whom we're b!
ISLANDERS, and 200 marched to the cit
hall under arrest.
The immediate cause OF the rlotin
yesterday was the outbreak OF M
groes late Sunday night, but for SCI
/ Ni"i NoSo thNlc udu ptoh N'uNhNN
bad blood, and on Saturday nigf
several minor clashes between white
and blacks occurred, The clashe
Saturday night apparently alarme
the Negro quarter of the city, or {
least gave agitators a chance TO o
ganize the blacks for fighting. Whe
word was telephoned to police hea
quarters that the ringing of n churc
bell had called the armed Negroes I
gether, an automobile loaded with p
lice left for the scene to dispense II
crowd. The officers were greeted wit
a volley, Detective Sergeant Co
pedge was killed and three policemt
we're wounded One detective, Fran
Wodley, now is In the hospital in
Critical condition uo vou ehot Il, "a