The Washington times., 1917-07-03

Louis and sent them scurrying
through the streets where death
awaited One who knows the aver
age negro knows how quickly he is
rendered hysterical and helpless by
the sight of his property burning.
Thousands shrIeked Out.
When IRE runs through FIVE city
blocks. when there is no light except
the reflection OF incendiary flames.
when the fash and bark. Of guns and
pistols is seen and heard and the
swish OF the lynchers' rope is added
to the thousand noises and cries Of
a mob hell bent" the negro be-
comes more or less a frightened ami
mal-and there were thousands Of
them who screamed their fears as
they were pursued here last night.
The smoke from negro tenements
hung over the city for hours. both
during and after the Are. While the
confiagration seemed at It's worst the
smoke pail lifted. and down an alley
one might see a negro as he was
/ lynched. Through some within the
mob decided not to shoot him; hang
ing was his death sentence.
Shots Blend With Cries.
That portion OF the mob attending
to this particular act of vengeance
crowded close against the walls of the
alleyway. Those in the rear craned
necks to see the negro in his death
/ agonies. In the streets beyond the
echoes OF revolvers were hard, and
negro Enen and women could be seen
on their knees asking for mercy.
The rioters took more fsndish
! pleasure in the lynching OF a negro
than in his mere shooting. A group
of fifty swung a colored man in the
air, throwing a rope over the arm of
a telegraph pole. The rope was old !:
it broke. and the negro fell 1ftren
( feet. The crowd laughed.
Laughed Mt Sight.
Bum work" they yelled String
him up again"
Some OF them laughed as the body
of their victim toppled down.
He was killed by the fall and II
wasn't necessary TO string him up
again.
Another group OF white men espIed
three negroes escaping from a burn
/ ing house. They shot them as they
fed.
/ In their terror the negroes of Enst
| st. Louis sent a courier to BrD IL y.l.
Ill, a town settled almost entirely by
! blacks. Brooklyn negroes organized
a colored mob to march upon East
st. Louis. but they were turned back
at the bridge by truck loads OF SOL
diers hurried there by Colonel Tripp.
who was in command OF the guards
men.
Old Resentment Underneath.
Underlying the riots was the old
resentment because OF the importa-
ton Of colored workmen from the
South.
The direct contributing cause was
the assassination by a small band Of
negroes Of Detective Sergeant Cop
pedge early yesterday. All day the
riot spirit grew and before o'clock
the white mobs began operations in
broad daylight.
As night came on the telephone and
telegraph wires were cut and the
electric lights put out OF commission
At this the mob became holder. the
l field OF operations broadened, and
maddened men. by the thousands.
began an invasion Of black valley"
Women Beaten
Here and there white women and
girls Joined in the outlawry. Colored
women were dragged from street cars
by these feminine rioters and were
beaten In the streets.
Most OF those shot and killed were
male blacks, but the mob did not draw
/ fne distinctions, and IL a colored wo-
man or youth got in the path OF the
! mob a bullet did the rest
Ten Thousand Rioters.
/ The mob was at its best in illegal
efficiency about o'clock last night.
At that time authorities estimated
that fully 10000 whites had descend
ed upon the city's black belt. There
| were sporadic encounters with mobs
OF colored men, but the whites were
/ in practically complete possession OF
that portion of East St. Louis.
A few minutes after o'clock two
new companies OF national guards
men from shelbyville and Effingham
arrived. The guardsmen were met
at the station by motor vans and
driven rapidly to the riot district.
They leaped from the vans and start
ed up the street, clicking their rifles
as they went
$50 Taken To jail.
As they arrived a mob was drag
ging an aged negro through the
streets at the end Of a rope. Appar.