Norwich bulletin., 1917-07-03

East St. Louis, Ills. July 2.-At least fifteen negroes were shot and killed by mobs here tonight as they fled from their burning homes which had been set on fire by white mobs. The exact number which perished in the burning houses is unknown and will not be ascertained until morn ing, when the ruins are searched.
 300 White Men Arrested.
 Military rule was proclaimed at s 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 very edge of the business district.
 Fired at Negroes as They Fled.
 Estimates of the number of negroes who perished in the fire ran as hiGh as 250, but there was nothing au- mates. except that hundreds of whites stood around the edges of the burning districts and fired at the negroes as they fed from their homes.
 Help Called to Stay Flames.
 At g o'clock the mayor of East St. Louis sent for Fire Chief SWingley of St. Louis, Mo. to assist in fighting the flames, which threatened to de- strOy a large part of the city \ com rany Of the St. Louis fire department started for East St. Louis, but was ordered back by Chief Swingley.
 Mob Rushed Down Street.
 Vast clouds of smoke rolled across the sky tonight from the burning dis tr1ct. flames made some of the down town streets as ight as day and now and then yelling mob rushed down street in pursuit of a negro or in guardsmen, loaded in automobile trucks, dashed after the mob
 Fires Spread Rapidly
 The fires started about o'clock this evening and spread rapidly Soon flames visible fer miles were shooting int othe sky Hundreds of negro women, most of them carrying bun dles that held their most precious be- longings, and leading small children. fled across the bridge to she ter and safety with friends on Missouri side.
 Telephone Wires Cut.
 Telephone wires were cut early in the evening. As telegraph and tele phone poles caught fire other wires went down.
 The mobs in East St. Louis were swe1led by hundreds of people who early in the evening cross the river from St. Louis, Mo This added such q menace to the situation that at S.30 o'clock the bridges were closed.
 In Lynching Mood.
 The mooS got Into Iyncnlng 1nood | tonight One aged negro was strung | un on a pole but was rescued just in | time to save his life. Soldiers rescu $ still another negro who was being | dragged through the streets. After military rule had been pro 1 claimed the soldiers put more vigor 1 into their attempt to que1l the mob. | Troops Charged With Fixed Bayonets. |
 Seventy five white men attacked a | negro in front of drug store down town and shot him twice, attempted to | drag him to a pole, beating him IS | they pulled him along. The troops | charged with fixed bayonets and the | mob scattered
 Rioters Partly ouieted Down.
 With this show of force the rioters | partly quieted down. Troops stood guard at all corners and kept the | crowds moving. At s.30 o'clock fire 1 broke out in the district known as the | Valley. This fire came perilous1y l near to the big railroad yards of East | St. Louis. At o'clock four more ne | groes were shot by snipers- At 10 | o'clock it appeared as if the Valley district was doomed to destruction burned The property damage will | reach many thousands.
 Negro Editors Version of Trouble.
 c. w. Wallace. editor of a negro re- Igious publication, gave new yer sion of the trouble here.
 Wallace SaIu ne, negro munster and a negro physician were returning from St. Louis last night when they saw white joy riders'' ride down a block into Market street and fire into the houses. The neighborhood was aroused and the negroes armed them selves.
 Wallace did not see the negro mob fire on an automobile filled with po- icemen this morning. but he said a witness to d him that the negroes drought when the police automobile et~nned that it was the joy riders re- [ ing. The shooting began. he was f before this misunderstanding was r v-d The officers were in plain . t.es.
 Estimates of Dead.
 Al | o'clock tonight estimates of the fe1d in today's race riot and fire ] ~~sd from Is to 75. of whom two V ere vrite men.
 ngs were still burning at four C Ierent points in the city at that hour
 ProTcrty Loss About $3,ooo, 900. The property loss was estima ted by City Attorney Fekete a. S3,000, 900.
 Forty injured negroes and six in tuTed white men were in one hospital