The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1918-04-12
NERVES IS
CAUSE Of
LYNCH|NC
BY II. Il. BECHTOL
Staff Correspondent Sent to Inves-
tigate Conditions in the Hot
bed Of Anti-German
RiOting.


RiOting.
COLLINSVILLE, ILL.,, April IL.
THAT mine disaster hasn't hap
pened yet.
But every miners wife in the
rich southern Illinois coal district
has lived thru 1t. Not once -
every day!
The whole district is in a
state Of terror. "Nerves" you
might call it.
| came down here to find out
WHY this section is the hotbed
of anti-German agitation in the
United States. Well, that's why.
That's why the mobs have
tarred and feathered suspected
pro-Germans.
That's why mobs 60 about al
most nightly making suspects kiss
the flag and sign loyalty cards.
That Caused Lynching.
That's why suspects have been
beaten-why a woman was car
ried up and down the main street
+. at Benton astride a rail.
And that's why Robert Praeger,
German spy suspect, was lynched
the first lynching of the war
bringing a threat of martial law.
by Gov. Lowden and special dis
cussion by President Wilson and
his cabinet of the urgent need for
the new legislation for dealing
with pro-Germans.
Pro-Germanism, to these min
ers, means death-slow, terrible
death.
Fear Entombment.
It means the only thing on
earth they fear: being TRAPPED
in one of the tunnels leading out
from the bottom Of the black
shafts. The miners hate that
word TRAPPED, and fear it. So
do the miners wives and the min
ers' children.
Mrs. Rival told me that when l
knocked at her door she expected
to see the muddy mine boy with
the news of disaster.
I knocked twice and she told
me afterwards:
"In the few moments between
those raps l lived thru the whole
terrible thing we all are afraid
Of
The women don't knock when
they run across to each others
homes. Nothing said about it
they just don't.
Whistle a Terror.
1t was the same everywhere
at Edwardsville, Benton, Staunton,
Maryville, all thru the district.
Every time the warning whis-
tie blows, it strikes terror into our
hearts," said Mrs. Lily Fornero,
Maryville miners wife.
When the men, with dinner
buckets on their arms, start for
the yawning mouth of the mine to
20 down the black shaft in little
cable car, the women watch them
out of sight-wondering and hop
ing.
Were willing to take our
chances on top" Will Dorvac, min
err, put it, but down there under
ground you haven't got a chance.
Some German plotter could kill as
high as 600 men at time by just
blowing in one shaft and it would
be simple to do 1t.
Don't Trust Officials.
Dynamite has been found in the
homes of some suspects. Brezia
Antonecci, Stanton miner, was
turned over to federal authorities
on Liberty day after his wife, 10y
al American, had told of threats
he made and of dynamite stored in
their home.
Such cases are dealt with by the
officials.
But there is a feeling wide
spread among the miners that the
authorities CAN'T BE LOOKED
TO FOR PROTECTION. Most
pro-German suspects are NOT ar
rested. So crowds go out to teach
suspects that mo funny business
goes" and that they'd be better
off somewhere else.
Some suspects-the miners will
tell you this--are probably loyal.
But II a man MIGHT be Ger
man agent, that's enough.
Maybe you're all right, and
maybe you're not, but we don't
trust you, % beat III" Is the III
timatum that has sent many sus-
meets to other quarters