The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-31


and warned to go home.
Chicago, July 31-Seared and di-
lapidated. it's inhabitants bandaged
and frightened. Chicago's black belt
today was calm and orderly after three
days and nights of race rioting which
claimed thirty lives and caused in
juries to nearly ! 900 persons.
The total number of dead, 80. in
cluded II negroes and 10 whites. OF
the injured, 200 were severely hurt
and dozen may die of wounds.
Practically all fighting. except oeca-
sional outbursts ceased with the ar
rival in the negro section of $500 SOL
diers, members of the militia and ma
tional guard. Presence of the troops
and the fall of a steady rain accounted
for a cessation of hostilities that had
! been an so hours reign of terror for
district covering approximately fif-
, ten square miles.
Rain Qucnchcd Ten Fires.
The rain also served to combat the
more than 10 incendiary fires which
damaged or destroyed scores of negro
homes. Many of the former Z pants
had abandoned the most DANGEROUS
portions Of the belt, taking refuge in
outlying districts. some even going
north to Milwaukee and south to Ten
ilesSee anu 0dlSSlSSlppl, their FORMER
homes.
Desolation greeted the occasional
visitor who dared penetrate the belt.
Windows shattered. doors battered
/ in, bricks and stones strewn about the
sidewalk, yard and porch marked doz-
ems of houses raided by white mobs.
In many places household furnishings,
bed clothes and wearing apparel were
pulled out and left in the street.
Scattered Knots of Negroes.
On the curbstones sat lazily and sui
| lenly scattered knots OF negroes talk
ing in subdued tones to each other.
When rain fell they were driven to
doorways and shelters.
The problem of getting food into
the district was taken up today by
city authorities and civic societies.
| Provision wagons had not dared enter
| for three days. Supplies were ex-
| hausted and stores were closed. Today
! load of bread, vegetables and fruits
sent to merchants in the disturbed
aera.
Church and civic leaders among
the colored population harangued on
street corners, urging negroes not to
modest whites but to keep within their
! homes. Respect for law and order.
| they were told was the best way to
gain redress for wrongs.
Begin Burial of Riot Dead.
| Burial of the dead in the riots be-
gan today. Released by the coroner.
bodies were taken to churches in the
neighborhood where joint funerals
were held.
Governor Frank o. Lowden ordered
| the troops out last night on req lest of
Mayor Thompson after darkness had
brought renewed rioting and the city's
three thousand policemen were ex-
| hausted. The First, Second and Third
reserve militia and the Tenth and
| Eleventh Illinois infantry were sent on
duty by Adjutant General Dickson
while the Ninth regiment remained in
reserve at the stockyards and the
Fourth reserves on the west side.
Thompson Made Investigation.
Mayor Thompson's decision to ask
aid of state troops was reached after
his secretary and General Dickson had
gone thru the zone where white and
black had clashed many times since
! Sunday and he had received reports
from Investigators who told him many
small athletic clubs were arranging to
make a, concerted attack on negroes
General Dickson. reported the situa-
| tiCI was "ominous" and Chief OF Po-
lice Clarity presented a tabulation of
two policemen slain and thirty-one in
jured The fire chief told the MAYOR
that firemen had answered forty fire
| alarms to quench blazes started by
whites who fired negro homes. With
this information at hand the mayor
hastily te!ephoned Governor Lowden
ard General Dickson, asking that T.. +
order the soldiers on duty.
All Quiet by 2 a. m. TX lay.
AS each regiment reached its head
quarters, the men were split into pa
trolls of eight who were sent out under
lnon-commissioned officers to see that
order was preserved. Even the trucu-
lent negroes for the most part re-
Trained from fighting the soldiers and
by a. M. all was quiet in the troop
guarded territory. The troops arrival
was followed by rainfall, which
helped rout the disturbers.
The most serious riot of the night
occurred at 53rd and State streets.
where 200 policemen fought a crowd
of negroes two hours firing nearly a
thousand shots before rioters were
subdued and As arrested. It was
onfy after patrolmen had chopped
their way into some buildings and
seized a dozen snipers, with their
rifles and 500 cartridges, that fighting
stopped.
Altho many heads were cracked as
police charged the barricaded negroes
all the rifle fire resulted in the in
jury of only one person. Patrolman
Emil johnson, patrol wagon driver.
He was shot as the policemen dashed
up to the scene and thereafter the
blue coats kept in shelter of their
vehicles while approaching the houses
covering the blacks
Shippers Fired Upon Troops.
Major Macy, in command of six
companies of the first reserves, and
a platoon of his men were fired on
by snipers at 56th street and Racine
avenue. None OF the soldiers was
hit and when they scattered and
fought their assailants, the latter dis
appeared. The first arrest made by
soldiers was that of five white men
whose automobile was searched be-
cause of their rowdyism and found to
contain a revolver.
j While soldiers were taking their
stations a crowd of whites surrounded