The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-07-22
MARTIAL LAW FOR
CAPITAL POSSIBLE

men and marines, being swept aside.
The hospitals OF the city were
thronged throughout the night of tur-
MOL with wounded whites and ne
groes.
Negroes 5arrioaded Themselves.
Although reinforced with provost
guards of troops. and squadrons OF
cavalry patrolling Pennsylvania. ave-
nue., the police apparently were as
unable to cope with the situation as
they were during the celebrated
demonstration of March 8, 1913, when
the crowd completely over ran them
and all but mobbed the suffragists
parading on Pennsylvania avenue.
The score Of casualties in last nights
fighting was largely in favor of the
negroes, who when the extra Gordon
of police and troops quieted Pennsyl-
yania avenue and the downtown sec
ton transferred their activities to the
lesser guarded districts. From trolley
cars and swiftly moving automobiles
negro desperadoes in parties, singly
and in pairs, rained fusillade of re-
volver shots into groups of whites
whenever they found them, and all
night there was scattered firing from
houses in which negroes, terror
stricken, but not quelled, had barri-
caded themselves.
Today the local authorities are
comforting with the war department
officials on measures to stop the riot
ing. Suggestions are being made
that troops be brought in to thor
oughly guard the city, which the po-
lice maintain they are unable to do
because of insufficient numbers.
Negro Girl Kills Detective.
This morning at least 200 rioters
were under arrest. The dead include
Detective Sergeant Harry Wilson,
shot through the heart by a negro
girl when he entered a house from
which she was firing unfortunately
into the street. Detective Bernard w.
Thompson was seriously wounded by
a, negress in the same section Of the
city. Four negro men are dead and
several others are believed to have
been fatally wounded. Three patrol
men were included in the list OF
badly wounded.
Although two troops Of cavalry
from Fort Myer had been called out
to patrol the streets and 400 marines
from Quantico and the Washington
marine barracks had been added to
the provost guard as a precaution
against disorders, the situation at
times last night was more than the
authorities could cope with.
Ne groes Were Prepared.
Reserve squads of police and pro-
vost guards were being rushed
through the streets of the city all
night in answer to riot calls. Army
motor trucks were stationed at the
precinct headquarters with a squad
of men, armed with automatic rifles,
assigned to each. More than forty
five riot calls were turned in at one
precinct alone between the hours of
Z and 1 o'clock, and others responded
to almost an equal number
While in the minor disorders of
Saturday and Sunday nights, crowds
of white men assumed the agrees
sive, last nights rioting was marked
by a general preparedness on the
part of the negroes, who during the
day purchased hundreds of revolvers
and early in the evening formed into
crowds in their own sections and
attacked white men wherever found.
The first casualty occurred when Pa
trolman J. c. Bum, who was at
tempting to place a negro under ar
rest. was shot in the shoulder. Bum
is reported to be the best shot on the
local police force and has particl-
pated in number of national
matches.
Fired on Women and Children.
Shortly after the patrolman was
wounded, a negro riding on the back
platform of a street car. opened fire
with an automatic revolver on
crowd of white men, women and
children, wounding four of them, two
seriously before he was himself
felled by seven bullets fired by an
officer who succeeded in boarding the
car close to him. Although each bull
let took effect, the negro was SAID 10
be not fatally injured.
Later in another locality negro
who flashed a revolver in an attempt
to hold up a street car was felled
by a marine, using the butt end OF
has gun, and was fatally shot when
he got up and attempted to escape.
Two negroes later were fatally sho,
in the northwest section OF the city,
one after he had shot and seriously
wounded two white men.
Marine Shot in the Neck.
One of the most seriously wounded
in the list of casualties was Private
Albert Luck, marine corps, who was
shot in the neck by negro near the
treasury building. An unidentified
cayalryman was reported to nave
been shot from his horse while pa
trolling the street, marine sergeant