The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1919-10-14
NEGROES PLOT TO
SLAUGHTER WHITES
PRISONERS HELD AT HELENA
TELL OF PLANS. paul RE-
VERES" TO CALL TO ARMS.

VERES" TO CALL 10 ARMS.
HELENA, Ark.-That organized
negroes of southern Phillips county,
of which this city is the seat of gov
eminent, had planned general
slaughter of white people in the To-
cality was definitely revealed here
today by authorized Investigators of
the recent disturbances in that sec
ton.
According to these authorities the
plot included a widespread uprising
in the event certain demands were
not met. With tomorrow set as the
day for the uprising, negro prisoners
are said to have confessed, each mem
Der of the organization at specified
places was to have picked bale of
cotton by that date, take the cotton
to certain prominent land owners,
plantation managers and merchants
and "demand a sttlement." The con-
LESSONS, as announced, made it ap-
near to the investigators that without
further ado following this demand
the blacks were to shoot down all
whites in sight. A list of twenty-one
names, admitted to represent the
men to whom the demand would be
placed, is in the hands OF the lnvestl-
eating committee.
Signal to Begin Slaughter.
Killing of these twenty-one, the
: prisoners said, was to be the signal
for all members of the organization
to attack the white population. An
extensive courier system was explain
: ed in the evidence, providing for
: messengers known to the negroes as
= paul Reveres." These cOuriers had
= been duly appointed to ride into all
| parts of the territory, according to
the testimony, and summon members
to arms. The organization concern
: ed was declared to be the local lodge
I of the Progressive Farmers and
l Household Union of America, contis-
= Gated literature of which deslgnates
Washington, D. c., as national head
quarters with state offices at Win
chester, Ark.
s'We've Just Begun" Password.
/ "We've Just begun" was the pass
J word of the uprising, the negroes told
the investigators. This password and
the paul Revere" couriers were con-
fessed to have been employed IN
summoning blacks to Hoop Spur, Is
miles south of Helena, after W. A
Adkins, special agents of the MIsS0u;
ri Pacific railroad, had been killed
y and Charles Pratt, deputy sheriff
had been wounded.
The statement added that at the
, time Adkins was killed there were
/, $50 negroes in the church at the
scene of the shooting. Some of these
> were women, it was said, carrying
automatic revolvers in thel stockings
n Questioned about their supply OF
C shotguns, rifles and ammunition ne.
q groes declared that they often hac
: been advised by speakers always to
"keep their racks full'' and eff your
4 rack isn't full. fill it now"
Ammunition Discovered.
Fifty thousand rounds of ammunl-
= tion was discovered last night in the
t Branch Normal School at Pine Blun'
according to a telephone message re-
ceived here today from Mayor Hollis,
of that city The institution is ne
gro school maintained by the state.
This report and evidence found local
lv lead authorities here to believe the
contemplated uprising was OF more
than a local nature.
Members of the Investigating COM
mittee declared there Is every EVIL
dence that mercenary individuals
have been melting the negroes in the
name of the federal government
Among other things, it was stated,
thew were led to believe a part OF
the government at Washington up
held them in arming and organizing
AGAINST the whites, that large tenn
ple and armories were to be erected
at Washington for the convenlng OF
their CONGRESS" and for federal
training of 5000 soldiers to protect
them in their uprising.
Much of the evidence is known to
be directed in an effort to estahllsh
Jconclusively connection of white men
with the agitation and there is SAID
to be strong indications of such re-
Ilation. Only two whites were IN Gus
todv here today following the weeks
disorder. A man named Fuller was
brought in from Postelle last night
and placed in the county jail. q. ,.
Rratton, of a Little Rock, Ark, law
firm. has been in custody several days
pending investigation. More than
500 negroes were arrested, but an
but about 100 have been released
having established their good eharac-
ter and innocence of any connection
with the uprising.