Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1919-09-29
HOSE |SCUT
00 IN JAIL
NEAR DEATH.
Firemen and Police Are
Helpless in Face Of
Angry Crowd.
Battle Rages Nine Hours
Before Flames Force
Surrender.

Brown, colored, was dragged
from the county jail at IL
o'clock tonight and hung to an
electric light pole. following a
struggle of nine hours to secure
possession of his body by an
immense mob.
Sheriff Michael L. Clark and
his deputies held the fort in the
top story of the courthouse,
which had been fired by the
rioters and where is located the
jail with a hundred prisoners.
The flames forced them to sur.
render.
At II o'clock after Brown had
been hanged to an electric light
pole, the firemen were for the
first time able to get a stream
on the flames At the same time addi-
tional extension ladders were sent TO
the third and fourth floors, where many
of the occupants were standing on win
dow lodges on the one side of the build
ing that had not been touched by the
fire.
One man was killed and two seriously
wounded during exchanges of shots with
the police early in the evening. The
lives of hundred or more prisoners in
the county Jail were threatened by the
fire and Douglas countyss new court
house. valued at a million and a half
dollars. was threatened with destruction.
During the rioting many negroes were
beaten in the streets. some of them being
severely injured. Chief of Police Eber-
stein narrowly escaped injury when
members of the force charged the crowd
persons congregated in the downtown
districts.
Dynamite Is Exploded
Fire hose run to the blazing structure
were cut. The police and firemen were
at the mercy of the mob, which had
broken into the jail and ammunition
stores and supplied themselves with ex-
plosives and weapons. One explosion of
dynamite was heard at the court house.
by S o'clock a request was made TO the
war department to send troops to the
city from Fort Crook and Fort Omaha
Major Weiss. commanding at Fork
Crook, at once began putting his men
into readiness to entraln on street cars.
Abaut 1000 soldiers are stationed at the
two forts.
Troops started from both Fort Omaha
and Fort Crook at II o'clock. Before
they could reach the city a patrol wagon
was stopped by the mob, overturned and
burned. The mob appeared to be bent
on still more depredations
The fire broke out in the court house
shortly after p, m.
Mobs Cut Hose.
Within ten minutes after the firemen
arrived every line of hose laid by the
firemen was cut. The flames quickly
mounted to the fourth floor and could be-
seen pouring out of the sheriff's office.
Directly above is the Jail, where more
than q hundred prisoners are confined.
Frantic efforts were made to remove
them by fire escapes.
The interior of the big building be-
came a mass of flames by ten o'clock.
Barbara Fritchie appeared at a
window at the north end of the building
in the person of an aged woman who
flung old glory to the wind and appealed
to the mob to desist. There were mingled
cheers and boots from the rioters who
yelled for the prisoner whom they sought
TO lynch. Ii had the effect, however Of
giving the firemen an opportunity t.
run an extension ladder to the fourth
floor from which it was hoped to rescue
the sheriff. his deputies and prisoners.
Records Are Destroyed.
The entire fire department was on the
scene and many Of the trucks were rush
ed to firehouses to rescue reserve hose.
The negro was pulled out of the south
side of the courthouse. giving the fire
men an opportunity to work on the
north side where the fire started.
The fire. however. already had de-
stroyed valuable records which could
not be replaced. As soon as the mob had
accomplished its object. it began to dis
perse.
The work of rescue then began It was
anparent that the jai! story. on the
highest floor OF the building was becom
ing intensely hot. Pleas were made hv
those on top floor for assistance. Ths
handicapped fire department was max
ing heroic efforts to reach the panic
stricken prisoners.
Shortly before midnight the fire in
the court house was brought under
control. The mob was dispensing fast
and it was believed that the sheriff.
force and prisoners were safe.
AS quickly as the soldiers reached the
city they marched to the court house