The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-09-29

Il VI OIlldIld.
This forenoon after soldiers had
begun restoring order many police
officers stripped themselves of their
insignas and resigned. Most of the
policemen who quit came into service
during the present administration.
The city was quiet today under the
guns of these Federal troops.
Mayor Smith was taken to a hospi-
tai at an early hour this morning as
result of an attempt to hang him
to a trolley pole because he advised
against lynching William Brown,
negro, who was in the county Jail,
charged with attacking white girl
last week.
He regained consciousness this
morning but was still in a critical
condition. The mob called the Mayor
a negro lover. His law firm is now
defending the negroes charged with
assaulting white women. The million
and a half dollar court house is
mass of ruins. 1t is believed that
many valuable records were destroy
ed. Hundreds of prisoners were in
the Jail but all escaped via the roof.
The first attempt to take Brown
from the jail was made in the after
noon, but the mob was repulsed by
the police.
Just after dark a crowd began
sacking downtown gun and ammun-
ition store.
The mob reached large proportions
during the evening, every street with
in a radius of four or five blocks be-
ing iammed with humanity. Two
negro policemen, who were among the
officers rushed to the scene, were
badly beaten by the crowd, one OF
them receiving dangerous injuries.
Several other officers received serious
injuries.
Brown was resuced from the burn
ing building only to fall into the
hands of the mob, and he was lynch
ed.
During the disturbance, it was
learned that one man, Frank Cleancy,
aged 20, was killed and two others,
Frank Morasco and James Bonds,
were wounded. Many negroes were
beaten on the street by the mob.
The crowd was entirely beyond the
power of the police to handle, an-
the War Department was asked to
send troops from Forts Omaha and
Crook. Two thousand soldiers were
stationed there.
Major Weiss, commandant at Fort
Crook, at once put his men in readi
ness to entrain on street cars for
the city. He had to wait, however,
for orders from Washington. At a
late hour last night Chief of Police
Johnstone announced that permis-
sion to use the troops had been re-
ceived from Sec. of War Baker.
Shortly after nine o'clock a big fire
started on the ground floor of the
courthouse and the entire fire depart
ment was called out. There are more
than 100 prisoners billeted in the jail
which is on the top floor of the court
house. The crowds made it difficult
for the fire department to reach the
scene, OF for the police to protect the
firemen in their work. Several lines
of hose were quickly cut by the mob.
Within ten minutes after the fire
men arrived every line of hose lalo
had been cut. The flames quickly
mounted to the fourth floor and could
be seen pouring out of the sheriff's Of
flee. Directly above was the jan
where the more than 100 prisoners
were confined. Frantic efforts were
made to release them by fire escapes
| The interior of the big building be-
came a mass of flames by 10 O'Clock
and forced by the heat, a large part
of the mob moved back from the
7 building on the north side. They
gathered again, however, on the south
side, where the heat had not become
so intense.
At this point Barbara Freltchle
appeared at window at the north
end of the building, an aged woman
who wildly flung an American flag to