Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1919-09-04
! PERSONS KILLED
IN KNOXVILLE RIOT
Tennessee City Is Quiet After
Fierce Race Fighting.
SOLDIERS PATROL STREETS
Machine Gunners Stop Advance OF Me-
qroes-RecuIar Army OFFICER Is
Killed When His Own Troops
Fire by Mistake.

Knoxville, Tenn, Sept. with sew
en- known dead, more than 80 whites
and blacks wounded, and with Tennes-
see National Guard troops patroling
the streets with machine guns, Knox
Vile settled down to survey the re-
suits of a wild night of race riotlng
and mob violence.
The outbreak started when a crowd
Of white men stOrmed the city jail
to lynch a negro held in connection
with the murder of Mrs. BERTHE Lind
sey.
The sheriff and deputies and police
informed the mob that the negro had
been spirited to Chattanooga. Inc
crowd insisted the prisoner was In the
dollhouse and opened fire on the. win
dows of the building. In a few mo-
ments they had stOrmed the Jail ana
dozen fights were in progress between
officers and mob leaders.
A passing negro was the target OF
several shots and the mob spread over
the negro residence section to hunt
negroes returned the shots and the
race riot was speedily out of control.
A message was sent to the Fourth
Tennessee National Guard at the sum-
mer encampment near here. Several
trucklaadS of soldiers were hurried TO
the scene. The mob which was racing
through the streets clashed with the
soldiers and the troops were forced TO
use their dubbed rifles to scatter the
whites.
Meanwhile, negroes and whites had
looted several hardware stores for
arms and ammunition. Several blacks
were shot down at the corner OF Vine
and Central avenues when the troops
opened fire with machine guns on a
charging mob of negroes.
Regular Army Man Killed.
Lieut.. James w. Payne Of Provi-
dence, KY, gave orders, it is said, for
the machine gunners to stop the adj
vance, and they did. When the smoke
cleared away four dead negroes were
found and several wounded were tax
en- to a hospital.
Lieutenant Payne was killed early
in the rioting when his own soldiers,
through mistake, opened fire with their
rifles on his party. Another white
man and two negroes were killed in
this vOlley.
By this time a call was sent for
more soldiers, and hundreds were
poured into the riot district. The mob
insisted on staying around the Jail,
and a number of savage battles were
fought in the street and in the corri-
doris, where the crowd had forced its
way. Although several bodies of
white men were escorted through the
iail to convince them that the negro
really had been taken to Chattanooga,
prisoner.
Riot Is Finally Checked.
Several deputies, modified reserves
and soldiers finally succeeded in dis
perSing the rioters, who had fired a
number Of negro homes and churches
in the black belt. BY nightfall the
authorities believed they had the sit
uation in control, but it flared out
again at intervals all during the night
and troops and police were kept busy
breaking up knots of whites and ne.
groes bent on trouble.
Four truckloads of armed white men
left during the night for Chattanooga
vowing they would not return until
they had killed the negro suspected
of numbering Mrs. Lindsey.
Militia and municipal officials be-
lieve the lawlessness had been ended
although several companies of troops
are held here in readiness for further