The Washington times., 1919-07-22

walked along between two provost
guardsmen with fixed bayonets on
their rifles.
On the way to Sixth street, 1 was
halted by a colored man.
Don't go up there" he said to
me-" Get back to the precinct sta
ton. Hell's going to pop"
1 went along with the soldiers and
policemen
Crowd Gathered.
There was a crowd of probably
1880 persons at Sixth and T streets
northwest.
A way was cleared and we marched
to the curb. Several negroes refused
to move and were persuaded to move
by being pricked with the point OF a
63rd Infantry bayonet.
Ugly threats and still more ugly
words were exchanged.
That gun amt loaded" Jeered a
negro pointing to the weapon in the
hands OF an infantryma'
I'll show you in a minute" yelled
the doughboy
And the negro leaped back after
receiving a jab from the bayonet
An ugly, long drawn out below
welled from the crowd. Fighting blood
was being tempered.
Police Arrive.
A headquarters car pulled up at
the curb and several husky police
men piled out An effort was made
TO scatter the crowd. But the crowd
wouldn't scatter. It smelIed blood
And wanted to be in at the killing.
inspector Grant, who had arrived in
the headquarters car, tried to restore
order. But he couldn't 1t was hu-
manly impossible. a few moments
later / was standing in front Of a
store in the eighteen hundred block
on Sixth street. Next to me stood a
provost guardsman, finger on the trig-
ger OF his rifle.
DUSK was coming on. It was twi-
light-half day and half night.
turned to the soldier to make some
remark. when in the next block up.
half block away. the firing started
l saw Policeman Bum, of the pre-
cinct, throw up his hands and fall
to the pavement The next impress
sion ! received was that Of a series
or long orange colOred streams a foot
long. They were the flashes of the
guns fired by the negroes.
GuardSmnn Fires.
The provost guardsman next to me
raised his rife 1t spoke. While the
sound was yet ringing in my ears. the
pane tinkled in the show window at
my side. ! turned my eyes to the
window and saw that a bullet had
crashed through the pane. l stood
stu and measured the distance. The
bullet had missed me by two inches.
looked toward the scene of the fir
ing half block up the street The
orange flashes continued. And there
was soft whisperings in the air. The
soldier told me they were the sound
Of bullets
Inspector Grant then ran out on the
pavement at the corner of Sixth and
streets, his automatic "gat' in his
hands. ] thought l saw him hre the
gum and could see the orange flash
squirt from his gun. But | am not
positive about it,
"A tall man wearing a white Van
dyke beard ran to the police car and
drew out stubby rifle, an automatic.
He knelt on the running board Of the
car, aimed over the radiator and fired
twice very carefully.
Two Hundred shots.
Two policemen and other soldiers
were firing, too. Probably about 200
shots were exchanged in all. ! was
the only man on the street not armed
as far as l could ascertain. For when
the shooting started, the crowd OF
] 800 or 1000 people disappeared be-
fore one could county thirty.
Policeman Bum lay bleeding on the
pavement. The man who had shot
him escaped. The policeman was
taken to the Emergency Hospital,
where he was treated for revolver
wounds in his left arm and left shout
der.
Order was restored for a time The
mob was sobered. temporarily, by the