Omaha daily bee., 1919-07-31
TRAINS FIRED
upon BY MObS
4 IN RACE RIOT
Troops Establish Barred Zone,
Embracing Most of Co..
ored Residential Dis
tricts in Chicago.


general superintendent of police in
suppressing riots or any other dis
orderly conduct and to carry into
effect the ordinances of this city and
the laws of this state, respecting the
protection of life and property and
the preservation of law and order"
Wedne sdays outbreaks were scat
tered and only in a few instances
were there more than small num-
Der of persons involved in the riot
! ing. Of the four deaths, all of
which were the result of shooting,
two were shot Wednesday. the other
two having been wounded in previ-
Gus rioting.
The official death list for four days
showed 80, of whom II were ne
groes, two unidentified, and IS
whites, one unidentified.
When the inquest which is to
determine the responsibility for the
deaths in the rioting convene it
will be in a court room under heavy
guard. All witnesses will be
searched for weapons, Coroner
Hoffman said
"The slightest cause might lead
to trouble" said the coroner, "and
the number of spectators will be
limited to the fewest possible
No Date for Inquest.
The jury has been empanelled and
he ro~orfaI s,rr,n
the bodies and take preliminary
steps in the inquiry. No definite
date has been set for the inquest.
Special attention to the legal as
poets of the race war situation was
paid by States Attorney Hoyne,
who assigned several assistants to
the work of gathering evidence.
The prosecutor also called upon the
police department to preserve the
names Of witnesses to the riots.
Mr.. Hoyne also indicated that
his activities might go outside of
investigation of actual disorder.
Il have heard" he said, "that
through the influence of politicians
and aldermen some of the persons
arrested for rioting have been
turned out as soon as they were
taken to the police station. | shall
also investigate this
Chased in City Hall.
While the sidewalk to the north
of the city hall was being piled high
with boxes of high power rifles,
designed for high school cadets
drill, and removed to the municipal
building for safe keeping, a young
negro, Fletcher Williams, was
chased through the first floor corrl-
dors of the city hall by white men.
Williams ran, but drew knife as
he retreated. He dashed out of a
side entrance and was taken in GUS
tody by a police reserve man, who
escorted him to the central police
station.
Five negro employees of the Booth
Fisheries seeking to go unobserved
to their homes. were hidden by the
police beneath tarpaulin in an open
truck. A crowd of white men see
ing the tarpaulin move, fired several
shots at the truck. None struck
the negroes.
Late Wednesday night mobs of
whites and negroes were reported
roaming over various localities of
the south side and at Fifty-eighth
street and Racine avenue negroes
were said to have clashed with
troops Negroes also were reported
10 have driven all whites from the
streets in the vicinity of Sixty-third
and Loomis streets. while fires were
burning in two different neighbor-
hoods. one in a white neighborhood
and the other in a colored colony. A
woman was reported slain in riot
at Forty-seventh street and Indiana
avenue.
! Arthur Johnson, policeman, was
shot through the abdomen while po-
licemen were rushing in a patrol
wagon to the scene of riot.
One hundred and twelve fire
alarms were sounded from the south
side. most of them from negro
settlements.