The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-07-29
1900 SOLDIERS
READY To QUELL
CHICAGO RIOTS
Two Nights of Terror in South
Side Black Belt
TWEEN State ED
@ontDeIjesz sz0septIS
pitched Battle Breaks Out .. tween
| Pitched Battle Breaks Out Between
Negro Rioters and Policemen
Militia Called Out

Chicago, July 24-Four thousand
soldiers stood ready today to quell
race rioting between negroes and
whites that during two nights of ter
ror in the south side black belt cost
the lives of at least twenty men and
the injury of hundreds of others.
One identified negro was killed and
two negroes wounded at Wabash and
Adams streets, in the heart of the
down town district, in rioting
which was renewed shortly before
seven o'clock this morning.
The police captain in the black belt
ascribed the trouble to hoodlumism
of negroes who came here in the last
two years to makeup labor shortage
caused by the war. He said his ex-
perience showed that the older resi-
dents sanely refrained from clashes,
having been accustomed to freedom
being allowed to blacks without their
turning it into license.
Chicago July 2S.--A pitched battle
between policemen and negro race
rioters broke out at Thirty-ffth
and State streets tonight before the
State militia called out by the Cover
nor could reach the black belt. Four
negroes were killed and two dozen
wounded, two policemen were wound
ed, one of them after he had made a
barricade of his horse and fought,
Indian fashion, from the cover of his
mount.
Three were killed in earlier riots,
bringing the total to at least seven
dead. Chief of Police Garrity order
ed all available policemen from every
station in Chicago rushed to the
scene. The wounded were taken to
the Mercy Hospital
At the same time a report came in
that negroes were breaking into the
old Sth Infantry Armory at Thirty
fifth Street and Forrest Avenue to OBJ
tain rifles and ammunition, and part
of the reserve policemen were divert
ed there.
The battle started when negroes,
in groups of so and 100, began firing
on isolated policemen. One of these
was Policeman William Kross. one of
the first to be wounded Another was
officer Walter Brooks of the mount
ed squad.
Brooks, when hit, forced his horse
to lie dow nand fred from behind
him. Traffic Policeman Otto Newman
was reported to have been killed in
this battle.
The threatening situation early in
the evening caused Mayor Thompson
and Chief Of Police Garrity to apply
to Governor Lowden for militia. AS
a result four regiments, including
$500 men, were ordered mobilized by
Adit. Gen. Frank s. Dickson.
General Dickson said he would re-
main in Chicago in charge of the mill
tary situation. He pointed out that
the 11th Infantry and the 1st Reserve
Regiments have machine gun compan
les with experienced machine gun.
ners, and that the line companies OF
these two regiments and the I'd and
Sd Reserve Regiments are armed
with new Springfield rifles and Krag-
Jorgensen carbines.
"They all have plenty of ammuin-
tion," said General Dickson. "and if
all the race rioters on the south side
were to combine the militiamen
would be able to handle the situa.
ton"
One report was that the South Side
colored men have 800 Springfield
rifles of the type formerly used by
the Government and placed on sale
throughout the city in department
stores after their condemnation for
Government use. This was denied
by colored Aldermen, but 1t was ad.
mitted that many of the negroes
possessed arms of one kind or anoth-
er and we're prepared to defend them
selves against aggression. The chief
fear expressed was that the young
hotheads might organize and start a
general uprising.
The rioting today was an out
growth of the fighting Sunday night
which started at the Twenty-ninth
Street bathing beach and broke out
sporadically at different places in
| the black belt until midnight
At noon today five riot calls had
| been received by the police and all
available mounted police were order.
ed into the South Side district