The Washington times., 1919-07-23
FEAROF NEGRO
R|OTING KEEPS
WOMEN HOME
Air Surcharged With Spirit of
Terrified Waiting Following
Flare of Race Hatred.

Out of race hatred and death, there
came last night a spirit of terrified
waiting, which surcharged the at
mosphere like q living thing. Black
men and white eyed each other as
kance when they passed. Even in the
brightest lighted sections there was
q subconscious edging away from
each other. Every man seemed
afraid the pedestrian nearest him
might start something"
With the women this spirit Of ter
ror was even more pronounced In
the early twilight workers on their
way home hurried along, almost run
ming. Ordinarily. when a woman is
afraid, she seeks to be close to some
man. But yesterday evening it was
different. Yesterday evening they
Stunned an men. They feared that
at any moment men might become
living targets.
Doors Kept Locked.
After dark there were no women on
streets. The usually gay crowds Of
Pennsylvania avenue, Seventh, Ninth
and streets were all home, within
doors, and with those doors locked.
And save for men with long guns
strapped to their right legs, and a
few seekers Of excitement who want
ed to see 1t "if there was anything
doing" the entire downtown section
was deserted.
It was the same, too, for the most
part in the outlying districts Oc-
casionally, in upper Georgetown, up
per Ninth street, or in the vicinity of
fourteenth and L streets northwest,
small crowds congregated and talked
in low tones But not for long. One
or two minutes-and a soldier, or a
policeman, or mayhap a marine or
COB, would hurry up, heavily armed
and with swinging club, and the
crowd would scatter under stern or
ders to Go home, and stay there"
Terror was everywhere, but in no
place was It more apparent than on
the street cars. The cars hurtled
along at top speed. When they stop
ped to take on a passenger the doors
were opened and shut so quickly that
the man or woman had to hurry to
get inside When they stopped to
discharge q passenger he was barely
given time to alight before the car
sped on. And inside the cars the US
ual casual conversation between &C
quaintances was missing. The pas
sengers sat strained and silent They
seemed to have but one desire-to
get within doors, home.
Soldiers Everywhere.
Meanwhile, Police Headquarters at
the District Building resembled a
cross between the War Department
in the early days Of the struggle with
Germany and the quartermaster de-
pot of an army cantonment
Officers Of the army, navy, and ma
rine corps were everywhere, ranging
in rank from major general to sec
ond lieutenant
Then there were non-commissioned
officers and private soldiers, sailors
and marines galore, all heavily armed,
bringing in prisoners, bringing in re-
ports and receiving instructions.
Also there were secret service men.
Meanwhile from a far corner room
q man carted out case after case OF
big, deadly looking army forty
hyeS, and yet more cases Of blunt
nosed cartridges, which were passed
ont and strapped around the waists
Of home defense league men and
specially deputized citizens.
And every so often a patrol would
clang mp to the entrance and a priso-
ner would be hurried out into the
main room, searched over every inch
OF his person, and then sent of
to some precinct All the men ar
rested last night were negroes. All
were found carrying concealed weap-
ons; sometimes razors, but more fire.
quently, revolverA
An Kinds Of Weapons.
A heterogeneous collection Of fire.
arms had been gathered by the po-
lice by midnight They ranged from
cheap twenty-five caliber revolvers-.
toy pistolB- Major Pullman called
them, to wicked looking ultra-modernt
automAtics.
Major Pullman told Of one drug
store where seven negroes were
found crouching, with the door open,
and the lights out OF these seven,
FIVE had revolvers and the sixth a
razor. The seventh man was IN
armed, and was allowed to go.
The last the police saw OF him.
said Major Pullman, "he was still
running"
In some cases the men arrested
submitted sullenly. but quietly. In
other cases they fought viciously.
In one instance a diminUtive negro
was arrested by Lieutentnt Murray,
who was sent here from Camp Meade
to help in quelling the riots Lieuten-
ant Murray was riding out New
Hampshire avenue in an automobile
when he passed the negro and noticed
= glisteping at the Iatter's waist line.
Dismounting while the car was still
running, he ran to the negro and
grabbed at the Elistening.
Small as the negro was, he began to
Fight.
Lieutenant Murray grabbed for his
throat, and missed. He got the negro's
face instead.
And the next instant the negro had
bitten one Of the soldiers fingers al
most to the bone.
Finds Revolver.
But he was overcome, and brought
10 headquarters. where it developed
that the glistening came from a blue
steeIed automatic. fully loaded.
at won't shoot" declared the pris-
oner.
But when the gun had been I'M
loaded, and the trigger pulled, il
was proved that the gun was in per-
feet working order
All through the night came fren-
lied reports of shooting over the po-
lice telephones. Two riot calls were
sent in. Both proved false alarms"
And practically all the reported
'1shootings" turned out, on investiga-
ton, to be automobile tire ''bIowouts."