The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-09-29

With dawn today, Oman ma S down.
town section looked we'll nigh wreck
as the result of the rioting. Practi-
cally all the known casualties that
were not fatal resulted from shooting.
Thousands of shots were fired from
various kinds of weapons. all dis
charged in the open with thousands
of people on the streets.
Among those injured were a dozen
police officers, three prisoners in the
county Jail, several city firemen and
numerous pedestrians.
Mob Was in Control.
Until long after the early morning
hours it was practically impossible to
get near the court house. The mob
| that held sway over the building for
five hours made 1t dangerous to go
near the structure. Later, when de-
tachment of federal soldiers were sent
to the scene, Gordon was at once
thrown around the building and no
| body permitted to approach 1t.
For several hours the lives OF more
than 100 prisoners in the county Jail
were endangered by the flames in the
lower floors of the building. 1t was
finally necessary TO send them ell TO
the roof. Sheriff Clark stood off the
angry mob until the flames caused the
prisoners themselves to take action.
They at first decided among them
selves to throw the negro from the
Roof to the pavement below and leave
him to the destruction of the mob. 1t
was at this moment that the mob had
gained entrance to the burning build
ing and forced their way into the cell
| corridor. Here it was the negro was
| turned over TO them.
Climbed Rope Into Jail.
The entrance OF the mob into the
Jail was equal to any movie thriller.
/ The main part of the crowd was in
/ front of the building and it was there
/ that Sheriff Clark concentrated his re-
sistance. A small number of men
found their way TO the rear of the
| building. A steeple jack scaled the
wall to the fifth floor and let down a
/ a rope. Led by man dressed in
| sailors uniform, a score of men climbed
the rope and orerpowered the police
/ and deputies.
Throwing a rope around his neck
the members of the mob inside the
\ Jail, numbering about fifty. dragged
! him to the ground floor, down sitting
/ stairways and thru binding smoke to
/ the street. When they appeared at
| the Harvey street entrance to the
| court house they were greeted by a
/ bowling mob of thousands. Brown
/ was practically dead before his form
was even strung to the light pole
/ Two bullets were fired into his body
as he was dragged thru the crowd. He
| was never heard to utter a word and
he was not given an opportunity to
| speak before being stretched full
| length before the gaze of thousands.
| Browns body was mutilated beyond
| recognition of a human being. Rid
died by thousand bullets, it was
first placed over a fire of tarred
| fasots. It was not permitted to re-
main there long. however, as it was
soon being dragged thru the streets at
| the end of a rope pulled by fifty mem
bers of the mob. This spectacle did
| hours, when what remained OF the
| torso was hung to a trolley pole at
one of the most important downtown
| intersections
The arrival of the soldiery had the
| effect of dispensing the mob. The de-
| struction of the court house came as
| a result of lack of police protection
for the firemen when they attempted
| to run hose lines. Many of the fire
men, however, entered the Sbilding
| and assisted in the work of quieting
the prisoners, many of whom had be-
| come frantic
The mob was well armed as one of
the largest gun and ammunition stores
in the city was looted before the at
tack on the Jail was started.
The crowd that began to gather
| early in the evening was augmented
| from time to time until it was num-
bered by the thousands. 1t was dur
ing this time that the mayor came so
! near being himself a victim of the
| mob. Mayor Smith was seized by the
mob on Seventeenth street, near the
| court house, at 10 o'clock and was
threatened with lynching. He was
| hustled to Harvey street and stopped
| at the foot of a trolley pole on the
| cross-arm of which was a coil of rope.
Give US the key to the JAIL
IF we can't get the niger wen
| lynch you
| "IJe's No befter than the niexer
Hes a negro lover
These were the cries heard in the
| mob.
Crowd Lost Its Nerve.
| "Get that rope" some one shouted
1t was pulled down by a loose end,
but was not long enough to reach. A
man climbed the pole and with
knife cut the rope It was brought
down and placed around the neck of
the mayor.
Throw It up over the pole and
string him up" yelled a dozen voices
mayor was the center of a crush so
great that 1t almost overthrow an au-
! tomobile standing near.
The rope was then placed around
the mayors neck. Appalled, at the
possibility of numbering the city's
chief executive, protests began to be
heard.
I'VE won't stand for hanging the
mayor"
THAT won't get US the niger"
LET him 60"
| Tell him to get out of here" Then
two Officers cut the rope, carried the
! mayor to an automobile and rushed
him to, a hospital.
The mayors law firm IS at present
/ defending two negroes charged with
assaults on white women The police
assert that fact had much to do with
some Of the remarks that were made
| by members of the mob who had a
| hand in the attempt against his life.
Court House in Ruins.
The fire that was started in the
i court house left that magnificent
structure 3 mass of ruins The prop
erty was valued at a million and a
half dollars The damage tn the rec