The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-08-20
WERE GUARDING A
NEGRO PRISONER
HELD AS Suspect
Crowd Had Crossed Dead Line
With Purpose of Demand
ing Frank Martin.
MOST OF WOUNDED
CURIOSITY SEEKERS
Machine Gun of National Guard
on Duty Did Not Open
Fire on the Mob.
(ay The Associated Pressl


KNOXVILLE, Tenn, Aug. 1s-Mort
than twenty persons were wounded
two seriously, at $3.50 tonight wher
deputies guarding the Knox county
Jail fired on crowd which had crossed
a dead line" in approaching the jail
with the avowed purpose Of demand
ing Frank Martin. negro, held as q
suspect in a criminal assault upon a
county school teacher Thursday.
All of the wounded are white. Two
are women. Most of the wounded
were curiosity seekers who were stand
ing to one side upon the court house
lawn which is 80 feet above the street
stands. one officer, Deputy Sheriff
Charles Lewis, was wounded in the
arm by return fire from the crowd.
Although the machine gun company
of the 117th infantry, Tennessee ma
tional guard. was on duty at the jail.
the soldiers did not open fire.
Following reports that the school
teacher today had positively identified
Martin as her assaiiant, large crowds
began gathering in. the vicinity Of the
Jail before dusk tonight.
Several times the crowd started
down the hill on Main street leading
to the Jail They were turned back
by police. Efforts were made to hold
them a block distant.
Gradually some OF the bolder ones
edged down the street. There were
probably 200 men and boys in the
crowd that gradually approached the
jail. Several hundred other persons.
many of them women, were In the
court house yard looking down upon
the scene.
AS the crowd in the street came
within q hundred feet, Sheriff Cate
stepped under an arc light and de-
manded that they dispense. He gave
warning that an imaginery line be-
tween two telephone poles should not
be crossed. AS a dozen men passed
these poles the sheriff picked up a
shotgun and fired over the heads Of
the crowd into the air. Four deputies
who were with him then fired two
volleys. Two men in the court house
yard and two or three in the street
fired revolvers In reply.
The shooting then became general
Many of the loads OF buckshot fired
by the officers and intended to go
above the heads OF the crowd In the
street went among spectators in the
court house yard Several OF the
wounded are suffering from bullets Of
large calibre.
At IL o'clock heavy detachment
Of police summoned from their home
for riot duty, dispersed the crowd. No
one was allowed to pause within a
block of the jail.
At that hour 1t appeared that there
would be no further trouble.
The local troop of national guard
cavalry was mobilized but had not
appeared on the scene at IL o'clock.
on August 80. 1919. the Knox county
jail was stormed and dynamited by a
mob searching for Maurice Mayes. a
negro, accused OF numbering a white
woman. Mayes had been removed dur
Ing the afternoon but the mob re-
leased many prisoners, six OF whom
We're charged with murder. Follow
ing that attack there was a general
race riot over the city and two men
We're killed and 20 wounded before
troops gained control of the situation.
Mayes is in the county jail tonight
where he is held pending appeal from
his second conviction on the charge
Of numbering Mrs. virdie Lindsay. the
first conviction having been reversed
by the supreme court.