The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-06-02

and the other places where the crtminai
element among the negroes congregates.
and very soon the talk began to be OF
rescuing Rowland from the mob.
Between $40 and 9 o'clock automo-
biles filled with shouting. half drunken
negroes armed with rifles and revolvers
appeared on the streets of Little Africa
These cars careened wildly through the
streets, the first ones to appear picking
up others until within half an hour there
were more than q dozen of them, all
filled with armed blacks. Soon after
ward the cars converged toward the
court house and the county jail. where
Rowland was kept under guard. The
machines were followed by a hundred
or more negroes ON foot, most of them
armed with rifles and revolvers.
Cars Not Molested.
Meanwhile the reports Of the prepara-
tons the negroes were making to rescue
Rowland had spread to the white sec
tons of the city. Additional policemen
were sent to the court house, and white
men began drifting toward the county
Jail. apparently more out of curiosity
than anything else. because 1t developed
later that very few. II any. of them were
armed. Just before 10 o'clock q crowd OF
cred on the steps and in the vicinity
of the court house, including a score
CT policemen and detectives. These men
were there when the first motor car
containing the armed and shouting
blacks came out of side street. swept
into Boulder street and whirled past the
court house.
This car was not molested by either
the police or the white men on the steps
Of the court house. A few minutes later
another car appeared on Sixth street
shooting suddenly from a narrow side
street. This, too, went past the court
house in the direction followed by the
first one. Then came others, and after
them the negroes on foot their ranks
glinting with the rifles whose barrels
caught the rays of the street lamps. The
negroes marched back and forth In from
or the court house, shouting, and De-
tective Mcqueen approached a car which
had stopped. He stopped in front
t, and gigantic negro, rifle in his
hands. arose from the back seat.
This man appeared to be the leader
of the blacks. Mcqueen told him that
his gang must disperse and go to their
homes, back in Little Africa. The negro
replied that they had come to see that
Rowland was not lynched and that he
had a fair trial
He will have fair trial" Mcqueen
said. We've got enough police here to
prevent anybody getting him, and all
these men with you must 60 home"
According to persons who were in the
crowd around the court house. the negro
replied with an oath that his gang would
take Rowland from the Jail and prevent
the whites from lynching him. Mcqueen
then told the negro he was under arrest
and tried to Jerk him from the machine.
The negro. lodging back among his
comrades in the back seat OF the car.
flung his rife forward and fred one
shot at Mcqueen, the heavy steel jack
eted bullet passing over the detectives
head and ploughing into the wall of the
court house.
Shot That started Trouble.
That was the shot that started the
trouble. Accounts as to what happened
Immediately afterward differ. because of
the excitement 1t Is pretty well estab-
lished. however. that Mcqueen. his own
life saved because he had ducked, drew
his own revolver. Whether he fred is
not known. II Is certain, however. that
within few minutes the firing became
general Hard on the first shot fired by
the negro in the automobile came scat
terinB SnOtS from Lne negroes IN tne
other cars and the negroes on foot, who
had pushed forward and had crowded
about the detective and their leader.
1t appears certain that very few Of
the white men were armed. as the first
shot hardly had been fired when the
crowd of them on the court house steps
began to scatter. But they went only
into Sixth and Boulder streets, where
there are gun and ammunition stores
and hardware stores handling rifles and
revolvers. They came back In few
minutes armed with rifles and pistols.
They found the negroes pressing forward
against the small group OF patrolnen
and detectives. who tried In vain to keep
them away from the doors of the court
house No one knows who fired first.
but one of the first white men to get
back with weapons put the muzzle of his
| gun against the breast OF a negro who
was flourishing a revolver and sent a
bullet into his heart
The scream Of the negro as he died
and the fact OF his falling among a
crowd OF HIS fellows caused the other
negroes to break and run. But half a