The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-01
TULSA RIOT
tcontinued from Page One,

According to reports current in all
quarters here is that 500 negroes have
left Muskogee bound for Tulsa. Whites
left in automobiles to meet them, ac-
cording to this information. Every
| train coming into Tulsa is entered by
guards and all negroes taken out of
the passenger cars.
The reported fight at McNulty base
ball park was a minor affair. The
park is filled mostly with 400 old
negro men. women and children, who
have brought their suit cases with
| them. each negroes suit case being left
| outside the@ball park.
The Seduoiah school is full of cap
tured negroes, also Convention hall
which seats about 5000.
On the outskirts Of Tulsa near Davis
| hill, negroes were entrenched early to-
day with high power rifles and holding
routed from their stronghold at about
| 10 a. m. by machine gun fire and
white civilians. At 1920 a. m. no fir
| ing could be heard
Negroes from Convention hall, un-
der guard, were being marched down
the main streets to McNulty baseball
park where they are guarded by ma
tionat guard soldiers from Oklahoma
City and the local national guard and
police.
| Tried to Burn Negroes Out.
The first attempts to fire the negro
|
morning, when white men openly
| threatened to destroy the locality
! Two houses at Archer and Boston,
used by more than fifty negroes as a
| garrison. were set Attire at that time
and an alarm was turned in. Efforts
| of the fire department to lay hose
were stopped by crowd of armed
white men and the department. re-
turned to its station.
| The attempt to lay the negro quar-
! ter in ashes was resumed at $40
o'clock this morning when almost 81
simultaneously fire began to burst forth
| from the doors and windows of frame
| shacks along Archer street. Soon
| dense clouds of black smoke enveloped
| the location. Under cover of smoke
afoot threw Gordon about the place
| where the negroes were stationed and
| occasional shots gave warning that the
| conflict still waged.
AS the fire enveloped the houses,
| negroes were seen to dart out from
flaming doorways. with appraised
hands. shouting, Don't shoot" AS
| they dashed thru the smoke they were
ordered to surrender and quickly were
removed to the prison camps.
Fire Ragged All Morning.
| Fires continued to rage all morning
! was believed the white residence dis
tricts which were imperiled would es-
cape.
Nearly ten square blocks of the
| south side of the negro section of
| Tulsa were in flames early today.
The fire was reported spreading and
| threatened to wipe out a white resi-
dence section in the Stand Pipe and
Sunset Hill additions.
Fighting Is Resumed.
Continuous gun fire broke out
| shortly after daylight near the negro
1 IN q RTE fiV-ir1 ~
| where turnout the early morning
hours 500 white men and a thousand
negroes faced each other across rail-
road tracks.
In a fresh outbreak at 1870 O'Clock
| in the Stand Pipe hill district in the
| extreme northern section of the negro
! quarter, Mrs. S. A. Gilmore, a white
| woman, was shot in the left arm and
side. Mrs. Gilmore was standing on
| the front porch of her home when
a score or more barricaded in a
church.
Negroes Flee From City.
Thousands of negroes were fleeing
from the city along the railroad right
of ways at 7 O'Clock. Airplanes loaded
with nitroglycerin bombs were circling
over the negro section.
Rioting started early last night
when a mob of armed whites gathered
at the county jail, after Dick Rowland.
a negro, was arrested for an alleged
attack on a young white girl. Armed
negroes also formed at the court
/ house. First shots were heard about
10 D. m.
The arrest over which the disord ers
arose took place late yesterday. The
negro was taken to the court house
and later lodged in the jail which is
on an upper floor Of the building. Early
in the night motor cars containing
armed negroes appeared on the streets
and headed for the court house. A
crowd of 200 negroes surrounded the
building. Armed white men soon be-
gan gathering. The situation grew
more serious as the crowds increased.
Called For Troops.
The first shot was fired soon after
dark when a police officer attempted
to disarm a negro. According to the
officer, the negro resisted ana was shot
dead. His body lay in the street more
than three hours. A white man was
killed shortly afterward at the court
house. Meantime the crowds had
reached such proportions that the au-
thorities realized the situation was be-
yond their control and a call was sent
to Governor Robertson for troops'