The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-10-16
KILLING OF
negro MAY Be
INVESTIGATED
Crowe Aid Promised to
Look Into Case

First assistant States Attor.
ney German has promised
thoro investigation into the
lynching of the Negro, William
Bell, and a speedy sitting of the
Grand Jury, George c. Adams,
attorney for the family Of the
murdered man, told the DAILY
WORKER yesterday.
Two mass meetings are be-
ing held by the Negroes tonight.
one on the South Side at the
corner of 4Sth and Wabash and
the other on the West Side, at
1921 Blue Island Ave. Protests
will be made against conditions
now prevailing among the Ne
groes living in Chicago.
Thomas Clark, one of the witnesses
who identified Otto Epstein night
Waterman in a sacramental wine shop
on 14th street, who has been held to
the grand jury on charges of murder.
ing Bell, has been intimidated and
threatened at his home, it is reported
to the DAILY WORKER.
Threatened With Violence.
Clark declares several auto loada
Of white thugs have driven up and
down in front of his house every
night, have disturbed his sleep and
have threatened him with violence II
Epstein is indicted by the grand
jury. Upon request Of attorneys for
Bells family, an extra squad of po-
lice have been detailed by chief Col
Inns to cover the 18th district.
An organization has been formed
among the Negroes, called the PEG.
pies Protective Circle, to protect the
lives of the Negroes against future
outrages. Robert S. Ephriam is presi-
dent of this organization. A meeting
was held last Sunday at 1921 Blue
Island avenue, at which George
Adams and his law partner, ]. N
Baker, told of the coroner's inquest
over Bell.
Bell Was Innocent.
Bell was brutally killed with a base.
ball bat by a crowd of rowdies after
two girls on the corner of Maxwell
and Miller streets had reported to the
sacramento wine shop that they were
accosted by a Negro. 1t was admitted
by the police that Bell was an in
nocent bystander who had nothing to
do with the accosting of the girls.
Harry Crawford, Negro keeper of a
nearby pool hall who witnessed the
killing, and who declared he was
slugged by some of the men from
the wine shop, testified at the inquest
that two white men in a Ford car ac-
costed the two girls and not a Negro.
The two girls, Betty Goldblatt and
Bertha Deutsch, admitted at the in
quest that they had been approached
by two men in the Ford car, and
claimed they had been later approach
ed by Negro.
Negroes Incensed.
The Negro population Of Chicago is
especially incensed because of the
long continued police intimidation &C
corded the Negroes on the south side.
Many instances have been reported
where Negroes have been held up and
searched by policemen for no APP
parent cause. 1t is considered a
crime, according to Negroes, for a
Negro to be seen walking with a
white girl. On the other hand, many
Negroes report that they have been
slugged and beaten by white men,
without securing the slightest police
protection.
Negroes declare they are forced to
live on the south side in novels at
exhorbitant rents, that it is dificult
for them to secure even the most
mental work, that the capitalist sys-
tenn is destroying their home life,
and that they are in danger of lynch
ing whenever they appear on the
streets.