The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-10-23
DETROIT RACE
HATE VICTIMS
TRIAL OCT. 80
Charged Nth Murder
of Khan ROwdy

DETROIT, Mich, Oct. 21.-The
trial of Or. osslan H. Sweet and ten
others charged with first degree muir
der in the death Of a certain 5reiner
who took part in a mob that stoned
and fired on the residence Of the Ne
gro doctor, will take place on Friday
October 80, with Clarence barrow, a
Chicago lawyer and Arthur Garfield
Hayes of the American Civil Liberties
Union defending the Negroes in their
right to live in any part of the city Of
Detroit they may see fit.
Climax to Race Hate Drive.
This case is the climax to the race
hate stirred up in Detroit by a group
of exclusive whites" who attempted
to terrorize the Sweets into leaving
the Garland avenue residence which
they had built and occupied.
The housing shortage in Detroit has
become acute since 1920 as a result
of the growth of the Negro popula-
ton from 5000 in 1911 to $4,000 in
. 1925. Attempts were made to segre-
gate the Negroes in one section of the
city, prohibiting their moving into any
other section Of the city. These at
tempts failed. Negroes began to move
into other sections of the city and out
of the districts that were badly neg
lected.
Throw Furniture Out Of House.
In June, DR.. A. L. Turner bought a
home on Spokane avenue on the east
side and moved his belongings to his
home. His home was stormed, the
furniture loaded onto a van, brought
into the district that was predomin-
antly Negro and dumped there. DR..
4 Turner fearing for his life did did not
try to re-enter the east side district.
DR.. Sweet had bought home site
on Garland avenue and was building
a house. When the house was COM
pleted he decided to move into the
new home which he had built. During
the period when his home was being
erected, he received numerous letters
that were signed tx. X. X" telling
him to sell his home and stay out of
the district.
During the early part Of September
he decided to move into the new
home. AS the doctor, his wife, child.
chauffeur and friendly dentist moved
in, crowd of over 600 gathered in
front of the house and began mutter-
ing threats Of lynching, etc. A squad
Of police dispersed the mob.
Rowdies Throw Stones.
The following evening a crowd of
young boys of about Is years of age
began to gather around the home and
throw stones at the house breaking
the windows.
AS DR.. Sweet tried to enter his
home with number of friends they
were forced to pass a gauntlet, being
dubbed kicked and stoned until they
got inside the doors of the house.
There they found the wife and some
visitors crouching in corners fearing
to be struck by the flying missiles.
The mob outside the house grew
larger and someone in the mob fired
shot at the house. The firing of the
shot at the occupants of the house
was followed by a general rush on the
house. In self-defense one of the
eleven who were in the house fired a
number of shots to scare the mob.
One of these shot the prosecuting at
torney claims killed Bremen.
Police FaIsify Facts.
Despite the fact that the police who
arrived on the scene after the shoot
ing spent many hours in dispensing
the mob that had gathered, in their
report to their commanding officers
they claimed that there were but 10
or IL people in front of the house. On
the strength of the police testimony
that ammunition, guns and other
death-dealing instruments were found
in every room in the house, making
it appear that the Sweet residence
was an arsenal, Judge Faust, who
has since died, refused to grant them
release on bail Mrs. Sweet has since
been released on $4,000 bail.
Khan Issue in Elections.
1t is believed that it will be hard
to pick jury as the mayoralty cam
paign is in full heat and the khan is
the big issue. The Workers Party has
Edgar Owens as candidate in De.
troit against the klansman that ia
running for office.