Evening star., 1934-12-20
$150,O00 Court House at
SheIbyviIIe Is Burned.
Troops on Guard.
MOB FAILS TO GET
PRISONER ON TRIAL
Launches Three Attacks on
Building-Reported Kin of
Girl in Case Killed.

(Copyright, 1894, by the Associated Press)
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn, December
2O-Death, fire and destruction, riding
the fury of a mob, brought 600 Ma
tional Guardsmen into this riot-torn
town today to quell any further racial
outbreaks.
Militia guns killed two and wounded
seven yesterday as the mob ran wild
on the scent of lynching, fighting to
carry off a colored man who already
had been led to safety under their
very eyes.
Four hours after Guard bullets had
stopped the assault against the court
house, the building was burned down,
at loss estimated at S150,000.
There was quiet throughout the
early morning. Policemen and fire
men chatted about the happenings
in their headquarters opposite the
court house, or strolled about the
square inspecting the bleak brick
skeleton which a few short hours be-
fore had been Bedford County S
crowded structure. The embers smol-
dered during the night.
Threaten to Burn Jail.
DR.. James L. Morton, county
health officer, said he was informed
the mob intended to fire the Bedford
County Jail, after offering a respite to
let him remove the 20-odd prisoners.
DR.. Morton said he would take advan-
tage of the offer.
The mob first set the hour Of l a m.
today for the firing of the jail, but
the threat was not carried out. The
crowd, partly dispersed, was still in a
menacing mood, occasional shots be-
ing heard.
Four trucks of an original detach-
ment of III National Guardsmen, who
brought the mob's quarry here for trial
Yesterday, were overturned and burned.
E. K. Harris, the 22-year-old de-
fendant, was to go on trial for as
sault of a 14-year-old white girl. Dis
guised as a Guardsman and wearing a
gas mask, he was led through the mill
ing crowd from court to waiting au-
tomobile.
An escort Of militia sped him to
Nashville for safekeeping. Only after
their car pulled away from the court
house did the mob sense the ruse
Cheated of their prey. the enraged
men turned upon the Guardsmen as
they filed from the court house and
marched out of town. They hurled
stones and yelled insults at the militia
men.
Reported threats of vandalism on
the city water plant caused police
guard to be thrown around it, and
there we're sporadic small blazeS, al
of them extinguished.
The dead were Raleigh Edwards
30-year-old painter, who was shot and
bayoneted, and an unidentified white
man. His body was taken away from
the hospital before his identity could
be established.
Rough treatment was accorded any
colored man who dared appear upon
the streets and threats of an in
vasion of the Negro quarter we're rife,
but no damage or casualties were
reported from that section. A small
hotel for colored people was set afire
but the blaze was eXtinguished quickly
Early last evening fire broke out
in the left wing of the courthouse. A
policeman said a slight explosion pre-
ceded the first blaze. This he be-
lieved to have been from an igniting
can of gasoline.
Handicap Firemen.
Two hose lines were available, but
for almost an hour only one of these
could be brought into play. Members
of the mob, flremen said, used every
conceivable device to prevent the fire
fighting.
Those seriously wounded by the
guardsmen included Pat Lawes, re-
ported by friends to be relative OF
the girl involved in the case. He
was shot through the head, and is not
Continued on Page 8. Column b