The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-06-16

age along Gladys street, main thor
oughfare. A large, Jwo-sJory Negro
funeral home had been badly dam
aged and looted. A Negro liquor
store also had been cleaned out, he
said.
Oconor said that heavy damage
had been reported along Forsythe
street, another thoroughfare in the
negro section, and that the Canton
cafe, a negro restaurant, had been
Quilted by fire. He said he had been
told that all windows in houses for
two blocks on Forsythe street we're
broken.
State Police Director Homer Gar
rison said at Austin that he had or
dered so state highway patrolmen
and rangers here to preserve order.
Joining a company of state guards
men from Orange, Col. Garrison
said other state officers we're being
ordered to the scene.
Adjutant General Arthur Knick-
erbocker said at Austin that 300
members of the Port Arthur guard
were on the alert in event their SER
vices are needed
Negroes either stayed off the
streets or Travelled with police pro-
lection. Laundries and restaurants
dependent on negro help, was closed.
Highway patrolmen escorted several
hundred negro workers from the
Pennsylvania shipyards and took
them to their homes in the negro
districts.
The rioting started after young
white woman, the wife of Shipyard
worker, whose name was withheld
reported she had been attacked by
negro youth. She said the negro
came to her house asking for food,
saying he had been rejected by the
army and that he had no money.
She told police that later in the
day, after she had put her three
small children to bed for their
maps, the negro came in the house
and attacked her
1t was the second attack by ne
gro or a white woman in Beaumont
in 10 days.
Several Negroes were dragged
from their automobiles, beaten and
stripped of their clothing. The auto
mobiles were set on fire.
The local shipyards virtually shut
down for the night because not
enough of the night shifts reported
to operate them. Authorities said
the workers had formed the mobs.
At Orange, &c miles east of here,
Negro workers were barred from the
shipyards this morning because au-
thoritieS feared any aftermath of
the rioting.
A number of Negroes we're in the
local Negro hospital with a variety
of injuries. Dickey described the
hospital as "overf1owing" with them.
There was no immediate accurate
estimate of the number. Dickey said
he did not know if any had been
killed.
Four white men were known to
have been injured. Milton Randall
was treated for shotgun wounds of
the back. Gerald Williams had a
knife wound on his scalp.
The white mobs were said to
have been inspired by an attack by
a Negro on white woman yesterday
afternoon.
At least II fires were started by
bands of whites in the Negro sec
tons, the fire department reported
Laundries and restaurants, de-
pendent on Negro help, were closed
today.
Twelve state highway patrolmen
escorted hundreds of Negro workers
from the Pennsylvania shipyards;
formed them into a group outside
the yards and took them safely into
the Negro districts.
Officials said there was no single,
organized mob, and the white men
moved about in several groups. The
Negroes, they said, apparently had
made no attempts to organize and
most of them were staying inside
hteir homes.