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TUESDAY, JULY 10, 1917
Insure your Crops
against hail and
your property
against Fire and
Tornado or wind
storm.
c
J. A.
Davenport
Agent
Save Your
Shoes
There’s months of wear and
lots of good service in many
a pair cf shoes thrown away
Don’t do it. Bring your old
shoes to us and let us fix
them for you at a fraction of
what a new pair will co&.
We call for and dclivei
your shoes.
REX SHOE SHOP
E. Breetlove, Prop.
101 Lee St. Artesian Cornei
Soaps
Perfumes
T alcum
Powders
and Toilet
Articles
A full line of
The Be&
Phone 406
Prompt Service
J.l. GIDDINGS
Druggist
Forsyth St. & Cotton Ave.
, v .. .
ATTENTION
WHEAT
CROWERS!
I wish to announce to -wheat grow
ers of Sumter and surrounding coun
ties, that I will have my modern flour
mill ready for making flour, beginning
Monday, June 4th, located 7 miles east
of Americus, at Brown’s Mill.
I have installed an up-to-date roller
mill, operated by experienced miller,
and can safely guarantee satisfaction.
T will appreciate your patronage.
J. C. Brown
Proprietor
For Sale
80 ACRES south of Plains, for
quick sale, $lO acre.
100 ACRES 5 miles of railroad;
rent 4 bales cotton, $25 acre.
250 ACRES, 5 miles of railroad
Lee county, sl6 acre.
1100 ACRES, 4 miles of railroad
station, $8 acre. ,
HOUSE AND LOT, 5 rooms; in
good condition, Jackson ave.
$1,500.
5-ROOM HOUSE, large lot, For
est street, SI,BOO.
If you want to buy, sell or
rent, come to see me.
P. B. Williford
Office West Side Main Entrance
Windsor HoteL
What Brought About Raceßiots
In East St. Louis Last Week
By RICHARD STOKES.
EAST ST. LOUIS, July 10.— Probably
tl.e most absorbing municipal enigma
in the United States today is ,the city
of East St. Louis, and no doubt all over
the country the question is being
asked
Through what lamentable train of
events did it happen in the State of
Abraham Lincoln, in the Northern city
where for many years whites and ne
groes had dwelt amicably side by side,
there developed within only a few
months sucha cold and implacable fer
ocity of race hatred that a mob could
rise up with the deliberate purpose of
massacreing the negro population and
wiping out with fire the sections in
which it dwelt, and did put scores to
death, with every circumstance of ap
palling cruelty, and without distinction
of age or sex, inncence or guilt?
The answer to this tragic puzzle was
sought yesterday from leading business
men, city officials and others who are
in a position to be well informed.
Cause of East St. Louis Riots.
Under the present conditions of un
rest, they did not desire to he quoted,
but the story they told follows:
It should be prefaced with the state
ments that East St. Louis now has a
population of probably 75,000; that it
has grown with leaps and bounds in
the last two decades, its population
having been only 29,655 in IpOO; that
it is a flourishing industrial center,
boasting of great packing and manu
facturing plants, some the largest of
their kind in the country; and that
owing to the nature of the work in
many of these industries, it is one of
the biggest markets in the United
States for common, unskilled labor.
On the other hand, the city govern
ment of East St. Louis is bankrupt. As
the .events of Monday night showed, its
police force was not only demoralized,
but feeble in numbers. It can muster
only sixty-three men, including plain
clothes men and officers, as well as the
uniformed patrolmen. The city should
have twice as many, but has not the
money to pay' them.
War Opened Places to Negroes.
In the packing plants, stockyards
and ore factories there is an abund
ance of hard, dirty and unpleasant
work which no white American would
consent to do. These jobs were
abandoned by the skilled white work
men to negroes and foreigners. Many
of the latter, native of Austria and the
Balkan countries, were summoned to
the colors, which meant additional ne
groes were employed in their places.
The tremendous boom given to busi
ness in the city by war orders for the
Allies created still greater demands for
negro labor It is estimated that in the
last two years the negro population
has increased one-fourth. At the end
of May, when the first outbreak of
rioting occurred, there were probably
15,000 negroes in East St. Louis, of
whom today perhaps not more than 5,-
000 or 6,000 remain.
Received $-i to 86 a Day.
The negroes found themselves receiv
ing such unprecedented wages as $4, $5
and $6 a day, and it was not strange
many of them wrote glowing letters to
friends and relatives in the South, in
viting them to come and enter into the
financial paradise. They responded in
flocks. Every evening, especially on
Sunday evenings, the Relay depot
would be jammed with negroes arriv
ing on the trains and friends gathered
to welcome them.
The uneasiness felt by the white
population over the influx of negroes
became acute alarm because of an epi
demic of holdups and shootings by ne
gro footpads during April and May. It
is not the belief of the authorities these
crimes were committed by negroes
from the South, who went to the city
to work, but that they were the deeds
of professional crooks from other cit
ies, including St Louis.
The city on the east side of the river
offers almost unrivaled facilities for the
operations of criminals. Besides its
undermanned police force, it provides
the easiest of opportunities for escape.
It is entered by twenty-seven railroads,
whose trains ar constantly moving out
of the city and there are three bridges
over which flight may be made to St.
Louis.
Epidemic of Robberies.
Night after night the police received
reports of robberies committed by ne
groes upon white men, women and
youths. One evening the fire and po
lice board was holding a meeting at the
pity hall when suddenly there came
the sound of a fusillade of shots in
Third Street nearby. It proved a ne
gro had attempted to hold up a white
detective, and in the exchange of shots
that followed the. policeman was shot
in the arm, the bandit escaping un
hurt.
Complaints began to be heard that
'even when negro criminals were ar
-1 rested they were treated with a consid-
eration which was charged to the de
sire of politicians to cater to the black
vote.
The cases were cited of four negro
women, notorious as pickpockets and
thieves, who each has been arrested
scores of times. Rarely were they even
locked up, for usually a bondsman was
awaiting them when they were taken
to the police station.
A thriving business as professional
bondsman has for years been driven by
several negro saloon keepers and poli
ticians. And in court there is a long
in connection with these women,
of acquittals, postponements and de
lays.
It began to be muttered about that
“it was too easy for a negro to get
out of jail.” Attention was again drawn
to the unsavory negro resorts and bar
rel houses along Broadway, and it was
pointed out that one negro saloon keep
er, to whom the city had granted a lic
ense, was an ex-convict who had been
run out of St. Louis, and who, as a side
line to his saloon, was doing a thriev
ing business in supplying “protection”
to “bad” negroes and was a power in
politics among his followers.
Strike Adds to Bitterness.
Into this situation, embittered by the
crimes of negro hold-up men, entered
a new factor with the declaration of a
strike during the last week of May at
the plant of the Aluminum Ore Com
pany, said to be the largest factory of
the sort in America. It was working
night and day on contracts for the
United States Government.
Its skilled white workmen were earn
ing $7 a day. According to officials of
the company, the strike was called be
cause they refused to pay a bribe of
$20,000 to a walking delegate, who was
one of the leaders of the men.
The company already employed many
negroes at such common labor as
shoveling ore. It now' placed some ne
groes at the work which the white men
had quit. This gave an opportunity to
raise the cry that negroes were being
imported as strikebreakers. It is true
the strike gradually petered out. the
men repudiating their leaders and
mostly returning to w'ork.
Race Prejudice Increases.
But the damage was done, and to the
constantly mounting passion of race
prejudice was added that of union
workmen jealous of their privileges.
The explosives were now gathered,
and all that was needed was a match.
It was produced on the night of May
28. A delegation of about 600 union
men marched to the City Hall to ap
peal to the authorities to prevent the
importation of any more negroes.
Among them were many of the Alum
inum Ore Company strikers. They
took possession of an auditorium, and
some of the leaders made speeches ad
vising that in case the authorities took
no action, they should resort to mob
law.
Mayor Mollman promised that he
■would do everything in his power to
persuade employers against recruiting
negro labor, and the meeting dispersed.
They had not been gone thirty minutes
when a mob appeared at the police sta
tion and demanded a negro who had
just been arrested be delivered to them.
He was arrested on the charge of try
ing to rob two white girls at Tenth
street and Missouri avenue. At about
the same time, two youths had been
robbed at Thirteenth street and Gaty
avenue, by' a negro, and one of them,
who resisted, was shot in the hip.
Induces Mob to Disperse.
Mayor Mollman. who had to support
him only three policemen at the sta
tion, addressed the mob himself, and
succeeded in persuading the members
to depart. But they departed for the
negro section along Broadway, and
tilery was the beginning of four days’
rioting in which a dozen white men and !
two score negroes were injured, and
considerable property belonging to ne
groes was destroyed, including saloons
and shops. The disturbance finally
was put down by troops.
But the flame was not extinguished;
it was only smoldering. It now appears
negro leaders took a hand and organ
ized one or more bands for their own
defense in case further attacks should
be made. The information was extract
ed from one reluctant negro witness
before the coroner that three “mobil
ization points” had been agreed upon,
and that the ringing of the bell of a
negro church was to be the tocsin for
assembling in arms.
At midnight Sunday the bell began to
peal, and in a few minutes a white
resident naerby telephoned to the po
lice that a company of armed negroes
was on the march. Over the telephone
the tolling of the bell could b 6 heard.
150 Negroes, Each With a Gun.
Detective Sergeant Samuel Coppedge.
Detective Frank Wodley and others
leaped into an automobile. As they
wheeled into Bond street off Broadway
they came face to face with a column
THE AMERICUS TIMES-RECORDER.
cf about 150 negroes, marching along
the sidewalk in twos, each with a gun
on his shoulder.
Coppedge was shot dead in cold blood
as he urged the negroes to disperse,
and Woodley suffered wounds from
which he died. Two other officers in
the machine were wounded. The driver
of the car sped it away through the
rain of bullets. What, became of the
negro column after the murders is not
as yet known; and upon what expedi
tion they were setting out is one of
the remaining mysteries of the case.
The generally accepted belief among
the whites is that they were marching
to attack the white residence district
in revenge for the riot of May 28, but
another theory is that they were bound
for the Free Bridge to punish the white
men employes at a point near the
bridge, who had beaten a negro earlier
in the evening.
Says Joyriders Shot Into Church.
Another version of this happening
was produced last night by an East St.
Louis clergyman who had been quietly
r aking an investigation. He was told
by negroes, it is said, they were worsh
iping in the church in question Sunday
night, and that white joyriders, passing
in a car, proceeded to shoot up the
church.
The terrified worshippers dropped to
the floor and put out the lights, and
then some one rang the alarm bell. The
band of armed negroes gathered and
were out looking for the automobile
from which the shots were fired. By
ill chance, the story continued. Cop
pedge and the other officers arrived in
a car wearing civilian clothes, and the
negroes, believing it was the other
machine returning opened fire.
> It also was said by negroes that joy
riders during the evening fired into
their homes, and that this was another
provocation for the assembling of the
armed band.
When the new’s of the assassination
of Coppedge and Wodley spread over
the city, East St. Louis saw red. There
was almost equal rage over the discov
ery that there was a band of armed
negroes in existence as a menace to
white supremacy in the town. These
were the immediate causes of the sang
uinary debauch of Monday night, now
known to all the world; but they mere
ly detonated the dynamite that had
been accumulating for about three
months.
A prominent East St. Louis real es
tate man, who would not permit his
name to be used, gave the following
summary of the causes leading up to
the riot
“We have had a reasonable propor
tion of negroes with us for a long time,
and it must be said that in a political I
way they have not improved themselves 1
in the eyes of the people. Many of I
them have been for sale on election I
day, putting up their votes to the high
est bidder. This did not help them any |
in the estimation of the people as to :
their value as an asset to the city, and •
it was largely responsible for the low ■
tone of polities here.
Says Negroes Were Impudent.
“The labor question was another fac
tor. War and other orders caused in
creased capacity in many plants and a
demand for additional workers. The
employers made a systematic attempt
to recruit men; it seemed to be in
doubt whether they gave any more ef
ort to getting negroes than whites. The
use of negroes as strikebreakers in
one packing house and an ore factory
was not calculated to lessen the tens
ion.
“Many of us felt we were getting
more than a reasonable proportion of
negroes in comparison with our whiti
population. And, as I have been told
by dependable negroes, nearly everyone
armed himself as soon as he arrived.
Those from the South were intoxicated
with the ‘new freedom’ they found in
East St. Louis, and flaunted themselves
.la a manner that would have been in
tolerable even in a white man. This
I impudence was much in evidence be
| tore the May riots, but after that it
I seemed that as if some of the edge had
'been taken off their insolence.
Declares Militia Were Lax.
“I wish to point out that in these
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riots all the antipathy toward the negro
1 was not confined to East St. Louis.
Among the first militia to arrive from
1 Central and Northern Illinois were
■ notr a few who declared feelingly their
“ understanding they were not here to
■ protect negroes against whites, but to
guard whites against negroes. Many
were what you could call nothing else
but raw country' yaps; they knew noth-,
ing of their duties; and being boys,
• themselves, fraternized with the other ■
boys who made upi so large a propor
tion of Monday night’s mob.
■ "Also, on the streets that night,
■ though taking no part in the rioting,
were more than one of the substantial
men of the city who, in the belief the
1 armed negroes who killed Coppedge
and Wodley had started forth to ‘clean
! up the town,’ remarked that, after all.
as the negroes started it, they would
have to be shown who was master in
the city.”
YOKOHOMA TRADE WANT*
TO USE CODE IN TRADE
I
YOKOHAMA, Japan. July 10.—Set
ting forth that the prevention of the
1 use of private codes in the sending of
1 cable messages is harmful to their
business, the Yokohoha Foreign Trade
1 Association has forwarded a petition
1 to the Washington government for the
! right to use such codes. The petition
1 is mainly' in the intrest of the silk and
k
tea exporters who do a heavy trading
with the United States and who 'as a
means of economy have always used
1 a special code for the transmission of
k
quotations.
The United States war regulations
permit the use of only well known j
codes.
> _____
* GERMAN IMPERIAL
| SUPREME COURT DECISION
L
’ COPENHAGEN, July 10.—The Ger
‘ man imperial supreme court in giving
‘ its decision at Berlin that war is no
' cause for dismissal from service, sus
-1 tained a suit brought by' an employe
1 who had been summarily dismissed in
September, 1914, on the ground that
war did not permit the continuance of
' business in foreign countries. In re
jecting the ruling of the lower court,
the highest tribunal declared that,
while war shut off intercourse with
warring countries, the firm still had
neutral states to operate in, which
made obligations to their employees
binding.
MISS BESSIE WINDSOR,
Insurance.
Bends.
Office Forsyth St Phene 484
C. P. DAVIS
Dental Surgeon.
Orthodontia, Pyorrhea.
Residence Phone 316. Office Phone 818.
Allison Bldg.
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Americus, Ga.
UNION CENTRAL LIFE
INSURANCE CO.
•The Great Annual Dividend Payer."
FALL TERM
THIRD DISTRICT WULTUUI
ANO MECHANICAL SCHOOL
Opens September 3rd
A BOARDING SCHOOL for BOYS and GIRLS
A STATE INSTITUTION
Students Admitted from everywhere.
Graduates Enter AH State Colleges Without
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TUITION FREE
WRITE
J. M. COLLUM, Principal
Americus, Ga., for Catalogue
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JAMES G. COWAN
P. O. Box 288, Americus, Ga.
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PAGE THREE