attack every Negro in sight. News spread rapidly and, as excitement increased, unimaginable depredations and horrible tortures were committed and viewed with 'placid unconcern' by hundreds. Negro men were stabbed and hanged from telephone poles. Their homes were burned." 12 In the Negro area there were 312 houses totally or partially destroyed.13 "Women and children were not spared. An instance is given of a Negro child two years old which was shot and thrown into the doorway of a burning building." 14

About thirty-nine Negroes and eight white people were killed 15 and hundreds of both races more or less seriously injured, and the property loss was about $393,600.16

Five companies of militia were sent to the scene of the riot, some of them arriving on the morning of July 2, but both the militia and local police seemed to sympathize with the white mob and made no serious effort to restrain them.17

About 200 people were arrested for participation in the riot and of these, eleven Negroes and ten white men were convicted and sent to state prisons, fourteen white men were given jail sentences, and twentyseven white men pleaded guilty to rioting and were fined.1

18

THE ABYSSINIAN RIOT OF CHICAGO, JUNE, 1920

In Chicago, June 10, 1920, there occurred what was called the Abyssinian Riot. "Dr. R. D. Jonas, a white man, and Grover C. Ridding, a Negro claiming to be a native of Abyssinia, had drawn a number of Negroes into an organization having for its purpose the renunciation of the title Negro and the return of black people to their 'motherland of Ethiopia.' Promises of attractive jobs in Abyssinia were held out to those who would join the organization. Sunday afternoon the members of this order paraded the streets, and, stopping in front of a café on East Fifty-fifth street, and by way of symbolizing their renunciation of the United States, began to burn the national flag. They brandished revolvers and made threats at two policemen who tried to interfere. A third policeman who came to the rescue was shot and wounded. A sailor from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, who also pro"Ibid., p. 77. "Ibid., p. 73. 14 Ibid., p. 77.

"Ibid., p. 72.

"Ibid., p. 73.

"Ibid., p. 77.

1 Ibid., p. 72.

tested against the burning of the flag, was also shot and staggered into a cigar store. Some of the parade leaders got rifles from a nearby automobile and fired into the cigar store, killing one of the clerks. Several other persons were injured. The ring leaders of the shooting were arrested.19

THE BARRETT RIOT, CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER, 1920

On September 20, 1920, a riot grew out of the murder of a white man, Thomas J. Barrett, by a Negro at the corner of Halsted and Forty-seventh Streets. Barrett met three Negroes at a news stand. An altercation led to a fracas in which Barrett was fatally stabbed, his head being almost severed from his body. A crowd of whites pursued the Negroes, who took refuge in a Catholic church, just off Lowe Avenue. Soon the crowd in front of the church had grown to 3,000 or 4,000. The three Negroes were taken in hand by the police and led through a back door to a patrol wagon in which they were whisked to the Hyde Park station.20

THE GREAT CHICAGO RIOT OF 1919

"It was four o'clock Sunday afternoon, July 27, when Eugene Williams, seventeen-year-old Negro boy, was swimming offshore at the foot of Twenty-ninth Street. This beach was not one of those publicly maintained and supervised for bathing, but it was much used. Although it flanks an area thickly inhabited by Negroes, it was used by both races, access being had by crossing the railway tracks which skirt the lake shore. The part near Twenty-seventh Street had by tacit understanding come to be considered as reserved for Negroes, while the whites used the part near Twenty-ninth Street. Walking is not easy along the shore, and each race had kept pretty much to its own part, observing, moreover, an imaginary boundary extending into the water.

"Williams, who had entered the water at the part used by Negroes, swam and drifted south into the part used by the whites. Immediately before his appearance there, white men, women, and children had been bathing in the vicinity and were on the beach in considerable numbers. Four Negroes walked through the group and into the water. White men summarily ordered them off. The Negroes left, and the white people resumed their sport. But it was not long before the Negroes were back, coming from the north with others of their own 'Report, Chicago Commission on Race Relations, p. 59. 20 Ibid., p. 65.

19

race. Then began a series of attacks and retreats, counterattacks, and stone-throwing. Women and children who could not escape hid behind debris and rocks. The stone-throwing continued, first one side gaining the advantage, then the other.

"Williams, who had remained in the water during the fracas, found a railroad tie and clung to it, stones meanwhile frequently striking the water near him. A white boy of about the same age swam toward him. As the white boy neared, Williams let go of the tie, took a few strokes, and went down. The coroner's jury rendered a verdict that he had drowned because fear of stone-throwing kept him from shore. His body showed no stone bruises, but rumor had it that he had actually been hit by one of the stones and drowned as a result.

"On shore guilt was immediately placed upon a certain white man by several Negro witnesses who demanded that he be arrested by a white policeman who was on the spot. No arrest was made. "The tragedy was sensed by the battling crowd and, awed by it, they gathered on the beach. For an hour both whites and Negroes dived for the boy without results. Awe gave way to excited whispers. 'They' said he was stoned to death. The report circulated through the crowd that the police officer had refused to arrest the murderer. The Negroes in the crowd began to mass dangerously. At this crucial point the accused policeman arrested a Negro on a white man's complaint. Negroes mobbed the white officer and the riot was under way.

"One version of the quarrel which resulted in the drowning of Williams was given by the state's attorney, who declared that it arose among white and Negro gamblers over a craps game on the shore, 'virtually under the protection of the police officer on the beat.' Eye witnesses to the stone-throwing clash, appearing before the coroner's jury, saw no gambling, but said it might have been going on, but if so, was not visible from the water's edge. The crowd undoubtedly included, as the grand jury declared, 'hoodlums, gamblers, and thugs,' but it also included law-abiding citizens, white and Negro.

"This charge, that the first riot clash started among gamblers who were under the protection of the police officer, and also the charge that the policeman refused to arrest the stone-thrower were vigorously denied by the police. The policeman's star was taken from him, but, after a hearing before the Civil Service Commission, it was returned, thus officially vindicating him.

"The two facts, the drowning and the refusal to arrest, or widely

circulated reports of such refusal, must be considered together as marking the inception of the riot. Testimony of a captain of police shows that first reports from the lake after the drowning indicated that the situation was calming down. White men had shown a not altogether hostile feeling for the Negroes by assisting in diving for the body of the boy. Furthermore a clash started on this isolated spot could not be augmented by outsiders rushing in. There was every possibility that the clash, without the further stimulus of reports of the policeman's conduct, would have quieted down.

"Chronological Story of the Riot.-After the drowning of Williams, it was two hours before any further fatalities occurred. Reports of the drowning and of the alleged conduct of the policeman spread out into the neighborhood. The Negro crowd from the beach gathered at the foot of Twenty-ninth Street. As it became more and more excited, a group of officers was called by the policeman who had been at the beach. James Crawford, a Negro, fired into the group of officers and was himself shot and killed by a Negro policeman who had been sent to help restore order.

"During the remainder of the afternoon of July 27, many distorted rumors circulated swiftly throughout the South Side. The Negro crowd from Twenty-ninth Street got into action, and white men who came in contact with it were beaten. In all, four white men were beaten, five were stabbed, and one was shot. As the rumors spread, new crowds gathered, mobs sprang into activity spontaneously, and gangs began to take part in the lawlessness.

"Farther to the west, as darkness came on, white gangsters became active. Negroes in white districts suffered severely at their hands. From 9:00 p. m. until 3:00 a. m. twenty-seven Negroes were beaten, seven were stabbed, and four were shot.

"Few clashes occurred on Monday morning. People of both races went to work and even continued to work side by side, as customary, without signs of violence. But as the afternoon wore on, white men and boys living between the Stock Yards and the 'Black Belt' sought malicious amusement in directing mob violence against Negro workers returning home.

"Street-car routes, especially transfer points, were thronged with white people of all ages. Trolleys were pulled from wires and the cars brought under the control of mob leaders. Negro passengers were dragged to the street, beaten, and kicked. The police were apparently powerless to cope with these numerous assaults. Four Negro men and

one white assailant were killed, and thirty Negro men were severely beaten in the street-car clashes.

"The 'Black Belt' contributed its share of violence to the record of Monday afternoon and night. Rumors of white depredations and killings were current among the Negroes and led to acts of retaliation. An aged Italian peddler, one Lazzeroni, was set upon by young Negro boys and stabbed to death. Eugene Temple, white laundryman, was stabbed to death and robbed by three Negroes.

"A Negro mob made a demonstration outside Provident Hospital, an institution conducted by Negroes, because two injured whites who had been shooting right and left from a hurrying automobile on State Street were taken there. Other mobs stabbed six white men, shot five others, severely beat nine more, and killed two in addition to those named above.

"Rumor had it that a white occupant of the Angelus apartment house had shot a Negro boy from a fourth-story window. Negroes besieged the building. The white tenants sought police protection, and about 100 policemen, including some mounted men, responded. The mob of about 1,500 Negroes demanded the 'culprit,' but the police failed to find him after a search of the building. A flying brick hit a policeman. There was a quick massing of the police, and a volley was fired into the Negro mob. Four Negroes were killed and many were injured. It is believed that had the Negroes not lost faith in the white police force it is hardly likely that the Angelus riot would have occurred.

"At this point, Monday night, both whites and Negroes showed signs of panic. Each race grouped by itself. Small mobs began systematically in various neighborhoods to terrorize and kill. Gangs in the white districts grew bolder, finally taking the offensive in raids through territory 'invaded' by Negro home seekers. Boys between sixteen and twenty-two banded together to enjoy the excitement of the chase.

"Automobile raids were added to the rioting Monday night. Cars from which rifle and revolver shots were fired were driven at great speed through sections inhabited by Negroes. Negroes defended themselves by 'sniping' and volley-firing from ambush and barricade. So great was the fear of these raiding parties that the Negroes distrusted all motor vehicles and frequently opened fire on them without waiting to learn the intent of the occupants. This type of warfare was kept up spasmodically all Tuesday and was resumed with vigor Tuesday night.