Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1900 — WORK OF AWRY MOB. [ARTICLE]

WORK OF ANGRY MOB.

RACE WAR AT NEW ORLEANS CAUSES MANY DEATHS. Negro Murderer Smoked Out of His Refuge and Slain After Making a Fiendish Resistance—Five White Men Killed—Negro School Burned. Robert Charles, the negro desperado, who had killed Captain Day and Patrolman Lamb and badly wounded Officer Mora, was smoked out of his hiding place in the heart of the residence section of New Orleans Friday afternoon and shot to pieces. In a desperate battle lasting several hours he shot nine persons, killing five of them and seriously wounding the others. Charles was discovered iu a little frame building at Clio and Saratoga streets. His body was cut to a thousand pieces, but he sold his life at a terrible cost. Before his body was riddled with bullets before 20,000 persons, Charles shot and killed Sergeant Gabriel Porteus, Alfred J. Bloomfield, a boy, and Andy Van Kuren. a deputy. keeper of the workhouse. Corporal John R. I,ally was shot in the abdomen and died. Frank H. Evans, an ex-policeman, received a fatal wound in the right side of the abdomen. A. S. Leclerc, proprietor of Mannessieur’s confectionery at St. Peter and Royal streets, was shot fatally in the right hand and the right groin. George Lyons, son of I. L. Lyons, was shot mortally. It was found necessary to burn the building in which the murderer had sought refuge and from which he poured a deadly fire at policemen and citizens who were seeking to take his life. Never before was such desperate courage witnessed in the city. Charles knew that he would be killed the minute he tried to get away, so he stayed in a room on the second floor of a house and fired on anyone who came within range. But the fire finally drove him out and the moment he was exposed a dozen rifles and pistols cracked at him and soon his body was filled with lead. Great excitement prevailed. Hundreds of persons armed with rifles and revolvers were on the scene. Policemen ran about as if insane. Many held revolvers in their hands, which they never used. To add to the excitement the fire department was summoned to the scene and many firemen exhibited great courage. After midnight a mob which had evaded the militia and the citizens’ police attacked the Thomy Lafon schoolhouse, 6th and Rampart streets, upon the supposition that negroes had stored arms and ammunition in the building. Unopposed they had no difficulty in gaining possession and, firing the structure, destroyed it completely. The school building was erected a few years ago by the city and being devoted exclusively to the education of negro children it was named for the well-known colored philanthropist. No negroes were found in the school, but a number who emerged from houses in the vicinity were pursued for quite a distance. A strong force was dispatched to the scene as soon as the alarm was given, but too late to save the school. The mob was quickly dispersed. The Mayor, Paul Capdevielle, has issued a proclamation imploring all good citisens to aid in suppressing the lawlessness.