Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1909 — NEGRO KILLS WHITE BOY [ARTICLE]

NEGRO KILLS WHITE BOY

Throws Rock to Aid Friends In Fight. Hits Non-Combatant. Pensacola, Fla., Feb. 23.—-Ernest Mertins, fifteen years old, was struck on the temple with a rock and instantly killed by Eastman Spears, colored. White and negro boys were fighting and Spears, who was not engaged in the trouble, picked up a rock and hurled it at the white boys, striking Mer tins, who was a non-combatant. Spears was arrested and undet guard of a corps of marines rushed tc the navy yard to prevent a lynching.