Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1898 — MINERS IN A RIOT. [ARTICLE]

MINERS IN A RIOT.

Negroes and Strikers in Conflict at Pana, 111. Imported negro miners and strikers met in deadly conflict in the streets of Pana, 111., the other night. Two hundred shots were fired and a wild riot ensued, in which several persons were wounded. The affray occurred in the business section of the town, where many of the negro miners had congregated, most of them being armed. The union miners were in session in their hall, being addressed by a Chicago labor leader. A negro appeared at the stairway leading to the hall and engaged in a quarrel with the doorkeeper. Policeman Smith arrested the negro and w’as taking him to jail when the crowd of colored men on the street closed in and threatened to shoot if the prisoner was not released. Smith continued on his way to the jail, and miners and others went to his assistance and took the negro to Operator Penwell’s store. There David McGavie, leader of the union miners, forced the negroes to retreat, and a few scattering shots were fired. Retreating to the stockades around the mines, the negroes armed themselves with rifles and returned to the scene, lining up against the striking miners. With the first volley fired all business houses were closed and the non-eombatants fled to their homes. The firing continued for five minutes, the blacks firing first, but at the end they were compelled to retreat. Twenty minutes later a second encounter occurred near the Penwell stockade. None of the strikers was injured, but William Baldwin, chief deputy sheriff, and H. E. Bishop, a special deputy, received bad bullet wounds. Several of the negroes were hit, and one is reported to have died.