Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1906 — MOB KILLS NEGROES. [ARTICLE]

MOB KILLS NEGROES.

SCORE OF BLACKS ARE SLAIN IN ATLANTA. Bemten and Shot to Death la tha I Street* by Infuriated White Men —-Police Prove Powerleaa and Troops Are Called Out, Deadly race riots following at' by negroes op four white women v>. . in the city limits of Atlanta. iturday afternoon and evening broke out early Sunday night. Twenty uegroij* are known to be dead and two white men are reported killed. A score cf wounded negroes, five of whom will die, are in the hospital. The police and fire departments were powerless to cope with the situation and at midnight Governor Terrell issued an order calling out eight companies of the Fifth Infantry and ouo battery of light artillery. -— — From 15,000 to 20,000 white men and boys armed with rifles, revolvers aud clubs surged through the streets frequented by negroes searching for blacks. The county jail, in which several negroes held on charges of attacking white women are confined, was threatened and terror reigned throughout Atlanta generally. The attacks on women Saturday followed two others of a similar nature within the week aud at least half a dozen others within the last two months and brought a climax Sunday night The mob began its work early in the evening, pulling negroes from street cars and beating them with clubs, bricks and stones. Negro' men and women riding to their homes after the work of ,the day were torn from the cars or attacked on the streets. In a few cases negroes retaliated during the early part of the nighty but after 10 o’clock they were scarce in public places. The fire department was called out to disperse the mob on beeatur street, a street most frequented by negroes, and for a time seemed to hold the crowd at bay. The disturbance soon took the form of an active and bitter race war. The incidents of the day, which were given in numerous extras by the local papers early Sunday evening, added immensely to the usual Saturday night crowds on the streets. A negro walking along Whitehall street, the principal shopping section, was attacked about 7 o'clock, beaten and escaped with few clothes. The news of this attack spread rapidly and within a few moments the appearance of a negro was the signal for a riot. The negroes scattered from the streets, going to their homes by back alleys or flocked to Decatur street, the home of tfre tougher negro element.

Soon street cars were attacked naff negroes going to their homes wore taken from the ears and beaten, stamped upon~and in many cases fatally hurt. The barber shops where negroes, were employed next' became objects of attack. One of the hardest fights of the night took place about the postoffice. A negro barber shop across the street was the object of attack, and in less time than it takes to tell it the shop was wrecked aud the negroes were beaten, one to death, the other proprietors escaping by aid of the police.

On Peters street, near the terminal railroad station, a hard fight took place. This was started by n negro shooting at the crowd from a second-story window. A brick bit him and he fell back and died iu a few moments. One negro who was found with a pistol In his hand was beaten to death on the Forsythe street viaduct, in the center of the city. Certain it is that Atlanta experienced the wildest night in her history. Not oue of the negroes killed, a press dispatch says, had anything to do with the attacks on white women which set the lynching spirit aflame. Nearly a score of attacks on white women by negroes in two months, three of them Saturday night, had put the whites iu such a state of mind that the question of a negro’s innocence was not considered. lie was a negro, and the cry was “kill him.” Sunday night Atlanta was in the hands of soldiers, seventeen companies of militia from all over the State being in control of the streets. Seven negroes and a white man were killed iu Memphis, Tenn., within twen-ty-four hours as the result of fights.