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Show mi ST. LOUIS , - ITS RESULT , OF FOUL PLOT Mayor, Lieutenant and Two Sergeants of Police and Five Patrolmen Indicted by Grand Jury. TOTAL NUMBER OF KNOWN DEATHS 47 Belief General That at Least 100 Were Slain, as Many Bodies Were Burned in S Flaming Houses. EAST ST. I.OL'IS, 111., Sept. 3P. The race riots here on July 2. 1917, for which 14 1 persons were indicted on charges ranging i'rom rioting to assault and murder, mur-der, had their origin In antagonisms between be-tween white and negro labor. for several months southern negroes Lad been com ins to East St. Louis to obtain employment In the mills, and 1 0" , though there was work enough here for all, white and black, Die feeling spread among white laborers that in the event of a strike the negroes would be used to break it. Other causes contributory to the racial antagonism were' the activities of negro criminals and the insanitary condition : in whicli many of the negroes lived. t The great riot of July 2, in which many negroes were massacred the exact number num-ber being unknown was due directly to an attack by a negro mob on an automobile auto-mobile loaded with detectives on the night of July 1. Two detectives were killed. The following day negro men and women were dragged off street cars and beaten, and when night fell the city officials of-ficials and the national guardsmen who had been rushed here to preserve order seemed powerless. Rioters flocked to the negro quarters and, setting fire to the frame houses in ; which the blacks lived, shot them as they ran from their nurning homes. Hundreds of negroes sought shelter at police headquarters, and thousands crossed to St. Louis, lo. In the succeeding suc-ceeding days the Red Cross at St. Louis, Mo., cared for 10,0o0 negro refugees. The number of negroes killed in the i toting or who died of injuries and whose bodies were recovered, was thirty-eight. !VJe. number of whites killed was nine, 'ij-niaking the total number of known 5r deaths forty-seven. It generally was as-iW"l,ief' as-iW"l,ief' that many bodies were burned In rne flaming houses; and the grand jury that investigated the riots reported that loO were sHain. f. Massacre on July 2. U The massacre occurred on July 2. On July 15 the grand .iury began its inquiry, in-quiry, under the direction of Attorney Ceneral Brundage nf Illinois, and on the night of August 14 made a sensational report, returning indictments against 105 persons, t racing the origin of the raco trouble, sharply crit icising city offlciuls for alleged failure to heed the signs of 1 approaching trouble, and making the defi-n defi-n it e statement that the riot3 were dellb- erately plotted by men who skilfully maneuvered to bring the whiles and blacks into conflict. The grand jury told of the labor an- t agon ism between whites and blacks, of the disadvantage to white laborers in negotiating ne-gotiating with operators of the mills by reason of the presence in the city of negroes who could lake their jobs; of the demand on the mayor and city council on the night of May 28 that the influx of negro labor be stopped, and of the j rioting that followed that demand and continued the next night. In this rioting riot-ing negroes were dragged from street cars and beaten. Two white men were shot. "Following this," said the grand jury report, "and through June, agitators worked among the people and endeavored to stir up strife and ill feeling. The story was circulated among the colored people that whites were arming and were going to massacre the colored people, and word was sent out to arm in defense. Agitators Agita-tors likwise circulated the story among the whites of East St. Louis that the negroes were planning to massacre the white race of East St. Louis. The date , set on both sides for this massacre was understood to be July 4." Negroes Attacked. The grand .iury then told of the attack at-tack on netrroes by ruffians on the afternoon, after-noon, of July 1; of the gathering of hundreds hun-dreds of negroes at the home of the "recognized "rec-ognized leader of the colored people in East St. Louis," of trips by two automobiles automo-biles of whites through the negro quarter quar-ter late at night, the whites firing into the homes of the negroes; of the ringing of a church bell which summoned the negroes to assembly, and of their armed marching up the street. Word of this movement was telephoned to police headquarters, an automobile loaded with officers went into the negro district to quiet the negroes, a volley was fired at the automobile and two detectives were killed. Mayor Mollman at once called on Governor Gov-ernor Lowden for troops, and the first detachment arrived about 9:30 on the morning of July 2. The troops wore assigned as-signed to duty In the negro district, but while the guardsmen were there, rioting broke out up town. This rioting began about 11 a. m. and continued with increasing in-creasing violence through the afternoon, culminating In the great massacre about dark. "We are satisfied." said the grand jury, report, "that a wicked and malicious plot was formed to bring on the riot. The scheme of the mob leaders appeared to be that if the police force of East St. Louis could, by having their officers shot, be made to sympathize with the actions of the mob. the mob could carry out its purposes without interference." Police Officers Indicted. Among those indicted in connection with the riots were a lieutenant of police, po-lice, two sergeants and five patrolmen In another batch of indictments returned re-turned September S, Mayor Mollman of lOast Pt. Louis was charged with malfeasance mal-feasance because of his alleged, failure to take proper steps to preserve order His removal from office was recommended Immediately after the riots, a demand for reform swept the city, a citizen's committee com-mittee was formed, the reorganization of the police department demanded and the business men raised a fund of $100 oniV to increase the police force. As a result the fire and police board was reorganized. reorgan-ized. Chief of Police Pavne, who was the head of the department at the time of the riots, was removed; and the reorganized re-organized police force was put under military discipline. unuer |