B. THE STAFF OF THE COMMISSION
In selecting the staff to assist in carrying through the investigation and the preparation of the report careful effort was made to find persons well qualified by educational background and practical experience in social work. The staff averaged fifteen in number during the eighteen months of its existence. In all, thirty-seven people, twenty-two white and fifteen Negro, were engaged, some of whom served throughout the entire period and others for varying briefer periods. The personnel was as follows:
Executive Secretary
Graham Romeyn Taylor. A.B., Harvard, 1903; resident, Chicago Commons Social Settlement 1904-12; member, editorial staff, the Survey magazine 1905-16; special agent, United States Census Bureau, 1910; author, Satellite Cities, A Study of Industrial Suburbs, 1915, and many magazine articles; special assistant to American ambassador to Russia, 1916-19.
Associate Executive Secretary
Charles S. Johnson. A.B., Virginia Union University, 1916; Ph.B., University of Chicago, 1917; graduate student in social science at the University of Chicago; special investigator of migration of Negroes from the South for the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace; director of the Department of Research and Records of the Chicago Urban League.
INVESTIGATION
Investigators with Supervisory Duties
Madge Headley. New York School of Philanthropy 1910; assistant secretary, Tenement House Committee, Charity Organization Society, New York City, 1910-15; made studies of housing conditions in Providence, Rhode Island, New York City, Sullivan and Ulster Counties, New York; of rural juvenile delinquency in Ulster County, New York, for Federal Children's Bureau; and of industrial and garden cities in England; served with American Red Cross in France housing and feeding refugees, 1917-19.
Albert E. Webster. Ph.B., Alfred University, 1909; graduate student, University of Chicago, 1909-12; Anti-saloon League investigator, New York state, 1906-7; United Charities, Chicago, 1911-16; unemployment study, Calumet district, 1914; supervised Red Cross relief work in Indiana flood disaster, 1913; assisted in supervising relief work in Eastland disaster, Chicago; directed various surveys in Chicago 1918-20; assistant superintendent and field secretary, Juvenile Protective Association, Chicago.
Investigators
H. H. Allen. Teacher of sociology three years, Northern Texas Normal School; newspaper experience; graduate student University of Chicago, studying for Ph.D.
Ruth Arnett. University of Illinois; volunteer girls' workers, War Camp Community Service; investigator for Red Cross, East St. Louis riot relief.
Elsie Ball. Attended Leander Clark College two years; Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy one year; resident director, District Neighborhood House, 1915-17; American Red Cross, 1917-20.
Elizabeth Benham. Teaching experience; worked on Federal Census, 1920; resident, University of Chicago Settlement; secretary, Inter-racial Committee, Chicago Woman's City Club.
Ella G. Berry. Enumerator in Chicago for Federal Census, 1920; Chicago School Census, 1918.
Angeline Brockmeier. A.B., University of Illinois, 1917; Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, 1918; Federal Children's Bureau, 1918-20; study of infant mortality in Gary, Indiana; study of courts and children's cases; statistical experience.
Joseph H. Collins. Business course, Central Y.M.C.A., Philadelphia, 1904-5; inspector, Railway Audit and Inspection Company, Philadelphia, 1907-16; assistant industrial secretary, New York Urban League; welfare worker, Bush Terminal Company, New York City, and American International Shipbuilding Corporation, 1918-19.
Esther Fulks. Carnegie Technical Institute, Pittsburgh; special courses in social science, University of Chicago, New York University, and Hampton Institute; National Training School, Y.W.C.A., New York; supervisor of physical training, public schools, Charleston, West Virginia; industrial secretary, Y.W.C.A., East St. Louis, Illinois; made surveys of industrial opportunities, educational and recreational facilities, and social agencies for Negroes in East St. Louis.
Henry W. Hammond. A.B., New York University, 1909; secretary, Goff Street branch, Y.M.C.A., New Haven, Connecticut, 1911-13; boys' work secretary, Wabash Avenue branch, Y.M.C.A., Chicago, 1914-16; probation officer, juvenile court, Chicago, 1916-20.
Dan H. Kulp. Graduate student, University of Chicago; investigated recreation facilities, Providence, Rhode Island, and prepared statistics; investigated industrial and racial conditions in China; general director, Yangtsepoo Social Center, Shanghai.
Kate F. Markovitz. Assistant matron, Montana State Orphan Asylum, 1911-12; Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, 1913; officer, Chicago Juvenile Protective Association, 1913-16; director, jail division, Cook County Bureau of Social Service, 1916-18; overseas secretary, Y.W.C.A., 1918-19; volunteer, Hull-House, 1912-20.
Lucius L. McGee. Teacher, four years, Virginia Union University; experience investigating Negro conditions, Richmond, Virginia; graduate student, University of Chicago, studying for Ph.D.
Edith W. Riddle. A.B., Vassar, 1898; assistant superintendent, Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society, 1905-6; resident, Hull-House; boys' school and farm work, Michigan, 1907-10; club organization, Goodrich Social Settlement, Cleveland, 1913-17; Federal Children's Bureau, 1918; Association for Crippled and Disabled Children, Cleveland, 1919.
Philip Sherman. A.B., Carleton College, 1919; one year Harvard Law School; campaign auditor, Y.M.C.A. Building Fund, Sioux Falls, 1919.
Alonzo C. Thayer. A.B., Fisk University, 1904; experience as reporter, manager, and editor of newspaper, also experience in real estate; assisted in industrial work of the Chicago Urban League.
Charles H. Thompson. A.B., Virginia Union University, 1917; M.A., University of Chicago, 1920; field work, neighborhood study, Richmond, Virginia, 1917; comparative educational study, Moseley School, Chicago, 1920.
PREPARATION OF REPORT
Assistants in Compilation of Data
Lucien V. Alexis. A.B., Harvard, 1917; assistant organizer, colored work, War Camp Community Service, Trenton, New Jersey, 1919-20; director of education, South Side Division, Community Service, Chicago, 1920.
Henry A. Rabe. University of Wisconsin, 1903-5; business experience, Chicago, 1905-19; student, University of Chicago, specializing in economics and sociology and investigating industrial conditions in Chicago.
Olive H. Rabe. Business experience, eight years; graduate, Northwestern University Law School, 1916; practiced law three years; student, University of Chicago, two years, specializing in economics and sociology.
Winifred Rauschenbush. A.B., Oberlin College, 1916; organization work, Ohio Suffrage Association, 1917; graduate student, sociology, University of Chicago, 1918; prepared material for book on foreign-language press by Professor Robert E. Park, University of Chicago, 1918-20; prepared maps and graphs for book by Professor W. I. Thomas, 1919.
Norman L. Ritchie. Newspaper work, twenty years, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Saratoga, and Plattsburg, New York; editorial writer, Chicago Daily News, nine years; director of education and information, Community Service, Chicago, 1920.
Florence Taylor. A.B., Vassar College, 1921; publicity, research, and field studies, National Child Labor Committee, New York City, 1913-18; personnel-management study, Collegiate Bureau of Occupations, Chicago, 1920.
Elizabeth Wagenet. A.B., University of California, 1914; investigator, California State Commission on Social Insurance; investigator, California Industrial Welfare Commission, having charge of cannery investigation; assistant, department of economics, Washington State University under Professor Carleton Parker; on staff of War Labor Policies Board, Washington, D.C.
Clerks
Geraldine Dismond. A.B., University of Chicago, 1915; teacher, Chicago public schools; special work for Chicago Urban League.
Marcelle V. Laval. A.B., University of Illinois, 1920; editor, State Water Survey Division, Department of Registration and Education, State of Illinois, 1918-19.
Josephine Taylor. A.B., Smith College, 1920; volunteer, social service department, Cook County Hospital, Chicago, summer of 1919.
C. EPITOME OF FACTS IN RIOT DEATHS
I. Deaths due to mob violence, and in which the coroners' jury recommended members of the unknown mob be apprehended and held to justice, and in which none of the members were so apprehended. The cases listed in this category do not include all those due to mob violence, but only those qualified as stated:
| 1. Eugene Williams | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of death | July 27 |
| Approximate time of death | Probably 4:00 p.m. |
| Place where death occurred | Lake Michigan at foot of Twenty-ninth Street |
| Manner in which death occurred | Drowning |
Quarrel arose on beach between Negroes and whites in regard to the use of the beach. Many stones were thrown on both sides. Williams, in the water, was prevented from landing because of stone-throwing and drowned as consequence.
| 2. John Mills | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 5:35 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Normal Avenue, 150 feet south of Forty-seventh Street |
| Manner of wound | Skull fracture; beating |
Mob of 300 or 400 white people, all ages, attacked east-bound Forty-seventh Street car, pulled the trolley from the wire, stopped the car. White passengers alighted, Negro passengers hid under seats. From twenty-five to fifty white men boarded car and beat the Negroes with bats, clubs, bricks. Driven out from the refuge of the car, they ran for their lives, chased by the mob. Mills ran from Forty-seventh Street into Normal Avenue. A brick hit him in the back, halted him, and before he could run again a young white man hit him on the head with a scantling. He was left unconscious. Four other Negroes from this car were beaten but not fatally.
| 3. Oscar Dozier | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 5:55 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-ninth Street and Wallace Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Stabbing; external violence |
Dozier worked for the Great Western Smelting and Refining Works. The foreman warned negroes not to try to go home till adequate protection could be furnished. In spite of the warning Dozier was seen to crawl over the fence around the works at 5:45 p.m. He was next seen breaking away from a mob of 500 to 1,000 white men at Thirty-ninth Street and Parnell Avenue. He ran west on Thirty-ninth toward Wallace, the crowd throwing stones. Halfway down the block he fell. When rescued by the police immediately afterward he was found to have a stab wound two inches long over his heart.
| 4. Henry Goodman | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 7:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-ninth Street and Union Avenue |
| Manner of wound | External violence |
Goodman, with other Negroes was returning from the Stock Yards on an east-bound Thirty-ninth Street car. A truck stalled across the track at Thirty-ninth Street and Union Avenue brought the car to a stop and allowed white men to force an entrance through the front door and beat the Negroes off the rear of the car. The chief weapon was the iron lever used for opening the front door of the car. The Negroes tried to run east to Halsted Street where there were police officers. The crowd pursued, knocked Goodman down, and beat him. Apparently Goodman recovered from the violence, but a week later it was necessary to remove him to the hospital, where a skull fracture, with a small pebble imbedded in the wound, was discovered. He died of tetanus on August 12. The wound was first treated by Dr. William W. Bradley on the evening the deceased was injured. The coroner's jury said, "Tetanus would probably not have developed had the wound been thoroughly examined and properly cleaned."
| 5. Louis Taylor | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 9:40 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Root Street and Wentworth Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Scalp wounds; skull fracture due to external violence |
Taylor, employed by the Chicago & Great Western Railway Co., had just come off his run and was returning home on a south-bound Wentworth Avenue car. Cars, both north and south bound, were attacked at Root Street and Wentworth Avenue by a mob of 100 white people armed with clubs and bricks. Taylor was found unconscious on the sidewalk, his watch and suitcase missing, when the police arrived. He died August 1.
| 6. B. F. Hardy | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 11:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Forty-sixth Street and Cottage Grove Avenue |
| Manner of wound | External violence |
Hardy was the only Negro passenger on a north-bound Cottage Grove Avenue car crowded with white people. At Forty-seventh Street some of these alighted. A mob of whites in the street saw the Negro and jerked the trolley from the wire. The car came to a stop at Forty-sixth Place. White passengers in a panic demanded to be let off. When the front door was opened Hardy tried to hide in their midst and leave the car. He was seen by the waiting mob, knocked down, and pounded with fists until unconscious. He died the next day.
| 7. John Simpson | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 7:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-first Street between Wabash Avenue and "L" alley |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
Several accounts have been given of the killing of Simpson. The coroner's jury says: "... Thirty-first Street near the said elevated station, being well filled with a rioting and disorderly mob, mainly colored people, a white man being pursued east on Thirty-first Street, at that time, and that deceased was a police officer of the City of Chicago, and was engaged as a police officer in preserving the peace in and about the point indicated, and that a number of shots were fired from revolvers held in hands of men unknown to this jury." Another account says Simpson was shot by the Negro keeper of a poolroom on account of a previous quarrel. Simpson did not regain consciousness after being shot.
| 8. Henry Baker | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 544 East Thirty-seventh Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound in skull |
The bullet which caused Baker's death was one of a number fired on the streets at the time. Baker was not on the street but in a second-story window. It is not known whether this shot was one fired by white men from a passing automobile or by one of a crowd of Negroes at Thirty-seventh Street and Vincennes Avenue. The majority of witnesses gave the time of the shooting of Baker as 11:00 p.m., but the coroner in his report names 10:00 p.m. as the hour.
| 9. David Marcus | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 511 East Thirty-seventh Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet |
Only one eyewitness, a white companion of Marcus, testified. He said a Negro walked up to Marcus and shot him. The witness stopped to pick up his friend, was advised by Negroes to get out of danger, but when he persisted in lifting the wounded man, he himself received a bullet wound in the arm. A bullet also pierced the window of a laundry at this time. The coroner gives the time of shooting as 8:45, though most of the testimony seems to indicate that it occurred about fifteen or twenty minutes after the first shooting from automobiles which occurred at approximately 9:15 to 9:30. The police report gives 10:45 as the hour.
| 10. Eugene Temple | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 5:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 3642 South State Street |
| Manner of wound | Stab wound |
Temple, owner of a laundry at the above address, left his place of business to enter his automobile which stood at the curb. His wife and another young woman accompanied him but were the width of the sidewalk from him when he was attacked by three Negroes, robbed, and stabbed. The murderers escaped in the crowd of Negroes which immediately gathered. It was testified that Temple employed both Negroes and whites and had never had any difficulties of a racial nature with his workers.
| 11. William J. Otterson | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 7:10 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Skull fracture due to external violence |
A mob of about 500 Negroes at Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash Avenue was stopping cars, beating white people, and throwing bricks. An automobile bearing Otterson as a passenger turned from Thirty-fifth Street to go south on Wabash Avenue. One of the stones and bricks hurled at the motor car hit Otterson on the head, and he immediately became unconscious. He was seventy-four years old and a plasterer by trade.
| 12. Stefan Horvath | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving wound | 9:00 or 9:35 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Root and South State streets |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
At the time Horvath was shot, there was a crowd of fifty to seventy-five Negroes on the sidewalk, but only about three on the corner where the shooting occurred. The only eyewitness who testified was a policeman who saw the shooting from a distance of 400 feet. The three Negroes ran after firing the shot, and could not be found later.
| 13. Edward W. Jackson | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 9:00 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Fortieth and Halsted streets |
| Manner of wound | Shock and hemorrhage due to beating |
Jackson had started to walk to work. At Fortieth and Halsted streets he was attacked by four or five white men and beaten. He ran to Thirty-ninth Street, where he was found by the police. No further information could be obtained in this case.
| 14. Samuel Bass | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | Between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Twenty-second and Halsted Sts. or Union Ave. |
| Manner of wound | External violence |
Samuel Bass, on account of the street-car strike, was walking the five and one-half miles from his work to his home when a gang of white men knocked him down three times, and cut gashes in his nose and cheeks with their shoes. Bass hid behind freight cars till a Jewish peddler took him in his cart to State Street. A doctor was visited, but when he learned that Bass had no money, he turned him away without treatment. He was picked up by a passing patrol and taken to the hospital, where his treatment was cursory. Apparently he recovered, but in two weeks gave evidence of a hemorrhage on the brain from which he died September 5.
| 15. Joseph Lovings | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | About 8:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 839 Lytle Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound, stab wounds, skull fracture |
Lovings, returning home from work on a bicycle, rode through an Italian neighborhood whose residents were much excited because it had been said earlier in the evening that a Negro employee of a mattress factory near-by had shot a little Italian girl. A mob filled the streets when Lovings was sighted. He tried to escape by running down an alley between Taylor and Gilpin streets, and then jumped back fences and hid in a basement. The mob dragged him out, riddled his body with bullets, stabbed him, and beat him. It was afterward rumored that his body had been burned after being saturated with gasoline. This was proved not to be true.
II. Deaths due to circumstances creating no criminal responsibility:
| 1. Nicholas Kleinmark | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | About 6:58 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-eighth Place and Ashland Boulevard |
| Manner of wound | Stab wound |
Scott, Brown, and Simpson, Negroes, were returning by street car from work in the Stock Yards when the car was boarded by a mob of white men who attacked the Negroes with clubs and bricks. Scott defended himself with a pocketknife, while Kleinmark tried to beat him with a club. One of the blows with the knife went home, and Kleinmark staggered from the car mortally wounded. Scott was jailed and charged with murder. The coroner's jury commented as follows: "It is the sense of this jury that the conduct of the police at the time of the riot at this point, during the subsequent investigation, and at the preliminary hearing at which Joseph Scott was bound over to the grand jury without counsel, was a travesty on justice and fair play."
| 2. Clarence Metz | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 11:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Forty-third Street between Forrestville and Vincennes avenues |
| Manner of wound | Stab wound |
Metz was one of an assaulting party of whites which roamed the streets from Forty-third to Forty-seventh streets and from Grand Boulevard to Cottage Grove Avenue on the night of the twenty-eighth. Three Negroes, one of them Lieutenant Washington, U.S.A., were returning from a theater with three Negro women by way of Forty-third Street. At the place mentioned they were attacked by a mob of whites and beaten with fists and clubs. One of the Negroes was shot in the leg. Lieutenant Washington, threatened with an ax handle, defended himself with his pocketknife. Metz was stabbed as a result. The coroner's jury said: "We find that the group of colored people, en route to their home, were acting in an orderly and inoffensive manner, and were justified in their acts and conduct during said affray."
| 3. Berger Odman | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 8:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Sixtieth and Ada streets |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
This shooting occurred just inside the Negro neighborhood near Ogden Park. One of the numerous mobs threatening this neighborhood began to move into it from Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth streets and Racine Avenue. The vanguard, composed of young boys, went a few feet inside the Negro area and fired directly at a Negro named Samuel Johnson. He returned the fire with a rifle. Other Negroes also fired in the direction of the boys. One of the latter, Odman, was fatally wounded. The coroner's jury said: "We believe and find that the action of Samuel R. Johnson was fully justified and recommend his discharge from police custody."
| 4. James Crawford | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 27 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 6:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Twenty-ninth Street and Cottage Grove Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
A mob of about 1,000 Negroes congregated at Twenty-ninth Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, whence they had chased Officer Callahan, supposed to have refused to arrest the alleged slayer of Eugene Williams. Other policemen attempting to disperse the mob were assaulted. James Crawford, Negro, fired a revolver directly into the group of policemen. They retaliated and Crawford ran. A Negro policeman followed Crawford, attempting to stop him by firing. Crawford was wounded and died on July 29. The coroner's jury asserted: "We further find that the shooting was justifiable on the part of the police officer."
| 5. Thomas Joshua | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 7:00 or 7:30 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Fifty-first Street and Wabash Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
About 7:30 a.m., July 29, Lieutenant Day of the Police Department, his son and daughter, and Policeman Mitchell rode down Fifty-first Street in an automobile. As the automobile reached Wabash Avenue a colored boy pointed a gun toward it. Day sprang out, drawing his pistol. It is said that the boy fired and Day returned a shot. The boy ran, and Day fired two more shots. A crowd of Negroes running from State Street came upon the scene. The police escaped in a Yellow taxicab. Joshua was shot by Lieutenant Day. While the testimony was a mass of contradictions, the coroner's jury said: "We are of the opinion that Thomas Joshua came to his death from revolver shots fired by the police officer in the discharge of his duty."
| 6. Ira Henry | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 30 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 1:30 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 4957 South State Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
Policemen Keal and Sullivan were accompanying three Jewish families from their residence on South State Street to the Fourth Precinct police station. As the party passed 4957, Officer Sullivan saw a Negro in an alley. He ran back to search him and received a bullet wound. He returned fire. Keal ran to his assistance and fired other shots. Henry was killed instantly. A Negro woman who was with Henry testified that the first shot was fired by Sullivan, but this was not substantiated. The coroner's jury said: "We are of the opinion that the officers were fully justified, owing to the circumstances, in shooting the deceased."
III. Deaths due to the Angelus riot as to which no recommendations were made by the coroner's jury:
| 1. Joseph Sanford | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 8:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
| 2. Hymes Taylor | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 8:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
| 3. John Walter Humphrey | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 8:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-fifth Street between Wabash Avenue and the "L" |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
| 4. Edward Lee | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 8:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Thirty-fifth and State streets |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
The Angelus riot centered at the intersection of Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash Avenue, the location of the Angelus apartment house, occupied at the time by whites; Thirty-fifth Street was crowded all the way to State Street. It was at Thirty-fifth and State streets that a secondary riot occurred, an aftermath of the Angelus riot, yet almost simultaneous with it. The crowd of Negroes on these corners had been growing during the afternoon, and stone-throwing had been prevalent. The rumor which raised the mob to riot pitch was that a Negro boy had been shot by a white tenant of the Angelus building. A search by the police failed to produce a culprit. By eight o'clock a mob of about 1,000 to 1,500 Negroes massed on the streets. To cope with the mob were between sixty to 100 policemen on foot and about twelve mounted officers.
About eight o'clock a Negro either threw some missiles or fired a shot at a policeman. Immediately there followed a massing of the police at the north of the intersection of the two streets. Evidence of an order to fire was not produced, but simultaneously with the massing came a volley. During this fire Sanford and Taylor were killed while trying to escape into the entrance of the Angelus building. Shots followed at Thirty-fifth Street and the "L," where a large number of the Negroes ran for protection. Several were wounded, and Humphrey was killed. Almost at the same time shots were fired at Thirty-fifth and State streets, where Lee received his death wound.
The Lee case is the only one in which suspicion of deliberate shooting rested upon anyone. Atrus Lee, brother of the deceased, accused Mounted Policeman Brooks of firing directly at his brother. Brooks said that shots were fired at him from north of the intersection, and that he fired in the air and ran east. Drs. Anderson and Teffner, white, who saw the shooting from Dr. Anderson's office windows, bore him out. The corner's jury concluded: "We find that deceased was wounded by one of the shots fired at Officer Brooks."
IV. Deaths in circumstances which seemed to involve specific persons named by the coroner's jury for further investigation, but as to which no indictments followed:
| 1. Joseph Schoff | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 30 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 4228 South Ashland Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Stab wound |
Schoff, walking on Ashland Avenue, accosted Jose Blanco repeatedly, "Are you a Negro?" Receiving no response he swung at Blanco with his fist. The latter stabbed Schoff under the heart, then walked on. As he was about to enter the house of a friend the police arrested him. He admitted that he had stabbed a man, but said he had done it in self-defense. The coroner's jury reported: "We, the jury, are unable to agree as to whether the accused, Jose Blanco, should be held to the grand jury upon a charge of manslaughter.... We recommend that the coroner present this evidence to the grand jury for consideration and determination."
| 2. Samuel Banks | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 30 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 11:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 2729 Dearborn Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
At 11:00 p.m., July 30, three policemen patrolling State Street at Twenty-eighth Street, heard a shot on Dearborn Street. At Twenty-sixth Place they met about a dozen Negro ex-soldiers acting as police reserves under doubtful orders and asked them to accompany them. They all went into Dearborn Street. Sixteen-year-old Sam Banks saw them and ran for refuge, dodging under the house steps at 2729. His running was taken as evidence of guilt. The officers halted in front of the house. One Francis, a Negro, also believing that because the boy ran he was guilty, opened his door and pointed out the hiding-place of young Banks. The boy ran into the passageway between the houses. A shot fired by one of the officers took effect. Suspicion rested upon Patrolman O'Connor of the Police Department and two of the ex-soldiers, Adams and Douglas. The coroner's jury stated: "The jury is unable to determine whether one or more individuals of the group was acting criminally and is not able to determine which individual fired the shot.... We find that two of said volunteers, Ed. Douglas and Charles Adams, are held on a charge of murder in connection with the death of deceased. We find there is evidence of the presence of Ed. Douglas, but no satisfactory evidence of the presence of Charles Adams at the scene of the shooting. We recommend the discharge of Charles Adams from police custody on the charge of murder."
| 3. Theodore Copling | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 30 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 10:00 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 2934 South State Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
A gang of Negro boys passing 2920 South State Street saw the white man and came back. A Negro, one Partee, was sitting outside the store. He warned the watchman to get inside. Almost immediately shots were fired. The only person injured was young Copling, who apparently was not in the crowd but on the outskirts as a sightseer. Suspicion rested upon four persons—Baker, Negro, leader of the gang; Partee, Negro, who warned the watchman and was opposed to the gang; Torcello, white watchman; and Graise, Negro, step-father of Copling, who had on previous occasions threatened to kill the boy because of disagreements between them. The coroner's jury said: "We recommend that the said Hanson Baker, and the said Norman Partee, and the said Dan Torcello, and the said Louis Graise be held to the grand jury on a charge of murder until discharged by due process of law."
| 4. George Flemming | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | August 5 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 549 East Forty-seventh Street |
| Manner of wound | Wound (inflicted by bayonet) |
The coroner's jury report said: "We find that deceased, in company with several other young men, was at Forty-seventh Street and Forrestville Avenue when they were ordered to move away by a police officer and that they obeyed and were walking east; that the group were followed by one Edgar D. Mohan, a soldier, armed with a rifle, bayonet fixed; that said Mohan commanded the young men to move faster, accompanying the command by twice stabbing and wounding one Thomas J. Fennessey in the right hip and scrotum; and that he immediately after plunged the bayonet into the back of deceased, the bayonet penetrating through the body. We recommend that the said Edgar D. Mohan be held to the grand jury upon a charge of manslaughter, until discharged by due process of law.
"Being informed by the attorney general of Illinois that the military authorities of the state of Illinois have jurisdiction over acts of the said Edgar D. Mohan while in the military service, and have in fact assumed jurisdiction, a court martial being now in progress, we, the jury, hereby amend the last paragraph of our verdict of September 12, 1919, to read that 'Edgar D. Mohan be held to a court martial' instead of 'Edgar D. Mohan be held to the grand jury.'" The court martial exonerated Mohan.
Statements made in the office of the state's attorney show that Flemming was implicated in attacks in the neighborhood upon Negroes earlier in the riot period and was known as the leader of an unruly group who made a certain poolroom their hangout.
V. Deaths for which specific persons were subsequently indicted by the grand jury:
| 1. Casmere Lazzeroni | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 28 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 4:50 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 3618 South State Street |
| Manner of wound | Stab wound |
The defendants were four Negro boys, Charles Johnson, eighteen; Frank Coachman, sixteen; John Green, fourteen; and Walter Colvin, sixteen. Lazzeroni, a sixty-year-old Italian peddler, driving a banana wagon on State Street, was pursued by boys throwing stones who overtook him, jumped on his wagon, and stabbed him with pocketknives. All except Johnson were alleged to have confessed, and the confessions were given before the grand jury by Policeman Deliege as he remembered them. They were not read. The boys who confessed implicated the one who did not, Johnson. Mrs. Dolly Herrmann identified all of the boys as being implicated.
The four boys were indicted and tried and on September 19, 1919, a verdict of guilty was rendered against Colvin and Johnson. They were sentenced to the penitentiary for life on December 17, 1919; the cases of Green and Coachman were stricken off with leave to reinstate.
| 2. Joseph Powers | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 6:00 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Root and Emerald streets |
| Manner of wound | Stab wound |
A Negro, William Henderson, was walking west on Root Street on the morning of July 29 going to work at the Stock Yards. He was overtaken by another Negro whom he did not know, but who accompanied him down the street. As they crossed Emerald Avenue they were met by two white men walking east. One of these was Joseph Powers. He walked slightly behind the other white man, whose identity was never discovered. It was not known whether Powers was with this man or not. As the unknown white man passed the two Negroes he struck out at them. The unknown Negro walking with Henderson struck back, evidently with a knife in his hand, and hit Powers, who was then abreast of the group, mortally wounding him. All the participants ran except Powers. Henderson was the only one overtaken. He was chased through alleys and brought down with stones and bricks and severely beaten. From the description of the second Negro given by Henderson, and the fact that another had been found wounded near this spot, it was supposed at first that the second man was one Henry Renfroe. The coroner's jury said: "We believe that William Henderson was guilty of no wrong doing, and that if the unknown colored man should prove to be Henry Renfroe, that he was acting in self-defense. We recommend their immediate discharge from police custody. We further recommend that the white men guilty of assault on William Henderson and his companion be apprehended and punished."
Later Judge Tate, Negro, was identified as the companion of Henderson. Both Negroes were indicted by the grand jury. On December 13, 1919, a verdict of not guilty was returned against Tate and the case of Henderson was nolle prossed.
| 3. Walter Parejko | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 7:30 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Fifty-first Street near Dearborn Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
| 4. Morris I. Perel | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 8:15 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Fifty-first and Dearborn streets |
| Manner of wound | Stab wound |
The same three defendants appear in both these cases, three young Negro boys, Ben Walker, William Stinson, and Charles Davis.
There were no eyewitnesses in either case except the defendants involved, and they did not appear in person before the coroner's jury, but statements by them were either read or repeated by officials in charge. Davis and Stinson declared that Walker shot Parejko. When the statements were read to Walker, who had so far refused to make a confession, he said Stinson stabbed Perel.
Parejko and his friend Josef Maminaki, laborers on the Grand Trunk Railway, were going to work. According to Stinson the boys were sitting on a bread box in front of a store when they saw the two white men. Walker said, "Let's get this guy." Stinson answered, "Not me." Walker said, "Stand aside now, boys; I will do my stuff." He fired and Parejko was mortally wounded and Maminaki slightly wounded. Walker denied the shooting. However, he told where the weapon could be found, and it was brought before the coroner as evidence.
Perel was walking to his place of business going west on Fifty-first Street. Near Dearborn Street four or five Negro men or boys jumped on him and stabbed him. When he was found, it was discovered that his gold watch had been forcibly severed from the chain and was missing. Someone said a crowd of boys had been seen running south. According to the statement of Ben Walker, "Fat Stinson jumped on him and stabbed him and hit him with a club at the same time.... After he stabbed and hit him the whole gang jumped on him." Afterward Stinson is reported by Walker to have said, "I surely hit that guy," and to have displayed a pearl-handled knife.
The coroner's jury said in the Parejko case: "We recommend that the said Ben Walker, the said William Stinson, and the said Charles Davis be held to the grand jury upon a charge of murder until discharged by due process of law." In the Perel case the jury said: "We recommend that the said William Stinson be held to the grand jury upon a charge of murder until discharged by due process of law."
They were indicted by the grand jury, and on January 9, 1920, a verdict of not guilty was returned in each case.
| 5. Harold Brignadello (see [p. 27]) | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 10:30 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 1021 South State Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
Harold Brignadello was one of a crowd of white men who wandered south on State Street and halted at No. 1021 and stoned the house. It was not brought out whether the stone-throwing was done because Negroes lived in the house, or was provoked by taunts from Negroes in the second-story window. A Negro woman and two men appeared at the window, and when the throwing did not stop, the woman raised her arm. A shot was fired into the crowd, fatally wounding Brignadello. Police officers found in the flat and arrested Emma Jackson, Kate Elder, John Webb, Ed Robinson, and Clarence Jones. The coroner's jury recommended that they be held to the grand jury upon a charge of murder until discharged by due process of law, and that members of the unknown white mob be apprehended. The five Negroes named were indicted, and on September 20, 1919, a verdict of not guilty was returned as to each.
| 6. G. L. Wilkins | |
| Race | White |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 30 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 1:30 p.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | 3825 Rhodes Avenue |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
Wilkins, an agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, on his rounds collecting, entered the house at 3825 Rhodes Avenue where several Negro families live. While he was inside three young Negro men approached one of the tenants who was sitting on the front porch, and one of them asked who the white man was. This youth is alleged to have said, "We don't want no damned insurance man here. What money we have got we want to keep it." When Wilkins appeared, two of the youths stood on the curb, and one went between two houses which Wilkins had to pass. As he went by he was shot. It was said that Spurgeon Anthony and Willis Powell were the two who stood at the curb, and John Washington was the one who went between the houses. The coroner's jury recommended that the three be held to the grand jury upon a charge of murder, and the grand jury indicted them. On December 16, 1919, a verdict of not guilty was returned as to Powell, and Washington was found guilty and sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary.
| 7. Paul Hardwick | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 5:00 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Wabash Avenue and Adams Street |
| Manner of wound | Bullet wound |
A mob of white civilians, soldiers, and sailors, who had been chasing Negroes through the "Loop" district for the previous two or three hours, beating and robbing them, and destroying property where Negroes were not found, entered one of Thompson's restaurants where Hardwick was breakfasting. Another Negro, one King, was also in the restaurant. The mob set upon them, throwing food and dishes. Hardwick dodged into the street and King hid behind a dish counter, where he was wounded with a knife. Failing to catch Hardwick as he fled down Adams Street, one of the rioters stepped to the curb and fired a revolver at him, bringing him down. Several of the crowd robbed the corpse. At the time of the coroner's jury hearing the only one of the mob identified was Ray Freedman, aged seventeen. He was apprehended and charged with murder, malicious mischief, and inciting to riot, but was not indicted. Later Edward Haines was connected with the case, indicted, and on February 21, 1920, sent to Pontiac.
| 8. Robert Williams | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 29 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 6:15 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | At or near State and Van Buren streets |
| Manner of wound | Stab wound |
The murder of Williams was the second riot killing in the heart of Chicago's business district on the morning of July 29. Before Williams died he said he had been assaulted by white men at State and Van Buren streets. An eyewitness, a Negro, said he saw Williams running west on the car track on Van Buren Street, followed by a mob of about 200 white men. One of them, whom he positively identified as Frank Biga, stabbed the deceased twice, but Williams continued to run for a distance after that. A white man who saw Williams picked up at Harrison and State streets also identified Biga as a man who all during the morning had led gangs chasing Negroes. A woman went to a policeman and pointed out Biga as the leader of riot mobs. The coroner's jury recommended that Biga be held to the grand jury upon a charge of murder. At the time of the identification of Biga by the woman the policeman arrested him, found a broken razor in his possession, and had him booked for disorderly conduct, for which he was fined $5 and costs in the boys' court and sent to the House of Correction. The next day he broke out of the House of Correction and was not again apprehended until he was implicated in the murder of a shoe merchant, Fred Bender, on August 8, 1919. He killed Bender with a blow on the head from an iron pipe. On February 18, 1920, Biga was sent to the penitentiary for life.
| 9. William Dozier | |
| Race | Negro |
| Date of receiving death wound | July 31 |
| Time of receiving death wound | 7:15 a.m. |
| Place of receiving death wound | Stock Yards, Exchange Avenue about Cook Street |
| Manner of wound | External violence |
Dozier, Negro, approached a meat curer employed in the superintendent's office of Swift & Co. to ask if the Negroes were not going to have protection in the Yards that morning. A white worker stepped out of the crowd and struck at Dozier with a hammer. Dozier dodged and caught the blow on the neck. He started to run east on Exchange Avenue. As he ran he was struck with a street broom and shovel and other missiles; near the sheep pens a brick felled him. The meat curer above mentioned and an assistant identified one Zarka as the man who wielded the hammer. Joseph Scezak was identified as the man who used the broom. The coroner's jury recommended that these two be held to the grand jury on a charge of manslaughter and also that the unknown participants be held upon the same charge. Zarka and Scezak were indicted for murder, and on May 6, 1920, a verdict of not guilty was returned as to each.
| Date | Race | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | Negro | Unknown | ||
| July 27 | 10 | 31 | 5 | 46 |
| 28 | 71 | 152 | 6 | 229 |
| 29 | 55 | 80 | 4 | 139 |
| 30 | 20 | 20 | 2 | 42 |
| 31 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 19 |
| Aug. 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Date unknown | 4 | 44 | 0 | 48 |
| Total | 178 | 342 | 17 | 537 |