20th Century – Page 350 – Deadliest American Disasters and Large-Loss-of-Life Events (2024)

–10->12 Blanchard estimated range.*

–>16 Wikipedia. “Springfield race riot of 1908,” [sidebar] 6-21-2020 edit. No citation of sources.**
— 8 black men (killed by white mob)
— 1 black infant (died from exposure)
— 5 white mob participants (killed by other white mob members or state militia)
— 1 white mob participant (suicide)
— 1 white witness (suicide)
–>11 SangamonLink (History of Sangamon County, IL). “Race riot of 1908.” 10-12-2013.
1.Clergy BallardKilled on July 5. (Not in our tally – no rioting after his arrest.)
2.Scott Burton
3.John Colwell (or Caldwell)
4.Frank Delmore
5.William Donnegan (or Donegan)
6.Lewis Hanen
7.Kate Howard
8.Joe JamesNot on our list (executed Oct 23 for murder of Clergy Ballard.)
9.Louis Johnson
10.Payne infant
11.Thomas Jefferson Scott (have seen as James W. Scott or J. G. Scott)
— 10 Blanchard compilation of fatalities named below. (Do not include Ballard or Joe James.)***
— 3 Black
— 7 White

1.Burton, Scott. Aug 14. Black barber hung; stayed behind to protect his home.
2.Caldwell, John Aug 14. White miner in same mob as Delmore; shooter not known.
3.Delmore, Frank. Aug 16. White miner in mob shot on 14th; not clear who shooter was.
4.Donegan, William. Aug 15. Black shoemaker with white wife; lynched. Spring & Edward.
5.Hanen, Lewis Nov 22. White; shot in lung Aug 14 while participating in mob.
6.Howard, Kate. Aug 26. White; took poison upon arrest for helping lynch Scott Burton
Hunter, Charles Aug 14. Black; shot and lynched near Illinois Central railroad.
7.Johnson, Lewis. Aug 14. White youth, 17, in mob, shot while in Loper’s basem*nt.
8.Nelson, Earl.Aug 15. White; killed by IL National Guard member with bayonet.
9.Paine/Payne infantAug 16? Black; died of exposure, as family fled Springfield.
10.Scott, James W. Aug 16. White, 70; hit on 14th by ricochet bullet; Twelfth and Madison.

— 8 The Gazette, Colorado Springs. “A historical perspective [on race riots].” 1-29-2000, A8.
— 8 Yu, Karlson. “Springfield Race Riot, 1908.” Blackpast.org, 6-29-2008.
–6 Blacks shot. [No source citations; have not been able to confirm.]
–2 Blacks lynched.
— >7 Alton Telegraph, IL. “Lincoln library seeking race riot items.” 11-23-2007, A7.
— 7 Illinois State Museum. “Springfield Race Riot, 1908.” Accessed 6-26-2020.
–2 Black
–5 White
— 7 Neal. “There’s a long way to go to achieve diversity.” Daily Herald, Arlington Heights IL. 2-16-2009, 10.
— 7 Poe, Janita. “Streets of Springfield Gave Birth to NAACP.” Chicago Tribune, 7-10-1994.
— 7 State Journal-Register, Springfield IL. “1908 Springfield race riot…NAACP.” 8-14-2018.
–2 Black
–5 White
— 6 Alton Telegraph, IL. “6th-graders rediscover Springfield race riot.” 9-19-1994, A8.
— >6 Leonard. “Illinois…birthplace…NAACP.” Daily Republican-Register, Mt. Carmel, IL, 4-21-1975, 6.
— 6 Merritt. Something So Horrible: The Springfield Race Riot of 1908. 2008, p. 28.
–2 Lynchings of blacks. (Burton and Donigan)
–4 Shootings of whites.
— 6 By Aug 17. New York Times. “Troops Fired on by Race Rioters.” 8-18-1908, p. 5.
— 6 By Aug 16 evening. NY Times. “Troops Check Riots, Sixth Victim Dies.” 8-17-1908, p. 1.
— 6 Senechal. Race Riot. “The Springfield Race Riot of 1908.” Illinois Periodicals Online. 1996.
— 4 United Press. “Four Men Dead; Fifty Injured.” Altoona Mirror, PA. 8-15-1908, p. 1.
— 3 Elkhart Daily Review, IN. “Worse Than Detested Hyenas was the White Mob…” 8-15-1908, p1.

*Blanchard: For over 100 years (as of 6-28-2020) the death toll was reported at the time, and since, as ranging from 6-8, in some cases noting “at least” in that there were rumors of people being burned to death in houses, or away from Springfield (though no individual cases were ever noted). The first reporting of as many as 11 deaths, if not more, was in the 2013 SangamonLink webpage on the riot, which we view as a reliable source. We do not include two of these entries on our list – the murder of Clergy Ballard on July 5 and the execution of Joe James, convicted for this murder, on Oct 23. As others have noted, there was no rioting after the arrest of Joe James. His arrest for the allegedly killing Ballard and attempting to sexually assault his daughter probably did contribute to the “atmosphere” when Richardson was arrested for allegedly raping Mabel Ballard (not true). We do include one death not on their list – the bayonet death of Earl Nelson on Aug 15 by an Illinois National Guard private who was on guard duty and seeking to prevent Nelson from gaining entrance to the railroad car, the contents of which he was guarding. This death would not have occurred, in our opinion, had the Illinois National Guard not been called out due to the rioting. If one were to count all the names on the SangamonLink listing and our own, there would be at least twelve deaths. Any deaths above that number would be based on speculation and rumor.

We choose not to use for death toll purposes, the Wikipedia webpage of June 2020 in that it implies “at least” 16 deaths as fact, based on rumors of additional deaths found in newspapers of the time, but not picked up and verified as more than rumors in newspapers after roughly August 16, 1908, and thereafter. The rumored deaths in some of the earliest newspapers (though ones we have personally not been able to access or verify via NewspaperArchive.com) seem to be buttressed by oral memoirs recorded decades later in the 1970s. These are of the nature of the interviewee recalling that people talked of people burning in houses and dying of wounds elsewhere. There are no names for anyone to try to investigate. Additionally, the statements concerning unidentified deaths in papers we cannot access, could, even if some were accurate, relate to persons who were later named, and thus constitute double-counting.

**Within the narrative section it is also written as fact that “At least sixteen people died as a result of the riot: Nine black residents, and seven white residents who were associated with the mob, five of whom were killed by state militia and two committed suicide.” [There is no source citation here.] Down further in the article in “Injuries and deaths” section in is noted that “Seven people were on record as being dead: two Black men and five Whites…[But] there were also six unidentified blacks killed, four from bullet wounds near Eleventh and Macon Street, one with his throat cut near Chicago and Alton Streets, and one found hanging from a tree on Fifteen and Clay Streets, with his clothes ‘slashed to shreds’ and his body ‘riddled with bullets.’” [Cited at this point is a newspaper article which includes three deaths and several “mortally wounded.” Other newspaper accounts note “may die.” We know, however, that one reported mortally wounded man, William Bowe, whose name is shown in the newspaper clip in the sidebar, recovered and did not die until decades later. It is also possible that the “unidentified” dead in newspaper articles dated Aug 15-16, could be amongst the identified dead in later accounts, thus there would be double counting.

***Clergy Ballard was killed July 5 (about 12:45 a.m.) by a black man, according to his daughter. At about 5:30 a.m. four young white women in the general area, saw a sleeping man, apparently sleeping off a hangover). This man, later identified as Joe James, was arrested and taken to jail on suspicion of committing the murder. He was in jail at the same time as George Richardson who had been accused and arrested for the attempted rape of Mabel Hallam. There was already white anger directed toward Joe James (presumed guilty). The jailing of the alleged attempted rapist George Richardson was the mob riot spark. Mabel Hallam later recanted her story. Richardson was released. Joe James was later convicted and hanged. We do not view his death as riot related nor the death he was alleged to have taken on July 5.

Narrative Information

Senechal: “On the evening of August 14,1908, a race war broke out in the Illinois capital of Springfield. Angry over reports that a black man had sexually assaulted a white woman, a white mob wanted to take a recently arrested suspect from the city jail and kill him. They also wanted Joe James, an out-of-town black who was accused of killing a white railroad engineer, Clergy Ballard, a month earlier.

“Late that afternoon, a crowd gathered in front of the jail in the city’s downtown and demanded that the police hand over the two men to them. But the police had secretly taken the prisoners out the back door into a waiting automobile and out of town to safety. When the crowd discovered that the prisoners were gone, they rioted. First they attacked and destroyed a restaurant owned by a wealthy white citizen, Harry Loper, who had provided the automobile that the sheriff used to get the two men out of harm’s way. The crowd completed its work by setting fire to the automobile, which was parked in front of the restaurant.

“In the early hours of the violence, as many as five thousand white Springfield residents were present, mostly as spectators. Still angry, the rioters—minus most of the spectators—next methodically destroyed a small black business district downtown, breaking windows and doors, stealing or destroying merchandise, and wrecking furniture and equipment. The mob’s third and last effort that night was to destroy a nearby poor black neighborhood called the Badlands. Most blacks had fled the city, but as the mob swept through the area, they captured and lynched a black barber, Scott Burton, who had stayed behind to protect his home.

“The next day began quietly, but at nightfall rioters regrouped downtown. The new mob marched west to the state arsenal, hoping to get at several hundred blacks who had taken refuge there, but they were driven off by state troops who charged the crowd with bayonets fixed to their rifles. The crowd then marched to a predominantly white, middle-class neighborhood and seized and hung an elderly wealthy black resident. After this second killing, enough troops arrived in the capital to prevent further mass attacks. Nonetheless, what the press called “guerilla-style” hit-and-run attacks against black residents continued through August and into September. Several more black homes were damaged, and a few blacks caught alone on the streets were beaten by small groups of whites. The riot’s toll, for a city this size, was high: two blacks and four whites dead; hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of property destroyed; more than forty black families displaced when their homes were burned; and dozens of citizens of both races injured. Beyond the physical damage was injury to the reputation of the Illinois capital. The nation’s newspapers carried many stories about the riot, and the name Springfield was associated in the public mind with corruption, savagery, and criminal blood lust….” (Senechal, Roberta (Historical Research and Narrative). Race Riot. “The Springfield Race Riot of 1908.” Illinois Periodicals Online. 1996.)

Merritt: After the attack on Loper’s restaurant the night of Aug 14 “The closest target was the Levee, a commercial area of saloons, barbershops, restaurants, pool halls, groceries, and other small businesses adjacent to the county jail and a few blocks away from Loper’s. Most of the Black businesses in the Levee were located on Washington Street between Seventh and Eighth. The ‘heart of the black belt,’ as the Illinois State Journal described the Levee, also sheltered the sporting dives, the brothels, and the illegal dens for gambling, prostitution, and after-hours liquor that Springfield law enforcement un-officially tolerated. “On to Washington Street!” cried a member of the mob. By the time the mob arrived, however, most Blacks had escaped, alerted by word of Hallam’s rape charge and by the yelling during the destruction of Loper’s. The noise of the rioting was loud and fierce….” (pp. 24.25)

“If there were Black casualties from the gun battles in the Levee, they went unreported. There were, however, four White deaths from gunshots, apparently inflicted by the armed Blacks defending the buildings in the Levee. John Colwell, a forty-two-year-old coal miner, died at St. John’s Hospital Saturday morning from the combination of a gunshot to his abdomen and injuries received when the mob trampled him. Another coal miner, Frank Delmore, age twenty, died Sunday, August 16, from a gunshot through his left lung. Delmore’s role in the mob was confirmed by an attending physician….A day later Thomas Jefferson Scott, a seventy-two-year-old real estate agent, died from a gunshot fired from the roof of the Allen Building on East Washington Street. The last White man to die from wounds inflicted during the riot was Lewis Hanen, an employee of the Chicago, Peoria, & St. Louis Railway. He died in Chicago in December during surgery to repair damage from a gunshot to his right lung.

“Unlike any other race riot in the United States that targeted Blacks, the 1908 Springfield violence resulted in the deaths of more Whites than Blacks. This was due no doubt to the armed Blacks, defending themselves and their interests in the Levee. Of the injuries reported in the newspaper, most were White, but no doubt countless injuries to Blacks and Whites went unreported. Half of the injuries recorded were from gunshots and one quarter from bricks — evidence of the work of the mob, the militia, and armed Blacks.” (p. 28)

“All levels of authority, from the local police to the governor, failed to protect life and property during the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. Governor Charles Deneen had acted promptly when the large mob formed at 3:00 that Friday afternoon at the county jail in response to Mabel Hallam’s cry of rape. Through the efforts of Colonel Richings J. Shand, commander of the Third Infantry, Deneen had succeeded in getting a reluctant Sheriff Werner to call at least for local militia units. But the units were not ordered to assemble until 8:00 that evening, too late and too few to control the crowd that by then had grown to thousands before the brutal attack on Loper’s restaurant. The Springfield police were unable or unwilling to enforce the law, either because they identified with the mob or feared its retaliation. ‘The police never resisted,’ said Murray Hanes, a witness to the destruction of Loper’s. ‘They joined the mob.’ One of the mob boldly challenged the police: ‘What do we care for a policeman? He looks like anyone else to us.’ The news reporter who recorded these remarks observed that the policeman just smiled, knowing that to make a move could bring him injury. Mayor Roy R. Reece, whose administration tolerated vice and courted the saloon interests, had little moral authority over the crowd at Loper’s. In spite of his appeals for law and order, he was hustled from the scene. ‘Incompetent mayor, police and other officers,’ wrote Spring-field resident, Katherine Enos, ‘were what made the rioting and murdering possible….Reliable men, who saw the beginning of the riot, say that any two policemen doing their duty could have stopped it, for then the participants were only young boys — some in knee pants.’

“Much of the failure of Springfield’s law enforcement lay at the feet of Sheriff Werner, who consistently refused to use effective force to control the mob. Werner had been reluctant to call upon the Illinois National Guard, confident that the mob would lose steam once the prisoners were gone. Werner paid dearly for this serious miscalculation. But perhaps his greatest neglect was his repeated refusal to authorize his officers and the militia to use guns on the mob. ‘There was a crowd assembled [at Loper’s after the destruction],’ said Colonel Shand. ‘[There were about] … five thousand, and there being no disposition on the part of the civil authorities to assist [the militia], and the sheriff having refused [the militia] permission to fire, [the militia] was utterly powerless to clear away the crowd.’ The county authorities and the militia command never worked together as a team. ‘I … reported to the sheriff” said Shand ‘that they [the mob] were about to proceed down Washington [S]treet, and suggested to him that we go down and head them off. He refused to allow the troops to leave the jail, claiming they were needed there to guard it.’ Disagreement with the sheriff continued over the deployment of the militia in the Badlands, where Werner again kept militia at the jail and refused permission to fire, leaving in the hands of the mob the area where Scott Burton would be lynched. ‘At no time during the riot,’ said Shand, ‘did the actual command pass from the sheriff to the military authorities.’

“The militia had problems of its own, independent of the sheriff’s failings. Militia deployment was slow. None of the out-of-town militia had arrived by 2:00 Saturday morning. The Decatur unit had not even embarked by then. Most of the companies arrived later Saturday morning and afternoon. Few men, therefore, were available with the necessary weapons in the critical early stages of the riot. ‘We had orders to proceed on Friday night to Fifth and Monroe streets and protect Loper’s restaurant,’ reported Lieutenant Herbert Styles, who was in command of the Gatling gun section. ‘I had only six men with me and with no ammunition and not even bayonets I could do nothing, and the mob disarmed my men.’

“On Saturday afternoon, local and state officials, including Sheriff Werner and Governor Deneen, met to decide whether to declare martial law in Springfield. Believing that the worst was over, the officials decided against it. Four hours later, William Donigan was lynched, the police and the militia having arrived too late in spite of the Donigan family’s repeated calls for help. Shortly after 12:00 Sunday morning, Deneen advised that additional militia be ordered. By early Monday morning, the total number of officers and men in Springfield reached 3,691. With all sections of the city covered by troops, gunfire by then was only occasional and fires of suspicious origin were few. By Monday night, it was determined that order had been restored, and selected troops began to return home. Blacks, however, under the protection of local authorities again, continued to be beaten and harassed for weeks to come.” (pp. 47-50) (Merritt, Carole. Something So Horrible: The Springfield Race Riot of 1908. Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, 2008.)

Martin: From section on the 1908 Springfield Riot from interview conducted in 1974. She was 16 at the time.

“Q. Do you know about how many white people got killed, or did they say?

“A. I heard, not – I don’t know how true it is – that one of our morticians here said that it would have been better for them to have left the Negroes alone, because they had to bury their dead at night….

“Q. Was this a white or black mortician?

“A. They were white because…

“Q. White mortician?

“A. …they didn’t hurt many; they was only three colored, as I say. And if there was any more colored, we did not hear about it at least.”

(Martin, Alice. Alice Martin Memoir (Interview by Reverend Negil L. McPherson in 1974). Springfield: University of Illinois at Springfield, Norris L Brookens Library Archives/Special Collection, 1974.)

[We include the above in that the interview is referenced in the Wikipedia article on the riot as support for the statement “Some black deaths were unaccounted for because their loved ones buried them at night out of fear that whites might attack them…” As one can read, Martin makes no such statement. She notes that there were night burials, but knew of only three black deaths in total, and says nothing about fear being the explanation of any of the night burials.]

Wikipedia: “Seven people were on the record as being dead: two black men and five Whites. However, there were several more unreported deaths, such as Louis Hanen, a white man who was struck in his chest, groin and chin, along with John Caldwell, by a volley laid down by the militia near Twelfth and Madison.

“In addition to Scott Burton and William Donnegan, there were also six unidentified blacks killed, four from bullet wounds near Eleventh and Macon Street, one with his throat cut near Chicago and Alton Streets, and one found handing from a tree on Fifteen and Clay Streets, with his clothes ‘slashed to shreds’ and his body ‘riddled with bullets. Such black deaths were corroborated when the families, of four of the black men who were killed, sought to bring lawsuits against the city for their deaths, but were denied the right to file.

“All five of the white men who were killed – Louis Johnston (shot by mob), Warl Nelson (stabbed my militia bayonet), James W. Scott (Killed by ricochet bullet), John Caldwell (shot by militia), Louis Hanen (shot by militia) – died at the hands of other white mob members, or by the hands of the white state militia.

“In addition, at least one black infant died from exposure, after her family was made refugees and no neighboring community would allow them in. Some black deaths were unaccounted for because their loved ones buried them at night out of fear that whites might attack them, while the loved ones of other blacks transported the bodies of their dead off to the countryside for burial. It was also said that several blacks were burned alive in their homes and that, at one point, blacks had to send out of town for more caskets as they had run out.”

Newspapers

Aug 14: “Springfield, Ill., Aug. 14. – One of the greatest outrages that ever happened in Springfield took place about 11:30 o’clock last night when Mrs. Earl Hallam, 1153 North Fifth street, was dragged from her bed into the yard at the rear of her home and criminally assaulted by an unidentified negro who, after his crime, escaped.

“The negro gained access to the house through the kitchen door and went to Mrs. Hallam’s room, where she was sleeping. He turned the light, which had been left burning by Mrs. Hallam for her husband, low and then went to the bed, when Mrs. Hallam awakened. She thought the negro was her husband and she so addressed him. When she saw that it was a negro she tried to scream but the fiend choked her and dragged her from the bed.

“The negro then dragged her across the room in which she had been sleeping up two steps into the kitchen, across the kitchen and out the rear door, across the back porch, down the porch steps, along a board walk, through a gate into a garden at the rear of the house. It was here that he assaulted her. Mrs. Hallam was left lying, bruised and unconscious in the garden.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hallam are among the best citizens of Springfield and are highly respected and honored as such. That such an outrage should occur in a principal residence district and in one of the best homes of the city is to be greatly deplored. It is bad enough to have such characters to contend with in the slums. A more dastardly act has not been enacted in Springfield for years, and no effort should be sparred to find the black viper and to force appropriate punishment.” (Quincy Daily Journal, IL. “Outraged By Negro. Young Woman at Springfield Dragged From Her Bed by the Rascal.” 8-14-1908, p. 7.)

Aug 15: “Springfield, Ill., Aug 15. – The second lynching of the race riots that have raged here since yesterday took place at 9 o’clock to-night at Spring and Edwards Streets. The man who was hanged was George Donegan, an aged negro, who had lived in the neighborhood for more than fifty years. He was taken from his doorsill in his yard by a mob of 500 whites and hanged to a small tree nearby. When he was cut down he was dying. The rope was buried in his neck. He died one hour later.

“Donegan kept a small shop. At 8:30 o’clock this evening he was sitting in front of his place when the mob came along from the State Arsenal. Donegan was one of the most respected negroes in the city, and he had no fear that his life was in danger when the leader of the mob halted in front of his cottage. ‘Good evening, gentlemen, what can I do for you?’ asked Donegan as he advanced toward the crowd on the sidewalk. He was struck with a brick that knocked him down. Half a dozen of the mob then jumped upon him. ‘Get the rope!’ shouted one of the rioters. Someone in the crowd produced a piece of clothesline, and it was quickly adjusted about the old man’s neck.

Pleaded for His Life.

“He pleaded with them to spare his life, but his assailants only jeered and kicked him again. Members of his family, who heard his cries for help, were so frightened that they barricaded themselves in the house.

“Three or four men grabbed an end of the rope and the poor old negro was dragged along the street to a tree. The end of the rope was thrown over a limb, and the dangling form of the black man shot up ten feet from the ground. ‘Have mercy, have mercy, boys!’ the old negro gasped as the rope tightened about his neck.

“Someone reached up with a knife and slashed at the victim’s legs. His body was lifted up and down several times over the limb, while the man’s family cowered within the house, unable to give him any aid. The rope cut into his neck, gashing a deep would that almost severed the windpipe.

“When the mob thought they had killed their victim they tied the loose end of the rope over the limb of the tree and hurried away. They went only a block when part of the mob returned and set fire to the house in which the black man lived.

Tried to Burn a Family.

“A torch was applied to the front and rear of the building, and those who were imprisoned within were for awhile fearful that they would be incinerated, but the Fire Department responded and saved the old darky’s wife and children.

“Shortly after the old man was strung up, Company I of the First Cavalry arrived. Then fighting with the mob began. Corporal Reynolds rode back through the city at full speed to inform Adjt. Gen. Scott of the crime. Two companies of militia were immediately sent to the place.

“A crowd of 2,000 persons gathered in front of the undertaking shop at Sixth and Washington Streets, where the body of Donegan was taken, and jeered the soldiers on guard. Men cried out in their glee that the negro was dead. The soldiers charged with fixed bayonets and several men were injured. The crowd was finally driven away.

Dozen Suspects Arrested.

“Later Detective Evan T. Jones arrested a man believed to be the leader of the crowd that hanged Donegan. At the police station he is said to have made a partial confession implicating others. As a result of his admissions a dozen men were afterward rounded up by the soldiers and police and locked up in jail.

“Chief of Police Morris learned late tonight that the reason the crowd lynched Donegan was because he had lived with a white wife for several years. He was a hard-working shoemaker, and every white persons who knew him speaks well of him.

“Other parts of the city are in danger of attack from other mobs. The State Arsenal, where several homeless negroes were taken after their homes were burned Friday night, was surrounded by 2,000 men crying for the blood of the black men. A gang of whites is marching toward a negro camp on the outskirts of the city armed with revolvers and axes and all manner of weapons.

3,000 Troops Defied.

“The situation exists in the face of the fact that 3,000 soldiers are patrolling the streets of this city, and although Gov. Deneen has promised that the murderers shall be punished. Arrests are being made every few minutes, but the rioters go on undaunted.

“Adjt. Gen. Scott is in charge of all the troops, and martial law was declared in the city at 7 o’clock. Major Gen. Young is in active charge of field work. Division headquarters have been established at the county jail, and no one is allowed to approach within a block of this place without a military pass. Gov. Deneen has ordered the Second Regiment of Infantry from Chicago to go to Springfield at once. The Seventh Regiment in Chicago has been ordered by the Governor to assemble in the armory ready for call.

“The situation is growing more serious every hour.

Scatters Troops Over City.

“A plan probably unique in similar situations was adopted by Gen. Young in order to spread his force about and reassure the numerous alarmed neighborhoods. Street cars were immediately pressed into service to carry guardsmen about on all lines in the disturbed sections. Such cars as still carried passengers were halted on their way to the ‘bad lands’ and guards put aboard under command of Sergeants.

“Half a dozen owners of automobiles at the request of Governor Deneen put their cars at the disposal of Gen. Young in order that small detachments might be hurried to places of pressing need. More horses were needed for the troopers, many of whom had no mounts, and arrangements were made to supply the deficiency tomorrow.

“A report that two mobs dispersed earlier in the evening had formed a junction and were proceeding by a circuitous route to Twentieth and Monroe Streets proved without foundation after a strong force had been sent to that vicinity.

Fear-Stricken Negroes.

“The situation of the negroes here is pitiful. In such places as have had the courage to retain them their fears show plainly in grave faces and their endeavors to keep out of sight of persons on the street. Ten waiters employed at the Leland Hotel were compelled to leave. They were afraid of violence and the hotel people feared that damage to their property might follow if the colored help remained. Two porters, both fearfully attentive to the white guests, alone remained. They received no duties which would call them to the first floor.

“Adjt. Gen. Scott tonight estimated that fully 300 colored folk had left the city since last night by train alone. Many more, being without sufficient funds for the railroad trip, went to the outskirts of the city by trolley and then, with their few belongings on their backs, started to tramp across country in search of safety.” (New York Times. “Rioters Hang Another Negro. Mobs in Springfield, Ill., Defying 3,000 Soldiers, String Up Old and Innocent Victim…” 8-16-1908, pp. 1 and 3.)

Aug 15: “Springfield, Ill., Aug. 15. – Two white men were killed and one negro lynched, more than a half hundred persons injured and two score houses, mostly occupied by negroes, were burned last night, as a result of an attempt by a mob to lynch a negro who had assaulted a white woman. After a night of riot, arson and slaughter, the state troops called out by the governor succeeded early this morning in restoring a semblance of order and stopping the fire. A thousand militiamen, including the three Springfield companies, companies from Bloomington, Quincy, Decatur, Peoria, Pekin and Pontiac, are parading the streets, where it is believed further disorder will be avoided. The Dead.

Charles Hunter (colored).
Lewis Johnson (white), 17 years old.
James Scott (white) 70 years old.

“….The lynching of Hunter occurred when a big fire, which destroyed the homes of about thirty-five negro families in the negro section known as ‘bad lands,’ was at its height, just preceding the arrival of the outside troops. Hunter was accused of having fired upon the whites and was seeking protection by dodging in and out of box cars along the right of way of the Illinois Central railroad. The negro was cornered in a stairway and shot several times, and then hanged to a tree and his body riddled with bullets.

“Last night the mob raided Maj. Loper’s café and completely wrecked the house, furniture and a large touring car owned by its proprietor. Loper had taken Joe James, the negro accused of murder of Clergy A. Ballard [July 8], and George Richardson, accused of the assault upon Mrs. Hallam, from the county jail in company with two deputies and two police officers, and raced eight miles across the country to within a mile of Sherman, where a Chicago and Alton passenger train was overtaken. A special car had been provided and the negroes were taken to Bloomington, and later transferred to Peoria.

“The attack upon Loper’s restaurant commenced about eight o’clock last night, and the crowd did not leave the place until early this morning, after taking all the furniture from the rooms and breaking it on the sidewalk.

“The number of injured totals close to seventy-five.

“….The negroes are swarming back into the East End, heavily armed, and a worse reign of terror is expected tonight. The officers and militia are powerless. The soldiers’ arms have been taken away and appropriated to the use of the mob.

“Whites are coming from nearby towns and the country, helping the race war. Thousands of men are now swarming the streets. The whole business portion of the city is demoralized and many of the larger stores are closed to avoid trouble and loss by fire. Citizens are leaving and women and children are departing on every train on the interurban cars for places of safety.

“The blacks are just as determined as the whites, and there promises to be an awful night unless the troops show more power to restore order. The negroes were removed from Bloomington last night bound for Peoria, but have not been located this morning. It is thought they have been taken off at some small town. Four are now dead, many whites are missing. It is known that several negroes have been dragged away wounded and dying….” (Quincy Daily Journal, IL. “Race War at Springfield: Three Dead and Many Hurt.” 8-15-1908, p. 1.)

Aug 16: “Springfield, Ill., Aug. 16. – Sunday was a day of armed truce in this riot-scourged city. The presence of 4,000 soldiers occupying every street and vantage ground overawed any turbulent spirits who might have desired to renew the rioting. Only one case of assault was reported to the police, a negro being stabbed by a small gang of hoodlums at the State Fair Ground.

“It was a day of exodus for the negroes. Fully 2,000 of them have left the city since Friday night. The only negroes to be seen on the streets were those on their way to the trains, and they were always accompanied by soldier guards. Some have gone to Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and a few to the South. Some are known to have gone as far past the Mason and Dixon line as Louisiana.

“The arsenal was crowded tonight with negro refugees from Springfield and surrounding towns. About 200 men, women, and children sought shelter in the building and slept on the floor or in chairs. Most of these people were old and infirm, but they endured the hardships of their quarters rather than face the prospect of passing the night in their homes, beset with momentary fear of attack.

“There are still many negroes left in Springfield, but of these there are many who are planning to go at the first opportunity. In a week, it is predicted, the prosperous negro colonies will be like deserted villages.

“Forty or fifty negroes now in the employ of the various city departments will be discharged. Many of them are faithful, honest men of long service.

Governor Orders Lynchers Indicted.

“Gov. Deneen tonight brought down the big stick on the Springfield city authorities and forced them to take steps which he expects will put an end to the rioting. He summoned State Attorney Frank L. Hatch before him and ordered that a special Grand Jury be convened tomorrow to indict the half hundred or so rioters who are now prisoners in the county jail.

“The investigation will be as direct and forceful as a military court-martial. It is expected that after the preliminary evidence is in true bills will be voted with regularity and precision. The Governor informed the city authorities that prosecutions must be real and vigorous.

“There is consternation all over the city as a result of this announcement. Already it has had a salutary effect on the people. Conversations like this may be heard:

Well, I can prove where I was.

I don’t think it will amount to much.

Everybody knows that mob has made our families safe.

“Alarms were frequent during the evening, but in no case was there any circ*mstance which compelled the use of force.

“A fire early in the evening at East Mason and Fourth Streets brought out the largest crowd, but it was composed of curious persons easily handled. Three barns were destroyed by fire, supposed to have been started by mischievous boys….

Sixth Victim Dies.

“Another victim of Friday night’s violence died early this morning at St. John’s Hospital, bringing the list of race riot deaths up to sundown tonight to six. Frank Delmore, a miner in the employ of the Capital Coal Company, was the one to die today of wounds received at almost the beginning of the rioting. John Caldwell, another coal miner, was shot at the same time in the crowd. He lived only a few hours.

“Delmore and Caldwell were in the crowd of thousands that went from Loper’s restaurant, which the mob wrecked, to the negro quarter. At Seventh and Washington Streets, where the two received their death wounds, there was a saloon on the southwest corner owned by a negro known as ‘Dandy Jim.’ Some negro women lived above the saloon. When the crowd attacked ‘Dandy Jim’s’ place with bricks and stones, several shots were fired from the room above. The bullets found lodgment in Caldwell and Delmore. It was probably this act of the negroes that enraged the mob and led to the burning of twenty-five or thirty buildings in the ‘Bad Lands’ and the lynching of Scott Burton, first victim of the whites, as a climax.

“Delmore fell with a bullet in his abdomen, Caldwell was shot through the lungs. The police hurried the injured men to the hospital, and the rioters continued their march of death and devastation.

“Caldwell is to be buried tomorrow. The police fear that the 7,000 coal miners in this district, who will attend the funeral, may become riotous after their comrade has been laid in his grave.

Confession by a Lyncher.

“Abraham Raymer, the man arrested last night on suspicion of being one of the mob that lynched the aged negro, William Donegan, at Spring and Edwards Streets, was taken from his cell this morning and put through a third degree examination by Chief Morris. Raymer has been in Springfield only a few months. He is a Russian Jew, and talks broken English.

“After an hour’s grilling he broke down and admitted that he was one of the mob that strung the old negro to a tree, after slashing his throat with a razor. He also gave the police the [end of p.1] names of four or five of the mob whom he knew. From Raymer’s story of the lynching it appears that there was no provocation for the lynching except that Donegan was married to a white woman. According to his statement the mob assembled at Seventh and Washington Streets about 8 o’clock in the evening. Just a block distant, at Seventh and Jefferson Streets, are the headquarters of Gen. Young.

“There were 200 men in the crowd. Not more than a half dozen knew where the rioters were going. One man had a piece of clothesline. He showed it to Raymer, who understood the use which was to be made of it. As the mob neared the home of Donegan the latter’s wife and children fled through a rear door, but Donegan, who was almost blind from age, was unable to accompany them. Five or six of the rioters ran into the house firing their revolvers. Donegan was hustled out to the street, where the bloodthirsty rioters were awaiting his appearance. Raymer denies any part in the actual lynching, but the police believe he was one of those who placed the rope around the old man’s neck.

“At 3 o’clock Friday morning Raymer was one of the foremost of the crowd that lynched Scott Burton, the negro barber, at Twelfth and Madison Streets. He was seen by detectives who knew him and was threatened wi6th arrest if he did not go home. At the wrecking of Loper’s restaurant Raymer also took a leading part.

“A message written in Hebrew was found tonight concealed in one of Abraham Raymer’s shoes. He wrote it after his sweat-box investigation earlier in the day. The note was translated as follows:

S. Singer. 110 South Seventh Street, Springfield:

Dear and Best Friend: A you love your children, please do something for me. I am locked up at the police station and they are going to hang me for being with the crowd that killed the old negro last night. I want you to try your best for me. Please come over and see me.

A. Raymer.

“Singer, to whom the note was addressed, is a dealer in second-hand articles. He declared to the police that he had only a slight acquaintance with the prisoner.

Negro’s Home Wrecked.

“Five colored persons who were driven from their home at 1,144 North Seventh Street early this morning by a mob of rioters left for St. Louis this afternoon under a military guard. Those in the party were Clarence Harvey and wife, and Mrs. Ann Jenkins, mother of Harvey, with the young children. The Harveys lived in a house owned by a Peoria negro. Up to a few weeks ago the house was occupied by a colored preacher. The building is in one of the best residence districts of the city, and for a long time the white residents objected to the encroachment of a negro family. When the colored preacher vacated the house the owner was notified by property owners in the neighborhood that he must not rent the building to negroes in the future. After vainly trying to let the building to a white tenant the owner rented it to Harvey.

“Yesterday Harvey received word that the house would be burned over his head if he did not move out. Between 1 and 2 o’clock this morning a mob of fifty or seventy-five men attacked the building. They had wrecked the structure before the arrival of a company of soldiers. The five occupants were escorted t the jail for safe keeping, where they remained until 3 o’clock, when they took a train for St. Louis.

“With the arrival today of the Second and the Seventh infantry Regiments, Illinois National Guard, and two squadrons of the First Cavalry, all from Chicago, the entire National Guard of Illinois, with the exception of the Sixth Infantry and the Eighth Infantry, (colored,) is on duty in Springfield. In all, 4,200 guardsmen are in the city.

“A council of war was held at the Capitol this afternoon by Gov. Deneen, Adjt. Gen. Scott, Gen. F.P. Wells and Col. Sanborne. A plan was adopted to render further demonstrations improbable.

“Col. Sanborne was put in command of a provisional brigade, consisting of the First and Second Infantry Regiments, with instructions to preserve the peace in the territory west of Seventh Street. The two regiments established headquarters on the Capitol grounds, their shelter tents bordering the State House on three sides.

“Gen. Wells, with headquarters at the County Jail, posted guards to cover the city east of Seventh Street. The first cavalry was detailed under Major Frank Bush at division headquarters under Major Gen. Young.

“The Second Infantry reached this city at 3:30 P.M., under command of Col. John Garrity. The manner in which a line of skirmishers was thrown out as the guardsmen debarked from the train gained applause from the crowd which had gathered at the railroad station to watch the arrival. The khaki-clad militiamen marched to the Capitol to a fife-and-drum quickstep, and their assignment to Col. Sanborn’s brigade followed.

Complaints From Suburbs.

“Several complaints were received from nearby villages and hamlets of the existence of threatening conditions. The most insistent came from Chatham, twelve miles south. The negroes there had become frightened at the attitude of their white neighbors and asked that troops be sent. Their spokesman was told that the best plan would be for them to come to Springfield and seek protection at the arsenal.

“The authorities are a bit worried by the condition in thee outside sections. Minor depredations, it is said, have increased in the farming regions because of the influx of negroes.

“This afternoon an alarm reached the arsenal from Spring and Edward Streets, where William Donegan was lynched. A rapid fire squad was sent to the place on the double quick. Within five minutes the squad had cleared the streets for half a mile from the threatened corner, three companies of infantry being held under arms at the arsenal meanwhile.

“A court of inquiry which considered the case of Private Klein, who killed Earl Nelson with his bayonet while on guard on a train, reported to Adjt. Gen. Scott today that Klein’s act was performed in the strict line of duty. Klein had been placed as one of a guard of the baggage car on the first section of the Illinois Central train which brought the First Infantry to Springfield yesterday. The train was a special one, and the baggage car contained property owned by the State. Klein guarded the front door, and was instructed by Lieut. Guilford to allow no one not officially countenanced to enter the car. At Kankakee four young men, according to the report, climbed to the front platform and attempted to enter the car. Klein barred the way, using the only weapon available, a bayonet. As the train started the four youths left the platform. Klein was not aware that Nelson or anyone had been injured. State’s Attorney Cooper of Kankakee probably will institute action against Klein in the Criminal Court at Kankakee. The Attorney General of the State is compelled by law to defend National guardsmen in such cases.” (New York Times. “Troops Check Riots, Sixth Victim Dies.” 8-17-1908, pp. 1-2.)

Aug 17: “Springfield, Ill., Aug. 17. — After a day of peace, rioting started again in Springfield late to-night. There has been shooting in half a dozen places on the West Side, and several arrests have been made. Earl Ashley and Guy Duncan, two members of Company D of Bloomington were fired on from an alley as they were patrolling in the neighborhood of Spring and Edwards Streets, the scene of the lynching of the aged negro Donegan on Saturday night. The soldiers were not hit. Two hundred troopers and cavalry hurried to the spot.

“A fire started in the negro quarter in the First Ward at 11:30.

Another Death.

“One more victim was added to the death list of Springfield mobs tonight, when G. W. Scott succumbed to a gunshot would in the lungs sustained Friday night. Scott’s death is the fourth chargeable to the disorder in the ‘black belt,’ near Twelfth and Madison Streets. It was there that the hunted negroes made their stand, firing on the mob from windows and roofs.

“Another death is expected momentarily. W. H. Bowes, chief clerk in the County Treasurer’s office, is slowly sinking from the effects of the bullet wounds and the beating which he suffered at the hands of negroes Friday night. Bowe’s friends have warned the authorities that he will be avenged, and his death will cause a redoubling of vigilance by the troops.

“Gov. Deneen tonight issued six proclamations, one for each violent death during the riots, offering a reward of $200 for evidence which would lead to the conviction of the guilty persons.

“‘Wait until the troops go’ is the word that has been passed around town, and recognizing the strength of the under current, State, city, and County officers are taking every effort to turn public opinion toward law and order. To that end Gov. Deneen has been in conference with officers of various civic bodies, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Springfield Bar Association, and the Evangelical Ministers’ Association. Evidence is not lacking that many citizens who were known to have important testimony regarding the mob and its leaders have been deterred from offering this to the State’s attorney because of threats of violence made against them anonymously.

“‘The riot could scarcely have been prevented, and real disgrace will come only if the guilty are allowed to escape,’ is the opinion of the authorities. So the civic bodies are asked to urge all good citizens to reveal freely whatever of testimony they may possess. Only sheer weight of evidence is likely to break through the local prejudice and assure convictions, according to the police.

Eighty Looters Under Arrest.

“The gathering of evidence began in earnest today. Policemen in plain clothes were sent to search the houses of prisoners and suspects, and as a result the police station looked like a general store tonight. Groceries, hardware, clothing, drugs, and shies were recovered in great quantities, most of them bearing the price tags of the looted business houses.

“Many arrests followed. Eighty prisoners were crowded into the small cell room at the police station with only the cement floor available for sleeping.

“Five of the arrests made today are regarded as important by the police. It was in the homes of these men that most of the loot was found. A sixth person is being sought by the police, who aver that when he is arrested all of the ringleaders of the mob will be in custody.

“Roy Young, 22 years old, one of the prisoners taken yesterday, has confessed to starting a number of fires, the police say. A search of his rooms revealed a quantity of new overalls, shoes, boys shirts, and other articles of apparel.

“The Grand Jury investigation will be of a breadth that will startle the citizens of Springfield and Sangamon County. It will begin tomorrow afternoon, the special Grand Jury which indicted Joseph James for the alleged murder of Clergy Ballard having been summoned to consider the riots.

“No indictments will be sought by the States Attorney for alleged rioting. The charges that will be brought against the suspected active participants in the lawlessness will be murder, arson, robber, and grand larceny. In addition, attempts will be made to indict the less active members of the mob.

“A section of the riot act of Illinois provides that ‘standing by and encouraging’ acts of lawlessness shall be considered penal offenses. Under this all persons who added to the chaos of Friday and Sunday by yelling or by applauding the acts of rioters, are liable to indictment, and upon conviction, to commitment to imprisonment in the State Prison. It is this latter phase of the investigation which is expected to cause some sensations when the Grand Jury makes its report.

“Altogether some fifty or more cases will be brought before the jury, and if the expectations of the State’s attorney are fulfilled several hitherto respected citizens will find themselves called upon to face serious charges in the Criminal Court.

More Troops Not Needed

“It is probable that the military will remain until the special Grand Jury summoned today completes its report and returns indictments. The force on hand will not be added to, however, the 4,200 soldiers now encamped on the public square and streets being sufficient to cover the city so thoroughly that there is slight chance for a mob to storm any point.

“There was considerable influx of refugees today from Decatur, Bloomington, Peoria, and other towns. Gov. Deneen was the recipient of many inquiries from these people, asking whether it was safe to return. In each case the Governor assumed personal responsibility for the protection of the negroes, advising them, however, to time their coming so that they would arrive before nightfall. ‘We want all the negroes who have fled from Springfield, or who live in nearby towns, and are afraid of violence, to come here,’ said the Governor. ‘This is the best place in the State for them, for here we can shelter, feed, and protect those who are unable to care for themselves.

The Refugees.

“Many more negroes from the residence districts of the city came to the arsenal today, swelling the number now being sheltered by the State to 400. None of them have left the place since they entered. It is feared that their very presence would incite a riot, and they are guarded as closely as is the ammunition kept in the building. None is to be seen through the open doors of the armory, and no negroes go in or out of the building. The colored people are fed from the kitchens of the militiamen, which are located just across the alley from the west entrance to the building.

“Among the refugees in the arsenal is Mrs. William Donegan, the white widow of the aged negro who was strung up Saturday night. ‘I left my sons to take care of the house,’ she said, ‘for I was afraid to stay there any longer.’ It is because of her marriage to Donegan that the mob feeling against her husband is believed to have been aroused.

“Ezra Richardson, brother of the man whose alleged attack on Mrs. Hallam started Friday night’s outbreak, is among the negroes at the arsenal. ‘I am here and am going to stay here till this thing blows over,’ he said. ‘I had to run for my life yesterday. I was driving a team on the outskirts of the town when a crowd of white men got after me. There were about eight of them and all said, ‘Let’s get this…[racial slur],’ but I whipped up my horses and escaped.’” (New York Times. “Troops Fired on by Race Rioters.” 8-18-1908, p. 5.)

Aug 17: “Peoria, Ill., Aug. 17. – ‘I am one of those who helped to lynch William Donegan at Springfield and I believe I am going insane,’ was the statement of Charles Gadwin at the office of the Superintendent of the Bartonville Asylum last night. ‘We stamped him in the face, we cut his throat, and then put a rope around his neck. That’s what it took to kill him.’ Gadwin said that he formerly was a member of the Thirty-second United States Volunteers in the Philippines, and had a sister at the asylum. He was placed under guard.” (New York Times. “Says He Helped Lynchers.” 8-18-1908, p. 5.)

Aug 18: “Springfield, Ill., Aug. 18. — That those in authority believe that the danger of serious trouble in the race war is over was made evident to-night when Gov. Deneen ordered the First Infantry of Chicago to return to that city to-morrow.

“The session of the Grand Jury today was devoted to hearing witnesses in the case of the attack on Mrs. Earle Hallam. George Richardson, the negro whom Mrs. Hallam identified as her assailant, although not positively, was indicted. Richardson protests his innocence.

“The Grand Jury will meet again tomorrow morning to begin its general investigation into the riots.

“The funeral of Frank Delmore, who was killed by the mob, was held today…

“The determination of Gov. Deneen, announced today, not to surrender Private Klein, who killed a young man at Kankakee, following hi orders to guard the car, has a deep significance. It is felt that unless a firm stand is taken in behalf of the soldier who kills in the discharge of his duty, even though such action would appear over-zealous in civil life, the morale of the National Guard will be injured. It was this sentiment which was freely expressed to Gov. Deneen by officers of the National Guard with whom he consulted regarding the case.

“It was authoritatively stated tonight that the appeal to Gov. Deneen and the action of the business men this morning calling on good citizens for information which would lead to the conviction of those guilty of rioting bore quick fruit. A surprising number of persons called on State Attorney Hatch and gave him information which will be of value in guiding the actions of the Grnd Jury.

“Tonight Gov. Deneen called the attention of the State Attorney’s office to another case of intimidation, asking that it be brought before the Grand Jury. A negro, whose identity is kept secret, was driven from Andrew, a mining village three miles from here. Threats of lynching were made against the man, he told the Governor, and he was compelled to give up a chance to work in a mine there and return to Springfield. The names of the ringleaders in the demonstration were reported to the Governor and by him to the State Attorney.

Chamber of Commerce Acts.

“An enthusiastic meeting of business men was held at the Chamber of Commerce today. E. L. Chapin, Chairman, made an address in which he said:

The question before us is whether law and order shall prevail in this community, or whether it shall be committed to the rule of riot, ruin, and rebellion. You know about these events and their results in bloodshed and property loss. I believe that out of every ten men in in this city nine are law-abiding, faithful citizens. Of the persons in that mob there was not one to whom any of us would entrust a single dollar. Not one of them felt any degree of responsibility for the welfare of this community.

“Resolutions promising aid of the members in bringing disturbers of the peace to justice were read.

“At 5 o’clock this afternoon Gen. Young made the rounds of the various posts and found all in excellent order and in readiness for prompt action. He ordered that the usual patrols should be sent out, beginning at 7 P.M., and stationed cavalry and wagons at strategic points in case of the assembling of unruly crowds of any considerable size.

“The only case of violence reported during the day occurred on North Eighth Street. A small crowd of white men and boys set upon a negro and beat him severely. The affair was reported to the headquarters of Gen. Wells, but the roughs had scattered by the time soldiers reached the scene.

Miners Fear Trouble.

“White miners at the Woodside coal mine, a mile out of town, and the Tuxhorn mine, four miles distant, refused today to work with the negroes. The two mines employ about 500 men, about 150 of whom are colored. The white miners came to President Clark of the Springfield sub-district of the United Mine Workers, with the declaration that the negroes were armed, and they did not feel safe in the underground darkness with them.

“On the other hand, it is said that the negroes have armed with no thought of taking initial action, but to protect themselves in case of trouble. President Clark said that, so far as he knew, there had been no clashes between whites and blacks in the mines. ‘They are just nervous, I guess,’ commented the organization leader. ‘Both races belong to the union, and the union will see that no serious trouble arises.’ Mr. Clark says that a mere matter of ‘nerves’ did not justify quitting work, and asserted that the two mines would be working full-handed tomorrow or the next day. The whole matter was referred to an examining board, which spent the day quizzing both blacks and whites as to warlike preparations, if any, down in the shafts.” (New York Times. “Rally of Citizens to End Race War.” 8-19-1908, p. 2.)

Aug 18: “Springfield, Ill., as a community, has some of the characteristics of the half-grown man. It has passed beyond the simple habits and has lost the hom*ogeneity of the small city, without attaining to the stronger and more efficient organization of the large city. Moreover, a considerable part of its twoscore thousand of inhabitants is made up of negroes of the less desirable sort, many of them having been brought into the city as strikebreakers, and remaining with irregular employment and habits of life.

“The occurrence that led to the lynching of two negroes and the subsequent outburst of murder, arson, and violence took place in a town where contempt and hatred of the blacks was a chronic state of mind among a large part of the population, so that the impulse toward barbarism was neither resisted by prevailing sober and decent sentiment nor met by prompt and adequate methods of repression on the part of the municipal authorities. The police seem to have done their duty as well as could have been expected, but they were too weak in numbers and discipline to deal with so sudden and serious an emergency.

“The Governor, on the other hand, acted promptly, and doubtless with what he thought was sufficient use of force. The event proved that he underestimated the extent of the work the militia would have to do. And the militia, it must always be remembered, is a very imperfect instrument for the suppression of a really serious riot of the peculiar kind that raged in Springfield. Had the Governor had at his disposal a thoroughly organized and trained State police force which he could have thrown into Springfield at a few hours’ notice, it is practically certain that the trouble would have been ended within twenty-four hours.

“Such a force would not only be more effective because disciplined and practiced in police work, but because their officers would be much better able to decide how much force to use and how to use it, and much more ready to use it with conclusive vigor. The need of this kind of protective and repressive force is the plain lesson of the awful experiences in Illinois. These may be repeated at any moment in any part of the country. The spirit that led to them exits to a degree that respectable and law-abiding citizens do not understand. The possibility of an eruption of it is an element in the problem of every-day administration of government in our Republic.” (New York Times. “The Savages of Springfield.” 8-18-1908, p. 6.)

Aug 19: “Springfield, Ill., Aug. 19. – The departure of two regiments of infantry today and the announcement that two more organizations will be sent home tomorrow have caused fear and consternation among the negro residents. Delegations of negroes were organized and sent to the State, county, and city officials to protest against a relaxation of the military regime. Scores of fearful blacks sought refuge in the arsenal. Early in the evening almost twice as many applications for shelter had been received there as on previous night, and about 300 negroes curled up in the corners of the balcony, sleeping on the floor or in chairs.

“The exodus of negroes, which had begun to abate, was renewed. Trains and trolley cars were used, and many took the road, tramping across the country in a drizzling rain until exhaustion forced them to seek rest in cornfields or in wood lots.

“The special Grand Jury today examined nearly two score witnesses, but made no return of its proceedings.

“Another coal mine was closed today because the whites and negroes refused to work together under ground.” (New York Times. “Springfield Riots End.” 8-20-1908, p. 14.)

Aug 20: “The comments of the Southern press on the “race riots” at Springfield are on the whole marked by extreme moderation and fairness. It is inevitable that the writers should dwell upon the fact that the Northern mob is more indiscriminate and therefore more cruel than the Southern mob is apt to be. The Mobile Register, for instance, expresses the judgment found in many of the papers:

A Southern mob confines its attentions strictly to the guilty or supposed-to-be guilty; all other negroes are safe, and go about their business as usual. There may be racial animosity down here, but not enough of it to incite the mob to general violence. The reason is that Southerners know the negroes, and are aware that there are good negroes and a few bad ones; whereas all negroes look alike to the Northern whites, and if the Northerners dislike any they dislike all of them.

“The Charleston Union points out that in the North the jealousy, suspicion, and fear of blacks by laboring men have much to do with the animosity toward them, and the bad passions which are the worse side of the trades union spirit, manifest themselves. As to prevention and remedy The Times-Dispatch of Richmond says:

While in the process of time it is possible means may be found whereby the contact of races will become less irritating, the immediate duty is obvious. It is not to abuse one section of the country as more barbarous than other sections, but for each community to take on itself the vigorous maintenance of law and order. Let it be known that for every outrage the law will inflict due punishment, and that every attempt at private or mob revenge will be sternly repressed and the offenders treated as criminals.

“The Augusta Chronicle, in the same just spirit, remarks:

The crime which provoked the Atlanta riot [Sep 22-26, 1906] was committed by a negro but little above the savage in intellect and character; and the mob which wrought vengeance on his race was made up, for the most part, of reckless boys and roughs. We have no doubt the same was true in Springfield – as it is generally true elsewhere. The respectable, representative members of both races are mere onlookers; enforced witnesses of acts which disgrace civilization and outrage humanity.

As for the solution – it must be to lift the ignorant and vicious, of whatever race, to a higher plane. And until then, and always, the application of the strong arm of the law – whether it be to apprehend and punish the perpetrator of a crime, or to hold in check the savage mob that seeks unlawful vengeance.”

(New York Times. “The South on Springfield.” 8-20-1908, p. 6.)

Aug 22: “Springfield, Ill., Aug. 22. – Twenty more indictments, making fifty all told, in connection with the recent race riots, were returned by the special Grand Jury of Sangamon County late today. These include five indictments against Thomas Marshall and twelve other negroes whom he is accused of having led in a murderous assault upon William Bow, chief clerk of the County Treasurer’s office, and John Wattling. Bowe has been hovering between life and death for a week.

“Three plain cases of assault and battery, registered on the complaint of citizens who were knocked down and beaten by the negroes, were also recorded.

“The other indictments returned today are against whites, and are based upon the destruction and looting of Loper’s restaurant.

“About thirty-five men are in jail awaiting the disposition of their cases by the Grand Jury.” (New York Times. “20 Race War Indictments.” 8-23-1908, p. 6.)

Aug 23: “St. Louis, Aug. 23. – C. W. Sanford of this city has received a letter from Judge William H. Taft which gives the Republican Presidential candidate’s views on the recent Springfield (Ill.) riots.

Hot Springs, Va., Aug. 20, 1908.
My dear Sir: I have your letter of Aug. 15 in reference to the recent riot at Springfield, Ill. Every good citizen in the country must deplore the fiendish work of the disgraceful mob that has brought the City of Springfield to sorrow. Such an outbreak of lawlessness and bitter race prejudice makes the lover of his country sad.

It should nerve those if favor of improving the administration of the criminal law to more earnest effort, because I am confident that if all charges of crime were promptly investigated and convicted criminals punished there would be much less temptation to the formation of such conscienceless and cruel mobs as that which ran riot in Springfield. Very sincerely yours,
William H. Taft.

“The letter was in reply to a query.” (New York Times. “Taft Deplores Riots. Says Work of the Mob at Springfield Was Fiendish.” 8-24-1908, p. 14.)

Aug 24: “The race riots at Springfield was the topic of discussion in the sermons of three negro preachers and one white minister at the services yesterday morning. In all four sermons the burden of the blame was placed upon the officials whose duty it was to suppress the mob. The Rev. Dr. Madison C. Peters’s strictures were more direct than those of his colored brethren.

“Dr. Peters is holding his Summer services on the Alhambra Roof Garden, and the main theme of his sermon was the race riots. He said in the course of his remarks:

Within sixty days twenty-seven negroes have been lynched in different parts of this boasted land of liberty and equality. Some of these negroes were publicly burned after being thoroughly oiled, and in Springfield, Ill., in the shadow of Lincoln’s old homestead, one innocent old man of 80, after being riddled with bullets, was hanged. When thousands of people witness the burnings and hangings of people who have only been charged with crime, and there is no mighty protest against the savagery of he white mob, then our civilization is a farce and Christianity a failure.

The injustice perpetrated in the majority of cases upon the innocent and the helpless could happen in no civilized country except Russia and America. And yet we claim to be the world’s teacher, and send our missionaries the world around!

We are reaping what we have allowed to be sown. Dixon’s novels and plays and Tillman’s speeches have been a menace to the best interests of our Republic, and our keeping alive the race antagonism North and South, which is setting men at one another’s throats when their hands should be clasped in brotherly love.

Haters of the negro view the race in the aggregate, and ignore the individual in arriving at a verdict against the negro – one negro is made responsible for all and all for one, and to this may be attributed the false estimate of the race and the consequent prejudice.

The triumphs of the Stars and Stripes compelled us to take our heels off black necks and throw aside our whips, but the negroes are still help in inhuman subjection to the tyranny of might, seldom making them a single concession or showing them the slightest mercy. There is no need of mob violence when justice concerns the negro; he has never yet failed to get his full deserts. We have a race ten millions strong, and it is ours to say whether it shall be a burden and a menace or whether by ‘square deal’ and the godlike virtue of justice we shall make it a potent factor in the future of the Republic.

“The Rev. Dr. J. H. McMullen, pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, at 127 West Eighty-ninth Street, delivered the sermon at the morning service, and while the race riots was not the main topic of his discourse, he dwelt slightly upon the matter. He counseled his parishioners and his race to be patient.

We must not let our sanity and judgement be swayed by such outrages as that at Springfield, nor must we apologize for the felon who caused the riots. Law and order are the means which will bring about the proper relation between races. The law is our hope and our salvation. At times we regret that the administration has not been placed in the proper hands, but eventually we will, through its right administration, received its blessings. The culprits, whether they be of our race or any other, must be punished, and we must withhold our sympathy when punishment is legally meted to a criminal.

“In the absence of the pastor of the Mount Olivet Baptist Church the Rev. B. T. Harvey of Lakewood, N.J., spoke at the morning services. In speaking of the race riots, he said:

I regard the lynching at Springfield as a great reflection upon the Christian civilization of the United States. To allow such to happen without being able to bring the perpetrators to justice is the weakest point in our Government.

I am not defending my race in wrongdoing, but I am condemning the machinery of government in not putting a stop to such open disregard of law. Nothing will stop lynching but to make the crime cost those dearly who commit it. In the meantime our people, being poor and ignorant, must observe the law and not give offense so blatant to the dominant race by committing such crimes.

The teaching of morals in the public schools will greatly help against such crimes.

“In the African Methodist Episcopal Bethel Church, at 239 West Twenty-fifth Street, the pastor, the Rev. Dr. Roverdy C. Ransom, last night spoke of the Springfield riots, and spared no words in denunciation of the officials who had allowed such an outrage to be perpetrated.

Those crimes were perpetrated within a short distance of the only home Abraham Lincoln ever owned. What would the emancipator of our race have thought had he witnessed the crimes of that horrible mob? Would he not have regarded his life as given in vain to see the people he freed subjected to such treatment? And what would he think of the men of his own country and race had he looked upon them while they went from home to home, leaving death and suffering in their wake?

We are a law-abiding people. We are not bloodthirsty, as many would have you believe. It is true that we have our bad negroes, but then we have our good negroes too. In that we are no different from any other race. Our bad men are bad not because they are negroes, but because their temperaments are evil, and that is true also of other races.

Mobs will never be put down as long as they are temporized with. The only way to guard against a repetition of that is to have the soldiers use the extremest [sic] measures in dealing with the mob. What an example is that of the other day, when the militia allowed the men of the mob to take away their weapons. What they should have done was to use the bayonets on the lawbreakers. The one way to quell a mob is to cow them, and nothing would do that quicker than to injure or shoot the ringleaders of a mob intent on arson and murder.”

(New York Times. “Springfield Mobs Flayed In Sermons.” 8-24-1908, p. 14.)

Aug 26: “Springfield, Ill., Aug. 26. — Mrs. Kate Howard, alleged to have been the leader of the mob which dominated Springfield on the nights of Aug. 14 and 15, swallowed poison while being taken to the county jail to-night, and died soon after. Her arrest followed her indictment by the Special Grand Jury, which is probing the deaths of the negroes lynched by the rioters.

“The return of the Grand Jury was made this afternoon at 4 o’clock, and included bills for murder against Mrs. Howard, Abraham Raymer, and Ernest Humphrey. A Deputy Sheriff arrested Mrs. Howard at her hotel in North Sixth Street. ‘With God as my witness, I declare to you that I am guilty of murdering no one,’ gasped the woman after she had read the warrant.

“She fell unconscious at the door of the county jail and soon died. It is thought that she swallowed arsenic.

“Mrs. Howard had maintained her innocence of any connection with the work of the mob. She admitted she was at Loper’s restaurant and that when the mob started down Washington Street to the ‘Bad Lands’ she accompanied it, but insisted she was merely an onlooker.” (New York Times. “Woman Rioter A Suicide.” 8-27-1908, p. 1.)

Jan 1, 1909: “The jury in the Sangamon Circuit Court returned a verdict of guilty of larceny in the case of Abe Raymer, charged with burglary at the residence of Major Otis Duncan, Eighth infantry, Illinois National Guard, colored, during the Springfield race riot on the night of Aug. 14, and with larceny of Major Duncan’s sword. The value of the weapon was fixed at $15. This makes the crime a jail sentence. This is the fourth trial of Raymer, he having been acquitted once on a charge of murder and twice on a charge of destruction of property. Raymer is the man who led the mob, it is charged, on the nights of Aug. 14 and 16.” (Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, IL. “Illinois State News. Record of Events of the Past Week… Abe Raymer Guilty of Theft.” 1-1-1909, p. 3.)

Jan 9, 1909: “The statistical experts in Chicago who keep a record of the ‘Lynching bees’ from year to year tell us that the practice of taking summary vengeance on dark-hued criminals is not dying out. The figures for the twelve months beginning Jan. 1, 1908, are larger than for several years past. Though the most of the lynchings occurred in the south, they were not confined to that section by any means. Springfield, Ill., was the scene of the greatest race riot of the year, resulting in the lynching of two negroes and the killing and wounding of a number of citizens who participated in the riots that lasted several days….” (Sacred Heart Review, Boston. “Lynching not Dying out.” 1-9-1909, p. 1.)

Oct 30, 1909: “Springfield, Oct 30 – Mattie Walker, colored, whose household furniture was burned by the mob during the Springfield race riot, August 1908, was awa4rded a verdict of $268 against the city in the circuit court today. It was the first verdict for damages against the city on claims growing out of the riot.

“City officials believe the verdict is a victory for the city, as the jury found the city guilty under the 1887 statute, which allows recovery of three-fourths damages, and not under the 1905 act, which permits recovery of full amount of damages.

“In passing over the plaintiff’s right to recover under the new act of 1905, which requires that the fact be established that a mob of five or more persons assembled for the purpose of exercising correctional powers, the jury decided in favor of the city…

“It other juries decide as did this one it will be held that the plaintiffs in such personal injury cases have no right to recover because the fact cannot be established that the mob desired to exercise correctional powers. Virtually the same evidence as to the fact cannot be established that a riot existed will be adduced in every case against the city.

“Personal injury suits amounting to many thousands of dollars, flowing out of the riots, will go by the board.” (Daily Review, Decatur, IL. “Negress Gets Riot Damages.” 10-30-1909, p. 1.)

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Additional References

Associated Press. “Officials save Springfield Race Riot artifacts from railroad project.” Jacksonville Journal-Courier, IL. 6-6-2018, 2A. Accessed 6-28-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/jacksonville-journal-courier-jun-06-2018-p-2/

Crouthamel, James L. “The Springfield Race Riot of 1908.” The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 45, No. 3, July 1960, pp. 164-181. First page accessed 6-27-2020 at: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.2307/2716259

Daily Review, Decatur, IL. “$5,000 Asked by Another Victim. Aged Negro Adds to List of Claims Resulting from the Riot.” 9-19-1908, p. 1. Accessed 6-27-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/decatur-daily-review-sep-19-1908-p-1/

Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, IA. “Mob Still Rules.” 8-16-2020, p. 7. Accessed 6-27-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/dubuque-telegraph-herald-aug-16-1908-p-7/

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Krohe, James Jr. In Lincoln’s Shadow: The 1908 Race Riot in Springfield, Illinois. Springfield, IL: Sangamon County Historical Society, 1996.

Krohe, James. Summer of Rage: The Springfield Race Riot of 1908. Sangamon County Historical Society, 1973.

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New Castle News, PA. “Rioters Lynch and Apply Torch in Springfield, Ill., When Negroes Incite Whites By Many Crimes.” 8-15-1908, p. 1. Accessed 6-27-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-castle-news-aug-15-1908-p-1/

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