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Sunday, November 18, 2018

Mob Trying to Lynch Man Shoot and Seriously Wound Him, Also Kill Fireman and 14-Year-Old Girl Watching Rioting From Her Upstairs Window

From the Hickory Daily Record, Nov. 18, 1918

Winston-Salem Calm Today After Night of Rioting in Which Four Persons Are Killed. . . Troops from Charlotte and Raleigh Help Home Guards in Work

By the Associated Press

Winston-Salem, Nov. 16—Order was restored here today after a night of rioting in which four persons were killed and a score injured when a mob attempted to lynch Russell High, a negro, held in the city jail on charges of shooting John E. Childress, Sheriff Flint and attacking Mrs. Childress.
The negro, who was not positively identified, is believed to have been taken to a neighboring city for safekeeping.

Arrival of 250 soldiers from Camp Greene and 175 from Camp Polk today had a pronounced effect on the mob, which dispersed after word had been passed around that the prisoner had been secreted away.

Before the troops reached here, the police, assisted by home guards, arrested a large number of whites and negroes for carrying concealed weapons. The jail at daylight was filled with persons who were disarmed and locked up while the mob spirit was at its highest pitch.

The list of dead included Rachel Levi, a young girl who was shot while leaning out of a window in her home during the height of the disturbance, Robert Young, a fireman was killed while playing a stream of water on the mob. Charles J. White, a construction foreman, was fatally wounded while driving a motor car. The fourth victim was an unidentified negro.

Childress and his wife and Sheriff Flint were shot Saturday night. After the arrest of High there was much talk of lynching and a mob quickly gathered. Efforts of the mayor to restore order failed.

Detachments of home guards form Greensboro and Mount Airy, summoned here when the situation got beyond control of the local authorities, returned today.

Governor Bickett at Raleigh announced today that there would be a complete investigation.

Five of the more seriously injured, including two members of the home guards, were taken to hospitals, but many others were treated at their homes. The total number of injured was not known and the police would not even hazard an estimate.

The mob first formed yesterday afternoon about 3:30 o’clock and stormed the jail. Three shots were fired and the negro accused of shooting the two men and attacking Mrs. Childress was seriously wounded, while a white man named Traggs also was hit in the arm by a stray bullet.

After some difficulty, the police succeeded in clearing the crowd out of the building and the mayor called out home guards. Quiet reigned for a time, but later the report went around that the negro shot was not the man that had been sought. By nightfall the mob had reformed and started marching to the jail, which was surrounded by home guards.

Hardware Stores Broken Open

Hardware stores were broken into and revolvers, shotguns and other weapons and ammunition taken. As the mob marched, it increased in size and when its objective was reached it numbered several thousand. The mayor sought to address the crowd, but could not be heard. In the meantime fire companied had arrived and when the mob broke for the jail, firemen turned water on them.

Firing immediately followed, and Young was shot dead. A bullet hit Miss Levi, who was watching nearby. The home guards answered the volley but the mob quickly overpowered them and went into the jail. Two members of the guard were badly hurt by being thrown bodily down a stairway which they were guarding.

Apparently the mob did not find the negro it sought for no more of the prisoners were fired upon. After an hour or more the mob left the jail and started marching through the business section of the town. Gradually it broke into groups and for a time it was feared that there would be a race riot as some of the groups headed for the negro quarters.


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