After he had been positively identified by the white girl as her assailant, a negro, who said his name was Will Davis, was rushed to Greensboro early this afternoon and placed in Guilford county jail for safe keeping on a charge of attempted criminal assault on an 18-year-old white girl of Randolph county. Three High Pointers, A.S. Mason, John Lyles and Lee Staton, captured the negro at a small grocery store near Winston-Salem and brought him to the home of the girl, who positively identified him as the man who attacked her on the old Thomasville road late yesterday afternoon.
It was learned in a message received from Greensboro this afternoon that the negro will be taken to Raleigh on the 4:15 o’clock train to be placed in the state penitentiary to await trial.
The capture of the negro was the result of clever detective work by three High Point men, who were being highly commended this afternoon for the splendid part they took in the search for the girl’s assailant.
Mason said that he, Lyles and Stanton drove for several miles out from Thomasville towards Winston-Salem. When they came to a bridge they found that it had been partly washed away. A negro came along at this time and told them that he had seen a negro going up the road who answered the description of the one wanted. This revived the home of the High Pointers, they braved the stream and resumed their chase for the black.
About 2 ½ miles from Winston-Salem they found the negro standing near a store eating crackers. Mason sprang upon him without the use of a weapon, and told him to come with him. He at first resisted, but when he found that Mason and his associates would stand for no foolishness, he accompanied them.
Mason said he placed the negro in the foot of the automobile and rushed him to the home of the girl. Then he drove around the outskirts of High Point to avoid the crowds. He then rushed the negro to Greensboro for safe keeping.
Davis is said to have told the authorities at Greensboro that his home is in Charlotte, and that he was en route to Winston-Salem to begin work. He said he spent last night in Lexington. He denied having any knowledge of the crime.
-=-
An armed posse of several hundred men continued to scour the woods today in search of the negro who late yesterday afternoon attempted criminal assault on an 18-year-old white girl of Randolph county. High Point was quiet this afternoon following the disturbance last night when a mob of more than 1,000 men crowded into the city jail and threatened to lynch three negroes held as suspects in connection with he attack. Local citizens sworn in as special officers pushed the mob back, and it dispersed early this morning.
The attempted assault was committed on Florence Reddick, daughter of the late June Reddick, at her home on the old Thomasville road about five miles from High Point in Randolph county near Prospect church. The girl was walking along the road when the negro sprang upon her. He failed to accomplish his purpose, according to her statement.
News of the attack spread throughout this section of the state, and in less than an hour hundreds of men and boys with shotguns, revolvers and rifles gathered on the scene, and began a march for the culprit. The arrests of five negroes followed, and High Point officers soon faced a rather unique situation when a mob formed and made an effort to take the negroes from the jail here.
After several hours of pushing and jamming in the Northside fire station house, and many sneers at the negroes in the cells, Mayor John W. Hedrick appointed 30 High Point citizens as special officers, and invested in them the authority to protect the lives and property of other citizens here. The special corps of officers immediately began pushing the mob to the front of the building. After every man had been placed outside, the doors were fastened and the men soon disappeared from the scene.
On Duty All Night
All night long the 30 citizens remained on duty at the police station ready to answer any emergency call that might be received. It is said that several of the special officers were members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Without uttering a word, the officers shortly after 5 o’clock this morning placed the three negroes in an automobile and rushed them to the Guilford county jail at Greensboro for safe keeping. There they will be kept with the other two negroes for further developments. It was being planned to take the girl to Greensboro for identifying the negro.
In the meantime officers and citizens are leaving nothing undone in their efforts to ring the guilty negro into the arms of the law. Blood hounds, which were brought from Granite Quarry last night, trailed the negro for several miles until this morning at 4 o’clock when the dogs were taken off the trail. The hunt was resumed at daylight, and a search was still being made for the culprit, when the last reports of the search were received in High Point.
Persons who have seen the negro are of the opinion that one of the five held in Greensboro is the assailant of the Randolph county woman. Although the five negroes answer the description given by the girl there are some differences in appearance and character to cause the belief that the real assailant has not yet been placed behind the bars. However, officers and citizens are not letting up in their vigorous search for the negro. They are scouring every nook and corner of the county of Randolph, and parts of Guilford, and if the negro is in this section of the state he will in all probability soon find himself under the arms of the law.
Officer Foils Mob
The story of how Chief of Police L.W. Blackwelder foiled the mob is interesting. Chief Blackwelder and several citizens went to Thomasville in search of the culprit. While stopping at a gasoline filling station they saw a negro who answered the description of the one wanted. They promptly seized the black, placed him in an automobile and returned towards High Point. As the automobile bearing the officers and the prisoner p assed the home of the girl members of the crowd searching the woods immediately demanded that the machine be brought to a stop. The car was halted.
With pistols, shotguns and all kinds of deadly weapons in their possession, Chief Blackwelder was told to turn the negro over to them. The officer refused to do this, remonstrating with the angry crowd. He told them that he was taking his man to High Point for the purpose of identifying the negro suspect. This met the approval of a few of the men standing nearby, and they consented for him to pass on. However, before he had driven his automobile a great distance, the mob reconsidered its decision and started out in pursuit of the fleeing machine. Chief Blackwelder did not stop in High Point but drove his car to Greensboro, where he placed the negro in jail for safe keeping.
While in Greensboro, the police chief was notified that there was a mob gathering at High Point. He immediately returned to this city and found upon his arrival that several hundred angry men had gathered in the jail and threatened to lynch three negroes incarcerated there. These three negroes were brought here after being taken from a passing freight train near Thomasville.
“Get Him!” Shouts Crowd
“Get him! Get him!” shouted the angry mob as it gathered in the city jail early this morning. “We want that negro, and we are going to have him.”
Chief Blackwelder exerted every effort to calm the excited men who had undoubtedly gathered there for no other purpose than that of lynching the negro. He told them that the guilty negro had not been found, and that the ones held in jail are innocent.
The words of the police chief did not satisfy the mob, and they demanded that the chief tell where the other prisoners were being kept. Chief Blackwelder then stated that one was taken to Raleigh, and the other was taken to jail in Salisbury.
The conversation grew more intense. As the chief attempted to quiet the excited men, they began to jam their way more than ever into the fire station house where the city jail is located. The chief pleaded with them to have order.
“Those fellows there undoubtedly innocent, and it would never do to take one of their lives,” the chief said. “I promise you that they will be kept in jail, and that not one of them will get away if it requires all the patrolmen I have to carry out that promise.”
But still the chief could not stop the mob. They crowded into the jail, around and on top of the cells where the negroes were begging for mercy. Mayor Hedrick arrived on the scene, and swore in special officers. Sheriff D.B. Stafford and his heroic deputy Mike Caffey of Greensboro, also were summoned, and spent several hours in High Point to quell any riot that might be started. They left the city about 2 o’clock this morning for Greensboro.
Crowds in the Search
Reports were received a the police station this morning that another mob was being formed at Thomasville, and that the members had stated that they would march into High Point and take the prisoners from the jail. However, investigation by county authorities showed this to be a mistake. It is thought that this report was started when it became known that large number of men had gathered with bloodhounds at the scene of the attack, which is between High Point and Thomasville.
Persons gathered at the scene, it is believed, were there to assist officers in the search. Several hundred automobiles are said to have been parked along the road from late yesterday afternoon until early this morning. Other cars were found in that section yesterday afternoon.
News of the attempted criminal assault reached High Point shortly before 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. It spread rapidly to every nook and corner of the city, and soon hundreds of men hurried to the scene in automobiles. Immediately after their arrival they took up the search and were still at it today.
Attacked on Highway
According to the story told by the girl, she was walking along the main road, passing through a wooded area when the negro suddenly came upon her. She said he spoke to her and she also spoke. Suddenly and without warning the negro grabbed her by the throat, and taking her in his harms pulled her into the woods near a stump. The girls said that after the negro had choked her almost to insensibility he left her on the ground and returned to the road to get an umbrella, which she had dropped during the scuffle. While he was gone the girl, according to her own story, ran to the road and threw up her hands. She was carrying a bottle of medicine in her hand, having gone for it at the home of her sister. The girl fell to the ground and was picked up and taken to her home by L.R. Loflin and W.K. Reid of Denton, who were returning from High Point.
Messrs. Loflin and Reid, who saw the girl when she came out in the road, stated that they thought she was drunk. When she fell to the ground, however, they saw something was wrong, and they immediately hurried to her rescue.
A relative of the girl said he saw the negro shortly after the attack but he knew nothing of it. He said he did notice that the negro was in a hurry as he cut across the swamps, going toward the Southern railroad tracks. Learning later of the attack, he ran to a telephone and called for county officers. Chief Blackwelder, members of the local police department and an Enterprise reporter were among the first to reach the scene. Officials today commend High Point citizens for the stand they took in opposing mob rule by offering assistance last night.
It was reported that more than 300 Ku Klu Klansmen have been assisting in the search for the negro.
From the front page of The High Point Enterprise, July 6, 1922
No comments:
Post a Comment