Index :: 1901 Race Riot

MANY KILLED IN RACE RIOT

Whites and Negroes Terrorize Louisiana Parish.

THE MILITIA IS ORDERED OUT

Fourteen Men Reported Dead as Result of Conflict Between Races Over Lynching of a Negro

NEW ORLEANS, Oct 28—Race rioting to the death has broken out in Mississippi border, in Marion County, Fourteen deaths are reported, eleven being Negroes and three white men. The fight, being on the borderline, has aroused the Governors of two States, and troops are being hurried to the scene of conflict in Balltown, this State.

Quick as Governor Heard was to send soldiers in response to a call for aid from the  Sheriff of Columbia, the town in Mississippi nearest the scene of riot just across the line in this State, it is feared the soldiers will be too late to prevent the wiping out of almost the entire colored population of that section.  The whites are arming themselves with rifles and pouring into the Balltown district from the outlying districts.  Roadside assassinations are frequent and the whole parish is in arms, as the Negroes are prepared and consider it a fight for existence.

From the meagre reports received here it is known that the trouble began over the burning at the stake last week of the Negro, Bill Morris.  He had assaulted Mrs. Bell, the wife of the principal merchant of the town, and acknowledged, when the match was set to the pyre, that he deserved his fate.  As he burned he never even moaned, and his body only squirmed in the flames when death set in and the determined fellow no longer could control his muscles.

WANTED TO LYNCH HIM

A Negro it seems, was a member of the lynching party and loudest in his demand that the wrongs of Mrs. Bell be avenged.  The other Negroes of Balltown and Washington Parish learned of this and determined that the Negro sympathizer in the burning should meet the same fate as Morris.  That alarmed him and he appealed to the whites for protection.  The response was instant and startling.  Men armed themselves on both sides and firing began in the streets of the little town at once. Men, white and black, shot each other on sight and sides formed.

The lynching party of Negroes, bent on burning the colored man, believing they had wrongly aided at the incineration of Morris, gathered in a body and marched along a public road toward the man’s home.  They were met by the whites, and a battle resulted, in which the Negroes suffered most and were scattered.  They soon re-formed, and their force was added to by the colored help from many plantations, each armed with a knife and ready to fight to the end.

TROOPS ORDERED OUT.

When Governor Heard learned of the fight he consulted with Adjutant General Jumel and wired General John Glynn, Jr., who is in command of the State troops in this city, to send a company immediately to the scene.  The soldiers will leave here in the morning, but meantime what is going on in Balltown is unknown.

Balltown is off of the railroad and has neither telegraph nor telephone communication.  News from riders, who have reached Columbia, however, says that the entire parish is up in arms.  The soldiers, to get to Balltown and Washington parish, must pass through Mississippi.  Governor Longino of that State hurriedly wired to Governor Heard to-night that full permission was given for the passage of armed troops, and added that he was sorry he could not send troops from his State.