Chicago race riot 1919

On Sunday, July 27, white bathers attacked several black youths swimming near one of Lake Michigan’s white beaches, resulting in the death of an African-American boy. Five days of intense racial violence followed, claiming the lives of 23 black and 15 white Chicagoans, with more than 500 others wounded and thousands of black and white citizens burned out of their homes. A plethora of news reports and editorials offered instant analysis and helped shape local and national attitudes.


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Racial feeling, which had been on a par with the weather during the day took fire shortly after 5 o’clock when white bathers at the Twenty-ninth street improvised beach saw a colored boy on a raft paddling into what they termed “white” territory.

A snarl of protest went up from the whites and soon a volley of rocks and stones were sent in his direction. One rock, said to have been thrown by George Stauber of 2904 Cottage Grove avenue, struck the lad and he toppled into the water.

Cop Refuses to Interfere.

Colored men who were present attempted to go to his rescue, but they were kept back by the whites, it is said. Colored men and women, it is alleged, asked Policeman Dan Callahan of the Cottage Grove station to arrest Stauber, but he is said to have refused.

Then, indignant at the conduct of the policeman, the Negroes set upon Stauber and commenced to pummel him. The whites came to his rescue and then the battle royal was on. Fists flew and rocks were hurled. Bathers from the colored Twenty-fifth street beach were attracted to the scene of the battling and aided their comrades in driving the whites into the water.

Negroes Chase Policeman.

Then they turned on Policeman Callahan and drove him down Twenty-ninth street. He ran into a drug store at Twenty-ninth street and Cottage Grove avenue and phoned the Cottage Grove avenue police station.

Two wagon loads of cops rolled to the scene, and in a scuffle that ensued here Policeman John O’Brien and three blacks were shot.

Riot calls were sent to the Cottage Grove avenue station and more reserves were sent into the black belt. By this time the battling had spread along Cottage Grove avenue and outbreaks were conspicuous at nearly every corner.

Meanwhile the fighting continued along the lake. Miss Mame McDonald and her sister, Frances, had been bathing with a friend, Lieut. Runkie, a convalescing soldier. A colored woman walked up to the trio and made insulting remarks, it is said.

Runkie attempted to interfere, but the colored woman voiced a series of oaths and promptly struck the soldier in the face. Negroes in the vicinity hurled stones and rocks at the women and both were slightly injured.

Reserves Called Out.

In less than a half hour after the beach outbreak, Cottage Grove avenue and State street from Twenty-ninth south to Thirty-fifth were bubbling caldrons of action.

When the situation had gotten beyond the control of the Cottage Grove police, Acting Chief of Police Alcock was notified. He immediately sent out a call to every station in the city to rush all available men to the black belt.

Before they arrived colored and white men were mobbed in turn. The blacks added to the racial feeling by carrying guns and brandishing knives. It was not until the reserves arrived that the rioting was quelled.

Whites Arm Selves.

News of the afternoon doings had spread through all parts of the south side by nightfall, and whites stood at all prominent corners ready to avenge the beatings their brethren had received. Along Halsted and State streets they were armed with clubs, and every Negro who appeared was pommeled.

Lewis Phillips, colored, was riding in a Thirty-ninth street car, when a white man took a pot shot from the corner as the car neared Halsted street. Phillips was wounded in the groin and was taken to the provident hospital.

Harry Speez, colored, 3142 West Fifteenth street, beaten unconscious by whites.

William Cheeshire, white, beaten and stabbed in face by negroes.


Henry Lee, colored, was assaulted and stabbed in the back at Throop and 31st streets by three white men. Policemen found him lying in the street with three wounds in his back. He was rushed to the People’s hospital.

A short time later the police were called to South State and West 35th streets where a gang of negroes had attacked Thor Schneiderbeck, white, 4319 6th avenue. Schneiderbeck suffered serious injuries in the abdomen. He, too, was taken to the People’s hospital.

Lewis B. Knight, white, 6400 Dorchester avenue; beaten about head with clubs by 8 negroes.

A gang of white men who had gathered at Canal and West 26th streets held up street cars on the 26th street line and compelled colored passengers to get off, chasing them out of the neighborhood. Their attitude toward the negroes became so menacing that street car conductors warned colored passengers from riding beyond Wentworth avenue for fear they would be seriously injured.

Negro Hit with Brick.

Thomas Byrd, colored, 3332 South Park avenue, was pulled from a street car and struck with a brick. He suffered bruises on the head. A call for the police was sent in and three men were arrested. Charles Hammerstein was charged with having hurled the brick, while J. Milosvice and Sam Morelli were charged with disorderly conduct.

Several white men attacked three colored passengers of an east bound 31st street car at South Halsted street this afternoon, injuring all three of them. Michael Laffey, 19, 2945 Loomis street, was arrested as the ringleader. Those attacked were: John Davis, 503 Aldine square, scalp wounds; Mrs. Charles Williams, 4564 South State street, and Verlaine Snyder, 3002 South Park avenue, bruised about the body.

Dr. J. U. Turner, a colored health department inspector, living at 1926 Winnemac street, was attacked by five white men at south Halsted and 35th streets. He was reading a newspaper when they charged. However, when the men saw his star they turned around and tried to get away.

Dr. Turner chased them and captured one of the men, who gave his name as Henry Rosin, 19 years old, 1404 Fuller street. A riot call was sent to the Deering street station and Rosin was taken into custody.

Mayor Thompson May Take Hand.

It is expected that Mayor Thompson will confer this afternoon with south side political leaders who are supposed to be in close touch with the racial situation in the 2nd and 5th wards, and it is possible that if the disorders continue he will have a statement to make before the day is over. It is known that one city hall leader considers the situation so critical that he intends to make a special appeal to the mayor to take action.

George F. Harding Jr., city comptroller, who is believed to enjoy the confidence of the colored people on the south to perhaps as great an extent as any white man, said he considered the situation serious, though he believed the reports of rioting had been exaggerated. When asked what he would suggest as the best means of quelling the disturbances, he replied:

"Let the police do their duty. They should handle the situation firmly and show no favoritism toward white or black people.

Arrest All Who Violate Laws.

"If a colored man or a white man disobeys the law he should be arrested. I think that if the police department does its duty, the outbreaks will not be serious.

“I heard of the trouble yesterday and started out for a personal investigation. I was surprised at the order that seemed to prevail everywhere I went, and concluded that the trouble was not as serious as reported. I walked from 39th to 22nd street along the breakwater and did not see one fight.”

At to-day’s session of the city council’s police committee Ald. John H. Passmore of the 3rd ward introduced a resolution that would empower the police in districts where race riots occur to search all suspicious individuals for weapons and disarm them. He said that only by preventing the promiscuous use of firearms could the city be guarded against the recurrence of riots of a serious character.

The Stock Yards police station received a riot call from Halsted and 51st streets, where it was reported negroes had been attacked by white men. When a patrol wagon reached the scene, no disturbance was in evidence, but Robert Barchton, colored, 5019 Princeton avenue, was found lying in the street. Four of Barchton’s front teeth were knocked out and his face was bruised.

He told the police that a crowd of twenty whites had attacked him, and had escaped after beating him. He was taken to his home.

Another disturbance was reported at West 23rd street and Wentworth avenue, where Robert Reynolds and George Martin, two negro boys employed by the Postal Telegraph company as messengers were attacked by a group of ten white men. They fled to a bicycle shop at 2331 Wentworth avenue, where the proprietor, Edward Jackson, sheltered them in a rear room, while he notified the Deering street police.

Bathing Beach Deserted.

The bathing beach at East 29th street, where the riots started yesterday with the appearance of several negroes on the beach used by the whites was deserted to-day. Not a single swimmer was in the water, and the only persons in evidence were two policemen patrolling the water front.

A careful examination of the body of the unidentified colored boy—who was drowned, it is said, when he was thrown from a raft by rioters yesterday—showed no bruises indicating that he had been attacked, the police announced. They declared they believed the boy drowned when he got into deep water.

While feeling was reported running high between the races, the first battles of to-day, centering around West 35th, West 36th and West 37th streets and Wentworth avenue, were reported to be minor in character and the police said the situation was under control.

Five hundred policemen were being held in reserve to check any rioting, while fifty mounted policemen and 100 patrolmen have been assigned to special duty in guarding the district.

Negroes Attack White Men

The first report of trouble after daylight to-day was that a white man, walking along Wentworth avenue near West 35th street had been attacked by negroes. Other white persons in the vicinity joined in the fight.

When the Deering street police arrived they found the situation quiet, but Policeman Philip Groak had in custody Moses Thomas, colored, 3002 South State street. He was said to have started another disturbance by drawing a revolver and firing several shots at white men passing by in a truck on their way to work. No one was hit. Groak heard the shots and rushing to the place, saw Thomas with a revolver in his hand. The crowd had disappeared when the police arrived.

Five riot calls kept the Deering street police on the run, disturbances being reported also in the neighborhood of 36th and South State streets and West 36th and Wallace streets. Police of the Cottage Grove avenue station were given orders to search every colored man on the street for revolvers and not to allow whites or negroes to congregate in groups of more than three persons. Three patrol wagons and an ambulance are being kept parked in front of the cottage Grove avenue station today, ready for any emergency.





Partial List of Wounded.

An incomplete list of the wounded follows:






Edward Hausner, white, 4347 S. State street, cut about legs and face.

Arthur Carroll, white, 2979 Prairie avenue, head bruised by stone.

James Crawford, colored, 959 Federal street, shot through abdomen; probably

will die; taken to Michael Reese hospital.

Charles Cormier, white, 2839 Cottage Grove avenue, shot in head by stray bullet.

William Long, white, 2215 S. State street; cut in head and back.

Joseph Wiggins, colored, 2417 Wabash avenue, beaten about head.

Phil Griffin, colored, 912 East Thirty-third street, shot in both legs.

George Stauber, white, 2903 Cottage Grove avenue, beaten and cut.

Herman Rabisohn, white, 1804 South State street, bruised by missiles.

John O’neil, white, 1828 West Thirty-fifth street, struck on head by brick.

Walter Carson, white, same address, face cut by rock.

William Cheeshire, white, 3529 South Hermitage avenue; stabbed in face; taken

to Provident hospital.

Anton Dugo, white, 627 East Twenty-fifth street; shot in leg; taken to St.

Anthony’s hospital.

William Soott, colored, 3611 Vernon avenue; scalp wounds.

Miss Mamie Mcdonald, white, 2901 Emerald avenue; head cut by brick.

Miss Frances Mcdonald, sister, same address; back injured by rock.

Mrs. Gladys Williams, white, 2818 Indiana avenue; face bruised by stone.

Melvin Davis, colored, 2816 Cottage Grove avenue, beaten while waiting for

Halsted street car.

Harry Speez, colored, 3142 West Fifteenth street, knocked unconscious by whites

at Thirty-first and Halsted streets.

Lewis Phillips, colored, 452 East Thirty-ninth street, shot in groin while riding in

Thirty-ninth street car; taken to Provident hospital.

Frank Walls, white, pipeman of Engine company 9, struck in neck by rock.

Evelyn Boyde, white, 530 West Twenty-seventh street, hit on face and hip by

stones.

Frances Boyde, sister, same address, knocked down by rock.

Lewis B. Knight, white, 6400 Dorchester avenue; beaten about head with clubs.