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Governor Ritchie's Clipping File on Lynching msa_s1048_1_and_10-0326 Enlarge and print image (233K)  Notes  Transcribe << PREVIOUS NEXT >> |
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Governor Ritchie's Clipping File on Lynching msa_s1048_1_and_10-0326 Enlarge and print image (233K)  Notes  Transcribe << PREVIOUS NEXT >> |
| then went around to a side door of the institution and entered. Took Him "Quietly" The mob's representatives, it was reported later, went directly ti the hospital superintendent, Miss Helen V. Wise. One of them said to her: "Shall we take him quietly?" She is reported to have replied: "If you must take him, do it quietly." Reappeared With Victim They reappeared in a few moments with the Negro, whom they had taken from his bed in the Negro ward on the first floor. Williams' head was so heavily bandaged he could not see. and he was guided to the center of the mob and then escorted to the courthouse green. Neither the police nor any of the citizens endeavored to dissuade the mob or halt the lynching, witnesses said. Sheriff Overpowered, Claim Sheriff Phillips said: "After the mob had cut the Negro down after the lynching I attempted to recover the body, but the mob overpowered me, retrieved the Negro and carried him a few blocks distant, where the cremation took place." About an hour after the Negro's body had been burned State policemen reached Salisbury and took charge of the body. Under their direction it was removed to an undertaking establishment. At a late hour last night neither the office of State's Attorney, the Sheriff nor the local police chief were prepared to announce plans for either the apprehension or prosecution of mob leaders. Sheriff Phillips refused to state whether he had recognized any of the leaders or planned to prosecute them. Town Resumes Its Norm An hour after the lynching party had broken up this town of almost 11,000 resumed its normal quiet. There were only the usual number of persons in the downtown section, and Negroes who appeared in Main street went about their business as though nothing had happened. Williams, believing himself underpaid, shot and killed Mr. Elliott, his employer, as the latter sat in his office here this afternoon talking to a business acquaintance on the telephone. The Negro then shot himself through the chest, falling to the floor beside the desk of his employer. Both shots rang out in the ear of Thomas Chatham, produce broker, six blocks away, to whom Mr. Elliott had been talking. No Witnesses To Shooting There were no witnesses to the shooting, and I'rs. Lena Tingle, secretary to Mr. Elliott, who was in a room adjoining his office, told the police she did not hear any conversation between her employer and the Negro before the shooting. Daniel J. Elliott, Jr., 30, son of the 67-year-old lumber dealer and box manufacturer, ran with several other men to his father's office at the sound of the pistol shots. He carried his father to an automobile which took him to the Peninsula General Hospital. Son Fired As Negro Left On returning to the office the son saw Williams stagger to his feet and walk uncertainly to the lumber yard. Picking up the Negro's pistol from the office floor, young Elliott followed him and fired. The bullet grazed Williams' head, knocking him down. The Negro was taken to the hospital a few minutes later and revived after having at first been reported dead. State's Attorney Levii. C. Bailey, who talked to Williams in the hospital after the Negro had been placed under police guard, said Williams declared Mr. Elliott had been "robbing him" through payment of only 15 cents an hour for his labor. Williams had been employed by the lumber dealer off and on for about eight years. Heavy Guard Posted A heavy guard was thrown around the hospital as the State's Attorney was questioning Williams, for a crowd, angered by the third crime in the last few weeks in which Negroes have been charged with wronging whites, gathered in the streets of Salisbury. Mr. Chatham was the first to inform the police of the shooting. When he heard the reports of the pistol shots and then was unable to resume his conversation with Mr. Elliott he telephoned headquarters.. The police reached the lumber dealer's office just as young Elliott shot Williams. Reconstructing the crime, the police said Williams probably walked up behind Mr. Elliott as he sat at the telephone and pressed the muzzle of the pistol to his head. The bullet passed through Mr. Elliott's head and lodged in a filing case near his desk. Negro Then Shot Self The second shot fired by Williams pierced his own chest, the police said. |