“In 1908 there were five levels of racist ass whipping’s. The first level is the mundane, “We gonna whip your ass darkey!” You might receive this admonishment if one of the racist men girlfriends smiles at you and you smile back… no big deal, you take your licks and go home. The next level is more serious. It’s the “We gonna whip your “natural ass” darkey! Here they are starting to associate an ass whipping with biology and bleeding, not good. This level is not to be confused with the “We gonna whip your “regular ass” darkey!! This level associated with a high octane ass whipping, is usually reserve for ass whippings alongside the road in the middle of the night. Next we have the potentially fatal, “We gonna whip your “very ass” darky!!” Hot diggity dog, this is personal. Count on a week hospital stay! Finally there’s the deadly, “We gonna whip your “MOfo ass” nigg@r!!” This is also known as the “NYDFU” level. (Now You Done Fu*ked Up) Notice how at this level the word darky has been replaced with a more hostile word indicating extreme irritability with the subject. Little is known about this level because nobody who’s ever been involved in it has ever comes back.” – Excerpt from the “Ghill Almanac 1913.“
Sheriff Charles Werner
In part one of Springfield 1908 we covered the events leading up to one of the most deadly race riots in American history. In part two we will examine the crime at length… or at least until they break my door down. In the early afternoon of Aug 14, 1908, after Hallam identified George Richardson as her attacker, a crowd of about 5000 white citizens gathered in front of the jail in downtown Springfield near the scaffolding being built for James to demand that both men be handed over to them for immediate execution. I am using politically correct language in describing their demand. They actually said turn them over “so we can lynch the nigg@rs!” Later that afternoon around 4:30pm when the crowd was shouting,” Bring them nigg@rs out now!!,”.. okay I don’t know if that is what they was shouting, but these were some racist #@@! and that’s what they always say on TV… anywho, some of the authorities started getting anxious. The commander of the Illinois National Guard had been alerted to the situation that a large crowd of “patriots” were gathering and demanding that the nigras be handed over. He contacted Governor Trump, who told him to check with his son, the local sheriff. Oh did I say Governor Trump? My bad.. I mean Governor Deneen and the sheriff wasn’t his son… I don’t know where I get these ideas from… anywho, let’s set the record straight. Governor Charles Deneen was the first two time governor of Illinois and was instrumental in ending the race riot in Springfield. On the other hand, when Sheriff Charles (What Crowd?) Werner, was approached by the commander of the Illinois Guard, he said he did not think the “situation was serious at all” and did not want the National Guard’s assistance. The commander told Werner that he alone would be responsible if a riot broke out and if it did then them nigras wont be be the only ones being hung around here. Okay he didn’t say it like that, but Werner was convinced to station one company of troops at the State Arsenal building, along with two other company’s at other locations. Still after accepting the commanders proposal to station the troops, Werner did not want the men to assemble until 8:00pm that night. The commander told Werner that 8:00pm was unacceptable as night time was the time mobs became unruly. He asked for an earlier assembly, but Werner refused. Right about now you are probably thinking that Werner was an undercover Klan member waiting for nightfall so that while he was at the saloon he would accidently lose the key to the jail cell in somebody’s lap… me too… but that’s not the case. Werner had an ingenious plan. He had arranged for the firemen to be called to a false alarm near the area where the rioters were. While the mobs attention was on the firemen, an acquaintance of Werner’s, a man named Harry Loper would drive James and Richardson to Bloomington, Illinois, which was about 65 miles away, to safety. Loper was a wealthy bar owner and one of the few people who owned an automobile in Springfield. He was escorted by two deputies and the Sergeant of Police. Once they arrived in Bloomington, Werner decided that they should be moved to Peoria, Illinois, in case the crowd decided to go to Bloomington and hang the nigras there. James and Richardson were put on a train to Peoria which was another 40 miles away. Now here I am thinking Werner was a full blooded Level 10 Klansmen with Golden Rope and Tree Insignia with Burning Cross.. sorry buddy…
Loper’s Bar After The Riots
When the crowd found out they had been tricked, things didn’t immediately get nasty, but let’s just say you couldn’t find a roll of toilet paper for ten miles. When Werner told the crowd to disperse a lot of them went to the Five Cent Picture Show… you know the one… where there was an early showing of “Birth Of A Nation,” formerly named “The Clansmen.” The rest wandered the streets, while still others went to bars and got drunk. Loper (left) got back around 8:00 pm and that’s when they set the bathrooms on fire… Loper was confronted with a mob, armed with bricks, bats, clubs and revolvers. It was straight up hate in their hearts and they came to Lopers bar seeking revenge. Now it wasn’t until 1920 that women gained the right to vote in America, but in Springfield in 1908, the mob that descended on Lopers establishment was led by a woman. Her name was Kate Howard, a 42-year-old white divorcee who had a reputation for being “loose with the boys.” Now I know you expect me to make some kind of wisecrack about her being “loose with the boys,” but Ima leave the hoe alone.. Howard had lived in Springfield for about 20 years and along with her brother owned the Howard Hotel. Leading the crowd to Loper’s bar she told them to destroy it. “What the hell are you fellows afraid of? Come on and I will show you how to do it. Women want protection and this seems to be the only way to get it.” Now Loper was no stranger to violence. He was only one of a handful of white bars that also served African Americans. After the first brick was thrown, Loper fired a couple of warning shots with his shotgun over the heads of the crowd. But you gotta figure he really didn’t have a chance. There were hundreds of people outside his bar and he was only armed with a double barreled… of which one shot had already been fired. He was forced to retreat and eventually escaped through a whole in a brick wall behind his business. So earlier we said that Werner had allowed the National Guard to be deployed but not until 8:00 pm, which is the time Loper got back. Unfortunately only 26 members of the guard had assembled by then. The commander had sent those men armed with bayonets to the jail to break up a crowd of about 3000 rioters who had gathered there. Not sure how much good they was gonna do.. you would have more luck killing a swarm of bees with slingshot. Anywho, the commander of the guard had received a message from Governor Deneen that there was trouble at Loper’s. ( Money talks and BS walks was going on even back then..) The commander ordered the men to leave from their positions protecting the Armory and jail and head over to Loper’s Bar, but his order was countermanded by Werner, who did not want the jail to be handed over to the crowd. He authorized ten of the troops to assist with the crowd at Loper’s and gave them orders not to shoot. Meanwhile at Loper’s, the crowd was busy destroying everything in site, drinking up the liquor and smoking the bar’s inventory of cigarettes. The silverware was distributed among themselves as souvenirs. Here is an account of one of the rioters at Loper’s Bar: “I seen old Barney Lang, one of the dry goods merchants or clothing merchants, out on the street picking bricks out of the street and throwing them through Loper’s restaurant. And of course, I went down into Loper’s and, between I and another guy I was raised with and went to school with, Horney Barberry…I ran into him at Loper’s. And Horney Barberry and I went down and knocked the cash register over and got the change out of it.” Funny, ain’t nothing changed in over 113 years.. racist still run off at the mouth about the crimes they committed on social media. The only difference is that they use the Internet now.
Loper’s Bar After Mob Destroyed It.
So now that the mob at Loper’s had finished destroying the inside, they went outside. They turned Loper’s car over and lit the gas tank destroying it. All the stuff they destroyed inside was taken outside and put on a huge bonfire which reached a height of three stories. Heil Hitler!! I shouldn’t go there.. because during this time Hitler was fighting in World War I. His reign of terror wouldn’t start for another fifteen or so years. It’s just that when I hear or see the word “bonfire,” I associate it with an event called Kristallnacht. I have always known it as “Crystal Night”, but the German translation is “Night Of The Broken Glass.” Just before the start of WWII, Hitler’s thugs destroyed thousands of Jewish businesses, churches and synagogues throughout Germany.. Along with loss of life, many books and possessions were burned in large bonfires during that race crime. Anywho, even back in the day power had its privilege. The mayor upon hearing Loper’s establishment was under attack came by to beseech the crowd to desist. Their answer.. “We are going to throw you on the fire too!” (True story.) As a matter of fact… they held the mayor for two hours before his friends were able to rescue him and bring him to safety. It was getting real.. When a wagon load of police officers arrived, the mob took their clubs and tore the insignia’s off their uniforms. The firemen who came to put out the blaze were also attacked and their fire hoses were slashed. Yahoo!! By now the crowd in front of Loper’s had reached into the thousands! By the time the national guard troops arrived.. those ten men dispatched by Werner… well it was like the the fiasco we saw at the Capitol on January 6th during the insurrection. They were overrun, their weapons were taken and they were forced to dance around the fire with their pants pulled down singing ” On Top Of Old Smokey..” Okay I’ll stop… history doesn’t say what song they were singing.. lol.. them boys was in a bad place… The first person killed in the riot was a 19 year old man named Louis Johnston, who was found in Loper’s Bar with a wound to his neck. It’s not clear if Loper shot him or he was accidentally shot by other rioters. It’s also not clear what his ethnicity was.. was he black or white? I assume he was white because unlike in 2021 where African Americans and other black and brown folks hang out with and support white nationalism, back in them days they wish a Mfer would! Loper managed to escape to Michigan along with his family to safety. Once there he found out his insurance did not pay out for riots. After the riots Loper would be asked why did he help the Sheriff move the black men? Lopers answer was considerably longer than I am about to tell you, but it really boiled down to he thought moving the black men would save lives, especially that of the Sheriff, his good friend, who would have been killed before he let a mob take over the jail. Harry Loper died in 1948. His obituary did not contain a single reference concerning his role in the 1908 Springfield Race Riot.
National Guard In The Badlands
Around 10:pm that night after all the booze was gone, the crowd shifted into a Level 10 Klan posture. Moving down Washington street they chanted, “Curse the day that Lincoln freed the nigg@rs,” “No nigg@rs in Springfield,” and “Kill ’em on sight!” Although Lincoln was born in Kentucky, he made Springfield his home. The mob attempted to to burn down Lincoln’s home but was stopped by a relative who was staying there as the caretaker. They moved on to the Lyric Picture Show, which was also owed by Loper and burned it to the ground. Drunker than Cooter Brown, the crowd bypassed the white-owned “Payne’s Gun Store” and instead went to “Fishman’s” pawnshop. The shop was owned by a Jewish man named Reuben Fishman. The rioters burst into Fishman’s business and accused him of selling guns to the blacks. They then demanded he turn over all his weapons and ammunition to them. When he refused, they called him a “nigg@r lover,” then they ransacked his business taking all the guns and ammunition before setting the building on fire. By 11:00 pm the mob was armed and begin shooting at everything that moved that didn’t have a European ancestor. Fido hid under the porch because one of his paws was black. Meanwhile even though the National Guard was building up its reinforcements, it still lacked the necessary manpower to confront the mob. Werner did not let the police confront the mob on Washington Street especially when a few of them came back carrying a flyer with the lyrics “On Top Of Old Smokey” printed on them.. that’s what I heard… anywho, the commander wanted to send an additional fifty troops to help confront the mob, bur Werner still did not want to leave the jail unprotected. To tell the truth, the more I research this the more I am coming to the conclusion that it wasn’t that Werner didn’t want to leave the jail unprotected.. Werner didn’t want to leave the jail… I don’t blame him… Werner wanted to wait for reinforcement which would arrive around 2:30 am the next day. During that time the mob began to attack black businesses with axes and hatchets, wreaking havoc on a defenseless black population. “Proclaiming that they were going to “clean up” and “fix this street so a white woman can walk along here without being annoyed,” they tore through black barbershops, car shops and bicycle shops, and churches, hurling things through windows, looting property, and establishments buildings.” The BLM protest had “nutin” on these folks. Next the crowd went into the black “red light district,” where all the black saloons and bars were. I am going to step back for a second because when I read that they were attacking “saloons and bars,” I’m like what’s the difference? Back in that time a bar was a place that only sold alcohol, while a saloon sold alcohol, food and provided other services like gambling. In this century the words are interchangeable. The term “red light district,” history is interesting if not completely proven. The story behind the term is supposed to originate from when railway workers got off of work and went to the local brothels. Once there they would leave their lanterns outside. Most brothels were located in the same general area and with all those lanterns lit on the porches.. well you get the idea. But this does raise some problems.. what if you left work to go “home” and left your lantern on the porch… five minutes later somebody is on your porch asking your old lady if he can buy a piece for $2… it could get real crazy then… like “man down” crazy!!!! Anywho, let’s get back to the story.
Leland Hotel circa 1915
So like I said earlier, the mob headed for the black red light district. The first establishment they came upon was the place where James had worked playing the piano before he was arrested. It was called Jim Dandy’s. Jim’s real name was James Smith and he wasn’t having it… at least not without putting up a fight. As the mob approached Jim fired at them from his second floor window.. Padow!!! Padow!! The mob responded.. KAABOOMMM!! KAABOOMMM!! (Aw sh*t!) Smith put his gun in his pocket and escaped through a back door and hid in a feed yard as the mob entered and destroyed his business. The mob attacked six other all black bars and saloons, drinking up their liquor and destroying their businesses. They then set their sights on Springfield hotels, like the Siles, the Leland, and the St. Nicholas. Their goal? To find any black guest staying at those places. They dragged those they found out into the streets and beat them with bats and clubs. Authorities later suggested that the attacks were planned in advance because six black areas were all hit simultaneously. Over thirtyfive black businesses were destroyed on Washington Street. Back then Washington street was like our MLK Ave”s. Remember when we talked about the “Environmental Maintenance Professional?” Well he was at the front of the mob wearing Air Force One’s, in a black hoodie and carrying a 2×4 with payback is a bitch written on it. “The mob particularly targeted the homes and businesses of “uppity” blacks i.e… political insiders, men of wealth, men in relationships with white women and of any whites known to be in relationships with, or thought to be sympathetic to blacks.” Blacks sought refuge wherever they could. One black person ran into a hall where the speaker was giving a speech about Prohibition. The black man ran upon the stage and the speaker, Eugene W. Chafin,.. yeah he deserves props.. said “I will shoot the first white man who attempts to take this colored man.“ Not a second had passed after he said that, when somebody in the crowd threw a brick at him. It struck him in the head and he fell down. A fight then ensued between Chafin’s supporters and the mob. History doesn’t say what happened to the black man that ran up to Chafin for assistance. White rags were hung from private residences indicating that the building was occupied by whites. Once seeing that a place was owned, or inhabited, by whites, the mob would shout things like, “Leave it alone; there’s no nigg@rs there!” or “That’s a white man’s place; pass it up!” I know somebody was like… “Quiet boy!!… here they come.. Sapphire go get that white rag..” lol.. As black businesses and homes burned set on fire by the mob, firemen were prevented from helping them. The mob and onlookers now totaled nearly 10,000.
The Badlands After Destruction By Mob
So you think Simple City, Greenmount East and back in the day Bailey’s Crossroads were tough places to live? In 1908 in Springfield, Illinois,… they had the “Badlands.” The Badlands was the poorest neighborhood in Springfield. It was a four-square-block area and it was described by the press as an area “infested with negroes” living in “huts” and rife with crime.” It was a dangerous area and everybody who lived in Springfield knew it… everybody who lived in Springfield… Enter 30-year-old William H. Bowe from a neighboring city. Bowe had come to join in the heathen black ass kickings and lynchings. After helping burn down a couple of houses, he thought he would make his way home. “I will go home, grab a bite to eat and be back in time to help burn down the church.” He decided to cut through the Badlands cause he wished a #$$@ would. When they found him… at first they thought he was a porch screen… he had so many bullet holes in him. Word on the street is somebody actually tried to nail him up over a broken window… (I know I really need to stop that…) Bowe had been shot at the exact same location another black man had been lynched 30 minutes earlier. His killing was described as being carried out by a “gang of negro thugs,” and held up as a sign of the feelings all blacks had towards whites. More about this piece of history later… Bang!! Bang!! Yahooooo!!! They was hot about that sh*t!! Around 1:00 a.m., Kate Howard aka (Lucy) led the torch-carrying mob down Madison Street, and into The Badlands, pointing out which black homes and businesses to destroy with the mob now vowing to “kill every nigg@r in town!” It was reported as they made their way to the first home where a black man and two black women had sought refuge, a police officer rushed to the front of the crowd and said, ” Give me these nigg@rs, and you can burn down the entire row of houses. History does not give an explanation for his action. The mob totally destroyed the area. Men entered peoples homes flipping their beds over, tearing their mattresses apart before pouring oil on it and setting it ablaze. Like in most poor black neighborhoods, there was a smattering of poor whites who lived there. Their homes were spared. “You can save any white people’s houses near here, but the nigg@r houses have got to go!” Some people were even forced to burn to death in their homes by the mob. Remember how we talked about how members would tell about their crimes to the media? I spoke about one of the rioters who talked about the destruction of Loper’s Bar. Well his name was William F. Lee, and to historians he was the gift that kept on giving.. “there was a lot of colored people burnt up in that riot…there was colored people run out and set the houses on fire, anybody run out and they knock him in the head, pick him up and throw him back, throw him back in the house.” I hope that’s not the King’s English… anyway we get the point.
Around 2:30 am, Werner found some and decided to accompany the commander to a location a few blocks from the jail where they had been trying to disperse the crowd since the riot started. After arriving the commander ordered the crowd to disperse… they said something about the sun don’t shine there and ignored him. Of course the commander was pissed and gave the order for a low volley. For those that aren’t familiar with military lingo.. that means shoot them in the knees. However Werner countermanded his order, instead telling the troops to shoot a volley over the heads of the rioters first and then if there was further sass mouth… shoot them in the knees. Well the command was given to fire the overhead volley and right away there was back sass!! The commander then gave the order “low volley!!” However again Werner countermanded the commander’s orders.. but in the noise and confusion some soldiers shot high, while others shot low. The second volley injured some and killed several. In the end you ain’t had to ask them again.. they dispersed. After the mob left, the troop’s cut down the body of a black man named Scott Burton, who had been lynched. A few blocks over, nearer to the Badlands, the Captain of the troops assigned there sent a message to the commander, “In order to control the mob, he would need to have permission to fire into it. ” Surprisingly this time the commander refused to give him the permission, effectively leaving the area where the Badlands were located in control of the mob. The following morning, the city was littered with the bodies of drunken mob members who had passed out in the street. Word began to spread that black folks were talking about payback. “Not now a mofer the same color as Johnny Cash better go to sleep tonight!” Fortunately it was untrue. The blacks not caught up in the race executions were fleeing the city or sheltering with sympathetic whites. So before we move on to the events that followed the aftermath of the race crime, I want to go back to Scott Burton, the man hung by the mob who Werner and the commander confronted and later I want to talk about another black man named William Donnegan. Scott Burton was a 65 year old black man who owned a barbershop that catered exclusively to white clientele. At around 2:30 am when Burton was at home with his family, the mob approached offering $25 for nigg@r and threatened them. Burton “allegedly” fired a warning shot over their heads. This inflamed the crowd and they rush into his home. The mob viciously beat Burton until he was a bloodied mess and unconscious. They then tied a rope around his neck and dragged him to a tree in front of his barbershop. They stripped off his clothes and hung him there. It was reported that people in the mob were saying things like, “We’ve got one, hurrah! Look at that nigg@r swing!,” while still others were dancing around his body. As Burton hung from the tree, they set his barbershop on fire. Other mob members raced to ensure the fire didn’t spread to the adjoining white businesses. Governor Deneen would later blame Burton for his own death, saying in essence, “He shouldn’t have fired at them.” Now before we move on, I want to make sure we are on the same page… everything we have talked about up to this point happened within a few hours, from around midnight of August 14th through the early morning of August 15th. William Dunnegan however was attacked around 7pm, the evening of August 15, 1908. Now before we talk about Donnegan, I want to warn you of the graphic nature of the description of his killing. I am not going to put it into my own words as the author’s description of the crime is more than sufficient. I do want to add one more thing before we continue. Donnegan was a friend of Abraham Lincoln and also before the Civil War assisted with freeing slaves through the Underground Railroad and assisting them with getting to Canada. After the war ended, many blacks came back to Springfield. The whites blamed Donnegan for the explosion of the black population.
Known as “Uncle Bill,” Donnegan was the most well-known black man in Springfield. He was reportedly worth about $15,000 (under $400,000 in 2018), and also owned his home, as well other properties, that housed some of his family members. While Donnegan had broken no laws, he was an influential black man, who had also been married to Sarah Rudolph, a 52-year-old Irish-German woman, for over 30 years. Around 9:00pm, the mob arrived at Donnegan’s home, with many in the mob later admitting that they targeted him because he was “married to a white woman. When the men came to the door, they asked, “Are there any nigg@rs here?” William said, ‘No, only white people.’ ‘You’re a liar,’ a man hollered… The mob started making threats to burn his home down, and then six of the mob members ran inside, firing their guns. Donnegan’s family fled out the back of his home, but he suffered from severe rheumatism and was nearly blind, so he could not go with them. Instead, he fled under a bed, but the mob found him, hit him in the face and dragged him outside, where people threw bricks and stones at him. Donnegan pleaded with them to “have mercy on him,” noting that he “hadn’t done anything to them” and, at one point saying, “Even I’ve worked on some of your shoes.” The mob ignored his pleas and senselessly beat him. As he staggered around, after the beating, his throat was slashed with a razor. His throat was rumored to have been cut by a 10-year-old boy; however Abraham Raymer, a very short, non-naturalized immigrant, who was childlike in appearance, was later suspected of being the culprit. After his throat was cut, someone yelled, “Drown him in the water trough!” while others screamed, “Lynch him!” Donnegan was dragged over to a low tree, across the street from his home, in front the Edwards school yard, two blocks away from the Governor’s office. One of the mob members grabbed a nearby clothesline, which was then looped around his neck four times, and once around his face and mouth, before it was tied around the tree, from which he was then hanged. However, because the tree was short, his feet were only partially suspended off the ground. Once Donnegan was hanged, some of the mob went back over to his house, and attempted to set his home on fire; however, militiamen arrived to the scene, and the perpetrators ran away. The militia found Donnegan still alive. They found him with his “neck severed…breathing through the holes in his windpipe.” When they cut him down, they could not remove a piece of the clothesline from his mouth, as it had gotten locked in his jaw, which had become “firmly set.” Donnegan, who never regained consciousness, was eventually taken to St. John’s hospital, where he died the next morning.
William Donnegan was 80 years old when he was murdered… may he rest in peace.
So officially the death toll in this race crime came to six black people killed, two lynched and about two thousand driven from the city. I aint gonna say they lying, but … $##@! it!! they lying. White city officials and most newspapers, opted not to record the injuries of blacks who stayed or returned, which was probably into the hundreds, not to mention that the ones “who stayed away” were probably dead. Anyway, let’s take a look at some of the players:
Kate Howard
Kate Howard.. aka (Loose with the boys)… who had incited the violence on Loper’s property, and the lynchings of Burton and Donnegan, was the first attacker to be indicted. A charge was brought against her for the murder of Burton. In an interview, Howard said her actions were inspired by observations during a trip she’d taken to the South with her brother. While in Texas and Arkansas, she saw how stringently whites enforced segregation and thought it worked to “teach the negro where he belonged.” When she returned to Springfield, she noticed more businesses boycotting blacks, but thought they were being cowardly in enforcing it. She said that she believed white citizens would not allow her to be punished. After Howard was indicted, a white saloonkeeper posted her a $10,000 bond (over $250,000 in 2018). When Deputy Sheriff Kramer arrived at her home to arrest her on the murder charge, she excused herself to “change her clothes.” When she stepped away, she secretly swallowed arsenic, then allowed Deputy Kramer to place her under arrest, telling him: “I’m ready to go.” By the time they reached the jail, Howard collapsed and died as she walked through the door.
Abraham Raymer (right)
Abraham Raymer, a 20-year-old Russian-Jewish vegetable peddler, who spoke in broken English was indicted on 10 charges. He was the one suspected of killing Donnegan. Raymer was reported as “defiant and boastful” about taking part in the mob; he confessed going to the gashouse, and also confessed to taking part in Donnegan’s lynching, admitting that Donnegan was targeted because his wife was white. Raymer’s indictment was the first to be brought before a jury. His trial was closely watched, as it was expected to establish the likelihood of convictions in the other indictments. Raymer’s trial for Donnegan’s murder had been paused by the judge, who determined that it was “impossible” for any of the attackers to receive a fair trial. The initial jury was purged, and a new jury was assembled of prominent businessmen in the community. Several people admitted to seeing Raymer bend down over Donnegan in the street, and stand back up with blood on his hand, stating their belief that Raymer had slit Donnegan’s throat. Others, did not name Raymer but described someone who looked like him: “a short fellow with sleeves rolled up, who talked in broken English, and a ‘Jewish’ accent.” When Raymer confessed, he insisted that he was not “first leader” of the mob, nor had he cut Donnegan’s throat, attributing that to a man named “Red” Davenport. However, Davenport was never found, and neither known by anyone in Springfield, nor mentioned beyond Raymer’s confession. The court instructed the jury to convict Raymer of murder if the evidence demonstrated that he was even a part of the lynch mob. But the all-male jury found Raymer “not guilty” on the first ballot. He was acquitted because the jury believed the defense claim of police brutality, saying that his confession was “sweated out” of him by police. After the verdict was read, Raymer shook the hand of each juror and made a speech thanking them. Assistant State Attorney, William St. John Wines, said of Raymer’s murder acquittal, “If there ever was a man in Sangamon County who deserves to hang, it is Abraham Raymer.” Following his acquittal, Raymer moved to Boston to live near his sisters. He married there, had two sons and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1915.
George Richardson
George Richardson was the one accused of raping Mabel Hallam. After reading about the outcome of George Richardson’s trial, I knew there was justice in heaven. It seem all charges were dropped against George. According to the prison doctors, “He had “no connection with her Mabel Hallam in any way.” Why you ask? Hallam had a STD!!… and George did not!!! After Hallam was made aware of Richardson’s medical examination, she recanted her accusation about him. With Hallam no longer pressing charges, George Richardson was released from jail without incident. He received no restitution or apology for his time away from work or harm to his name. He went on to work as a janitor, and lived until he was 76, when he died at St. John’s Hospital. His obituary did not mention the events of 1908.
Mabel Hallam
Mabel, Mabel, Mabel… After recanting her story about George Richardson, Mabel said she was attacked by Scott Burton’s 19 year old son, who had fled to Arkansas. It didn’t take the authorities long to figure out that Scott Burton did not have a 19 year old son. Burton was the black man hung near the jail where the crowd was fired on by Werner and the commander. She later admitting that she lied in order to cover up an assault suffered at the hands of her husband after he found out about an affair she was having with another white man, who had given her the claps… (“okay they don’t say what she had…”) But to provide an explanation for her battered face, she concocted the story that she was raped by a black man. No charges were filed against her for perjury or for making a false report. Hallam and her husband moved to Chicago shortly after the events. She died in 1921, “purportedly” of suicide, at the age of 34…
Joe James Before And After Arrest
Joe James
James was represented, pro-bono, by black attorney, Octavious V. Royall. Royall requested a change of venue, noting his belief that James could not receive a fair trial in the county; however, Judge James A. Creighton denied the request, stating: “In no county in the state does so little prejudice exist against the colored race as in the county of Sangamon.” Joe james was a dead man walking. As the trial began, several “Black Hand” letters were sent to Sheriff Werner, and left in the yard of the courthouse, threatening more violence if James was not hanged. The letters included demands such as: “If Joe James don’t hang we are going to kill him and run every nigger out of town.” Many blacks in the city feared being attacked again if James was acquitted, packing their personal effects so they could leave town the moment the jury read its verdict. As far as good fortune goes, they had nothing to fear about James being freed. After the testimonies of Ballard’s sons and the detective positively identifying the clothing found at the crime scene as belonging to James’s.. well I’m not sure why they didn’t hang him in the court. The deense put up a couple of good arguments. Royall said that even if James killed Ballard, he was known to have been at the club drinking extensively, making the crime a crime of manslaughter, not murder. The court basically said fu*k that… Then Royall said that James was 19 or 20 at the time of the crime, making him ineligible for the death penalty. The prosecution called the sheriff who told the court that James told him he was 23… and that was that. During closing arguments Royall said, ” It is “impossible” for James to have committed the crime, and asked for the jury not to be swayed by “passion or prejudice, but upon the law and evidence.” He pointed at a picture of Abraham Lincoln that hung in the room, and pleaded with the jury to “give this young colored boy just the same chance as they would a white boy.” The jury reached its decision with greater “rapidity” than other such murder trials. The entire trial took three days. And despite being too young to receive the death penalty in Illinois, he was sentenced to hang. A week before they hang James he reportedly signed this confession; “I am sorry for the crime I committed. Drunkenness was the cause of it. In that I have grossly sinned against Mr. Ballard, his family and each and every citizen. But I ask for each and everyone’s forgiveness. When the deed was committed, I was a sinner, and a man of the world. Since then, I have become a Christian and am confident that God has forgiven me my sins. To each and every one, I, Joe James, wish to say – whisky and the evil effects of it, are the cause of my being where I am today. I did not realize the greatness of my crime until I was brought to the city prison the next morning after I committed it.” ( Sheriff do you want me to sign it Joe or James?) Joe James was hung October 23, 1908.
So this concludes the Hill1News article on the 1908 Race Riot Of Springfield Illinois. History teaches us many lessons. British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Churchill was not the first to say it… Edmund Burke said it in 1790 and Spanish philosopher George Santayana said it in 1905. it is still as relevant today as it was centuries ago. Finally I want you to know…. that you can buy a Kilo 141 Cerulean Assault Rifle on E-Bay for $266.00. Please come back for more Black History at Hill1News.
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