US Black Heritage, Chicago Race Riot of 1919

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: black_heritage chicago

US Black Heritage Project

The Chicago, Illinois race riot of 1919 was sparked by the murder of Black seventeen-year-old Chicagoan, Eugene Williams, who, with his friends, had drifted over to the informal white swimming area of the beach near 29th Street. George Stauber, a white young man, threw rocks at the swimmers, causing Eugene to drown. The police appeared and refused to arrest Stauber. He was later arrested, but acquitted.

What followed was a racial riot against Black Americans that began on July 27 and ended on August 3, 1919. 38 people died (23 black and 15 white). 537 people were injured and 1,000 to 2,000 lost their homes. The majority of the victims were Black citizens.

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• Mayor William Hale Thompson
• Governor Frank Lowden
• Chief of Police, John J. Garrity
• State's Attorney Maclay Hoyne
• Illinois Attorney General Edward Brundage
• Police officer Daniel Callahan (wouldn't allowed swimmers to enter the water to save Eugene Williams and refused to arrest Staube)

Contents 1 Known Dead 2 Known Wounded 3 Men Indicted 4 Sources

Known Dead

1. Henry Baker
2. Samuel Banks
3. Samuel Bass
4. Theodore Copling
5. James Crawford
6. Oscar Dozier
7. William H Dozier
8. Henry Goodman
9. Paul Hardwick
10. B. F. Hardy
11. Ira Henry
12. John Walter Humphrey
13. Edward W. Jackson
14. Thomas Joshua
15. Edward Lee
16. Joseph Lovings
17. John Mills
18. Joseph Sanford
19. John Simpson (police officer)
20. Hymes Taylor
21. Louis Taylor
22. Eugene Williams
23. Robert Williams

1. Harold Brignadello
2. George Flemming
3. Stefan Horvath
4. Nicholas Kleinmark
5. Casmere Lazzerroni
6. David Marcus
7. Clarence Metz
8. Berger Odman
9. William Otterson
10. Walter Parejko
11. Morris I. Perel
12. Joseph Powers
13. Joseph Schoff
14. Eugene Temple
15. G. L. Wilkins

Known Wounded

• George Evans
• George White

Men Indicted

These men were indicted on charges of murder, assault, arson, and other charges

These 5 were charged with conspiracy, carrying concealed weapons, assault to kill Everett Martin, a Black man

• Michael Drew
• George Southwick
• George Murphy
• Edwin Neylon
• Willim Baer

These 4 men were charged with conspiracy and arson in connection of burning the home of John Cappoge, a Black man

• Harry Sherlock
• Carl Johnson
• Fred Brissa
• William Geary

These 4 men were charged with assaulting with intent to kill Fedrico Gonzales, a Mexican man they had mistaken for a Black man

• Charles Shuh
• Stanley Holy aka Murphy
• Frank Proszowski aka Kapula
• Frank Melewic

• George Stauber charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of Eugene Williams
• Clarence Jones charged with assault with intent to kill Frank King, a Black man, in a restaurant
• Joseph Quattrochi charged with assault with intent to kill Daisy Richardson, a Black woman
• John Sheehan charged with assault to kill William Stewart, a Black porter in Heffernan's Saloon

These men were charged with assault with intent to kill

• Alfred Kirk
• William Brown
• Alonzo Estling
• Homer Ware
• Arthur Alexander
• Joseph Sanders (three charges)

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_race_riot_of_1919
• https://chicagoraceriot.org
• https://uchicago.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=64e5689e591d465ea783d8730fef17d4 Riot map