The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot. Chicago Commission on Race Relations
seeking to keep Negroes out of the district.
Some time after this incident it was rumored that Motley was planning to purchase the building adjacent. At 4:00 a.m. June 4, 1919, a dynamite bomb was exploded under the front of the house adjacent and tore up its stone front. The neighbors were in the street immediately after the explosion. No clews were found and no arrests were made. The Motley family on this occasion was accused of inviting another Negro family into the block. The new family in question negotiated for its own property, and before an actual settlement had been made, received numerous telephone messages and threats. It moved in, but was not bombed.
HOMES BOMBED IN RACE CONFLICTS OVER HOUSING JULY 1, 1917-MARCH 1, 1921
Bombing of Moses Fox's home.—Moses Fox, white, connected with a "Loop" real estate firm, lived at 442 East Forty-fifth Street. The house was too large, and he decided to move to smaller quarters. The building was sold through a real estate firm to persons whom he did not know. On March 10, 1920, a few days after the sale, he received a telephone call informing him that he must suffer the consequences of selling his home to Negroes. At 7:30 that evening an automobile was seen to drive slowly past his home three times, stopping each time just east of the building. On the last trip a man alighted, and deposited a long-fuse bomb in the vestibule. The fuse smoked for four minutes. Attracted by the smoke, Fox ran toward the front of the house. The bomb exploded before he reached the door. It was loaded with dynamite and contained slugs which penetrated the windows of buildings across the street. The evening selected for the bombing was the one on which Patrolman Edward Owens, Negro, was off duty and a white policeman was patrolling his beat. The bombing was witnessed by Dan Jones, a Negro janitor, and Mrs. Florence De Lavalade, a Negro tenant. The front of the building was wrecked and all the windows shattered. Damage amounting to $1,000 was done. No arrests were made.
Bombing of Jesse Binga's properties.—Jesse Binga is a Negro banker and real estate man. His bank is at 3633 State Street, his real estate office at 4724 State Street, and his home at 5922 South Park Avenue. He controls more than $500,000 worth of property and through his bank has made loans on Negro property and taken over the mortgages of Negroes refused by other banks and loan agencies.
On November 12, 1919, an automobile rolled by his realty office and a bomb was tossed from it. It left the office in ruins. The police were soon on the scene, but the car was well beyond reach by the time of their arrival. No clews to the bombers were found, and no arrests were made. It was the opinion of the police that white residents of the Hyde Park district resented Binga's handling of Negro property in that district.
Twenty-one days later an automobile drew up in front of Binga's home at 5922 South Park Avenue, and its occupants put a bomb under the front steps. It failed to explode. When the firemen arrived they found it sizzling in the slush beneath the porch. The police declared that this was an expression of racial feeling.
Twenty-five days later the bombers reappeared and left a third bomb. It tore up the porch of Binga's home. Again the police found that the explosion had been caused by "racial feeling," white men having said that "Binga rented too many flats to Negroes in high-class residence districts." The house was repaired and police provided to guard the house. At twelve o'clock each night the guard changed watch. On the night of February 28 the policeman on duty until twelve o'clock left a few minutes early, and the policeman relieving him was just a few minutes late. In this unguarded interval an automobile swung around the corner, and as it passed the Binga home a man leaned out and tossed a bomb into the yard. The bomb lit in a puddle of water and the fuse went out. It was found that the bomb had been made of black powder, manila paper, and cotton. The explanation of the attempt was that "his $30,000 home is in a white neighborhood."
A police guard was still watching the house on the night of June 18, 1920 when the bombing car appeared again. On this occasion neither policeman was in sight when the car drew up. A man alighted this time and carefully placed the bomb. The explosion that followed almost demolished the front of the house and smashed windows throughout the block. This last explosion damaged the home to the extent of $4,000. Binga offered a reward of $1,000 for the apprehension of those guilty of these repeated acts of lawlessness.
On November 23 Binga was bombed again. This time the bomb damaged his neighbors more seriously than it did Binga's property. No clews were found and no one was arrested.
Bombing of R. W. Woodfolk's home.—R. W. Woodfolk, Negro banker and real estate dealer, purchased a flat at 4722 Calumet Avenue. It was an investment of the Merchants and Peoples' Bank, 3201 South State Street, which he controlled. The building was occupied by one white and four Negro families. On the evening of February 1, 1920, a person with keys to the building locked the tenants in their apartments, sprung the locks of the doors leading to the street, and planted a bomb in the hallway. The explosion ripped up the hall and stairway, tore away the brick work around the entrance, and shattered the windows of adjacent buildings. The damage was estimated at $1,000. No arrests were made.
Bombing of the Clarke home.—Mrs. Mary Byron Clarke, Negro, purchased through W. B. Austin, a white banker and real estate man, properties at 4404 and 4406 Grand Boulevard, vacant for a year at the time of purchase, and previously used by prostitutes. A real estate dealer herself, she had frequently been assisted by Austin in financing her transactions, one of which was the sale to Negroes of Isaiah Temple, a Jewish synagogue at Forty-fifth Street and Vincennes Avenue.
The dwellings were renovated and she moved into one of them; the other she rented. During the riot of July, 1919, her home was attacked by a mob. When the police arrived in response to a call by the Clarkes, they battered in the doors at the demand of the mob and arrested Mr. and Mrs. Clarke. They were acquitted. On January 5, 1920, the house was bombed. The explosion caused $3,360 worth of damage. The building was again bombed February 12, 1920, this time with a dynamite bomb thrown through the plate-glass door in the hallway from a passing automobile. The stairway was knocked down and large holes blown in the wall. The police came, found no clews, and made no arrests. At the request of Mrs. Clarke a special policeman was detailed to guard the property.
Numerous threatening letters and telephone calls followed, all of which were reported to the police. There were threats of another bombing if she did not sell, and there were visits from representatives of real estate interests in Hyde Park making offers.
Tuesday evening, April 13, 1920, a third bomb was exploded in spite of the presence of the two special policemen. The bomb was thrown from the premises of Frederick R. Barnheisel, an immediate neighbor, a telephone wire deflected it, and it landed near the Clarke garage.
Mrs. Clarke made a statement concerning this bombing before the Commission in which she said:
"Wednesday [the day following the third bombing] we got a letter saying 'move out or sell, there is nothing else for you to do. We missed you last night but we will get you the next time. We are determined.' A letter prior to that stated if we did not get out they would 'get our hides.'
"There has been some sinister influence brought to bear on the insurance company since the riot and since the first bombing. We have had our house insured against bombing since the first bombing. The first damage of about $500 they paid and canceled the insurance on 4404 Grand Boulevard. The second bomb did damage to the extent of $3,360. They wrote saying they would cancel it, subject however to pending loss. There was a clause calling for settlement within sixty days. After sixty days we would have to enter suit to get it. The sixty days have passed, and there has been no attempt to settle. Some of the glass has been replaced. They have accepted it, and there has been no disposition on their part to settle.
"Berry, Johnston, & Peters, the men with whom we have had the most business dealings, have insisted that we sell the place. Mr. Peters said last week he could get a buyer from the Hyde Park-Kenwood Association people, also said if any indebtedness remained on the contract or deeds, that the money must first be paid to them, then to us. We have been careful not to let any indebtedness, even for ten days, come against 4406."
Bombing of Crede Hubbard's home.—Following is part of Hubbard's