The Negro in Chicago - A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot. Chicago Commission on Race Relations
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 statement to the police immediately after the bombing of his home at 4331 Vincennes Avenue on the night of April 25, 1920:
"The day on which I had planned to move, a man who said he was Mr. Day, of the Hyde Park and Kenwood Association, telephoned me. He said: 'I hear you have acquired property and you are dissatisfied with it; we can take it off your hands—relieve you of it.' I replied that I didn't think I needed any help. He asked, 'What do you expect to do?' I said, 'I expect to move into it or sell it if I can get my price.' I moved on Tuesday and Wednesday he called in person. He said, 'I called to find out if you want us to sell or handle your property for you.' I told him I thought I could handle it, and that I was not anxious to sell but would consider selling if I could get an offer of say $11,000. He replied that his buyers were not able to go that far. He continued, 'The point is, I represent the Hyde Park-Kenwood Association. We have spent a lot of money and we want to keep this district white.' I asked him why they had not thought of buying the property before and told him that the house had been for sale for eight months. He replied that it was a lamentable fact that they had overlooked it. I told him that I heard the Hyde Park Association had a $100,000 slush fund out of which $100 was paid for each bombing. He said he would have some of his buyers come in and look over the property. Shortly afterward, Mr. Stephen D. Seman and another man came and represented themselves as buyers. They looked over the inside of the house. I only carried them through the halls. Mr. Seman said, 'You only paid $8,500 for this property.' I told him that he had been misinformed, I had paid $9,000. He said, 'I will give you $9,500 for it.' I refused. As they were leaving he added, 'You had better consider our offer.' Soon after that a man named Casson, real estate man, called. I would not let him in. When he asked me my price I told him $11,500.
"A week later a delegation from the Hyde Park Association called. The spokesman began: 'I am Mr. Austin. You understand the nature of our business with you, I suppose.' … I told the chief clerk of the office of the Northwestern Railroad to inform you that we were coming to see you. We are the Hyde Park-Kenwood Association and you will understand that you are not welcome in this district. We want to know what can be done.' I replied that I didn't know what could be done unless they wanted to buy; otherwise I expected to live there, and my price was $11,500. They continued, 'Do you suppose if I moved into a black district where I wasn't wanted, that I would want to live there?' I said, 'If you had bought property there and liked the property, I don't see why you should move.' They said, 'Why do you persist in wanting to live here when you know you are not wanted?' I said, 'I have bought property here and I am expecting to live here.' Then they filed out of the door, and one of the members stated, 'You had better consider this proposition.'
"In the office of the Northwestern Railroad, Mr. Shirley called me in and read a letter to me which he had received from Mr. Austin. 'Murphy, his name is,' he said, 'I know him fairly well, and I simply want to make an answer to the letter. Don't think I am trying to influence you one way or the other. This is the letter: it goes about like this: "Crede Hubbard has purchased a three-flat building at 4332 Vincennes Avenue. Property values are always shot to hell when Negroes move in. Use whatever influence you have to induce him to sell and find out for us his lowest figures."' He added, 'Don't think I am trying to brow-beat you into selling this property.'"
"On the following Sunday night on my way back to Milwaukee, I read in the paper that my house had been bombed. My family was at home, my two boys