Editorial: The East St. Louis Murders
reprinted from Post-Dispatch, July 13, 1917
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“Why was there not a bullet nor a bayonet used against the mob which freely used torch, club and bullet against Negroes, regardless of age or sex or character?” |
Law, order and governmental authority were trampled under the feet of a murderous mob in East St. Louis Monday, to the shameful disgrace of the city and State. Anarchy and murder ruled the city for several hours.
Scores of Negro men, women and children were killed or beaten and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of property was destroyed without apparent effort to check the violence of the mob on the part of the police force and companies of the national guard sent to the city to maintain order and enforce the laws of the State.
Either from terror or sympathy with the mob, the police did nothing to check the mob’s violence, but why, were the forces of the national guard inactive until the mob had done its bloody work? Why was there not a bullet nor a bayonet used against the mob which freely used torch, club and bullet against Negroes, regardless of age or sex or character?
If the word of Adjutant-General Dickson, who arrived after the mob had finished its work, is to be taken as evidence of the intent of the national guard officers the guardsmen lacked proper orders. Gen. Dickson is quoted as saying that the guard accomplished the purpose for which it was sent by arresting several hundred of the mob without the use of bullets or bayonets and if the guardsmen had used bullets and bayonets there would have been wholesale killings.
But there were wholesale killings and wholesale burning of property. The mob did the killing in defiance of law, when, if any killing was done, it should have been done in enforcement of law by the soldiers and police.
Why was the mob permitted to collect and begin its work? The critical time to stop the disorder was in the beginning. Having failed to check the gathering of the mob, why were not its members shot down when they began to kill Negroes? Better that a thousand lawless murderers be killed in support of law and orderly government than that one citizen be killed by a lawless mob. The failure of the soldiers sent to sustain law and order and to use force for that purpose did not prevent bloodshed. It merely encouraged murder and arson.
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It is hardly worth while to question the authorities of East St. Louis. They have failed utterly in their duty, for well-known causes. They have known of the gathering storm without taking effective steps to check it. They have never, except in spasmodic temporary efforts, enforced the laws. The bloody mob work of the disorderly elements of the city is the culmination of a long reign of lawlessness. Lawlessness and discrimination in law enforcement have been the foundation of political power in East St. Louis for years. The lawless elements have long been the masters of governmental authority and used their license without fear of restraint.
The State of Illinois, however, is responsible for consequences of Monday’s outbreak. It assumed responsibility when Illinois guardsmen were sent to East St. Louis to maintain law and order. The State should inquire into the conduct of the officers in charge of the State’s forces and hold every man guilty of failure to do his duty to strict accountability. This much, with the prosecution of the mob leaders, must be done for the future of civilization and law in the State.
Meanwhile we indulge the hope that Monday’s lesson will be effective to prevent further mob violence. Hereafter, at least, neither false humanity nor political weakness should restrain soldiers sent to sustain law and order from using bullets and bayonets on murderous mobs or individuals. 
The NAACP’s Silent Parade
Introduction & Table of Contents
1917 Suite: A Month, a Year, a Term of Liberty
Introduction & Cross-issue Table of Contents