Two Men Shot in a Race Riot in Camden

Philadelphia Inquirer – July 6, 1897

Both Victims Are Colored and One Is Probably Fatally Wounded.

POLICE USED PISTOLS

They Were Fired at When They Tried to Arrest the Fighters, “Crap” Game Started the Trouble.

In a race riot between white and colored men in South Camden last evening two colored men were shot. One of the two is seriously injured. When the, police appeared upon the scene the white men turned their pistols against the officers, and their fire was returned. Arrests were made, however, without loss of life.

The night force were reporting at police headquarters for roll call at 6 o’clock last evening, when word was received that a race riot was in progress in the Seventh ward. Policemen Sayres, George Anderson, Butts and Sage, the Seventh ward detail, were hastily dispatched to the scene.

They found a fierce fight in progress between a number of white and colored men, in which the former were using revolvers and the latter razors and clubs. An soon as they caught sight of the Policemen, the white men scattered.

Policeman Sayrs chased Thomas Glenn down Seventh street, near Walnut, The fugitive suddenly turned and fired his revolver at the officer. Policeman Sayrs dodged behind a freight car on Seventh street and emptied his revolver at Glenn. Howard Ever came to the officer’s assistance and Policemen Hyde and McClung Joined in the chase. Glenn was finallly captured in a house in which he had taken refuge.

One of the other fugitives fired at Policeman Butts, and that oficer returned the fire, but neither was wounded.

The officers found that Harry Cooper, of 306 Pine street, had been shot in the knee, and James Carter, of 332 Joint Alley, had been shot in the stomach and hip during the riot. Both men are colored. They were sent to the Cooper Hospital. Carter is in a critical condition, as it is thought the bullet pierced his bladder. An operation will be necessary.

The officers arrested Henry Peters, son of Policeman Peters; John McDonald, Frank Whitaker and Thomas Glenn as the supposed assailants of the colored men. The prisoners claim that the fight started in the morning over a game of “crap,” and that the colored men left and returned in the evening with re-enforcements to “do up” the white men.

When searched at the City Hall, Peters had a revolver and ball cartridges in his pocket. McDonald had a pair of brass knuckles. The police found a revolver at the scene of the fight.