White and black kill each other, and between them, Jews are slaughtered. Jewish blood flows on the South Side. Already there are many dead and wounded. No one knows total number, although it is estimated that there are scores of victims.

Jewish business has been ruined. The whole Jewish trade in that vicinity is almost entirely paralyzed. Thousands of Jewish families living there are in a panic, fearing lest each hour bring a fresh onslaught of bloodshed.

This, in short, is the impression I received from my visit yesterday to Chicago's race-riot area, where hundreds of persons have already fallen; where fear for the morrow is so tremendously great.

2

White and Black--and Red

There was considerable risk attached to going into the very heart of the seething area where the air was permeated with an atmosphere of bloodthirsty vengeance against all whites. Now great the danger was, I first realized when I arrived there, at about three in the afternoon.

State Street, between Twenty-ninth and Thirty-fifth Streets, was a frightful section to pass. Thousands of Negroes filled the streets, searching with avid eyes for someone to vent their wrath upon. Every now and then, military patrols with bayonets and groups of police passed. Everything was quiet, still--as still as though a fresh storm were brewing.

I was the only white civilian present among the thousands of enraged Negroes. With every passing moment among them, I felt, or rather expected, that at any moment they would vent their fury upon me. Some policemen to whom I had spoken, were on the watch to protect me, and thus, among bayonets, revolvers 3and Negroes armed with razors, I went to investigate the Jewish tragedy. The great tragedy of this struggle between white and black is the spilling of blood--the warm red blood which both white and black have shed.

Aged Jew Murdered

First, Meyer Rifman, owner of the clothing store at 3208 South State Street, and then his brother Sam, with a similar business at 3840 Cottage Grove Avenue, told me the story of the horrible murder of David Marcus, sixty years old.

For eight years, old Marcus and the sixty-five-year-old Solomon Simon with whom he lived, had operated a shoe store at 509 East 37th Street. Monday, at nine o'clock in the evening, after closing the store, they walked to Indiana Avenue. Mr. Marcus was to take a car to visit his son Nathan, at 1802 Irving Park Boulevard. Suddenly an automobile packed with Negroes appeared. Without much ado, they began to open fire. By the time Dr. George Friedman, 3566 Rhodes Avenue, arrived, the aged man lay dead in a pool of blood.....Mr. Simon, 4with a bullet in his leg, was taken to the Lakeside Hospital.

The murdered man was highly esteemed by Jews of the South Side, especially by those at the Congregation Beth Jacob, 44th and St. Lawrence Avenue, where he attended daily. Monday afternoon, he told Mr. Sam Rifman and his cousin, Louis Kesler, 839 East 39th Street, that he was going to send for his wife and three children from Zechonov, Plotzker Province; that he, his son, Marcus, his daughter, Mrs. Rose Cohen, 3834 Grenshaw Avenue, and also his brother, Jacob Marcus, 1314 Turner Avenue, were going to furnish a home. Several hours later, the assassins' bullets had ended his life.

That evening the body was taken to Piser's Chapel, 3111 Roosevelt Road, and today, at one o'clock in the afternoon, he will be buried, clad in the new prayer shawl he purchased only last Friday.

5

Do Not Tread On Jewish Blood

This incident is not the whole of the Jewish tragedy involved in this racial slaughter. Nor is it the only place where Jewish blood has been shed.

Oscar Resnick, owner of a trunk store at 3412 South State Street, stood in his doorway, trembling, his gray head bent, so that he did not notice my approach. I questioned him regarding the bloody events which had occurred. He was unable to cease wondering at my boldness in risking my life to come here. During the conversation, I, unintentionally, made a move toward the sidewalk, and suddenly, with a tear-choked voice, he cried: "Be careful; don't step on Jewish blood." I looked at him, and his trembling finger pointed to a spot on the sidewalk. A long reddish-black band ran along the entire breadth of the walk. It was Jewish blood which had congealed. "Last night," he explained, "a Jewish youth, who was passing by, was killed on the spot. No one even knows his name; nor is he the only Jewish victim."

6

Morris Margolin, 3004 South State Street, lies dying at the Mercy Hospital; H. Jacobson, 5504 South Wabash Avenue, lies wounded at the Washington Park Hospital; A. Rosen, 1307 North Leavitt Street, is at the Dearborn Hospital; Sam Meikon, 1072 Millard Avenue, and Max Meiner, 1252 South Michigan Avenue, are both at the Mercy Hospital--and there are many, many others. Everywhere stories are told of Jewish victims, but who has the heart to repeat them?

Jewish Business Ruined

It was impossible to ascertain the exact number of Jewish victims. Scores of wounded hurried home so that even the police know nothing of them. Nor could I find out the number of ruined businesses on the South Side because the police advised me to limit my stay in that vicinity to two hours. It was too dangerous to remain any longer among the enraged Negroes. It is known, however, that four stores have been ruined. These were: Samuels Furnishing Store, 3018 South State Street, Herbst Hatters, 3012 South State Street, and the two pawn shops belonging to the brothers Elihu and Marcus Meyerman, 73036 and 3100 South State Street.

In regard to the above-mentioned pawn shops, the Negroes gave as an alibi the fact that they sought revolvers to protect themselves against the whites. But at the other two stores, it was simply a case of robbery and plunder.

The Negroes and the whites were both preparing for nightfall. Hundreds of thousands carried loaded revolvers. When I passed the clothing store of H. Goodman, 49 East 31st Street, the distracted owner, with fear in his eyes, shut the doors, exclaiming that every moment, his heart practically stops beating, and that his wife is lying unconscious because he has not yet gone home. "Today, new blood will flow. Everyone is waiting for night to fall"--this was the opinion of many Jews.

But Captain Max Nutbar of the Hyde Park Police Station, and Lieutenant M.J. O'Malley, as well as Detective Komly, with whom I spoke, all declared that the police and the troops are prepared to squelch any fresh outburst.

8

I showed the above-named captain, who is considered one of the oldest and ablest police officials in Chicago, the statement of the streetcar company's president, Mr. Busby, in which Russian youths are falsely accused of organizing in groups to participate in the riots. The experienced police captain smiled at Mr. Busby's idea and said: "What ridiculous things a person can say. Anybody knows that the relations between the blacks and the whites have recently become more and more strained, and this tension has led to the present tragic events. How do the Jewish youths fit in here?"

Naturally, various opinions were given as reasons for the bloodshed. Some argued that it was the problem of the real-estate people whose property is constantly depreciating [in value] with the influx of the Negro population. Others say that the fault lies with the meat packers because they have brought in an army of colored people from the South. Others gave still other reasons, and compared these events with those in St. Louis and Washington. Yet, no matter where the actual fault lies, in the meantime, Jewish blood is being shed on the streets of Chicago.