MDPOliva97 at 20:31, 12 January 2026

2026-01-12T20:31:27Z

WikiDwarfBOT: robot: add new article

2023-07-22T09:18:52Z

robot: add new article

New page

{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = Evansville Race Riot
| subtitle =
| partof =
| image = Former Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Residence.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = The old Vanderburgh County jail, the site where the riot began
| date = July 6 - 10, 1903
| place = [[Evansville, Indiana]]
| coordinates = {{coord|37|58|24.4|N|87|34|22.8|W|display=inline,title}}
| causes = Lack of appropriate crowd control by militia / killing of a white policeman by a black man.
| goals =
| methods = Attempted [[lynching]], [[riot]]ing, [[looting]], [[shootout]]
| status =
| result =
| side1 = White rioters
| side2 = [[Indiana National Guard]] <br/> Evansville Police Department <br/> Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Department
----
Black residents
| side3 =
| leadfigures1 =
| leadfigures2 =
| leadfigures3 =
| howmany1 = 1,000+
| howmany2 = 200 initially
| howmany3 =
| casualties1 =
| casualties2 =
| casualties3 =
| fatalities = 12
| injuries = 40+
| arrests =
| detentions =
| charged =
| fined =
| casualties_label =
| notes =
| sidebox =
| map_type = Indiana
}}

The '''Evansville Race Riot''' occurred in July 1903 in [[Evansville, Indiana]] and was the worst riot in the city's history. The riots occurred after a black man shot and killed a white policeman and ultimately resulted in 12 deaths.<ref name="eliving">{{cite web |title=Race Riot of 1903 |url=http://www.evansvilleliving.com/articles/race-riot-of-1903 |website=evansvilleliving.com |date=10 July 2014 |publisher=Evansville Living |accessdate=April 2, 2019}}</ref><ref name="race war">{{cite news |title=RACE WAR RAGING IN EVANSVILLE |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19030706.2.4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 |accessdate=April 2, 2019 |publisher=[[San Francisco Call]] |date=July 6, 1903}}</ref><ref name="shame">{{cite web|last1=Clark|first1=Justin|title="THE CITY'S CROWN OF SHAME": THE EVANSVILLE RACE RIOT|url=https://blog.newspapers.library.in.gov/evansville-race-riots/|url-status=live|website=[[Indiana State Library]]|date=6 July 2017 |publisher=State of Indiana|accessdate=April 2, 2019}}</ref>

On July 3, an African-American man named Lee Brown, aka Robert Lee, had a dispute with another African-American man, Tom Berry, at a bar and attempted to return to the bar with a gun but was stopped by Louis N. Massey, the most senior policeman on the force. Massey attempted to arrest Brown but Brown shot and fatally wounded Massey, however Massey was able to fire back before dying, wounding Brown who eventually succumbed to injuries as well on July 31.<ref name="eliving" /><ref name="shame" /> A mob of several thousand citizens (mostly all white) formed outside the [[Old Vanderburgh County Jail|Vanderburgh County Jail]] on July 6 and attempted to storm the jail with the intention of lynching Brown and 16 other black inmates. Around 200 militiamen then opened fire on the mob, killing and injuring several rioters. The crowd then began looting hardware stores of weapons and stormed into black neighborhoods in an attempt to expel black people from Evansville.<ref name="eliving" /><ref name="race war" /><ref name="shame" /><ref name="seven killed">{{cite news |title=SEVEN KILLED IN EVANSVILLE RIOT |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045366/1903-07-07/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=07%2F06%2F1903&index=8&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=EVANSVILLE+RIOT&proxdistance=5&date2=07%2F31%2F1903&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Evansville+Riot&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1 |accessdate=April 2, 2019 |publisher=The Minneapolis Journal |date=July 7, 1903}}</ref> The rioting continued until July 10 and a total of 12 people died during the riot, with more than 40 others seriously wounded and about 2,000 of Evansville's 8,000 black residents fleeing the city.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 8, 1903|title=Anti-negro riots in the United States|url=https://www.theguardian.com/century/1899-1909/Story/0,,126353,00.html|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-11|website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref name="eliving" /><ref name="seven killed" />
It is unclear as to whether the mob or the militia were to blame for the deaths. Several accounts describe the escalation as coming to a head after a rock was thrown by someone in the crowd, at the militia, who in turn fired warning shots which caused chaos.<ref name="The Librrary of Congress">{{cite news |title=THE CITY'S CROWN OF SHAME |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1903-07-08/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1903&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=EVANSVILLE+Journal&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=14&state=Indiana&date2=1903&proxtext=evansville+journal&y=6&x=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |accessdate=January 18, 2020 |publisher=The Indianapolis Journal |date=July 8, 1903}}</ref>

Excerpt - "Two more deaths added to the list. Frank Lamble and Charles Taylor pass away last night - first funeral held today. Two more deaths were added to the list of fatalities resulting from the shooting of Monday night, last evening Frank Lamble and Charles Taylor, passing away from the effect of the wounds received. This makes a total of nine deaths so far, and the list will most likely swell to ten. FRANK LAMBLE - The death of Lamble took place last evening about 5 o'clock at the Gilbert Sanitarium where he had been since the shooting. His death was caused by the bullet wound which struck him in the chin and ranged downward... He was unconscious from the first and never recovered sufficiently to talk of the occurrence or to give any information of how he was shot...."<ref name="Geneaology Bank">{{cite news |title=TWO MORE DEATHS ADDED TO THE LIST |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1425EEF26DF1B8D5%40GB3NEWS-14572C44B5FC95C9%402416304-145414E5D3D10098%400-145414E5D3D10098%40?h=4&fname=Frank&lname=Lambie&fullname=&rgfromDate=&rgtoDate=&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&kwinc=&kwexc= |accessdate=January 18, 2020 |publisher=The Evansville Journal-News |date=July 8, 1903}}</ref>

The people killed during the riot were:<ref name="shame" />{{Dead link|date=January 2022}}<ref name="seven killed" />
{{div col|colwidth=28em}}
*Edward Schiffman, 28, painter
*Hazel Allman, 15, killed while driving with her parents
*August Jordan, 21, musician
*Ed Ruhl, 23, laborer
*Joseph Tech "Peck", middle-aged
*Robert W. Bock, 24, (Originally thought to be H.E.Johnson)
*Fred Kappler, 15
*Frank Lamble, 23, stove molder
*John Barnett, 20
*John Geil
*Earnest Walters
*Charles Taylor, factory hand
*Calvin Hawkins, 26
{{div col end}}

==See also==
*[[List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evansville race riot}}
[[Category:1903 in Indiana]]
[[Category:1903 riots]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Indiana]]
[[Category:Racially motivated violence against African Americans]]
[[Category:White American riots in the United States]]
[[Category:July 1903 events]]
[[Category:Evansville, Indiana]]
[[Category:Killings by law enforcement officers in the United States]]
[[Category:History of racism in Indiana]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1903]]

Evansville race riot - Revision history

MDPOliva97 at 20:31, 12 January 2026

WikiDwarfBOT: robot: add new article