Page:By Sanction of Law.pdf/269



It was long after daybreak when the police relaxed their vigilance in guarding the Negro district. There were still smouldering flames in the small area which had been burned. Despite the fact that all seemed quiet and as if nothing had occurred, those of the colored population who usually were astir before this hour and on their way to their places of work refused to leave their homes.

In the downtown section, not a Negro could be seen and the whites began to awake to the awfulness of the situation. Like a bad conscience on the morning after there was feeling of remorse in some. Most of those who had taken part in the mob, however, and their friends began to visit the scene of their diabolical outbreak. There was no remorse in them, however. They were prompted by sheer curiosity. The newspapers carried stories of the night's work but not the whole story. There was no mention of Dr. Tansey or Professor Armstrong. The parts they played came out later.

For the most part the crowd gathered on the sidewalk, leaned against the railing and gazed at the swaying bodies and the two lying on the grass—the one that of Dr. Tansey, the other that of Professor Armstrong. They believed that all four bodies must have been those of Negroes.

"I thought we lynched only two niggers," remarked one to a bystander.

"So did I. There are four bodies, though."

"I only remember two," said a third.