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1. Seventh and Jefferson — Old County Jail Site
It was here the white mob congregated on August 14, 1908, demanding the release of George Richardson and Joe James, two black prisoners being held on counts of crimes against whites. Richardson was accused of raping Mabel Hallam, a white woman, and James was accused of the murder of Clergy Ballard, a white man. The county sheriff, with the help of Harry Loper, a white restaurant owner, secretly transported the prisoners to Bloomington, Illinois. The realization of this escape ignited the Race Riots.
2. 223 South Fifth — Loper’s Restaurant
The owner of Loper’s Restaurant, Harry Loper, assisted Sheriff Werner in the removal of George Richardson and Joe James from the County Jail. The riot escalated as the mob, outraged by Loper’s assistance in the prisoners’ transport, demolished his restaurant and destroyed his car that had been used to move the prisoners.
The first fatality of the riot, Louis Johnson, was a patron at Loper’s Restaurant. He was killed be a rioter’s bullet.
3. Seventh and Washington Street — (The Levee) Business District
Still enraged, the rioters moved to a small black business district, breaking windows and doors, stealing or destroying merchandise, and wrecking furniture and equipment. By the time the mob finished looting this area, fifteen black and several Jewish businesses had been vandalized, destroying several blocks of businesses. Fishman’s Pawn Shop, the first Jewish store attacked in this area, turned out to be methodically chosen. The mob obtained weapons from this store. The rioters then moved north toward the black residential neighborhoods known as the “Badlands.”