Aug. 17, 1964 - Some 50 persons were injured in five hours of racial rioting last night and early today as Negroes stoned passing cars and white residents in the predominantly Negro suburb of Dixmoor, south of Chicago. Most of those injured were white.
Two persons were shot. The police said one was a Negro hit in the arm by a civilian sniper and the other was a white man who accidentally shot himself in the hand.
Hundreds of policemen cordoned off the area, holding off crowds of white men with police dogs. Inside the area, the rioters roamed freely for a time.
Then, led by Sheriff Richard Ogilvie of Cook County, 40 policemen walking with rifles and six squad cars of policemen restored order by marching into the heart of the riot area.
Before the police moved in, Sheriff Ogilvie instructed them: “If anyone shoots, we’re shooting back.”
The squad marched from east to west and back again through the area without any shots fired.
“It was tense — real tense,” said Lieut. Mervin Horsmann of the sheriff’s police.
Lieut. Horsmann said Negroes in what he called the middle-class neighborhood lined the streets and jeered: “Gestapo, Gestapo.”
The riot reportedly began at a liquor store at 147th Street and Western Avenue. A 22-year-old Negro woman, Blondella Woods, fought there Saturday with the owner, who accused her of having stolen a bottle of gin. Late yesterday, Negroes began picketing the store.
The demonstrators charged that the store owner, Michael LaPota, had beat the woman in the store. Mr. LaPota said he struggled with her to prevent her from fleeing.
Last night, pickets carried signs saying, “Big Mike Must Go,” “Mike Beats Negro Women,” and “Dixmoor Police Are Afraid of Big Mike.”
State Police Capt. Clyde Oliver described the subsequent outbreak as a “full-scale riot.”
During the disturbance, policemen wore helmets and plastic face masks to protect themselves from the rocks and other debris hurled through the air. Many squad cars were pelted with stones and bottles, and policemen walked the streets with shotguns.
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