A Brutal Murder
December 19, 1896
Summary
A white man commits a murder of his black coworker over an argument.
Transcription
Newport News, December 14 – Special - Shortly after 9 o'clock this morning, Mr. J. H. Bocock, an employee of the merchants and Miners' Transportation Company, shot a colored man named Louis Chick, and the latter is now hovering between life and death. Bocock went to Chief-of-Police Harwood and surrendered himself, and with John Chick, a brother of the wounded colored man is now confined in the city jail.
The affair happened on Chesapeake and Ohio Pier 5. It seems that R. C. Harwood, boss of the freight assorters ordered Louis Chick to place a large box at a certain point, and he threw it down in another place. Words followed, resulting in the "lie" from the colored man, and the two came to blows.
WORDS BETWEEN THEM
Bocock, who had reported in the morning to go on duty as a watchman and who was later put on the freight work, said something to the colored man, and the latter retaliated. It is said that Bocock used a profane word and the colored man called him a very hard name and threatened him. With that, Bocock is said to have struck Chick, who reached back, drew a knife and started to open it when Bocock drew his revolver and shot Chick just below the left nipple. The Boston ship was discharging at the time, and there were nearly 200 colored men on the pier. About fifty of these, headed by John Chick, with a revolver, started after Bocock. and chased him into the yard enclosure. Bocock passed through the gateway, and the watch man immediately closed the gate and shut the crowd out of the yard.
The affair happened on Chesapeake and Ohio Pier 5. It seems that R. C. Harwood, boss of the freight assorters ordered Louis Chick to place a large box at a certain point, and he threw it down in another place. Words followed, resulting in the "lie" from the colored man, and the two came to blows.
WORDS BETWEEN THEM
Bocock, who had reported in the morning to go on duty as a watchman and who was later put on the freight work, said something to the colored man, and the latter retaliated. It is said that Bocock used a profane word and the colored man called him a very hard name and threatened him. With that, Bocock is said to have struck Chick, who reached back, drew a knife and started to open it when Bocock drew his revolver and shot Chick just below the left nipple. The Boston ship was discharging at the time, and there were nearly 200 colored men on the pier. About fifty of these, headed by John Chick, with a revolver, started after Bocock. and chased him into the yard enclosure. Bocock passed through the gateway, and the watch man immediately closed the gate and shut the crowd out of the yard.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Lower Right Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Liam Eynan
Citation
“A Brutal Murder,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed May 12, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1586.