Rosewood, Fla., Jan. 5 (United Press) -- Hundreds of white men, heavily armed, poured into Rosewood, Florida today to reinforce the small guard watching a barricaded negro house in which a score of blacks are hiding, following a race riot which has raged here since last night in which twenty-two negroes and whites were killed.
Authorities giving these first figures, said five were known to been killed, others are believed to have perished.
Terrified negroes throughout the section drew the curtains of their windows and crouched indoors today.
Deputies were posted around black halls to prevent the riot from spreading.
The stronghold of the negroes will be stormed when forces have gathered it was feared. Fears that the outbreak would spread to surrounding sections of the state were expressed.
The dead include two whites and 20 negroes.
The rioting, an outgrowth on a young white girl flared when white men from Sumner went to Rosewood and joined a posse hunting one of the negroes, hunted for the attack.
The blacks refused to give up the suspect, secreted in the negro belt and the posse stormed the hiding place. They were repulsed when the blacks opened fire at close quarters.
Billy Wilkerson, storekeeper and Harry Andrews, lumber company superintendent, fell dead and a dozen other besiegers were wounded. The battle lasted more than an hour both sides entrenched in buildings. Hundreds of shots were exchanged.
Other negroes in the section, terrified, huddled in their huts and prayed until daylight.
The bodies of Andrews and Wilkerson were in the center of the fighting, most of the night, but were recovered under the cover of darkness shortly before dawn.
