white woman. By December 1908, some 88 lynchings had been recorded that year across the country; black people were 95 percent of the victims. Springfield, with its thriving vice district, also had a history of violence prior to the attacks. Immediately after Ballard's death, newspapers added his death "to the long list of bloody murders which have stained the history of Springfield. For example, on the day James first appeared before the special grand jury, his case was one of two murder cases brought to them. The other case was one of whites killing a white: Ira Dudley and Michael Lynch, a white livery driver and white miner, were both charged with the July 2 murder of Marcus Neil, when they allegedly hit him over the head with a club and fractured his skull. Such violence continued in the aftermath of the riot, further heightening tensions. On August 23, one week after the riot, Thomas Brady, a 70-year-old white man, was murdered in his sleep at his store on East Washington Street, where the riot had been intense. Although Grady's 26-year-old white employee, Frank Bryant, was guilty of the crime, prior to his capture, rumors circulated that Grady had been murdered by a black man. The black population feared becoming targets again of whites on no evidence. The riot violence spread beyond Springfield: whites in surrounding states arbitrarily attacked black people in their towns. For example, on August 16, a black man, George Mondie, was walking in Evansville, Indiana, when he passed two white men discussing the riot in Springfield. When the men saw Mondie, they attacked him and nearly stabbed him to death. Support for attackers The whites of Springfield largely came to support the riot, and eventually showed sympathy for the attackers. Whites talked about how "everybody knows that mob has made our families safe," boasting that the attacks were "the best thing that ever happened to the Capital City," and celebrating that "this was only the beginning of a crusade that shall make Springfield decent and keep it that way": Two weeks after Ballard died, the Illinois State Journal began running a comic strip: "Sambo and His Funny Voices." The comic relegated black people to bumbling stereotypes, allowing whites to ridicule and diminish black citizens. Black people were harassed and assaulted for several weeks after the affair. The Springfield community had primarily blamed black people for the