 Its report stated that on July 27, 1919, Eugene Williams, an African American youth, drifted towards an informally segregated beach on the South Side while holding onto a railroad tie.He was subsequently hit by a stone as a white man threw rocks at him and other African Americans to drive them away from their part of the 29th Street beach in the city's Douglas community on the South Side.A witness recalled seeing a single white male standing on a breakwater from the raft of the African Americans and throwing rocks at them.