Commemorating the Killed

Born: 1864
Occupation: Shoe Merchant
Killed: July 29th, 1919
Cause of death: Stab Wound

Morris Perel, a white man, was born in 1864 in Russ, Poland. After immigrating to Chicago and the death of his wife, Rachel, Perel lived at 5209 S. Indiana Avenue with his seven children–Charles, Harry, Bernard, Bertha, Phyllis, Eleanor, and Rose.^[1] In Chicago, Perel worked as a shoe merchant.^[2] During the riots, Perel was attacked by the same group that, just a few hours before, had shot and killed Walter Parejko. The Chicago Commission Report stated, “Perel was going to his place of business walking west on Fifty-First Street,” when jumped by a group of Black assailants near Dearborn Street.^[3] Stinson, one of the group that attacked Parejko, stabbed Perel with a knife, mortally wounding him. In this case, the coroner’s jury stated, “we recommend that the said William Stinson be held to the grand jury upon the charge of murder until discharged by due process of law.” In both the Parejko and Perel cases, the group on trial received “not guilty” verdicts. Perel died on July 29^th at the age of fifty-five.