In 1889, Thomas Moss, a friend of Wells, opened the Peoples Grocery. The grocery store did well and competed with a grocery store across the street that was owned by a white man. In 1892, Wells went out of town. While she was gone, a mob of white people invaded her friend's store. During the fight, three white men were shot and injured. Moss and two other black men, named McDowell and Stewart, were arrested and jailed, waiting for their trial. A large mob of white people stormed the jail and killed the three men. After the murder of her friends, Wells wrote in "Free Speech and Headlight," suggesting that blacks leave Memphis altogether: Wells talked about the public nature of the murders. More than 6,000 black people did leave Memphis. Other people decided not to use businesses owned by white people. Some people said they would hurt Wells, so she bought a pistol. She later said that the people who bullied her were mad because she told just a little bit of the truth: "They had made me an exile and threatened my life for hinting at the truth."