Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) STORY OF THE RIOT PUBLISHED BY THE CITIZENS' PROTECTIVE LEAGUE PRICE, 25 CENTS COPY OF AN APPEAL TO THE MAYOR. NEW YORK, _September 12, 1900_. _TO HIS HONOR, ROBERT A. VAN WYCK, MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY._ DEAR SIR: Your communication of the 7th inst. in reply to my letter received. We appreciate the consideration shown and interest manifested, but earnestly petition your Honor for a fair and impartial investigation. We condemn in unqualified terms lawlessness among our people, and by no means condone the crime of Harris, nor his associates; but this crime, as black as it may be, does not justify the policemen in their savage and indiscriminate attack upon innocent and helpless people. We ask for no money consideration, and our counsel, Hon. Frank Moss, has been so advised. We are not responsible for what private individuals may do--the rights of citizenship we value above money. We ask for the conviction, and removal from the force of those officers whom we are able to prove guilty. We appeal to you, sir, as chief magistrate of this city, to give this matter special personal attention. If the guilty are shielded it will encourage the mob to repeat the same offense, the officers to commit the same deeds, and our people to prepare for self-defense in spite of law or gospel. This can have no other termination than bloodshed and butchery. This, I believe, may all be avoided by a course of simple justice. The color of a man's skin must not be made the index of his character or ability. From the many ugly threatening letters I have received I feel that my own life is not safe, but I am unwilling to purchase it by silence at the expense of my unfortunate race. We feel keenly our position, and again appeal to you for common justice. I am, dear sir, Yours, W. H. BROOKS. PERSECUTION OF NEGROES BY Roughs and Policemen, in the City of New York, August, 1900. STATEMENT AND PROOFS WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY FRANK MOSS AND ISSUED BY THE CITIZENS' PROTECTIVE LEAGUE. STATEMENT OF THE PERSECUTION. The riots and persecutions described in this pamphlet occurred mainly in the 20th Police Precinct, which is under the command of Acting Captain John Cooney, and within the jurisdiction of Inspector Walter L. Thompson. Chief William S. Devery resides in the precinct, near the scene of the disorder. The district has a large colored population, and mixed with it are many dissolute and lawless white persons. On August the 12th last a Negro named Arthur Harris was with his wife at 41st Street and 8th Avenue. He says that he left her to buy a cigar, and when he returned he found her in the grasp of a man in citizen's dress. This man was a police officer, named Robert J. Thorpe, who had arrested her, as he claimed, for "soliciting." Harris says that he did not know Thorpe was an officer, and that he attempted to rescue his wife. The policeman struck Harris with his club, and Harris retaliated with his penknife, inflicting a mortal wound, and then ran away. Thorpe was attached to the 20th Precinct, and was much liked by his comrades. Policemen thronged his home, and his funeral, on August 16th, was attended by Chief Devery, Inspector Thompson, and other officials. Harris, the murderer, had disappeared, and many policemen who were interested in Thorpe were seized with a desire of vengeance on Negroes generally. During the day of the funeral there were rumors of coming trouble, and those colored people who have illicit dealings with the police--keepers of gambling, disorderly, and badger houses--seeing the signs of coming trouble, closed their places and kept off the streets. Several officers told informants of mine that they were going to punish the Negroes that night. There are numerous gangs of rowdies in the district who are hostile to Negroes and friendly with the unofficial powers that are now potent in police affairs. There was an understanding between the forces that night that resulted in the holding of the streets for hours by crowds of roughs who raced up and down Broadway, 7th and 8th Avenues, and the side streets from 34th to 42nd Streets in pursuit of Negroes, and were not attacked by the police except in one or two cases where they invaded Broadway hotels hunting for colored men. The unanimous testimony of the newspaper reports was that the mobs could have been broken and destroyed immediately and with little difficulty. In many instances of brutality by the mob policemen stood by and made no effort to protect the Negroes who were assailed. They ran with the crowds in pursuit of their prey; they took defenseless men who ran to them for protection and threw them to the rioters, and in many cases they beat and clubbed men and women more brutally than the mob did. They were absolutely unrestrained by their superior officers. It was the night sticks of the police that sent a stream of bleeding colored men to the hospital, and that made the station house in West 37th Street look like a field hospital in the midst of battle. Men who were taken to the station house by officers and men in the station house were beaten by policemen without mercy, and their cries of distress made sleep impossible for those who lived in the rear of the station house. Colored men being denied official protection, many of them obtained weapons, and if they were found armed, or if revolvers were found in their houses, then official brutality was redoubled. The tumult of August 15th was repeated on a smaller scale on the night of the 16th, but public attention had been directed to the shameful conduct of our "guardians of the peace," and the precinct swarmed with reporters and sightseers. Then the dilatory officials speedily quelled the riot and ended the punishment of the Negroes. In the courts many false charges were made by policemen; and although some Negroes were discharged by the magistrates, others were convicted and punished on the false testimony of their accusers. One magistrate commented severely on the comparatively small number of white men that were arraigned before him for rioting. Had a force of regular soldiers been sent to quell such a disturbance, and had it failed so utterly and so long as did the police, and had the soldiers abandoned their duty, and vied with the roughs in beating the men whom they should have protected, undoubtedly some guilty privates would have been punished--but the severest penalty would have fallen on their incompetent or derelict commanders. The commanders in this case were Acting Captain Cooney, Inspector Thompson, and Chief Devery. The newspapers told of the shocking outrage, and printed many specific cases of cruelty, giving the addresses of the victims and the circumstances of their persecution. By this and other means the Police Commissioners and the Mayor were fully apprised of the facts. There was no suspicion of politics in the universal demand that went up for a prompt and efficient investigation and for the severe punishment of the offenders. This request was unheeded, until the acting Mayor called on the Police Commissioners to investigate the conduct of their subordinates. The Commissioners delayed, knowing full well how such cases deteriorate by delay, and after several weeks announced that they would investigate. The colored people of the city, realizing their unexpected danger as a race, and discovering the surprising unwillingness of the city authorities to punish their assailants and to protect them in the future, formed "The Citizens' Protective League." This society and the Society for the Prevention of Crime and the City Vigilance League communicated with the Mayor in writing and urged him to hold an investigation or to direct the Commissioner of Accounts to hold one for him. His answer was that the whole matter was in the hands of the Board of Police. A number of Negroes who had been injured retained Israel Ludlow, Esq., to bring suits against the city for damages inflicted on them by the mob. He filed with the Police Commissioners the affidavit of William J. Elliott, who had been clubbed in the station house. The Police Board began its "investigation" by calling Elliott and his witnesses on the 7th of September. The examination of witnesses was conducted by the President of the Board, Bernard J. York, and, with the approval of the Board, he refused to give subpoenas to Mr. Ludlow, and refused to allow him or any other lawyer to examine or cross-examine any witnesses, or to suggest any step to be taken. Elliott and all other colored witnesses were examined by the President as hostile parties, and their testimony was controverted by the policemen who were called at once and were carefully nursed and led by him. Glaring discrepancies and disagreements in their testimony were passed over in spite of specific protests by Mr. Ludlow. The writer appeared on behalf of the societies that had memorialized the Mayor, and filed a complaint of inefficiency and neglect of duty against the Captain, the Inspector, and the Chief of Police, and announced that he had much testimony to offer on the specifications, but insisted on his right to examine his own witnesses and to cross-examine the police witnesses. These rights were emphatically denied, and the complaint was disdainfully pigeonholed. The Protective League separately asked the Mayor for justice; he responded that the whole matter was with the Police Board, and he made the same response to Mr. Ludlow, who complained to him of the farce that was being enacted at Police Headquarters. The hearing was continued several days. Witnesses were examined superficially in eight cases of cruelty by policemen, and were controverted by double the number of policemen, and it was suddenly announced that the hearings were closed. Claims of sixteen Negroes against the city were then on file in the Comptroller's office, the names and addresses of many more victims had appeared in the newspapers, and the writer had announced that he had in his possession over forty affidavits of police brutality. The "investigation" was a palpable sham. At this date not a single complaint has been preferred by the Chief, the Inspector, the Captain, or the Commissioners against any police officer for brutality or neglect of duty during the riots. On September 12th a great meeting was held at Carnegie Hall to protest against the brutality and against the failure of the city authorities to act, and to take measures for the prevention of such outbreaks in the future. Fully thirty-five hundred people attended, and listened to addresses by Rev. R. S. MacArthur, D.D., Rev. D. W. Cook, D.D., Rev. C. T. Walker, D.D., Rev. W. H. Brooks, D.D., Rev. Bishop W. B. Derrick, D.D., Miss M. R. Lyons, Hon. D. M. Webster. A subscription was started, and measures were taken to make the Citizens' Protective League a permanent and a vital institution. The League and its representatives are using every possible lawful measure to secure justice to its people, and to vindicate their right to live in peace. They are having a difficult task to get a hearing. Several cases have been brought by it in the Magistrates' Court, but they are difficult to carry in the face of a solid and lusty swearing lot of policemen, and they cannot show the crime in its mass, and cannot reveal the responsibility of the higher officials for the outbreak and for the failure to discover and punish the guilty policemen and their commanders. The Mayor has abundant authority to hear the matter, but he has washed his hands of it, and the Police Board has not hesitated to write another page of its damning history. There is no other way open for a full and connected presentation of the case to the public except by legal process through the Mayor and the Commissioners. A Grand Jury investigation was had, and resulted in no indictment. Such an investigation is necessarily held behind closed doors, and the sole question is whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant the indictment of a specific individual for a specific act, unrelated to other acts, and with a reasonable probability of conviction. I have advised the Citizens' Protective League of the great barriers to be overcome in securing the conviction of even a patrolman, and of the inadequacy of a criminal proceeding in an attempted presentation of the great wrong that the Negroes have suffered. They need the sympathy and support of the good people of New York to secure a vindication, and to prevent a recurrence of the outbreak. Under my advice the appended affidavits have been secured, and are now printed, so that they may be read and considered in their relation to each other. I may say that with hardly an exception the affiants have shown themselves to be respectable, hard-working men and women. The dissolute Negroes who are so often seen lounging about the "Tenderloin" and its neighborhood are not to be found among the witnesses. They are the friends of the police, contributing very largely to their comfort and happiness, and it is quite clear that they had their warning and kept out of the way. With this simple introduction, I present the affidavits, confident that they will speak for themselves, and that they will lead to the condemnation of the high official criminals, and contribute to the overthrow of the infernal system that they represent. Brutality and insolence of policemen have increased greatly, and the Police Commissioners seldom, if ever, convict officers for these offenses. Humble citizens of all races to-day are in more danger from policemen's clubs than they are from the assaults of criminals. The inaction of the Commissioners in the cases of the Negroes is entirely consistent with their general conduct in all citizens' complaints. FRANK MOSS. Dated October 1, 1900. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: P. A. Johnson, M.D., being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 203 West 33rd Street, and am engaged in the active practice of my profession at that address. On Thursday morning, August 16th, 1900, about ten A. M., I heard a noise in the street, and going to the window I saw a colored man trying to get into one of the flats on the opposite side of the street. He failed, and went east to the corner saloon, kept by a man Gallagher, and entered. After he went in I noticed three policemen in the saloon. Almost immediately a mob came down 7th Avenue. At the saloon they commenced to shout, "Bring him out, we'll lynch him!" Several of the rioters went into the saloon, and in a few minutes they came out again and formed in a semicircle, evidently waiting for something. The police officers appeared with the colored man, clubbing him unmercifully. They then shoved him into the mob. He managed to get through them and ran down the street, and I heard him shortly shouting for mercy, saying, "For God's sake don't kill me, I have a wife and children." Deponent has been informed that two of the officers ran down the street after him and knocked him senseless. P. A. JOHNSON. Sworn to before me this 10th day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Stephen Small, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and 34th Street. On Wednesday evening, August 15th, 1900, I went to the home of a sick brother on Lexington Avenue, and started then to go to my lodge on 29th Street near 7th Avenue, and had reached 8th Avenue and 41st Street, opposite Driggs' saloon, when two officers jumped on the car. One hit me on the head with his club, and the other struck me in the eye with his club. A white man interfered, and the police desisted. I stayed on the car, and when we had gone a little further the mob boarded it and attacked me. The car had quite a number of women in it, who began to scream, and some of them told me to get under the seat, which I did, and it proceeded down the avenue. I reached the neighborhood of Hudson Street House of Relief, where the white gentleman who interfered in the first instance took me, and where I had my head bandaged. I could not get home that evening, and I remained in a cellar in 30th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. The next morning I started to get home, and had reached the corner of 32nd Street and 7th Avenue, when I was stopped by an officer who wanted to know where I was going, and what weapon I had on me. I told him I had nothing on me. He said, "You look as if you had been in the scrap. They ought to have killed you; get out of here." As he said this he struck me across the back with his club, and I yet am unable to lay flat on my back without suffering extreme pain. Deponent further states that he was perfectly sober and was not creating any disturbance, and that the assault by the police officers was entirely unjustified and an outrage. STEPHEN x SMALL. his mark Sworn to before me this 11th day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Oscar Slaughter, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 225 West 32nd Street. On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, I boarded an 8th Avenue car at 32nd Street, starting to go to my sister's in West 62nd Street. I had got as far as 36th Street and 8th Avenue, when a mob led by three or four police officers surrounded the car and jumped on it. The police officers immediately commenced to club me. One of the rioters shouted, "Pull him off and kill him!" The officers pulled me off of the car and commenced to club me. They hit me on the head and pulled me to the street. I was kicked and beaten while I lay there, and after the mob had gone and I recovered somewhat I dragged myself to 42nd Street and 6th Avenue, and from there I went to 32nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. On my way there I attempted to go down 34th Street, but a white man met me and said, "Don't go down there, you'll get killed." I then tried to go down 33rd Street, but a white gentleman advised me not to go that way, as I would be killed, and said that even if he went down there and did not join in he would be jumped on. I then went to 32nd Street, where a number of colored men had taken refuge in a hallway, and where I was advised to stay all night. I stayed there a while and then took a chance in getting to my home down the block, which I succeeded in doing. Deponent is informed that an officer went into the aforesaid hallway after deponent had left, and clubbed and beat a man who lived in the house, and took him to the station house. Deponent declares that he was perfectly sober, and was creating no disturbance whatever, and that the said assault was entirely unjustified and an outrage. OSCAR SLAUGHTER. Sworn to before me this 11th day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _State of New York, City and County of New York, ss._: Joseph Frasier, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I live at 331 West 37th Street, New York City. On August 15th, at quarter past eleven in the night, I was on my way to work on an 8th Avenue car going downtown. A crowd rushed towards the car and yelled, "Lynch the nigger!" A policeman who jumped on the car hit me on the head with his club and knocked out a tooth and beat me on the arms, back, and body until I was nearly senseless. The policeman asked me whether I wanted to go to the station or to the hospital. I said I wanted to go to my work, though the blood was running over my face so that I could hardly see. A passenger helped me until I recovered slightly, and helped me on another car and into a drug store, where I received aid. The street was filled with a rough crowd, patrol wagon, and ambulance. The people cried out from the windows, protesting against the beating, and called out "Shame!" I was laid up for weeks, and am hardly able to walk now, as I am still lame and sore. I work for Davenport, 94 Park Place, and it was my duty to get to the stable about eleven o'clock to go to New Jersey for produce. JOSEPH FRASIER. Sworn to before me this 11th day of September, 1900. STEPHEN B. BRAGUE, Notary Public (125), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Adolphus Cooks, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at No. 243 West 32nd Street, and work for the Anchor Steamship Company, foot of West 24th Street, as a longshoreman. On Tuesday morning, August 14th, 1900, I went to work for the said company, worked all that day, all that night, and until Wednesday night at 10:30 P. M.--39½ consecutive hours. At the said hour I left the pier at the foot of West 24th Street, and walked east on 24th Street, and when I reached the northwest corner of 8th Avenue and 24th Street a white gentleman advised me not to go up 8th Avenue, as there was a riot up there and they were fighting "like he did not know what." I continued east on 24th Street until I reached the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and 24th Street, when I met another white man who advised me not to go up 7th Avenue, as there was a riot in progress, and that they were fighting at that time in the neighborhood of 41st Street and 37th Street, but, thinking that I could get home in 32nd Street before the riot could get down to that street, I started uptown on the west side of 7th Avenue, and had reached the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and 28th Street, when I saw three officers coming down 7th Avenue. In the meantime three other colored men, whom I did not know, had caught up with me, and were walking behind me. I had gone about one hundred feet north of the aforesaid corner when I saw the three officers break into a run in our direction. I was grabbed by one of them, while the other two chased the three men who had come behind us and overtook them and clubbed them; the officer who had me immediately, without saying a word, struck me on the body with his club; then between the blows he said, "Get out of here, you black son of a b----!" One of the blows he aimed at my head, but I threw up my arm and received the blow on it. It was such a severe blow that I was lame in it for quite some days. I escaped from him as soon as I could, and ran to 28th Street, and down 28th Street to No. 211. I ran into the hallway and out into the back yard, where I stayed all night in fear of my life. The officer followed me, and when I ran into the hallway he clubbed the colored people who were on the front stoop, and drove them into the house. During the heavy rainstorm Wednesday night and early Thursday morning I took refuge in a small place that led into the cellar of the said house. Thursday morning about six o'clock I ventured out and went towards the dock at the foot of West 24th Street, where I intended to go to work again, and had reached 8th Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets, when I saw two police officers on the opposite side of the street, one of whom started to run towards me, but his companion stopped him, and drew him back. Deponent states further that if he had not been interfered with and clubbed by the police officer he could have reached his home in safety, and that he saw no signs of a disturbance, such as a large crowd of people, as far as he could see up the avenue; that deponent was watching for such signs by reason of his having been warned twice. Deponent also declares that he can identify the officer who clubbed him; that he knows him by sight, and that, about a month before the said clubbing, the same officer had come to him at his home, where he lived at that time, in West 28th Street, and had told him that the roundsman had got him, and that he had given him as an excuse that he was at the house where deponent then lived and was quelling a disturbance there, and asked deponent to verify that statement if the roundsman asked him. Deponent promised so to do, notwithstanding the fact that nothing of the kind had occurred there, and promised to do so simply to get the officer out of trouble. That the officer's first name is "Joe," and that he is attached to the 20th Precinct. Deponent further declares that he was perfectly sober, and that the assault by the officer was unwarranted and an outrage upon a peaceable citizen. ADOLPHUS x COOKS. his mark Sworn to before me this 4th day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Eugene Porter, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 202 West 49th Street. On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, between the hours of nine and ten P. M., I was walking uptown on the west side of 7th Avenue, on my way home. Everything about the neighborhood was quiet. There were no signs of a disturbance, and I had not heard of any trouble between the colored people and the white folks. I had reached a point about one hundred feet north of 37th Street on 7th Avenue, when I met a group of policemen, about six or eight in number. One of them said to me, "What are you doing here, you black son of a b----?" and without waiting for an answer struck me over the head with his club, felling me to the sidewalk, and continued to strike me about the body. I struggled to my feet, and implored the officers to spare my life, but they continued to club me and left me unconscious on the sidewalk. When I came to I arose to my feet and crawled home. After I reached home I got my young son to accompany me to the New York Hospital, where my wounds were dressed by Dr. Kenyon, of the Hospital Staff, who put fourteen stitches in my head. Deponent states further that he is troubled to this day with his head, as a result of the injuries received at the hands of the police, and he fears that it may yet seriously interfere with his following his business. Deponent states further that he is engaged in the business of horse and dog clipping, and that he can refer to the following-named persons for whom he has done work at various times: E. S. Odell, proprietor of the Saratoga Stables, 690 Madison Avenue, who has known him from infancy. Dr. H. D. Gill, Veterinary Surgeon, 57th Street and 2nd Avenue. G. W. Lynch, Morton Boarding Stables, Morton and Washington Streets. Joseph Hartshorn, 168 East 68th Street. EUGENE PORTER. Sworn to before me this 4th day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Richard C. Creech, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he resides at No. 137 West 53rd Street. That on Wednesday morning, August 15th, 1900, he had been to visit a friend at No. 312 West 45th Street, and left there at about 10:45 P. M. and walked to 8th Avenue, and had reached the corner of 8th Avenue and 45th Street, when he was set upon by a gang of rioters, and assaulted by them. That he shouted "Police!" and seeing two officers on the east side of the avenue, corner of 45th Street, he ran towards them when he saw them coming towards him and slackened his pace, thinking that they were coming to his assistance. When they came up to him, without saying a word, they commenced clubbing him, and knocked him unconscious on the sidewalk. He lay there unconscious for some time, he does not know exactly how long, but when he came to he found one of the policeman standing over him, and when he scrambled to his feet the policeman said, "Well, you black son of a b----, I guess you will be good now, won't you? Get out of here as quick as you can!" He then went towards Broadway, and on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets engaged a cab to take him home, and when he arrived home found that his pocketbook, containing thirty-six dollars in money and a pawnticket for a watch, was gone. He also lost his hat and an umbrella. He sent for his physician, Dr. Robert L. Cooper, 156 West 53rd Street, who took three stitches in his scalp and dressed other wounds on his arm and hand, the result of the clubbing. RICHARD C. CREECH. Sworn to before me this 1st day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Duncan James, of No. 238 West 40th Street, engaged in business at 84 and 86 Greene Street, care of G. Blum & Brother, being duly sworn, says: On Wednesday, August 15th, I left the store and went to my tutor at West 124th Street. I left there at ten P. M., and when I reached 43rd Street and 8th Avenue three men jumped on the car and struck me in the face. Passengers advised me not to get off at 40th Street. When I arrived at 34th Street men saw me on the car, and when it reached 33rd Street the car stopped suddenly and everybody jumped off. The car was surrounded by a mob. I had no weapon or protection but a cane. I kept them off the best I could. About twelve officers came and took me from the mob. They took me about one hundred and fifty feet from 8th Avenue in 33rd Street West, and as they turned me loose the officers pounded me severely with clubs over my head, arms, and shoulders, telling me to run. I had then lost my hat, cane, and books. I went back to my teacher's house and stayed all night. I was the only negro man there. In West 33rd Street a man gave me a hat. I could find him. I begged the officers to lock me up for protection, and they would not. Dr. Swinburne treated me. DUNCAN JAMES. Sworn to before me this 31st day of August, 1900. FRANK MOSS, Notary Public, N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Mack Thomas, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 238 West 40th Street. On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, I attended the St. Paul Baptist Church in West 43rd Street, and at about ten P. M. left for home. Knowing that the rioters were at work, I decided, instead of taking my usual route home, to go to 9th Avenue and transfer to 34th Street, to 7th Avenue, and thence back to 40th Street, thinking by that means to be able to avoid the rioters and reach home in safety. I boarded a 9th Avenue car at 43rd Street and transferred at 9th Avenue, and had reached the corner of 8th Avenue and 34th Street, when I saw a mob on the corner, and heard them shout, "There's two on the car; go after them, get them; lynch the niggers!" I stayed on the car until the mob boarded the car, when I jumped off and ran east on 34th Street pursued by the mob, several members of which struck me with their fists, but with no serious result. I had got so far as the middle of the block when I met four or five officers, one of whom stepped in front of me and struck me a blow with his club on the head, cutting it open. When he did so he said, "Who hit you?" I said nothing; then he said, "Get on the car, you black son of a b----, and get home out of here!" I got on the car and reached home without any further interference. Deponent declares it to be his belief that if he had not been stopped by the police, and struck by them, he would have reached his home without any serious injury; not mentioning the fact that the police made no attempt whatever to interfere with the mob. Deponent further declares that he would prefer to have taken his chances with the mob than to have met the said police officers. Deponent further declares that he was perfectly sober, was proceeding quietly on his way home, and was taking extraordinary measures to reach his home in safety and without violence. MACK THOMAS. Sworn to before me this 5th day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Miss Belle Johnson, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 275 West 39th Street. On Wednesday evening, August 15th, 1900, between nine and ten o'clock, I heard a disturbance in the street, and going to my window on 8th Avenue I saw a crowd of people on the sidewalk, and saw them rush toward a Negro boy who was standing on the corner (northeast corner 39th Street and 8th Avenue) and beat him. He rushed into a delicatessen store on 8th Avenue, but was thrust out by the proprietor. When he reached the sidewalk two officers grabbed him and clubbed him and then pushed him into the crowd, saying with an oath, "Run now, for your life!" He then ran to 39th Street and east on 39th Street with fully one hundred people after him. Right after this occurrence a colored man came along, and after being attacked by the mob was knocked over towards four police officers who were standing on the corner, one of whom was Officer 6312. All four of the officers then rushed for this man and clubbed him unmercifully about the head and body. I could not stand the sight any longer and shouted to the officers that it was a shame when police officers, who were supposed to be protecting peaceable citizens, assaulted them in such a brutal manner. About this time they ceased clubbing the man and thrust him out into the crowd of rioters. This sort of thing continued during the entire night, and until the next day, as at nine A. M., when I went out on an errand, I saw a colored man, who was carrying a small sign, beaten by a crowd of roughs. I saw a number of colored persons struck who were riding on the cars, and at least six colored men clubbed by the police during this time. BELLE JOHNSON. Sworn to before me this 5th day of September, 1900. _Geo. P. Hammond, Jr._, Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Mrs. Fannie Lewis, being duly sworn, deposes and says: She has read the foregoing affidavit of Miss Belle Johnson, and that she knows of her own knowledge that the facts therein stated are true. FANNIE LEWIS. Sworn to before me this 5th day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Chester Smith, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at No. 320 West 37th Street. I am employed in Flannery's drug store, at No. 103 West 42nd Street, and have been so employed for the last ten months. On August 15th, 1900, at about ten o'clock P. M., while going to my home, walking on the west side of 8th Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets, I saw a crowd of people, composed mostly of police officers and children. Some one in the crowd said, "There is a nigger!" pointing at me. One of the policemen ran towards me, and seeing that I was in physical danger I ran away from the place, going north to 39th Street on 8th Avenue. Somebody threw a brick at me, which struck me in the back, and then one of the policemen came up to me and struck me in the left eye with his club. My eye and my forehead are still lacerated and discolored. I then ran into the saloon at the southeast corner of 39th Street and 8th Avenue. One of the policemen ran in after me, and told me to go outside and run towards Broadway; that the mob had dispersed. I started toward the door, and as I reached it I saw that they were still waiting outside. I said to the officer as I started back into the saloon, "No, sir, I can't go out there; they'll kill me." The policeman then lifted me from the ground and threw me through the swinging door into the street. The glass in the door was broken, and I fell on my hands and knees. The policemen and the mob then began beating me, the policemen beating me with their clubs. They did not disperse the crowd or protect me from it. I then started to run towards Broadway; another policeman ran after me and struck me in the back with his club. I staggered, made one or two jumps, and fell in front of No. 236 West 39th Street. The lady of the house, a white woman, came out, and I was taken into the house by some one, I don't know whom. Two or three days after she told me that the officers soon left the house, but that the mob tried to break in, and that she told them that if they would not leave she would kill them. The lady rang for a messenger boy and sent word to my employer to call. He came and brought some bandages, etc., and bandaged my head. He then called two police officers and asked them to take me to the station house. They refused. He insisted, and they finally yielded and took me to the station house. I was treated there by a police surgeon. My employer remained with me until three o'clock the next morning. I did not work for three days after this. I saw one man treated very harshly at the station house, being clubbed by police officers, and I believe he would have been treated still worse if it had not been for the presence of reporters. I did nothing whatever to justify this brutal treatment on the part of the police officers. I believe that had it not been for the presence of my employer I would have been beaten still more. There were over twenty-five policemen in the crowd. I was unconscious part of the time. I have never been arrested in my life. CHESTER SMITH. Sworn to before me this 5th day of September, 1900. GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County. ---- On September 13th, 1900, I visited the premises No. 236 West 39th Street and found that the occupant thereof was the woman who rescued Chester Smith from the hands of the mob, and that her name is Mrs. Davenport. She stated that she did not want to make an affidavit or statement of the occurrence, but volunteered the information that she had sheltered two or three Negroes during the night of August 15th and the morning of the 16th, also that several police officers who attempted to get into her house, at the time that she rescued the said Smith, acted and spoke in an insulting manner, one of them saying, "What kind of a woman are you, to be harboring niggers?" GEORGE P. HAMMOND, JR. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Harry L. Craig, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at No. 226 West 28th Street. I am employed as a hall boy at the apartment houses Nos. 102 and 104 East 26th Street. On August 15th, 1900, I left the apartment house a little after twelve o'clock, that being the time I usually go home. I walked on 26th Street to 6th Avenue, then turned into 6th Avenue and walked to 27th Street; I then walked on 27th Street to 8th Avenue, turned into 8th Avenue, and went into the saloon at 8th Avenue and 28th Street, southwest corner, where I had a drink, and left about 12:20, going home on 28th Street. As I neared M. Groh's Son's Brewery on that block some one hit me on the head with a club; I turned around and saw three policemen in uniform, and behind them was a mob of at least fifty men. The street was very dark. I started to run home, but one of the officers tripped me, and I fell. I was then clubbed by the police and the mob into unconsciousness. When I recovered I found that the police and the mob had left. I picked up my hat and got up, and started to walk to our house, which was only a few feet away, but I staggered and fell several times. When I reached home the lady I live with, Mrs. Wisham, washed my face with witch-hazel; my jaw was so sore that I could hardly open my mouth. For a few days after this I felt sore all over my body, from the effects of this clubbing. I was clubbed by three officers. The officers led the crowd, and did not interfere when others were beating me. They made no attempt to disperse the crowd. I did nothing whatever to justify this brutal assault upon me by the police. I was never arrested in my life. I was not in the neighborhood while the riots were going on in the early part of the evening. The police did not give any reason for acting as they did, and when I fell unconscious they left me alone in the dark street. HARRY S. CRAIG. Sworn to before me this 13th day of September, 1900. FRANK MOSS, Notary Public, N. Y. County. ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: John L. Newman, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at No. 351 West 37th Street, in the rear house. On August 15th, 1900, I went to the restaurant which is in the front building, for supper. This was about 10:30 P. M. After I had been there a few minutes some one told me that the mob was coming. I had seen them beat colored people during the evening, without any cause, so I walked out of the restaurant into my apartments, which are in the rear, only a few steps away; I live in the basement floor. I did this so as to avoid any trouble. As I reached the front door and walked in I closed it, and proceeded to go into my apartments. Four officers immediately came, and one of them said, "Stop!" and kicked open the door. Then one of them grabbed me and said, "Here is a d----d nigger; kill him!" The four officers then beat me with their clubs until I became unconscious. They then carried me to the station house. I was unconscious during all this time, but my friends tell me that the police were beating me all the way to the station house. It is located one block west from where I live. At the station house I recovered my consciousness. I was arraigned before the sergeant, and the officer who struck me first made the complaint against me. At the sergeant's desk I felt very weak, bleeding from my head and eye, and I held on to the railing for support. One of the officers struck me in the ribs with a night stick, and said, "God d--n you, stand up there!" I fell forward on the sergeant's desk, and I said, "For God's sake, take a gun and blow out my brains! If you have got to take a life, take mine, and don't murder me this way!" The sergeant then said very gruffly to the officer, "Take him away!" While all this was going on Chief of Police Devery was in the station house standing about ten feet away, talking to somebody whom I did not know. He saw all this, but did not interfere, conversing with the man all the time, as if nothing unusual was going on. I have known Chief Devery for three or four years, and have spoken with him in a friendly way many times. When I was brought into the muster room, in the rear of the station house, I saw several colored people being treated for their wounds. I was bleeding from my head and eye, and could not see well, and I sat down in the wrong chair. Two policemen then came over to me, pulled me out of the chair, and were raising their clubs to strike me when some one said, "Don't hit this man any more," and they obeyed. My wounds were then dressed, and I was taken to a cell. About twelve o'clock, when the officer who was making the prison rounds came to my cell, I asked him for permission to see the sergeant. He asked why, and I told him that my house was unlocked, and that I wished he would send an officer to lock it. He said he would speak to the sergeant about it. In a few minutes he returned and said, "The sergeant said, 'D--n him,' and that 'he had no business with the house,'" and he did not send anyone to lock it and protect my property. While I was in the station house I saw a colored man, John Haines, struck by several officers with their clubs. He was naked, only wearing a little undershirt. The officers were striking all the colored men in the station house, and without any interference. In court, the next morning, I was arraigned before Judge Cornell. The officer swore that I was causing a riot in the street, I denied this. I did not have any witnesses in court, because I did not have any opportunity to produce them. The Judge did not ask me whether I wanted an examination or not, and expressed his doubts as to my guilt, and said the case was "very curious." But the officers were persistent in their false statements, aforesaid, and the magistrate put me under $100 bonds to keep the peace. Not being able to furnish this, I was sent to the Penitentiary, where I was for thirty days. I was treated at the Penitentiary by Dr. Thomas Higgins, who told me that my head would never be right as long as I lived. I have been sick ever since. Dr. Higgins told me that he would testify for me in any proceeding which I might institute. I am employed by the Metropolitan Street Railway Company as a rockman, but am unable to work at present. I have lived in New York City for over forty-three years, and have never been arrested before in my life. I did not participate in the riots, was not on the street, and did nothing whatever to justify this conduct on the part of the police. I can recognize the officer who made the charge against me; he was the first to strike me. JOHN L. NEWMAN. Sworn to before me this 19th day of September, 1900. JOHN F. MACCOLGAN, Notary Public (4), N. Y. County. (The officer in the case was Holland.) ---- _City and County of New York, ss._: Mrs. Martha A. Brown, being duly sworn,
{'title': 'Story of the Riot by Frank Moss', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}