Part 3
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, deposes and says:
I reside at No. 351 West 37th Street. On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, about 10:15 P. M., while on my way upstairs I saw John Newman, who lives in the rear house at the above number, come in the front door and close it; he had almost reached the rear of the hall when the front door was opened by a policeman who had his club raised, and who ran up to the said Newman, struck him over the head with his club, felling him to the floor; he then dragged Newman to the street, clubbing him meanwhile, and at the front door he was joined by four other officers, who assisted him to drag Newman out into the street, where they threw him into the midst of the mob which had congregated outside, and some of whom jumped on Newman, stamping on his stomach with their feet. Newman was then again taken by the officers and dragged to the station house on the next block. Deponent states further that Newman did not appear to be trying to get away from anyone, when he entered the front door, and further when he was struck first he was struck from behind.
MARTHA A. BROWN.
Sworn to before me this 24th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Mrs. Betty Green, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I reside at No. 353 West 37th Street, Manhattan Borough, New York City. On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, about eleven P. M., I saw John Newman coming out of the restaurant next door, No. 351, and spoke a few words to him, and saw him go into the hall door of the house in the rear of which he lived. Almost immediately I saw two officers in uniform, and about three others in citizens' clothes. The two in uniform ran into the hallway after the said John Newman, some of the officers saying, "Get the black son of a b----, and kill him!" Shortly afterward I saw the two men in uniform drag Newman out onto the stoop, clubbing him meanwhile. He sank to the stoop and lay there for some time. While he lay there a patrol wagon went by, and the officers tried to get it to stop; but it went on. They then took Newman and led him on down towards the station house. All the way to 9th Avenue every officer they met took a crack at him. Deponent states that Newman was perfectly sober, and had done nothing from the time that he left the restaurant till the officers ran after him into the hallway. She saw him make no resistance after the officers got him and clubbed him.
BETTY GREEN.
Sworn to before me this 27th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Miss Albertha L. Clark, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I reside at No. 351 West 37th Street. On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, between eleven and ten o'clock P. M., while looking out of the front window of my home, I saw an officer strike a colored man over the head with his club, and the man ran down towards my home, in front of which another officer hit him over the head with his club, and still another officer kicked him; then two officers took him to the station house. While this was going on I heard a noise in the hall, and in a few minutes I saw a colored man dragged from the hallway of my home, whom I recognized as John Newman, who lived in the rear house; the officers threw him into the mob, whereupon I left the window to see what had become of my folks, and when I returned to the window the officers were dragging Newman to the station house. After the above occurrence officers came through 37th Street from 8th Avenue, and ordered people who were sitting at the windows to go away from there, and without giving them sufficient time to do so drew their revolvers and fired them at the occupants of the windows.
ALBERTHA L. CLARK.
Sworn to before me this 24th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Mrs. Lucinda Thomson, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I reside at No. 351 West 37th Street. On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, I was at home and in my rooms between the hours of ten and eleven P. M. I have heard the statements given by my two daughters, namely, Albertha L. Clark and Mrs. Martha A. Brown, and have heard read the affidavits made and subscribed to by them, and I know of my own knowledge that all the facts therein stated are true.
MRS. LUCINDA x THOMSON. her mark
Sworn to before me this 24th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I reside at No. 458 Seventh Avenue, New York City. On Saturday, August 18th, 1900, my brother, Charles A. Mitchell, twenty-seven years of age, and employed as a waiter, had heard of the riots and was on his way to see me, and had reached the corner of 34th Street and 7th Avenue, when he saw a mob of about five hundred people, led by eight or nine officers, who upon seeing him attacked and clubbed him, hitting him on the head and shoulders. He managed to reach the front door of my home and run into it, where I aided him and put him on a lounge; this was about ten o'clock on Saturday evening. His wife came to see him about 10:30 and took him home about one o'clock Sunday morning, where he stayed until about two A. M., when he became violent, and it became necessary to send him to the insane pavilion of Bellevue Hospital. All the time he was shouting in his delirium, "Devery did it! Devery did it! Here they come!" Deponent declares that while in the insane pavilion of Bellevue Hospital her brother, the said Charles A. Mitchell, was beaten and maltreated by the attendants thereat, he having a gash in his head about three inches long, and similar cuts on his wrist and two on his leg. He stayed at Bellevue from Sunday, the 19th of August, 1900, to Thursday, the 23rd of August, 1900, when he was removed to Ward's Island Insane Asylum. Deponent states further that her brother is of very slight build, being only five feet six inches in height and weighing about one hundred and twelve pounds, and that she witnessed the clubbing of her brother by the police as she was looking out of the front window at the time, and that the said clubbing was unjustifiable and brutal, and wholly without cause.
MRS. ELIZABETH BROWN.
Sworn to before me this 20th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
On Saturday, August 18th, 1900, I saw the mob going towards 37th Street, and while watching them I saw a colored man come up from a house somewhere on 7th Avenue between 36th and 37th Streets and run toward 35th Street. Some of the officers saw him and ran after him, catching him and clubbing him, leaving him lying on the car track for dead. He was picked up by some men and taken to a saloon on the northeast corner of 36th Street and 7th Avenue.
MRS. ELIZABETH BROWN.
Sworn to before me this 20th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Willis King, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I reside at 346 West 41st Street, New York City. On Wednesday. August 15th, 1900, while passing through 34th Street, about 11:30 P. M., I was joined by a crowd of men and boys. I crossed over to the north side of the street, to where about a dozen officers stood, on the northeast corner, in front of a saloon. I was grabbed by three of them as soon as I got near them, and without saying a word they started me up 8th Avenue towards the station house. On the way up 8th Avenue the officer who was behind me, and who was feeling my clothes and pockets for weapons, said, "He has nothing." Whereupon the officer on my right suggested that they go down a dark street, which was done by turning west on 35th Street. We had gone about one third of the way down the block, on the south side of the street, when all three officers turned on me and beat me with their clubs over the head and body. I was felled to the sidewalk. When they stopped one of them remarked. "I guess that will do him for a while," whereupon all three of them walked off, leaving me lying upon the sidewalk. I managed to get to No. 327 West 35th Street, when a lady by the name of Mrs. Smith, who lives on the second floor, and who had seen the officers clubbing some one, was standing on the front stoop of her home; she asked me when she saw me whether it was I that had been clubbed, and I told her that it was. She then took me into Mrs. Conner's apartments on the first floor and dressed the cuts in my head. Deponent declares that he did not know anything about a disturbance, that he did not resist arrest, and that he was perfectly sober and on his way home from visiting a friend on East 27th Street.
WILLIS KING.
Sworn to before me this 27th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164). N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Isaiah O. Ferguson, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I reside at 165 East 97th Street, New York City. On Wednesday evening, August 15th, 1900, I started to go downtown on the West Side, and had reached the neighborhood of 8th Avenue and 43rd Street, riding on an 8th Avenue car, which was of the combination type, and I was in the closed part, when I reached the aforementioned place. I noticed a large crowd of people, and patrol wagons and ambulances. I inquired from a gentleman who sat next to me what was the matter, and he replied that he did not know. We proceeded downtown and had reached the neighborhood of 36th Street, when suddenly the car, which had been proceeding very slowly, came to a dead stop. The motorman and the conductor both folded their arms and looked at me. The next I knew a number of men jumped on the car, some coming through the windows, and commenced beating me, and continued to beat me until I was insensible. When I came to, the car had started and was going slowly. I was bewildered and dazed, and I rushed from the car and downtown, several people on the way trying to stop me, but I was crazed with pain and fled on, until I was met by a lady friend, who stopped me on seeing my condition, and took me to her home, on 17th Street near 9th Avenue, where she bathed my head and dressed my wounds, and where I stayed until the next morning, when I went to Washington, D. C., where a physician attended to me. Deponent further states as the car stopped he noticed four police officers on the east side of the avenue, and that they made no attempt whatever to interfere with the mob: further, that he was proceeding on his journey in a quiet manner, and had not heard of any trouble, and that he had given absolutely no cause for the attack.
I. O. FERGUSON.
Sworn to before me this 21st day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Headly Johnson, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 330 West 53rd Street. I am employed as a Pullman car porter, on the cars running out of the West Shore depot, Weehawken, N. J. I arrived on my train at the said depot on Thursday, August 16th, 1900, at 2:25 P. M. I arrived in New York about 5:30 P. M. the same day, and, having heard of the riots, I had prepared to protect myself from the mob by carrying home with me a revolver. I boarded a car at the West Shore ferry at the foot of West 42nd Street and transferred to an 8th Avenue car at 34th Street, and had proceeded as far as 40th Street, when the car was assailed by a mob shouting, "There's another nigger! Kill him! lynch him!" I stood up and was ready to defend myself, when a passenger on the car asked me to sit down, saying that if the mob got on the car he would help me defend myself. I sat down as requested, and happening to look over my shoulder I saw three police officers in uniform running after the car. They boarded the car, and, seizing me, one of the officers put his hand in my pocket and took the revolver from me, then pulled me off the car, saying, "Come off of here, you black son of a b----!" When they had pulled me off the car they immediately commenced clubbing me, and continued to do so all the way to the station house. While in the station house I saw several colored men beaten by police officers. The sergeant at the desk, when I was sent to a cell, shouted to the police officers, "Don't hit this man!" repeating the same several times. I was taken to the police court the next day, where I was discharged. Deponent states further that the officer who arrested him and appeared against him in the police court is the one who did the most of the clubbing; in fact, all of it except one blow. Deponent declares further that he was proceeding quietly to his home, where he was determined to go, and was not molesting anyone, and that when the officers signified their intention to arrest him he made no show of resistance, and that therefore the clubbing was unjustifiable and an outrage.
HEADLY JOHNSON.
Sworn to before me this 8th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Benjamin McCoy, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 226 West 40th Street. On Thursday, August 16th, 1900, about five A. M., I arose to go to my work. I went to Dobbins' restaurant, on 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets, and had breakfast, after finishing which I went to the corner of 41st Street to board an 8th Avenue car, to reach my place of business. As I was standing waiting for the car I saw two officers walking on the east side of the street, and a colored man came running along with blood streaming from his head, and said to me, "Don't stand there; go away, or those policemen will club you to death; they just clubbed me." The car came along just then, and I walked out to get on board, and had put my hand on the rail, when one of the officers who had been on the other side of the street came suddenly around from behind the car, and struck me on the shin of my left leg, and struck me several times on the upper part of the leg, saying, "Get in there, get in there! What are you standing around here whistling for?" Deponent declares that he was not creating any disturbance at the time, and that there were not over four or five persons, outside of the police officers, on the street in the immediate neighborhood, and that the assault was entirely unwarranted and unjustifiable and a flagrant outrage, perpetrated, by one by whom deponent would expect, and had a right to expect, to be protected.
BENJAMIN MCCOY.
Sworn to before me this 7th day of September, 1900.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._:
Albert Saunders, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I live at 440 West 45th Street. I work at 118 West 27th Street. On August 15th I left my work at night and walked up 8th Avenue toward my home. About 38th Street a crowd ran at me, somebody struck me, and I staggered, and then I received another blow that cut open my head and made me speechless. I found myself in the hands of an officer, who took me to the station house, where my wound was dressed. I stayed there till about four A. M. A number of colored men were brought in by officers, some of them cut and bleeding, like myself. I remember a colored man who was brought in bleeding, and naked except for a merino shirt. When he was taken back to the cells the policeman who had him clubbed his legs. Another man who had a cut head was advised by the jailer to put his head under the hydrant, but the man said he was afraid the officer who had him would strike him again if he got his head down, so the jailer got a pail and washed it. I was not in a position where I could see clearly all that happened, but I saw several other colored men struck and abused by policemen. I am an English subject, was born in St. Kitts, and suppose that my speech showed that I was not an American and protected me.
ALBERT SAUNDERS.
Sworn to before me this 5th day of September, 1900.
FRANK MOSS, Notary Public, N. Y. County.
----
_City and County of New York, ss._: