NEW YORK NEGROES

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 March 1935, Page 5

NEW YORK NEGROES

BOY CAUSES SERIOUS RIOT

BY PENNY THEFT [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. COPYBIGHT.] NEW YORK, March 20. The theft of a penny bit of candy by a ten-year-old Negro boy in a large “Five and Ten Cent Store” in the Harlem section of the city, which is almost exclusively inhabited, by Negroes, caused serious riots to-night. The riots had not been completely quelled by midnight. According to the manager of the store, the boy was caught stealing the sweets, and he severely bit the fingers of his captors. The boy was taken to the office, lectured, and released. However, either spontaneously or by the design of the agitators, a rumour was spread that the child was being beaten. Soon of Negroes swept through the store, overturning the counters and causing considerable damage while a. threatening mob of several thousand more Negroes gathered outside of the store. Coincident with this was the- appearance of a hearse. This gave birth to a rumour that the child was dead, and almost instantly the crowd turned into a fighting mob. The plate glass windows of the store and those of nearby establishments were shattered by hurled brickbats, and soon vandalism spread throughout the area. Between five hundred and one thousand police were called, and they managed to clear the immediate area, but this was only to have rioting break out at other points. The fury of the Negroes was whipped up by Communist agitators, who within one hour of the disturbance, flooded the section with handbills denouncing the “Bosses” for persecution of Negroes. There were a score or more of injuries among the rioters and police. Dozens of arrests -were made for inciting the riot and for assault. To pacify the Negroes, the police ordered the boy whom the store officials claimed to be unharmed, to be produced so as to show the falsity of the reports, but unfortunately, the boy has disappeared on his release, and the police therefore found the gieatest difficulty in convincing the Negro population that he was not dead, or at least seriously injured.