HARLEM DISTURBANCES

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 March 1935, Page 7

HARLEM DISTURBANCES

BOY FOUND UNHARMED

TWO LOOTERS KILLED

(BY CABLE—PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.]

NEW YORK, March 20.

Throughout to-day police detachments maintained an uneasy form of order in Harlem, the Negro quarter of New York, where rioting yesterday broke out over the ease of a Negro boy caught stealing candy at a store in the locality. To-day the prospects were for more violence after nightfall. Last night the rioting was continued until dawn. The police, in several instances, were forced to shoot Negro looters, two of whom died in hospital to-day. About 100, most of them rioters, are nursing wounds, many requiring medical attention. The boy whose theft started the trouble was found. His photograph was displayed in the newspapers, and show that he was unharmed; but, by. this time, the unruly elements were in an ugly mood. They apparently had forgotten the incident involving the child. It is estimated that over 600 shop windows have been broken in Harlem, and that other property has been damaged to the extent of several hundred thousands of dollars.

Many people attribute the rioting, to there being , serious economic conditions in Harlem. Sometimes Harlem is called the “World’s Biggest Negro City.” There are 200,000 persons packed there m a relatively small area. About half of 'these are unemployed, with a corresponding degree of poverty and of unhealthy conditions. A Grand Jury, making an investigation, stated with particular emphasis that it is .alleged that a Communist agitation is responsible for most of the trouble.