The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-02-04
CHARGED BY A LINE OF BLUE COATS.
New York Police In Battle With a
Mob OF Ugly Men.
Stones Thrown from the Roofs of
the NelghborIng Houses.
Street Car Passengers Who Finished
Their Trip on Foot.

New YORK, Feb. "A riot occurred on
First avenue near 39th street this afternoon
during which a number Of persons were in
jured by bricks and stones and Officer Bren-
nan narrowly escaped bullet fred from a
tenement house roof. The trouble began
with an assault by the crowd upon some cars
of the saith street branch on the Third ave
nue. ne, and some Of the And street line.
The streets were finally cleared by large
detachment Of police under Inspectors
Byrnes and Steers. The avenue had been
crowded all the morning with people angry
over the strike. Boys playing In the street
at about one o'clock rolled truck from the
curb across the car track. The solitary Off
Ger in the vicinity drove the boys away, tax
ing one to the station house. When he re-
turned, the crowd had increased In number
and viciousness. The blue coat was received
with a shower of stones. The mob seized
some trncks and upset them on the track,
blockading 34th street car. The windows
of the car were quickly demolished and the
passengers, among whom were some women,
fled in terror.
The officer had raped for assistance, and
the 18th precinct reserves responded. The
mob was busy dragging trucks, stones, logs.
and other distractions from the neighboring
stone yards, wood yards, ETC., and piling them
on the track. Thousands Of men, women
and children shouted approval from the
windows and roofs of the tenements. The
reserves were pelted with missiles, both from
the rioters and people on the roofs. As the
police force was too small to make an impress
sion ON the mob, more help was summoned.
Some of the passengers had been hit, and
one old lady tainted and was cared for In a
neighboring drug store. A shot from a
roof went through the car, but no one was
seated in its path. A big stone from roof
smashed Sh hole In the top Of AID street car.
demonstrativee when Ss eSTSs Carriages 1sOre cOns
tanning Inspectors Byrnes and Steers,
dashed around corner into the mob. The
oihcer3 Jumped out and began to ply their
cluos while at the same time two patrol
wagons hurried around another corner. The
men jumped out formed in line and swept
down upon the crowd. In ten minutes the
avenue was was clear of people, all the riot
ers having been driven down the side
streets.
The policemen remained stretched along
the avenue to keep it clear. Men on the roof
at No. COZ threw some bricks one of which
crushed the helmet of an officer. A detach-
ment OF officers at once raided the house but
found the roof deserted. This ended the
trouble except for the occasional throwing Of
a brick from some yard or other place
Of concealment. The cars were kept
running on the avenue until 730 p. m.
No trouble Of note occurred on any other
East side liDe during the day. and nothing of
much interest occurred among the tied-up
lines of road on the West side today. The
Broadway, Eighth avenue, Seventh avenue
and Belt line companies made no attempt to
run cars. The Sixth avenue line kept run
ming until 800 p. m. when crowds began TO
gather along the road and the outlook was
so threatening that the cars were hauled off
for the night One car had the windows
smashed, the police scattering the crowd
with some difficulty. In Brooklyn no at
tempt was made to run cars on the tied-up
Richardson roads today and no disturbance
occurred.