The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-01
MR.. FORTUNES oFFENSE.
THE INCIDBNT THAT LED TO MS AR
REST IN BROOkLYN.

NE sought to Buy seats NJ . Theatre and Was
Taken into Custsdy-A Protest AEntnst the
treatment He Rsceived-Civi Rights or
Americans Here and In the sonth.
A man who has no sense of the humorous side
Of lito deserves tho pity of his fellows. He
really misses all tho fun of living, for, in the
main, life is q long.drawn-out comedy Of errors,
perhaps, but comedy oil the same. People who
cannot laugh are always stupid or treacherous.
and die lean and often young. People who do
not recognize n joke when they see IT may DO
very good citizens, but they are always tircsomo
md their sense of responsibility inspires moro
mirth than solemnity In those with whom they
come in contact. Take an Indian. He has no
sense of the humorous; ho does not appreciate n
Joke; consequently no always looks stupid. even
when ho is as wide awake as q New Jersey mos
quito in action.
1 used to DO a very solemn creature, who
never smiled, and refused to recognize q joke.
The disadvantages under which l laborod every
whore as an Afro.American, as a person who
was not white, and the disadvantage under
which my race labored, overpowercd me and
made me very solemn and very miserable. But
! have outgrown the weakness. l can laugh as
heartily as anybody, and the humorous side of
life appeals to me almost as irresistibly as the
pathetic side. And why mott Is not life made
up of smiles and tears, OF sunshine and shadow .
1t 10 true, too, always, as Mrs. Ella Wheeler
Wilcox says:
Laugh. and the world laughs with you,
Weep, and you weep alone.
Ono evening last week 1 was arrested and
locked up In a station house for half an hour,
and when l got before q police Judge, who was
q lawyer before no went on the bench, and ought
to DO q lawyer still, l was adjudgcd to DO guilty
Of obstructing tho sidewalks. when all the evil
dence in tho tasc worth considering went to show
that tho policeman who made the arrest was
guilty of overstepping his authority and of act
Ing in q tyrannical and brutal manner. and
should have been rebuked by tho Justice, and
would have been in any normal condition of
police justice. And the only way that l can
destroy the record of the police court 10 to
spend q lot of time and money in appealing
the case. 1t Is the duty of every patriotic citi-
zen 10 do this, as 1t is the only way to teach
| policemen and police Justices that ordinary
citizens have certain rights; but it is costly
business, and it IL inevitable that the arrested
party must suffer in his feelings and good
name and reputation, because the public
never learns the facts as they are. and
in the main does not care about the
facts. 1t sees that a citizen Is arrested and
| railroaded by the police and the police Justice,
AN ihobtAthAiJ SAu hAeb a. >hNtsSN ~ AS
better than he ought to be, and that he got no
moro than he deserved. But it is Just this sort
of hasty conclusion that gradually saps the life
out OF the civil liberties OF . people.
l was arrestea IN bf14RIyn: wnere ! reside
the facts in the case
In company with a friend from Southampton.
who was in the city for only a day. | went to a
| theatre at 8 o'clock. When l got in The line of
ticket buyers, which extended from the door of
the theatre to the box office. l gradually edged
Il nv way into the presence OF the ticket agent,
who had sold tickets to every body in the line in
front of me. placed a two-dollas bill in front
of him and asked for two seats in the centre of
the house. He slammed down two tickets with
out coupons. saying. in an insulting manner:
"Ihaye only standing room for YOU -,
ut makes no difference; I have only standing
room for you
"Butit does mako o big difference" 1 pro.
Without further argument tho ticket agent
said to the special policeman who had come up
with one Of the managers; .,u. -.
allowed the manager and the policeman to
escort me to tho door, but. being th9roughly in.
dignant, / got In the limo again and again got
front Of him the ticket agent said to the special
ARREST this man and put him out"
Tho officer and the manager again escorted
lock me up II l did not leave the place. AS !
passed out OF the door I told he policeman he
tSat he su, Wo n1as snd a tSst tr ,oSsInE me b up; eS'
As my friend and ! got on the sidewalk another
policeman asked my friend what the row was
about. and while he was telling him the special
shoulder. exclaimed:
81 II you don't move on Ill lock you up for OBJ
STRUGGLING the streets"
shook myself FREQ Of his grasp and said:
Keep your hands off me. II you want to ar
rest me go ahead and do it and be blowed."
al will" he said. and he and a detective in
citizens clothes conducted me to the station
vicious manner and threatening to club me
which gave him a cordial invitation TO do
do. The Sergeant at the desk esSO WAS n as eoSi1"s and
brutal as the policeman. He refused me any
consideration whatever. and II my friend had
main in the cell all night, although i could have
secured forty men ~ as many minutes to give
unity to communicate with them.
Now. what was the animus of all this outrage
and brutality Simply that this particular the
atre does not sell orchestra seats to
cans, and, to escape the operations of the Malby
Civil Rights law, when the balcony seats arc al
sold Afro-Americans are told that the house Is
sold. and that they can have standing room oil
nothing, When the. victim protests the ticke'
obstructing the line. The policeman obse
quiously ,obeys orders, but waits until h'
arrest in order to protect the theatre, man
agement from an action for assault and false
iDnrisonment, The Sergeant accepts th'
walk or disorderly conduct, or some other con
ventional charge, and locks the victim up. Tn,
police Justice accepts the story Of the policemen
and the theatre people. aid the honest either
who has been wronged and outraged from begin
ming to end is adjudgedguilty of violating a cit!
ordinance and he Is held up TO the public as
lawbreaker, with much damage to his goot
name and reputation.
/ was arrested a few years ago in New York IL
the same way, and fought the case through IN!
lawyer, Il. McCants Stewart, from the polio
court to the Court of Appeals. and won n
ever. point, and got a lot Of fun and satisfaction
out OF the long-drawn fight. did not seek tn
The great mass OF the people of the Greater New
York, / know from experience, have no sympath.
with the people who make rules that lead up Il
such unplcasantness. There are II lot OF people
however, conducting places OF amusement ant
accommodation in New York and Brooklyn VIII,
imagine that they are n law unto themselves
and in some way usually have the police read.
to do their bidding. But tho masses of New
Workers have no sympathy with this sort o
thing.
Ihave travelled all over the Southern States
and have been in some very tight places dow
there, where police officers and officials Of al
aanta an, IN .n a. "a an ,-h npn for A r..