The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-16
RACE FIGHT IN N[N YORK
MOB SEEKS TO AVENGE POLICE
MAN MURDERED BY
NEGROES
WILD TIME ON THE STREETS
Many Blacks Brutality Kicked and
Beaten by Infuriated White
Men and Women-POIice
Were Helpless.

| NEW YORK, Aug ia mob of sew
J eral hundred persons formed at II
o'clock tonight in front of the home of
| Policeman Robert ]. Thorpe, Thirty-sev-
enth street and, Ninth avenue, to wreak
vengeance upon the negroes of that
neighborhood, because one of their race
, had caused the policemans death
Thorpe was stabbed and bruised last
| Sunday night by several negroes while
he was attempting to arrest colored
woman. The man who inflicted most
! of the injuries is said to be Arthur Har-
| ris, negro who came here several weeks
! ago from Washington. In few mo-
ments the mob tonight swelled to 1900
people or more, and as they became vio-
lent the negroes fled in terror into any
hiding place they could find. The police
reserves from four stations, numbering
400 in all, were called out
The mob of white men which grew with
great rapidity ranged through the dis
trict and negroes regardless of age or
sex were indiscriminatelY attacked
Scores were injured 1t took the COM
bined efforts Of the reserves, with as
many more policemen on regular patrol
t.
Clubs were used until the policemen were
almost exhausted, RevolFers were
emptied into the air and in one or two
instances fired at the upper stories of
the negro tenements from which the ne
groes defensively fired bricks, paving
stones and other missiles The trouble
grew cut of the death OF Policeman n b.
ert ]. Thorpe, of the West Thirty-seventh
street station, as the resul of a mur-
derous assault by negress late on Sum
! day on Eighth avenue and Forty-frst
streets. Thorpe was attempting to ar
rest a negress when Arthur Harris and
another negro attacked; the policeman
with razors. He died the following day
The policeman's death aroused the
wrath Of the white Residents included
from Forty-first to Fifty second streets
and Eighth to Sixth avenues. Open
threats were made by the whites, and the
blacks replied in kind. While not de-
Tending the attack on the officer, they
said he was only one man, and the race
ought not to be blamed for the action
/ The poHceman's S body was brought to his
home tonight on Ninth avenue, between
Fifty-sixth and Fifty=seventh streets At
once the house became a. resort Of sor-
row, and from all over the district men
oIIIN "OAliOh CdllSu 10 pay lHSII tributes.
Many carried fowersk and wreaths. AS
night wore on the excitement seemed to
grow. The fact that many saloons round
about were crowded doubtless had its in
iuence on the rising tide of anger. A
small group gathered about the police
mans home, and Capt Carey, of the
West Fifty-second Street station, sent
a small squad of men Trouble was not
anticipated, however, and the squad was
more in the naturesdf a guard of honor
for their dead comraaie.
BEAT AND KICKED THE NEGROES.
few minutes before Ii o clock an Irish
woman, under the influence of drink,
came out of the place. She set up a
! howl and began to recite the virtues OF
the dead policeman. She said the negroes
ought to be killed. Just then young
negro walked by. The white men made
rush for him apdSh he was quickly sur
rounded. He was beaten and kicked, and
was rescued with great difficulty If there
had been a carefully arranged plot, and
this had been the agreed signal the out
break could not have been more spontane-
Gus. Men and women poured by the
hundreds from the nkiahboring tene-
ments. Negroes were set upon wherever