Arizona republican., 1900-12-09
Negroes Seek Justice From
 Brutal Policemen
Appeal to the Mayor of New York District Attorney and Police Board
 to Punish Clubbers ofJNegro Cit
 izens in Vain.

temDer 10 DTlHS dpoFu 'AN P ishment of the policemen who clubbed and mistreated negroes dur ing the race riots on the West Side in August, has made another appeal TOT justice to Mayor Van Wyck, the Police Commissioners and District Attorney Gardiner, and has also submitted the whole matter to Governor Roosevelt, urging him to take some action in it. The league has printed the affidavits of more than eighty persons, all of whom cite specific incidents in which the po- icemen clubbed negroes; refused to protect them from the mobs, or dellp- erately forced negroes who had ap- pealed to them for protection into the hands of the rioters. The league asks Governor Roosevelt to use his oftlclal power to bring about the punishment of the officers for neglect or worse, ana appeals to him to aid them Tn tner fight In the letter to Governor Roose- welt, with which is enclosed copies or those to Colonel Gardiner, Mayor Van Wyck and the police board, w. II. Brooks, the president of the league. says: AS aAl
 You will observe what is shown with particularity, to:wit: That the occrrences were widely published and were well known throughout the city, and that the mayor was promptly ap- pealed to to hear the complaints and the proofs of the injured persons; that he referred it back to the discredited department to investigate itself; that a farcical hearing was had in which testimony in only eight cases was inn perfectly taken; that counsel of the in- jured persons was not permitted to as- sist in the hearing; that a complaint of neglect of duty and inefficiency of the higher officers was pigeon-holed, and so remained; that the police depart ment has discontinued its investiga- tions without having preferred a charge against a single officer, and that, though three months have elapsed, the mayor has paid no further attention to the matter. As you will notice, we have again laid the case at his door.
 Tt is a fact easy of demonstration that police officers are constantly com mitting acts of gross cruelty and are not restrained or punished by the com missioners. This unrestrained tyr amy of the police force is not less dan gerous than the inefficiency and cor ruption that are believed to have in fected it. While our police are se- 1ected and maintained by the city of ficials, they are eXercisinig the police power of the state, and it must be a matter of concern to the executive of the state when that power is So grossly misused, as appears from the affida- wits.
 We believe that with the powers that you possess you can materially protect the people against the abuses of power, and that you can assist these humble but worthy, people of the col ored race to protect themselves against recurrence of race persecution.
 Tn the letter to Mayor Van Wyck, President Brooks recites the incidents which occurred after the riots, when early in September, the league asked the mayor to investigate it's com plaints and bring about the punish ment of the guilty policemen, and MT. Brooks reminds the mayor that he re- ferred the whole matter to the police board, and says that it held a 'farcical hearing" making a ''perfunctory in vestigation.'' Then he says:
 "Over three months have elapsed and
 
 cused or put on trial by either the cap tain, the inspector the chief or the commissioners. As result police brutality has continued, and as an il- lustration, in September, an inoffen- sive colored man was clubbed by po- liceman in front of the desk in the sta tion house, in the same precinct, and his jaw was broken and crushed, so |, united.
 We are reliably informed that club bing and abusing of citizens occur all most daily, and that many complaints of such crimes are made at police headquarters, but that seldom, if ever, is a policeman punished for his crime.
 We have learned of a case where a minister of the gospel was insulted. threatened, assaulted, arrested and locked up for offering to assist a po- liceman with a sick man, and that the minister's complaint was dismissed by the commissioners, and very shortly after the same policeman took part in a brutal clubbing, and being again tried, escaped any real punishment.
 MT. Brooks declares that while there are many brave officers who are really
 
 powerless, and dare not lift their voices against their brutal associates, who are '' the men-at-arms of those unofficial, but potent sub-rulers in each district, whose word and will are law" MT. Brooks concludes with these words:
 We have waited patiently for the police commissioners to act; for the district attorney to act, and for your honor to call to account those commits sioners 10 whom you referred this mat ter on September l. but if we have been patient, we have been none the less in sistent and resolute. The league was formed for the one particular and eX press purpose of making our grievance fully known; of protecting our race against a recurrence of such savagery, and of securing the sympathy of the good people of the city. We now num- Der over 5000 members, and are as earnest in our purpose as when we first organized.
 "As we have been denied an official