The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-06
MAD FRANKS OF SOLDIERS.
Pennsylvnnin Guardsmen Terrorized
Seventh Street business Men.

Seventh Street Business Men.
Soldiers belonging, 1t is said. to the
Fifth, Tenth, Eighteenth. and Sixth Penn
sylvania Regiments, which were quarter
ed in the old National Guard Armory.
next to Convention Hail. during the In
auguration. terrorized the northwest sec
tion of this city yesterday before their
departure. Squads of them paraded Sew
euth Street. up as far as o Street north
sest. upsetting the carts OF Italians.
breaking into saloons. closing the fruit
vAaders' stands, and catching all the
coiored people they could. of 10th sexes,
and giving them toss in their blankets.
The police were practically powerless.
owing to the limited number OF men on
duty.
They began their operations as early as
10 o'clock in the morning, prior to their
departure. In some places free-for-all-
fight was indulged in by the boys in blue
against the negroes. and in almost every
case the soldier appeared to receive the
worst of the encounter. One of the first
accidents reported to the police OF the
Second precinct as a result of one of
these encounters, was in the person OF
Edmund White soldier, twenty-five
years old. belonging to one of the Penn
sylvania regiments, who. while engaged
in fight with a negro near the corner OF
Fourth and L Streets northwest. was cut
in the leg with a meat cleaver The wound
was a bad one, and when Policeman Hol-
lidge arrived he promptly sent the injured
man to the Homeopathic Hospital. where
his injuries were dressed. Another SOL
dier of the same party had three fingers
almost cut off in the same fight, but re-
fused to go to the hospital for medical
treatment. The coiored man escaped.
A large party of the soldiers from the
keystone State, who had removed the
name of the regiment from their caps. in
vaded the saloon of John Whalen, at 1913
Seventh Street northwest, about BIS
o'clock yesterday afternoon. A party OF
six S.c3ped into the place first, leaving
the rest Of their comrades on the outside
to stand guard, and called for drinks for
the crowd. Seeing that the bartender
was not inclined to receive their order,
the advance guard called to the rest of
the crowd, and the smashing of the place
upon the same plan as that adopted by
the famous Carrie Nation began. The
showcases were smashed. 400 boxes OF
cigars taken. three barrels of beer and
several demijohns of whisky.
Owing to the overwhelming force pres
ent. Whalen and his assistant could do
nothing but stand by and watch them.
When Whalen tried to go outside and
summon the police he was quietly, but
firmly. informed that something would
happen to him IL he tried to move out of
the door. After having secured all the
beer, whisky. and cigars they desired
the soldiers departed. The police arrived
few minutes after their departure. but
as the majority of them had separated.
some taking cars for down town, and
others going to their quarters, it was i'm
possible to locate them.
The Italian fruit venders stood no
chance at all with the members of the
keystone regiments. If a soldier saw
anything he liked on the stand he prompt
ly pocketed it, and when requested to
pay by the irate Italian. laughed in his
face. One Italian, evidently smarter than
the rest of his countrymen, espied the
crowd approaching and promptly closed
his place of business throwing every
thing he possibly could into the cellar
Tho colored residents of o Street alley,
credited with being one of the toughest
alleys in the city. and those of Ridge
Street. were treated just as badly. A
party of soldiers would come along, catch
an unsuspecting negro. IL he protested.
all the better as the boys wanted a fight.
He was thrown into an army blanket. the
soldiers catching hold of it. and tossing
hiIs high in the air. until, as one of the
Pennsylvanians expressed it, "hc near
turned white.