The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-31
RIOT AT A FUNERAL
GREAT DISORDER AT THAT OF
CHIEF RABBI JOSEPH.
EAST SIDE WAS IN TUMULT.
POLICE AND MOURNERs COLLIDED
AND MANY INJURED.

Trouble Started by Employees of r..
Hoe d Co. ON Grand street Empty
Ing Pals of Water on the Crowds
Be1Ow-TOOls, Bolts and a Dead Cat
FollOwed-Excited Hebrews Retail
lated in Good shape and Smashed
the WfndOws-EmpIoyes Then
Turned on HOse-POIice Took a
Hand and dubbed Right and Left,
but Had TO Order Out Reserves to
Handle the Crowds.
New York July 3O.-The funeral of
the late, Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph.
head of the orthodox Hebrews of the
United States, which was held here
to-day, was the occasion of one of the
most remarkable demonstrations ever
witnessed in this city, and led to a
collision between the masses of Jew
ish mourners and the police. The
streets on the east side We're packed
with thousands of Hebrews, the stores
were generally closed and every point
of vantage along the route taken by
the funeral procession to the different
SynagOgueS was crowded.
Directly in front of the house where
the body has lain in state for the last
few days, over 100 patrolmen kept the
crowd from the entrance with consid-
cradle difficulty. After the services at
the house the body was taken to each
of the six synagogues on the East
Side, where brief services were held.
When the procession was passing the
printing press factory of R. Hoe &
Co, on Grand street, on it's way to the
cemetery in Brooklyn, several en-
ployes of the factory emptied pals of
water from the windows of an upper
floor on to the spectators massed upon
the sidewalk. Pail after pail, it was
which shouted and struggled and
stampeded in vain to escape. Then
overalls and clothing soaked in water
came down from above, and even tools,
scraps of steel, bolts and dead cat.
The angry pOpulace, most of whom
were Hebrews, retaliated by throwing
back into the factory windows the mis-
siles that fell on them. They also
gathered up stones and sticks and In
few minutes there. was scarcely a
whole pane of glass on the Grand
street side of the factory. Then some
one in the factory turned on a hose
and played it indiscriminately all over
the funeral procession. At one time
as many as five streams were played
on the crowd. Drivers of mourning
carriages whipped up their horses,
trampling over citizens, and the
stronger men trampled women and
children under foot in their efforts to
escape.
The police had in the meantime
taken a hand in the trouble, and were
clubbing the people right and left.
They were, however, unable to cope
with the crowd and the reserves of
half dozen precincts were dispatched
to the scene. 1t was more than half
an hour before order was restored, and
the streets in the vicinity of the fac
tory cleared A number of arrests
were made, among them being several
employees of the Hoe company.
Plenty of Work for Surgeons.
Many persons were found about the
streets, bleeding from wounds on their
heads and othe parts of their bodies.
Anlbulances had been summoned in
the meantime and three responded.
The surgeons were kept busy for some
time dressing the wounds of the in
jured. Several policemen were also in
jured, receiving cuts and bruises. Two
men were taken to the hospital. One
of them had sustained internal in
juries and Commissions and the other a
sprained leg. Later in the day the
persons arrested were arranged in
police court and fines of s. and $40
were imposed in several instances.
Bad feeling is said to exist between
some of the employees of the Hoe Com
pany and the Hebrews residing in the
neighborhood, and this is said to have
been the cause of the trouble.
Mr.. Hoes Statement
Robert Hoe, of the printing press
company, made statement after the
trouble was over, in which he says
fighting was going on in the ranks of
the procession as it passed the factory;
that some of those attacked were
forced to the door of the office and
there the fighting continued, while mis-
siles thrown by the crowd broke many
windows of the factory. Then it was,
says Mr.. Hoe, thar his employees tried
to drive the ASSISTANTS back by hurting
missiles at them and finally, turning
water on the crowd He added that
boys working in the factory had been
in the habit of jeering at Hebrews and
he had tried everything in his power, to
have the practice stopped, even dis
charging boys of whom complaint was
made.
After the riot had been quelled the
funeral procession proceeded to
Brooklyn, where the body of Rabbi
Joseph was inferred.
More Trouble En- Route.
The funeral procession did not reach
the cemetery, however, without Incl
dent. AS it passed through a Brook
lyn street some one threw a heavy
block of wood from the roof of a
building into the line of mourners.
The latter broke through the police
lines and tried to get into the build
ing. Threats of clubbing by the po-
lice finally restored order Forty
thousand people were crowded in and
about the cemetery at Cypress Hills in
an attempt to witness the services at
the grave.