The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-18
BUXOM NEGRESS STARTS RIOT
SWATTED RENT COLLECTING
TENEMENT HOUSE OWNER.
Then She Shrieked That White Man Had
Assaulted Her-MOb BeIeaEuered
Stable Where Revere Took Refuge
Cops to the Rescue-Amazon Caged.

Then She Shrfeked That White Man Had
Assaulted Her-Mob BeleaSuered
Stable Where Revere Took Refuge
Cops to the Rescue-AmaZon Gagged.
Leon Revere, a real estate dealer Of 1lO
Nassau street, who lives at Mount Kisoo;
N. Y. was the means Of calling out the TO
serves Of five precincts yesterday and
starting an incipient riot among the whites
and blacks. There was only one arrest.
The lone prisoner was a buxom colored
amazon named Josephine Tompkins.
Josephine lives in the big double tene-
ment at 412 West Thirty-ninth street. which
Revere owns. Negroes are the sole occu.
pants of the house and there are about
forty families in it. Iovere says that
Josephine is not a desirable tenant as she Is
month behind in her rent.
Heretofore an agent has always COL
lected the rents, but Revere called on Jo-
sephne in person yesterday to ask her to pay
up. He will never call on her again with
out regiment Of cops at his heels. Revere
found Josephine at home and told her
the object of his visit. Josephine told him
that she thought he was faker who was
trying to get her to part with her hard
earned money, and to prove that she could
take care Of herself she punched him in tho
face. knocking of his glasses.
Revere was helpless without his glasses,
and Josephine sailed into him. She punched
and slapped him good and plenty. Ro:
we're CROPPED his way to the stairs and
went down the three flights jumping.
While he was trying to escape, Josephine
set up howl that she had been assaulted
by a white man.
A cry of that kind on these hot dsys
on the West Side is apt to cause trouble.
Negroes swarmed out of the ad joining
houses, and they thou ght Joeephine's tale
was true when they saw very excited
white man dashing out OF the pig negro
In few minutes there were 500 egroee In
the street.
Once on the sidewalk, Revere stopped
a moment to get his bearings. Then he'
saw the black clans gathering and he
xo oTasrs the way he spotted livery Stable
and ran in there and begged the pro-
prietor to save him from the negroes.
There are big, strong doors on the front
of this stable, and these were closed as tie
negroes bore down on the place.
Revere, badly scared at all the. excite-
ment he had unintentionally caused, called
up Police Headquarters on the livery stable
telephone and asked the police to hurry
around the reserves, as there was FULL
f,edged riot in progress and he was in rear
OIL MS ire. =,
While Revere waited for the police to
arrive the negroes kept gathering in the
street The children who live in Rovere's
tenement house saw plenty Of human targets
in the street, and chunks of coal and pieces
OF wood began to fall on the heads below
without distinction Of race or anything else.
That set the people in the street yelling some
more, and they simply howled to get at
Revere. The buxom Josephine seemed to
be the leader of the mob.
The reserves of the West Twentieth street
station we're first on the scene, and then
patrol wagons with more cops came from
the West Thirty-seventh, West Forty.
seventh. West Sixty-eighth street and
Tenderloin stations. Three police captains
arrived with six roundsn.en
They dispersed the negroes and then
found the scared Revere. He told what
had caused the trouble and pointed out
the pugnacious Josephine. She was nabbed
and made prisoner on Rovere's charge OF
assault.
"Its tough said Revere, when a man
can't collect the rents of his own house
without endangering his life
A score of policemen were. left on duty
on the block to check any riotous spirits
who might set on other rent collectors.