New-York tribune., 1910-08-13
SHOOT WHITES IN RESORT
Three Men Wounded by Negroes
in Douglas Club.
WHITES STARTED BATTLE
One Hit Woman with Bottle and
General Melee Resulted
One Said To Be Dying.

Three white men were shot in the Doug
las Club, at No. 147 West 18th street, q
negro resort, shortly after midnight this
morning, when they started free fight
with about hundred negroes. Two of the
men were so seriously wounded that they
were taken to the New York Hospital in a
critical condition. The reserves of the
West a0th street station were called out
to stay the riot. which was then in full
swing.
Shortly before midnight four taxicabs
drove up to the entrance of the club and
about a dozen white men clambered out,
shouting Justify and showing evidence OF
having passed an enjoyable night They
all marched into the club and took seats
of the most frequented resorts of its kind
in the Tenderloin.
The white men were conspicuous by the
noise they made, and several times clashes
between them and negroes were narrowly
averted. The crisis arrived when one of
the visiting brigade picked up a heavy
whiskey bottle and aimed with unwavering
hand al the head of a young negro woman
who was singing. The bottle struck the
singer on the head. This method of show
every negro in the room, and it served as
the spark to touch off the smouldering fire
Immediately the negro men and women
were on their feet, shouting and crying for
revenge. Bottles, glasses, chairs and every
thing of a movable nature was soon gyrat-
ing through the smoke laden atmosphere,
and the generally accepted rule in vogue
seemed to be, when you see head, hit
it, The rule was followed out with va
ried success. but when the negroes tired of
this form of diversion they dug down into
their pockets for razors and revolvers.
The scene now resembled battlefield.
ard the hoarse shouts of men and women
and the crash of breaking mirrors and over
turned tables were interspersed with the
sharp reports of exploding cartridges. The
air became so thick with gunpowder that
it was difficult to see ten feet away, and
then it was that men began to drop on the
floor. suffering from bullet wounds.
The cries OF the fighting men and women
were carried out to tie street, causing q
large crowd to gather. Every little while
an eddy of revolver smoke would be waited
through a broken window pane, and the
whole interior seemed to be modern in
ferno.
When the whites realized that their forces
were being rapidly thinned and that they
were in the centre of a black hornets nest,
they began to back toward the doors, carry
ing their wounded from the field Three
men were bundled into the waiting taxi
cabs when it was seen that their wounds
might prove serious, and We're rushed
through the streets to the New York Hos
pital.
John Mccarthy. an agent OF No. 156 Sixth
avenue. and Joseph Cryons, of No 4s6 Hi;d-
son avenue, both were shot in the right
side and arm. They were unconscious and
were at once placed on the operating table.
The third man laid low by u bullet was
William Dehriens, of No. 500 East 131th
street. who was shot In the left arm.
Just as the wounded men were hustled
away to the hospital Captain O'Brien, of
the West 3Oth street station, at the head of
the reserves. came running down the street
and stormed the smoking citadel. They
broke down the doors and cleared the place.
They then arrested Edmund Johnson, the
alleged proprietor of the place, and Frank
H. Bergman, of No. 229 West seth street,
both negroes. They We're charged with
feIoniouS assault and locked up. after they
had been identified at the hospital by Nc
Earthy and Cryons