Evening star., 1917-03-15
POLICE KEPT BUSY
BY STRIKE CROWDS
Two Serious Assaults on
Motormen and Numerous
Minor Disorders.
EFFORTS TO BLOCK TRAFFIC

prevent disturbances, as a result of the
), street car strike. and TO bring about
! the arrest of violators of the law Sew
erai arrests were made Both officials
j were on hand at police headquarters
early this morning to direct the police
in handling the situation.
| inspector Grant said he had heard 1t
intlmated that the police were doing all
| 'hey could to assist the strikers. Rail-
way men, he said had made such state
fnents. He declared however, that there
I Is no reason for such a charge being
made. pointing to the number of ar
\ rests mace by the police last night. the
inspector having participated in max
! ing four of them.
detectives Work in Relays.
/ romeo officials say it is impossible to
prevent disorders such as occurred last
night They have three SQUADS of de-
tectives on duty all night, one shift work
ing from O'Clock until midnight and the
other from that time until after daylight.
arrests made in several sections along
lile tracks of the Washington Railway and
Elecuic Company were for various Of
lenses.
| In some instances it was claimed there
We're violations of the law against ma
hciously placing distractions on or near
railway tracks, the penalty for such of
ieilse oelns not more than ten years inn
iprlsonment. Concealed weapons and dis
orderly conduct were the charges pre-
Iefred against other persons who were ar
rested and locked up.
Among the many alarming reports re-
celVed by the police last night was one
telilng of the explosion OF a stick of dyna-
mite near the tracks of the Rockville line
short distance beyond the District line.
| II Is believed by the police that the re-
| port was an eXaggeration of the finding
| of stick of dynamite near the point men
toned early yesterday. How the stick OF
explosive got there was not disclosed.
Disorders in Southeast.
Southeast Washington was the scene
of the most serious disorders that oc-
Cured last night, according to police
reports. In that section a brick thrown
at car struck and badly injured John
Dlneiia, motorman, while in Anacos-
tia a pistol shot fred from a secluded
spot narrowly missed Benjamin d.
, lsaacs. a motorman
In each instance the misNle passed
through a car window Djnella a
strikebreaker from Chicago. was oper-
ating his car east at 4th and G streets
when brick crashed through the front
window and struck him on the fore
head, both the brick and shattered d
glass Wounding him. He continued as
far as sth and G streets. where he stag
sered from the car and was picked up
by squad of men from police head
quarters and hurried to Casualty Hos
pItal in an automobile.
The shooting in Anacostia occurred
near Nichols avenue and High View
place. Motorman 1saacs was fired
upon without warning, and it was not
until some minutes after the shooting
that he seemed fully to realize the seri
BUSINESS or the affair Police from the
Anacossia station made an investiga-
ton. but were unable to learn from
where the shot was fred. This morn
ing about 10 o'clock a lump of coal was
hurled through the window of an Ana
costa car near Milwaukee street and
Nichols avenue. The breaking OF the
window was the only damage done.
Calls for Police Assistance.
Two calls for assistance were re-
ceived from 11th street southeast
where there was trouble on the tracks
of the Anacostia line. The trouble oc-
| CURED between 11th and streets and
Anacostia bridge. where the night be-
and Where crews were forced to leave
their cars to seek places of safety
rive cars on that street, shortly after
O'Clock, were damaged by stones and
bricks, thrown by persons in the large
crowd that gathered on the roadway
and sidewalks. Reserves from the ffth
and other precincts responded and dis
persed the crowd. One arrest was
made.
shortly after midnight Detectives
and
llth street section and discovered n
blaze along the tracks from G. street to
the bridge. A steel hoop had been
placed in the slot and short-circuited I'd
the current Detective Evans, wearing
rubber gloves. removed the piece OF
| steel and remedied the trouble.
distractions in Car Slots.
/ Detectives Burlingame and Kelly. oc-
cupants of an automobile on duty be-
tween midnight and daybreak. returned
to police headquarters with supply of
old rain spouting and pipe they had re-
moved from slots along the tracks OF
the Washington Railway and Electric
Company. Part of the obstructions
were found at Water and 1 streets
southwest. and part at Connecticut ave-
nue. and street
detectives Cornwell, Hughlett and
! Berman, in another car removed oh
| structions and made arrests, while in a
| third car inspector Grant and Detec-
tives OBrien and Mullen picked up OBJ
structions and made arrests.
| Because or the dense fog early this
morning, it is stated, detectives in am
| tomobiles found it necessary TO or
| slowly. They had strong searchIiehts $
! to light the street ahead of them. how
! ever. and the lights enabled them to
! locate obstructions some distance
ahead.
| Trouble with several cars in the
vicinity of Lincoln Park last night
caused slight traffic delays. One dis
/ abled car ran from 11th to 9th street
after its lights We're extinguished and
/ Il number of men and children gathered
/ on the sidewalk. BOYS made offensive
, remarks to the motorman and CON
ductor, and then there was the usua1
| jeering. One policeman was able ia
| prevent trouble.
! Bricks Swung From Bridge.
Railway employees on duty last nigh,
discovered plan to injure motormen
as their cars passed beneath the rail
road bridge at Rhode Island avenue and
1 9Th street northeast. Men on the
bridge had fastened strings to bricks
and mad arranged to swing them from
the bridge on the approach Of a car
They were detected in time to proven,
Injury 10 motormen.-
At Monroe and 18th streets northeas q,
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