The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-26
SERGEANT HERB FAILED TO MAKE
 ANY ARRESTS
Continued from Page One.)

| Superintendent of Police John H. Redgate and Captain O'Connen of the Fourth precinct, called to the scene, arrived in an automobile as i the chaos was crumbling. It is said ! that O'Connell demanded to know | why arrests had not been made and | called Herb a "coward" while Red
 gate was proceeding taking into GUS | tody four of the leaders in the meet | ing movement, one of them a speak
 CT who was addressing the gathering
 when the riot was precipitated.
 l Those arrested were Adam Fichel, |, 4OS Boston avenue; Ignatz Graft, 70
 Anthony street; J. A. Gombos, 94
 Hansen street, and Mrs. Mary Com
 bos, also of 94 Hansen street. Quiet
 prevailed after the arrests of these persons. Fichael was the speaker. ! Early last evening it was learned 1 that a meeting of radicals was to be | held in Rakoczy hall, in Bostwick
 avenue. No permit had been secur- | ed for the meeting, and a squad of
 officers under Capt. John O'Connel | were dispatched to the scene to dis | perse the session. The officers found
 a large crowd congregated about the
 hall. They ordered the people to move on, and this was agreed to by | went home, and left the situation
 in charge of Sergeant Anton Herb. After being driven away from Rak-
 oczy hall, the crowd proceeded to the | headquarters of the Hungarian | branch of the Socialist party, at the
 corner of Hancock and Wordin ave | nues. Here chairs were secured, and l the assemblage moved out into an ! open lot. Adam FicheI mounted a | table and started to address the
 crowd in Hungarian. The police | again appeared on the scene and or | dered the crowd to disperse.
 Sensing danger in the air, firemen | stationed at the Bostwick avenue | engine house requested authority | from Chief Johnson to go to the aid of the police in the battle which | seemed imminent. A pumping en- | zine and hose wagon were rushed | into the street and the battle started Sticks, stones, bottles and other l missiles were hurled at the police by ! the rioters. The officers retaliated ! by using their nightsticks freely and | the firemen poured solid streams of
 water into the ranks of the dis
 turbers.
 Reserves from police headquarters | were rushed to the scene in jitneys l and communicated autom obiles, and
 this added strength to the side of the 1 law and order soon brought about a
 settlement of the fray. At the corner
 of Hancock and Wordin avenues the
 rioters put up a desperate defense for
 a short time, but a determined police l charge finally broke down the op- l position. During the fighting ar
 rests were made, although there were
 approximately 100 policemen battl-
 ing with the mob. Three firemen,
 Captain West, John Malota and A.
 McMullen were struck by flying
 bricks, and many of the rioters were
 battered by the police.
 J. A. Gombos, of 94 Hansen street,
 secretary of the local branch of the
 Hungarian Socialist party, who was
 one of the men arrested last night,
 stated this morning that he had ap-
 piled for a permit to hold last nights
 meeting, but the request was refused.
 No reason for this action was given.
 It was the intention of the Socialists to have Louis Pasl1y, of New York
 City, address the Hungarians of Bridgeport on the subject of Recent Events in Hungary" When he was , refused a permit, Gombos notified his society's headquarters in New York, and the speaker did not appear last | was also scheduled to attend the meeting. but he too failed to show up.
 Inasmuch as the gathering was ad-
 vertised to some extent, the members | of the society decided to hold the
 meeting anyhow. Gombos' descrip- , ton of the battle itself and the , events immediately preceding it cor , respond for the most part with that
 of the police. He denies however 5 that he had anything to do with the
 riot itself. It is the contention o1 2 those who attended the meeting, thai
 they had a right to meet in their own
 hall or in the lot next to it.
 Superintendent John H. Redgate, of
 the police department, said this morn-
 ing that he had denied the society a
 permit for the meeting, and admitted
 that he had given no reason to the
 secretary. He was not present while
 the actual fighting was going on last f night but he made the arrest in the : case of FTchel. Superintendent Red
 gate is of the opinion that the riot Y was not prerneditated by the people , who participated in it. but was the result of the crowd losing it's head
 when the police attempted to break
 Iup the meeting. The police depart lment head feels certain that there . will be no further trouble in cOnnec- 3 ton with last nights fighting. At 8 . late hour last night quiet was fully 5 restored in the West End of the city n There was no sign of trouble today. n It was at first believed that las l nights meeting was made up o y strikers from the plant of the Graph n ophone Company. Members of the - I. ". w and the ". l. l. U. were r later supposed to be mixed up in the ,s affair. IL is possible that some o ' the latter may have been in the mob s but the meeting was originally call |. ed by Local No. 42 of the Hungarian d branch of the Socialist party.
 e Adam Fichel, Ignatz Graft. J. A d Gombos and Mrs. Mary Gombos. whC . were arre-.ed las. night charged with Is breach of the peace, in connection .e with the disturbance. were arra.gneC e in the city court this morning. I'm n cases were continued until Saturda, !. morning. and bonds were fixed a 's $500 in each case. Nicholas Hor s- vath of 643 Bostwick avenue. fur
 -lshed bonds for all of the prisoners