Evening star., 1938-10-12
CoEored Applicants Break
Lines in Quest of Blanks
for Positions.
OFFICIALS ARE FORCED
TO STOP DISTRIBUTION
Fighting Breaks Out in Milling
Throng of 10000 and One
Person Is Arrested.
pictures on Page A-5.)

Thousands of women this morning
stormed the fourth precinct police sta.
ton where applications for employ.
ment as Federal charwomen were
being distributed, got from under DO
lice control and forced officers of the
Civil Service Commission to suspend
| their distribution of the applications.
Sporadic fighting broke out in the
milling throng which filled E street
between Fourth and Sixth S.W. and
spread for several blocks in the vicinity
and several persons were at first re-.
ported injured.
| Only Few Injured.
After quiet had been restored, how
ever, police said that the injuries, of
minor nature, were sustained only by
a few.
Mrs. T. E. Ryan of 478 D street
S.W., a spectator, fell and cut her
head on milk crate while attempting
| to get out of the way of cruising
motor cycle policeman, and was treated
| at Casualty Hospital, as was Carrie
Fields, colored, 131 Randolph street
| NE, who was said to have been hurt
in the press of the crowd. Casualty,
which sent an ambulance to the scene.
| treated one woman there who had
tainted.
Police estimated that the crowd, at
its peak, reached 10000, about half Of
whom were seeking the 1000 jobs
available; the others were spectators
| drawn into the swirling throng
All but handful of those involved
were colored.
Held on Disorderly Charge.
| When the trouble was at its height.
Edgar G. Brown of the 100 block of
Euclid street NV. head of the United
Government Employees, colored or
| ganization, was arrested on a dis
orderly charge and required to post
| $25 collateral. He was said to have
resisted Officer R. H. Mays, who was
one of those trying to get the crowd
moving. He denied it. =- ~
| Two or three other persons were
taken into temporary custody under
the same circumstances, but were
freed.
The U. g. E. head later went to
the office of Commissioner Melvin c.
Hazen and said he wanted to protest
against the treatment given the job
seekers and asked that headquar-
ters man be sent to the scene, accord
ing to Ralph Norton, secretary to
Commissioner Hazen. No action was
taken on this request
Police Lines Broken.
The trouble, which for a few mo-
ments threatened to assume the pro-
portions of a riot, started practically
without a warning and seemed to
have been caused by those in the
middle of the long line of applicants
attempting to push forward. Police
had strung ropes to guide the women
| in single file through the front door of
the fourth precinct station, but as the
crowd pressed forward, despite the
effort of police to keep them in order,
these lines were broken. 1t was
then that Capt. Oscar j. Letterman,
commander of the fourth precinct.
ordered the doors of the station shut,
officers stationed outside in an effort
ordered the doors of the station shut.
Street Packed With People.
Most of the applications had been
given out by that time, and in order
to get the crowd moving homeward,
police announced that the distribution
was at an end. Instead. however, the
women for the most part still stayed
in front Of the station, and very shortly,
instead of the orderly line moving on
the south side of the street, and the
line of spectators fringing the cppo-
site curb, the street for a two-block
stretch was one solid mass of people,
with other thousands on the adjoining
streets, and one segment coming
through an alley between E and F
streets.
Capt. Letterman had been handling
the situation with a few foot police
men up to- that time, but as the
crowd thickened, motor cycle police
men were brought in, and while some
officers sought to break up the jam in
front OF N1e station, others infiltrated
through the crowd, thinning out the
edges and getting them moving.
Eventually, the motor cycle men rode
down the sidewalks to facilitate their
progress, but good two hours was re-
quired to restore normalcy and there
still were sizable though rapidly
diminishing groups in the vicinity.
Job Pays S1,os0 Year.
The jobs for which the women are
filing pay $1,000 year, and while all
the applications were not given out, it
was said that sufficient number had
been distributed to meet present needs.
William c. Hull, executive assistant
to the Civil Service Commission, and
James B. Baugh, jr., chief of the ap-
plications division, were in charge Of
the distribution of applications, and
when they finally were able to leave
the station, the patrol was pressed into
service to transport them to their
Office.
Line Formed Early.
The jobs had been highly publicized
and as result, the line of applicants
started forming as early as 8 o'clock
last night.
The first in line stood at the door
of the Fourth Precinct midway between
Fourth and Sixth on street and
then the line started to spread going
east to Fourth, south to F, west to
Sixth and by o'clock this morning.
1t was as far north on Sixth as Virginia
avenue.
Side streets also were crowded
though with spectators. By o'clock
this morning, observers. there were
l (See JOBS, Page A-6.)