St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-11-24

SNANNC" OO1AAOA OO4O 1Cl1AAHO
the three or four restaurants and
taverns in the block cast an eery
light over the brawl going on that
morning at 2 o'clock. Automobiles
and trucks speeding down Eighth
Avenue here in Harlem, their head
lights cutting white paths of light
on the street, outlined the figures
of the fighting young men as
drivers slowed down, swerved to
avoid running over the struggling
figures, and shouted loud impreca-
lions at the brawling youths.
Process of Beating Man
to Death
There were about six young men,
around 20 and "a years of age, busy
beating a seventh youth into a pulp.
AS fast as the victim got up from
the street and tried to run, one of
the gang would grab him by the
coat or arm and fling or knock him
to the ground again. AS he lay
there, all would kick and stomp at
his head. One ran out of a tavern
with a glass, and hurled it with all
the force at his command at the
head of the rapidly weakening vic
tim.
AS automobiles swung, swerved
and lodged to keep from hitting
the fighting group, three colored
M. P.'s came around corner. They
rushed into the fracas and sepa-
rated the victim from the gang
their hands on their revolvers as
they closed in. The unfortunate
youth who was so badly beaten
climbed shakily to his feet and
Hoped unevenly down a side street
We could hear part of the CONVEX
sation among the M. P.'s and the
gang.
"Ill kill the black so and so,'
snarled disheveled youth, the one
who had thrown the glass, ''bumpin
into me like that. He don't know
what he doin' messin' round with
me-"
cav, man, these guys amt
nothin' but M. P.'s. They amt got
nuthin' to do with US. Let's catch
that mr. and fix him up for good,
shouted another.
yeah, man. I kicked hell outta
him. Let's see if we can find an.
other one of them simple fellers
1 felt like whippin' somebody this
mawnin'," stated another.
wish I'd a had my knife" an.
other put in. 81 couldda chopped
his ears off,"
"He sho' was hollerin'," said &
fifth. "By the way, what did the
black so and so do in the first
place? 1 saw y'all out here whalin
him an I thought I'd better git me
a few ticks ofF'n him, myself. What
did he do?"
We Move On from Sordid
Scene
The lights changed and the taxi.
cab driver started his car moving
again, and we rolled down the street
leaving the battle scene far in the
distance. A glance through the
rear window etched the scene
sharply in my mind as the inter
vening distance widened and the
figures of the gang grew smaller
and smaller.
"Your folks" said the taxi driver
after we had ridden awhile.
"Your folks" I said, falling into
a racial trait in which kinship with
bad-acting Negroes is something
to disavow publicly, especially when
one is deeply embarrassed.
"Bet you couldn't get a single one
of them hrs to lay a hand on a
white man." said the taxi driver as
he paused for a light. "But they'll
shore beat the hell outta each
other"
1 agreed silently as we rolled
along. To mind came as many
similar scenes we had just wit
messed as 1 could recall. The hos
pital in Memphis, Tenn, where on
Saturday nights, the internes.
nurses and doctors worked overtime
sewing Negroes together after they
had cut one another up. To mind
came the scenes almost any night
at Harlem Hospital with ambu-
lances heading into the hospital
yard loaded down with knife, gun,
baseball bat, or I've victims. The
same, recalled, was true in Chicago