African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York; Riots -- New York (State) -- New York
John L. Newman, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I reside at No. 351 West 37th Street, in the rear house. On August
15th, 1900, I went to the restaurant which is in the front building,
for supper. This was about 10:30 P. M. After I had been there
a few minutes some one told me that the mob was coming. I had seen
them beat colored people during the evening, without any cause, so
I walked out of the restaurant into my apartments, which are in the
rear, only a few steps away; I live in the basement floor. I did this
so as to avoid any trouble. As I reached the front door and walked in
I closed it, and proceeded to go into my apartments. Four officers
immediately came, and one of them said, "Stop!" and kicked open the
door. Then one of them grabbed me and said, "Here is a d----d nigger;
kill him!" The four officers then beat me with their clubs until I
became unconscious. They then carried me to the station house. I was
unconscious during all this time, but my friends tell me that the
police were beating me all the way to the station house. It is located
one block west from where I live. At the station house I recovered my
consciousness. I was arraigned before the sergeant, and the officer
who struck me first made the complaint against me. At the sergeant's
desk I felt very weak, bleeding from my head and eye, and I held on
to the railing for support. One of the officers struck me in the ribs
with a night stick, and said, "God d--n you, stand up there!" I fell
forward on the sergeant's desk, and I said, "For God's sake, take a
gun and blow out my brains! If you have got to take a life, take mine,
and don't murder me this way!" The sergeant then said very gruffly to
the officer, "Take him away!" While all this was going on Chief of
Police Devery was in the station house standing about ten feet away,
talking to somebody whom I did not know. He saw all this, but did not
interfere, conversing with the man all the time, as if nothing unusual
was going on. I have known Chief Devery for three or four years, and
have spoken with him in a friendly way many times. When I was brought
into the muster room, in the rear of the station house, I saw several
colored people being treated for their wounds. I was bleeding from
my head and eye, and could not see well, and I sat down in the wrong
chair. Two policemen then came over to me, pulled me out of the chair,
and were raising their clubs to strike me when some one said, "Don't
hit this man any more," and they obeyed. My wounds were then dressed,
and I was taken to a cell. About twelve o'clock, when the officer
who was making the prison rounds came to my cell, I asked him for
permission to see the sergeant. He asked why, and I told him that my
house was unlocked, and that I wished he would send an officer to lock
it. He said he would speak to the sergeant about it. In a few minutes
he returned and said, "The sergeant said, 'D--n him,' and that 'he had
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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