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August Miller killed
Miller himself never described the circumstances of his injury, dying on March 22 without regaining consciousness. His death was widely reported on March 23, in some cases with information on the how he had been killed. The most direct explanations came in stories published in the New York Herald Tribune, New York Evening Journal, and Times Union, and in the Associated Press story, which reported Miller had been "beaten by rioters." The New York Times and New York Sun did not draw that implication, only going as far as saying Miller was "in the midst of rioters" when injured, while the Brooklyn Daily Eagle even more obliquely said his death came "during the height of the disorders." The New York Post implied he had been assaulted in a different way, noting where he had been injured, and adding "He was one of the half a dozen white men seriously hurt during the disturbance." Lists of those killed in the Daily News and stories in Black newspapers the New York Age and New York Amsterdam News, as well as the lists of those killed published in the Afro-American, Norfolk Journal and Guide and Pittsburgh Courier simply listed Miller's injuries, a fractured skull.
Police investigating the case in the aftermath of the disorder could find no witnesses to establish the circumstances in which he was injured. There is also no information on why he traveled to the neighborhood. Miller lived in the Bronx, some distance from Harlem. His employers did report Miller had been “acting peculiar for some months previous.”
An autopsy performed at the City Morgue on March 23 determined that the cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage, “a natural cause, nothing suspicious.” Miller was included in lists of those killed in the disorder published on March 23 and 24, and in Black weekly newspapers on March 30, without mention of the autopsy. On March 31 the Home News also included him in its count of those killed in the disorder even while noting that Miller's death "was later found to have been due to heart disease, probably aggravated by exertion and excitement." The Daily News, New York American, Daily Mirror, Times Union, the Associated Press, Afro American, and Chicago Defender reported the death of Lloyd Hobbs on March 30 as the fourth death resulting from the disorder without specifying the other three individuals killed. None of those newspapers included Edward Laurie among those killed, so they also still included Miller after the autopsy, along with James Thompson and Andrew Lyons. So too did the New York Herald Tribune, which identified Hobbs as the fifth death resulting from the riot. (The Daily Worker initially reported Hobbs as the fourth death, on April 1, but a week later referred to him as the third death, while the New York Times reported his death without reference to how many others had been killed).
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This page references:
- "Harlem Riot Damage is Figured at Half Million," Afro-American, March 30, 1935, 1, 2.
- “List of Victims," New York Evening Journal, March 20, 1935, 1, 3.
- "Hospital Admissions, 19-20 March 1935," Subject Files, Box 167, Folder 5 (Roll 76), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- "List of Dead And Injured In Riot In New York City," Norfolk Journal and Guide, March 30, 1935, 18.
- "Says Economic Conditions in Harlem Are Bad," Atlanta World, March 27, 1935, 1, 2.
- "Police Still on Riot Duty," New York Amsterdam News, March 30, 1935, 1, 2.
- “List of Casualties in Riots,” New York Post, March 20, 1935, 6.
- Supplementary Complaint Reports (March 21, 24, 1935), Police Department, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in Harlem - Police Brutality - 1935, Departmental Correspondence, Box 35, Folder 1 (Roll 171?), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945
- “Riot’s Casualties," New York American, March 21, 1935, 2.
- "Riot Deaths Mounting Daily as Fourth Victim Succumbs. Extra Police Still on Duty; Many Sentenced to Workhouse Terms," New York Age, March 30, 1935, 1
- "2 More Succumb to Riot Injuries as Inquiry Begins," New York Post, March 23, 1935, 3.
- "650 Police Patrol Harlem to Block Renewed Rioting," New York Herald Tribune, March 21, 1935, 1, 2.
- "Fourth Victim of Harlem Riot Dies as First Public Hearing is Ended," Home News, March 31, 1935 [clipping]
- "Expect to Add To 16 Indicted For Race Riot Grand Jury Meets Again Monday-2d Death is Laid to Disorders," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 23, 1935, 2.
- "2d Harlem Riot Victim Dies; 4 More Indicted," New York Herald Tribune, March 23, 1935, 5.
- "Dodge Plans War on Reds," New York Daily News, March 24, 1935, 4.
- "Harlem Relief Lacking, Charge at Riot Hearing," Daily Mirror, March 31, 1935 [clipping]
- "Angry Clash of Attorneys Mark Hearing," New York American, March 31, 1935 [clipping]
- "Plan to Indict More in Riots," New York Evening Journal, March 23, 1935, 5.
- "Second Man Dies in Harlem Riots; Probes Continue," Times Union, March 23, 1935, 3.
- "4 More Indicted in Harlem Riots," New York Times, March 23, 1935, 7.
- "Two Inquiries Under Way; Four Dead; Many Hurt," Pittsburgh Courier, March 30, 1935, 1
- "2d Victim Dead in Harlem Riot," New York Sun March 23, 1935, 11.
- "Admits Harlem Riot Needless," Times Union, March 31, 1935 [clipping]
- "Another Succumbs To Injuries in Riot," Washington Post, March 24, 1935, 11.