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Boston-bound bus attacked; Joseph Rinaldi injured
As Dawber tried to maneuver around the large crowd, several police radio cars went by, containing officers with revolvers drawn. He “followed in their wake, dodging pedestrians and going as fast as [he] dared.” After ten minutes the bus was through the crowds. Once clear of Harlem, Dawber stopped the bus at a drug store so Rinaldi could treat his cuts. At the scheduled stop in Stamford, Connecticut, two of passengers departed, “overcome by the excitement.” Examined after it arrived in Boston at 6:25 AM on March 20, the bus had eleven bullet holes as well as numerous dents where objects had struck it.
Objects struck vehicles traveling on 7th Avenue at several different times during the disorder, including a local bus and cars driven by whites and at least one black man. Seventh Avenue was the most heavily trafficked roadway north of 59th Street, a major route in and out of the city. While blacks owned and drove cars, automobiles driven by whites made up most of the traffic that passed through Harlem, including the vast majority of the taxis serving the neighborhood, thanks to the refusal of the three largest taxicab companies to employ black drivers. Whites also drove the city’s buses. The other bus hit on 7th Avenue was a local Fifth Avenue Coach Company bus struck at 127th Street at 11:00 PM. None of its passengers were injured. The only other mention of that attack, without any details, is in the Time magazine story on the disorder.
There were no other reports of bullets striking vehicles driving through Harlem. It was not clear who fired these shots. While there were general claims that Black residents used guns during the disorder, evidence does not exist of any specific instances of shootings by blacks. On the other hand, there was clear evidence that police were armed and shooting throughout the disorder, mostly in the air to try to disperse crowds, but also at crowds, especially once looting began. There was no reason for officers to have fired at the bus, but it could have been caught in the cross fire as officers shot at the crowds it drove through or even as they shot in the air.
It was not clear if those who bombarded the bus were targeting whites. The injured man, Rinaldi, was white; there was no clear evidence of the race of the woman who fainted or the other passengers. Nor did the stories identify the bus company. The Fifth Avenue Coach Company, which operated the other bus targeted, was notorious in Harlem for its refusal to employ blacks. Attacking that vehicle was likely as much about the company as the passengers – an attack on a white business as much the passengers, at least some of who would have been Black residents. It was not clear if that was the case with the Boston-bound bus or whether its destination made it more likely to be carrying white passengers.
Stories about the Boston-bound bus appeared in the New York Herald Tribune, New York Sun, and New York Evening Journal, and as the opening of the Newsweek story on the disorder. Most of the New York Herald Tribune story, the most detailed, is an extended quotation from Dawber, the bus driver, and is credited as “Special to the Herald Tribune.” The Associated Press story published in the New York Sun did not feature Dawber’s perspective on driving through Harlem and appeared to be based on speaking with passengers. It is the only story to mention the stop to treat Rinaldi’s injuries. The briefer story published in the New York Evening Journal also appeared to be based on speaking only with passengers, and mentioned only Rinaldi not Travis. It included the detail that seven of the passengers hailed from Boston, and the remainder from New York City.
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This page references:
- "RAGES: Mischief Out of Misery," Time, 25, 13 (April 1935).
- “21 Reach Boston in Bus Scarred by Harlem Riot. Bullets and Bricks Too Much for One, Who Gets Off Early," New York Herlad Tribune, March 21, 1935, 3.
- "Bus Passengers Rode Harlem Riot. Tell About Dodging Bricks and Bullets Last Night," New York Sun, March 20, 1935, 1.
- “Bus Runs Riot Gauntlet, Safe," New York Evening Journal, March 20, 1935, 15.
- "RACE RIOT: Harlem Negroes Let Go Over Puerto Rican's Death," Newsweek, March 30, 1935, 11.