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Harlem in Disorder: A Spatial History of How Racial Violence Changed in 1935

Claims for damages announced, April 23 (20)

Seven newspapers reported the first twenty damage claims filed after the disorder. Those stories were published on April 23 and 24, with the exception of the only Black newspaper to report the claims, the New York Amsterdam News, which published its story more than a month later, on June 1. As a weekly publication, that newspaper often published stories some time after the city's daily white newspapers, but that delay was outside that practice.

The New York Sun, which published the longest story, and the New York Amsterdam News, included a list of the twenty claimants, the address of their businesses and the amount of their claim. The New York World Telegram listed the seven largest claims, and the New York American the five largest claims (the later mistakenly reported that twenty-two merchants filed claims). The New York Times, Home News and Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported only the number and total value of the claims. Only the Brooklyn Daily Eagle provided the exact total, $37,972.53; the other stories all rounded the total up to $38,000.

The New York Sun, New York World-Telegram and New York Times quoted the section of the General Municipal Law on which the claims were based, while the Home News and New York Amsterdam News summarized it. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and New York American made no mention of the law. None of the stories commented on the law or the novelty of its use.

The stories varied in the detail they provided about the process: while they all noted that the claims had been filed with the Department of Finance, only the New York American, New York Sun, New York World Telegram and New York Times added that the Deputy Comptroller would summon the merchants to his office for questioning in a few days. The Home News more precisely noted that, "According to procedure, the complaints are first shown to the Comptroller, who decides the amount, if any, he believes the city owes. If dissatisfied, the claimant may appeal to the court."

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