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District Attorney's Closed Case Files, 204038 (1935) (New York City Municipal Archives).
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Arthur Merritt arrested
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At about 1:30 AM, Officer George Nelson of the 15th Precinct was “on duty” near Sol Weit and Isaac Popiel's grocery store at 343 Lenox Avenue when he saw a group of about five people gathered around the store, he later told a Probation officer. As he watched, Arthur Merritt, a forty-two-year-old Black painter, allegedly broke the store window with a hammer. The group then climbed through the windows and took groceries — although likely not all 126 pounds of butter, 90 dozen eggs, eight cartons of cigarettes, a ham, and other food products, as well as $14 from the cash register, the owners reported had been taken. By the time Nelson got to the store, the group had run back out, according to the Magistrate's Court affidavit; he told a Probation officer he arrested Merritt “a short distance away.” He found two cans of beans, a can of milk, and a can of tuna in Merritt's possession, as well as a hammer. Those details of what was allegedly found on Merritt are not included in the affidavit, although that evidence is crucial to the charge made against him. Notes on the affidavit did record the total stock lost, with calculations that seem to be an effort to establish the value of that stock.
Merritt denied looting the store or participating in the disorder, telling a Probation officer he was on his way home after visiting his sister, Pauline. She lived at 108 West 130th Street; he lived at 134 West 121st Street. Both address were between 7th and Lenox Avenues, so his route home could have taken him down Lenox Avenue. He would been walking through the blocks north of 125th street that saw the most extensive reported looting of the disorder, much of which occurred around the time Nelson arrested him. As Merritt was the only one of the group Officer Nelson claimed he saw who was arrested, it was likely he was on his own or with another officer. That Nelson saw the attack on the store without being able to prevent it suggests he was some distance away, most likely on one of the corners of Lenox Avenue and West 127th Street, allowing some possibility that he misidentified Merritt among the crowds milling about.
Arthur Merritt appeared in the Harlem Magistrate’s Court on March 20. A lawyer, Albert Halperin, represented him; only seventeen others arrested in the disorder had lawyers appear for them. No information could be found on the lawyer. Merritt was in the list of those arrested in the Atlanta World, Afro-American, and Norfolk Journal and Guide, and the list in the New York Evening Journal. His criminal record showed an arrest for grand larceny in 1920, which resulted in a suspended sentence, so Magistrate Renaud ordered him held without bail. Returned to the court on March 22, Merritt was sent to the grand jury, an appearance reported in the Home News, Daily Worker, Daily News, and New York Evening Journal. After the grand jury indicted him on April 9, he agreed to plead guilty to petit larceny on April 12. Ten days later, Judge James Garrett Wallace sentenced him to three months in the workhouse, an outcome recorded in the 28th Precinct police blotter as well as the Probation Department case file.
Born in New Jersey, Merritt had lived in Harlem for fifteen years, likely arriving after his discharge from the US Army in 1919. His Probation Department case file provides fragmentary information on his life. He had married twenty-one-year-old Blanche Morris two months before arriving in the city, in Newport News, Virginia, where he was stationed. Blanche had a six-year-old son, Charles. At the beginning of 1920, Merritt started work as a porter for Weingarten Bros., at 151 West 30th Street, living at 434 Lenox Avenue. After nine months, he lost that job when he was caught stealing dresses from his employers; twenty-four dresses worth $700 were found in a trunk in his apartment, but he allegedly stole clothing worth $2,000. No other details of the alleged theft are recorded by the probation officer, but Merritt and his wife pled guilty to petit larceny and received a suspended sentence, a lenient punishment for a theft of that scale. The probation investigation recorded May 1922 as the date of arrest, but based on the criminal record, that appears to be the date the couple were discharged from probation. There was no mention that they had jobs during those years, but their first daughter was born in 1922.
Around 1923, Merritt began working as a painter and as a janitor at 1027 Avenue St. John in the Bronx until 1926, living in the building, according to the Probation Department case file. However, the family appeared in the 1925 New York State census living at 906 Intervale Avenue, in a large household that now included three children, as well as Arthur's sister and brother-in-law, and two of Blanche's brothers, aged nineteen and twenty years. After the janitorial job ended, Merritt and his wife and children relocated first to 200 West 128th Street, and then to 109 West 144th Street, where a census enumerator found them in 1930.
Later in 1930, Arthur and Blanche separated, a result of his heavy drinking, according to the Probation Department investigation. For three years, the three children lived with Merritt, in apartments at 2170 7th Avenue for two years and then 34 West 132nd Street. He worked sporadically as a painter for a contractor based at 160 East 116th Street. However, in 1932 he was discharged as they had insufficient work for him. Several months later, Merritt found work for a real estate agent, but it was seasonal. By the beginning of 1934 he was evicted from his apartment after falling two months behind in the rent, and became unable to support his children. Found to be neglected children, they were put in their mother's care, after which Merritt appeared to have had limited contact with them and did not contribute to their support. He moved to a furnished room at 112 West 113th Street, leaving after a year for the room at 134 West 121st where he lived at the time of the disorder. Merritt remained in Harlem, and estranged from his family, after the disorder. When he registered for the draft, he gave his sister's address as his home, and an employer in the Bronx. -
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Sol Weit and Isaac Popiel's grocery store looted
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2023-12-02T02:57:15+00:00
Sol Weit closed the grocery store at 343 Lenox Avenue that he co-owned with Isaac Popiel at about 10:00 PM, according to a Probation Department investigation. About 1:30 AM, Officer George Nelson of the 15th Precinct was “on duty” nearby when he saw a group of about five people gathered around the store. Arthur Merritt, a forty-two-year-old Black painter, allegedly then broke the store window with a hammer. He and the others climbed through the windows and stole groceries — although likely not all 126 pounds of butter, ninety dozen eggs, eight cartons of cigarettes, a ham, and other food products, as well as $14 from the cash register, that the owners reported was taken. By the time Nelson got to the store, the group had run back out, according to the Magistrates Court affidavit; he told a probation officer he arrested Merritt “a short distance away.” He found two cans of beans, a can of milk, and a can of tuna in Merritt's possession, as well as a hammer. (The details of what was allegedly found on Merritt were not included in the affidavit; the probation officer included them in the report of his investigation.) Merritt denied looting the store or participating in the disorder. He was on his way home after visiting his sister, Pauline, he told a Probation officer. She lived at 108 West 130th Street; he lived at 134 West 121st Street. Both address were between 7th and Lenox Avenues, so his route home could have taken him down Lenox Avenue.
Weit and Popiel’s store was in the area of Lenox Avenue north of 125th street that saw the most extensive disorder, most of which occurred around the time the store was looted. Police were on the blocks and patrolling the streets in radio cars but struggled to protect businesses and respond to changing and moving crowds. As Merritt was the only one of the group Officer Nelson saw who was arrested, it was likely Nelson was on his own or with a single partner. Weit lived in Harlem, on 5th Avenue between 118th and 119th streets, ten blocks south and east of store, according to the Magistrate's Court affidavit, but apparently did not return to the store during the disorder.
Appearing in the Magistrates Court, Weit put the value of the stolen stock at $100. When he appeared before the grand jury three weeks later, he offered the more precise total of $126.02, according to the Probation Department investigation. Questioned by a probation officer a week or so after that testimony, he revised the total again, to $167.86. Unusually, neither the Magistrate’s Court affidavit nor the Probation Department investigation placed a value on the goods found on Merritt, but they were clearly a small fraction of that loss. Insurance paid $48.69 to replace three broken windows in the store, according to the Probation Department investigation. Weit and Popiel were not among the store owners identified as suing the city for failing to protect their business, so there was no indication if they received any award of damages.
Nonetheless, the store remained in business. The MCCH business survey found a white-owned grocery store at the address in the second half of 1935, and the store was visible in the Tax Department photograph taken between 1939 and 1941. In 1942, Isaac Popiel identified himself as the owner of the store in his draft registration. By that time he was living at 1047 Faile Street in the Bronx. Sometime soon after the disorder Weit also made the Bronx his home. A census enumerator found him at 1976 Vyse Avenue, which he said was also his address on April 1, 1935.
Arthur Merritt appeared in the Harlem Magistrate’s Court on March 20. His criminal record showed an arrest for grand larceny in 1920, which resulted in a suspended sentence, so he was held without bail. Returned to the court on March 22, he was held for the grand jury, who indicted Merritt on April 9. He later agreed to plead guilty to petit larceny, after which Judge James Garrett Wallace sentenced him to three months in the Workhouse.