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

Investigations (April 6-April 19)

While twenty witnesses had testified at the public hearing on April 6, their testimony did not allow the MCCH to finish its investigation of the events of March 19 as its members had planned. The only case for which all the evidence had been heard was the killing of Lloyd Hobbs, and even in that case Dodge's instructions had prevented police witnesses from giving testimony. The absence of staff from the Kress store prevented wrapping up testimony about what had happened in the store. In addition, there had been no time to hear testimony on the cases of police brutality about which the MCCH had begun gathering information. With so many of the witnesses asked to attend the April 6 had heard, the next planned hearing that Hays had announced to the MCCH meeting might have been expected to be held the next week, on April 13. However, it did not take place until a week later, on April 20. Dodge’s injunction against police involved in legal proceedings testifying might have been one reason for the delay, to wait until more cases had completed the legal process. Hays may also have not been available to chair the hearing until April 20. He did not attend the MCCH meetings on April 12 and April 19.

As all the witnesses to the police killing of Lloyd Hobbs the MCCH had identified had been heard, that incident was likely not part of the planned program for the next hearing. Hays may have been intending to lobby the District Attorney to have those witnesses give their evidence to the grand jury. Whatever plans Hays had were disrupted when he read in the press that the District Attorney had presented the case of the shooting of Lloyd Hobbs to the grand jury on April 10. They decided not to indict Patrolman McInerney. Having listened to the testimony of the eye-witnesses, Hays clearly found that decision surprising. He immediately wrote to the District Attorney asking if those witnesses had testified before the grand jury and who else had given evidence. He told the District Attorney he was anxious to have any other witnesses appear in a MCCH hearing to publicly present all the evidence "so that if there was any justification for the shooting, the public may know it." Dodge replied the next day that "the District Attorney's office called every witness who knew anything with reference to this case against McInerney." That list included all those who had testified in the public hearing. Those that had not appeared were Louis Eisenberg, the owner of the store had allegedly looted, Detective O’Brien, who had conducted the police investigation of the shooting, and McInerney and his partner Patrolman Watterson. With the grand jury’s decision, the MCCH could hear the testimony of the three police officers as the District Attorney’s restriction on officers involved in legal proceedings testifying no longer applied to them.

Likely because that testimony was pending, Tartar continued to gather information about the killing of Lloyd Hobbs, as well as three other cases about which the MCCH still had to hear testimony. He interviewed the storekeepers on the block where Lloyd Hobbs was shot, gathered records from the 23rd Precinct about the cases of Thomas Aiken and Edward Laurie, and interviewed Aiken and the aunt of James Thompson, the other Black man known to have been killed by police during the disorder.

Adding to the backlog of witnesses, the MCCH learned of additional incidents of police brutality. By April 19, when the MCCH met, the subcommittee had decided “there were far too many” cases for all of them to be investigated in public hearings, Villard reported. “Some other investigations” would be made of the other cases. (They later approached the Harlem Lawyers Association to take on that task). For the public hearings, the focus remained the cases that the MCCH had begun investigating the previous week.

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