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Kress 5, 10 & 25c store rear windows broken
An "L" shaped building that spanned the width of the block between 125th and 124th Streets, S. H. Kress' store had twice as much storefront on West 124th Street as faced 125th Street. There were retail counters in the wider rear section of the store, and exits out on to West 124th Street (Lino Rivera had been released through one). Windows also faced 124th Street, but no images have been found that show their size and extent. Whatever their extent, windows in the rear of the store appear to have been broken than in the front. Compared to the "very little loss on the front," a reporter for the Afro-American described "the windows in the rear showed signs of the stone and whiskey bottle barrage." Similarly, the New York Age reported "a plate glass window in the front of the store was smashed, while the back part of the building suffered several broken windows." Without the comparison, the Times Union reported similar damage, "the store's rear windows were smashed," as did the New York Times less precisely, noting "Stones were hurled through windows." With typical exaggeration, both the Home News and New York Herald Tribune claimed all the rear windows were shattered.
Windows were possibly not the only target of objects thrown on West 124th Street. Police officers followed the crowds, once again trying to clear them from the street. Unlike on West 125th Street earlier, objects struck police officers. At least two officers suffered injuries that required the attendance of an ambulance, Patrolman Michael Kelly hit on the right leg by a rock and Detective Charles Foley hit on the shoulder by a stone. Officers trying to push crowds away from the rear of the store could have been hit by objects thrown at the windows, but white newspapers reported in sensational terms that they were the targets. "A barrage of missiles fell on the ranks of police," according to the New York Times, while the New York Herald Tribune described a more dramatic scene in which "Negroes showered [police] with miscellaneous missiles from roofs, hallways and other hiding places." News of the hearse's appearance and renewed police clashes with crowds on the street spread to people gathered on 8th Avenue, and windows in other stores on 125th Street began to be smashed.
Several newspapers made no mention of broken windows in the rear of S. H. Kress' store. A hearse appears in most of those narratives, provoking generalized reactions from the crowds on the street. It served to "fire the crowd" in the Afro-American's narrative, and in stories in the Home News and New York Post, although in the white newspapers crowds see the vehicle on West 124th Street before the speakers try to address the crowd, a different chronology. The New York Sun described the crowd moving directly to attacks on police and stores and looting. The hearse appears in front of the store, not at its rear, in the Daily Mirror. And it is mentioned as appearing in the area without mention of a specific location in the Atlanta World and in an ANP story published in both the Atlanta World and Pittsburgh Courier. Neither broken windows in the rear of Kress' store nor a hearse are features of the narratives in the New York Daily News, New York World-Telegram and the MCCH report, and are likewise missing from Louise Thompson's account (which locates her on 125th Street when the rear windows were broken).
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- "Harlem Riot Damage is Figured at Half Million," Afro-American, March 30, 1935, 1, 2.
- "1 Dead, 7 shot, 100 Hurt as Harlem Crowds Riot over Boy, 16, and Hearse," New York Herald Tribune, March 20, 1935, 1.
- "Says Economic Conditions in Harlem Are Bad," Atlanta World, March 27, 1935, 1, 2.
- "5 dying and Scores Wounded as Race Riots in Harlem Subside," Home News, March 20, 1935 [clipping]
- "Police Shoot Into Rioters; Kill Negro in Harlem Mob. 3,000 Storm Store After Boy Knife Thief, 16, Is Reported Lynched-Several Shot - Many Felled by Stones," New York Times, March 20, 1935, 1.
- "1 Slain, 20 Injured in Harlem Rioting," New York American, March 20, 1935, 1.
- "Two Inquiries Under Way; Four Dead; Many Hurt," Pittsburgh Courier, March 30, 1935, 1
- C. C. Nicolet, "One Dead in Wake of Harlem Riots," New York Post, March 20, 1935 [clipping]
- "Twelve-Year Old Lad Starts Riot On 125th Street," New York Age, March 23, 1935, 1.
- Percy Gould, "20,000 Fight Police in Orgy of Looting," New York Evening Journal, March 20, 1935, 1.
- "Snipers Routed, Looter is Slain in Harlem Riot," Times Union, March 20, 1935, 1, 4.
- "Dodge Begins Investigation of Worst Disorders Here in Years," New York Sun, March 20, 1.
- "Trivial Incident is Riot's Starting Spark," Atlanta World, March 24, 1935, 1.
- "Renewed Looting Brings Riot Call: Reds Blamed for Harlem Fighting," New York Sun, March 20, 1935, 1, 20.
- Robert Campbell, "8000 in Harlem Riot. Fight 1,000 Police Over Killing Hoax," Daily Mirror, March 20, 1935 [clipping]