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

Magistrates Court docket books

The Magistrates Court Docket books are large ledgers that record details of hearings in a series of columns that span two facing pages. Those arrested during the disorder are not the only people who appeared in court in its immediate aftermath, producing the possibility of confusion about whether a small number of arrests related to the disorder.

Reading left to right, the ledger columns are headed:

Docket Number
Complainant (often left blank, likely indicating that the complainant did not appear)
Residence (in some cases the address recorded here is the complainant's business, not residence)
Defendant
Residence
Sex
Age
Color (B or W)
Nativity (US, rather than a state or city, recorded)
Nature of Complaint (the charge, with any change to the change recorded by striking through the original charge and writing in the new charge above or next to it)
Date of Complaint
Process
Officer
Precinct
Date of Arrest
Plea
Fine
Paid
Disposition of Case (the dates of subsequent appearances in court for those who are held for investigation are recorded here as well as the sum set for bail)
Date of Disposition
Name and Residence of Bondsman
Name and Residence of Attorney

There are additional columns headed Court of Special Sessions Docket that are not completed for any of the hearings involving those arrested in the disorder.

Archival Sources

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