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

Milton Ackerman arrested

Officer Brown of the 40th Precinct arrested Milton Ackerman, a twenty-four-year-old Black man, some time during the disorder. According to the Home News he had taken "several radios" from a store at 400 Lenox Avenue. By contrast, the New York Times, reported Ackerman was charged with "taking two rolls of paper, worth 5 cents, and 8 cents' worth of napkins from a Lenox Avenue store." Harry Lash was recorded as the complainant in the Harlem Magistrate's Court docket book, confirmation that Lash's store at 400 Lenox Avenue was the location from which Ackerman allegedly took merchandise. Ackerman lived at 33 West 130th Street, only a few buildings east of that store. There was no mention of where or when police arrested him.

Ackerman was named in the lists of those charged with burglary published in the Atlanta World, Afro-American and Norfolk Journal and Guide, and in the New York Evening Journal. He appeared in the Harlem Magistrates Court on March 20, when Magistrate Renaud had him held until March 25. When Ackerman returned to the Magistrate's Court the Magistrate discharged him as the grand jury had indicted him in response to evidence presented as part of District Attorney Dodge's investigation, an outcome reported only in a story in the Home News. He was then rearrested and held on $1000 Bail. Three days later he appeared in the Court of General Sessions, an appearance reported only in the New York Times. Judge Donnellan dismissed the indictment and released Ackerman. Neither that story nor the 28th Precinct Police blotter provided any explanation for the judge's decision.

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