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Preparation for the Public Hearing on April 6
Hyman Glickstein, an attorney at Hays' law firm, undertook the work of gathering other evidence for the hearing. Copies of his correspondence are in both the Hays Papers and the Records of Mayor La Guardia. It indicated that the investigation of the killing of Lloyd Hobbs was part of a shift in the subcommittee’s focus from the events of March 19 to police misconduct and brutality, which Hays described in the MCCH meeting on April 5. Letters dated April 2 to Inspector Di Martini and Commissioner Valentine, the District Attorney and the Medical Examiner and Harlem hospital asked for the records of six cases. Four cases involved men who died during the disorder, Hobbs and James Thompson, Andrew Lyons and August Miller. Questions about those cases had been raised during the testimony of Captain Rothengast at the hearing on March 30. The other two cases had not occurred during the disorder. Edward Laurie had died at the hands of police soon after the disorder, a case that had been widely reported in the press. Thomas Aiken, blind in one eye after a beating by police just over a week before the disorder, had been brought to the MCCH's attention by Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., to who Aiken's mother had written. Glickstein asked that the police officers and physicians who had been involved in the cases be present at the next hearing. Witnesses to Aiken's beating and Laurie's family were also asked to be at the hearing.
Glickstein also wrote to the ILD lawyers James Tauber and Edward Kuntz and James Ford, Robert Minor and Carl Brodsky of the Communist Party seeking more cases, “all complaints of alleged police misconduct, not only on March 19th, but also on other occasions.” He told them to send him that information as soon as possible so he could have the police officers and physicians involved at the hearing. The requests continued the collaboration with the Communists that Hays had initiated the previous week. The Communist Party at some point sent the MCCH the "Cases of Police Brutality, Discrimination and Mistreatment of Negroes in Harlem" in the Hays Papers. While that list of seventeen cases included Laurie, Aiken, and Frank Wells, an attack on an unidentified man, the arrest of a boy for lighting a fire in a school and the eviction of an interracial couple, it mostly consisted of clashes with police at Communist Party meetings and protests. Moreover, Glickstein wrote to Hays on April 4 that “evidence on behalf of the various persons arrested, shot or beaten seems to be considerably more difficult to obtain. I am, however, keeping at it, and I think that at least three or four of the cases, and, perhaps, more will be presented in complete detail before the Committee on Saturday.”
The requests for evidence from the Police Department were initially more successful. “You have my assurance that both the men and records will be made available to the Committee at its next hearing as well as subsequent meetings,” Valentine wrote to Glickstein. The day before hearing, District Attorney Dodge intervened to disrupt the MCCH’s plans to have police officers testify. He directed police commanders to “instruct all police officers who may have cases pending not to reveal any of their testimony at any public hearing.” Those instructions restricted what police officers could say, not their ability to testify, so the officers requested to be present nonetheless attended the hearing. At the beginning of the hearing, Hays read Dodge's letter to Commissioner Valentine, and his brief letter to Glickstein, the MCCH attorney, summarizing what he had instructed the Commissioner, so those in attendance would know why police did not testify.
Although there was no record of efforts to secure their attendance, during the hearing Hays sought testimony from three women and one man listed as witnesses for the previous hearing who had not testified, Mrs Jackson, Ida Hengain, Effie Diton and Mr [Fred] Campbell, and from Steve Urban of the Kress store. Battle had said early in the day that he would get Effie Diton to the hearing, but clearly was unable to do so. Hays also tried on the day of the hearing to secure the testimony of two more witnesses to events in the Kress store. During the hearing, James Tauber of the ILD requested a letter be sent Mrs Williams of 2010 7th Ave, with the text of the letter read in the hearing. At some point on that day, a similar letter were sent to Mrs DePass, of 460 West 147th Street.
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This page references:
- James Tartar, "Investigator's Report Re: The Shooting of Lloyd Hobbs by Patrolman McInerny on the Morning of 3/20/1935," "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 25, Folder 19, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- James Tartar, "Interview with Howard Malloy and Arthur Moore, 213 W. 128th St.," (April 5, 1935), "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 25, Folder 19, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University)
- Public Hearings - Outbreak (March-April 1935), 52-53, Subject Files, Box 408, Folder 8 (Roll 194), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- Public Hearings - Outbreak (March-April 1935), 92, Subject Files, Box 408, Folder 8 (Roll 194), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- William Dodge to Lewis Valentine, April 5, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Adam Clayton Powell to Arthur Garfield Hays, March 28, 1935, Subject Files, Box 167, Folder 3 (Roll 76), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- Public Hearings - Outbreak (March-April 1935), 80-81, Subject Files, Box 408, Folder 8 (Roll 194), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- "Hyman Glickstein, 91, Dies; Lawyer and Political Leader," New York Times, February 17, 1998, 11.
- "Report of the Secretary for March 30th to April 5th inclusive," Subject Files, Box 383, Folder 10 (Roll 184), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- Arthur Garfield Hays to Mrs. Williams, April 6, 1935, Subject Files, Box 167, Folder 4 (Roll 76), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- Arthur Garfield Hays to Mrs. DePass, April 6, 1935, Subject Files, Box 167, Folder 4 (Roll 76), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- Public Hearings - Outbreak (March-April 1935), 182-83, Subject Files, Box 408, Folder 8 (Roll 194), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- Hyman Glickstein to Lewis Valentine, April 2, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to Medical Examiner, April 2, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to Robert Minor, April 1, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to Superintendent of Harlem Hospital, April 2, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to James Tauber, April 1, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to Arthur Garfield Hays, April 4, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to Inspector Di Martini, April 2, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to James Ford, April 1, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to William Dodge, April 2, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- James Tartar, "Interview with Asst. District Attorney Saul Price, 4-2-35," "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 25, Folder 19, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Lewis Valentine to Hyman Glickstein, April 3, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Hyman Glickstein to Edward Kuntz, April 1, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- "Mr Glickstein's Report," "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 25, Folder 19, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- "Cases of Police Brutality, Discrimination and Mistreatment of Negroes in Harlem," "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 25, Folder 19, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Arthur Garfield Hays to Eunice Carter, April 1, 1935, "Harlem, Mayor's Commission on Conditions in," Box 26, Folder 1, Arthur Garfield Hays Papers (Princeton University).
- Public Hearings - Outbreak (March-April 1935), 65-66, Subject Files, Box 408, Folder 8 (Roll 194), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).
- Public Hearings - Outbreak (March-April 1935), 66, Subject Files, Box 408, Folder 8 (Roll 194), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945 (New York City Municipal Archives).