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

Raymond Easley arrested

Around 1.45 AM, Patrolmen Kalsky and Holland of the 28th Precinct allegedly saw a group of people around the cigar store at 1916 7th Avenue, and then a milk can thrown through the plate glass windows. The officers got to the store in time for Kalsky to arrest Thomas Jackson, a thirty-four-year-old Black driver who he charged had throw the milk can, and Holland to arrest Raymond Easley, a twenty-one-year-old Black man, he charged had taken cigars from the store window, according to a story in the Home News. Holland also found that Easley was carrying a razor. Two arrests at the same incident of alleged looting was unusual during the disorder, suggesting that the officers were closer to the store than in other instances, perhaps only having to cross West 116th Street rather than 7th Avenue.

Easley is not mentioned in the affidavit in the District Attorney’s case file in which he and Jackson are co-defendants, nor does the file contain an examination of him. The only document in the case file referring to Easley is a criminal record; he had no previous prosecutions. Other than the story about his arraignment in the Magistrates Court in the Home News, Easley only appears in the lists of those arrested etc.

Easley and Jackson (whose real name was Thomas Dean) both appeared in the Harlem Magistrate's Court on March 20, but took different paths through the legal system. Magistrate Renaud held both for the grand jury on charges of burglary; he also sent Easley to the Court of Special Sessions on the charge of carrying a dangerous weapon, a misdemeanor offense, for having the razor in his possession. Both appeared

In the Magistrate Court affidavit, Kalsky alleged that he saw Thomas Jackson, a thirty-four-year-old Black driver throw the milkcan. Jackson denied thowing anything at the store, or being part of an attack on it, when question by a Probation officer. Instead, he claimed he had been walking along the street to visit a friend on West 116th Street when he had become caught in a crowd moving toward the store, and someone in the crowd had been pushed him through the smashed window. Throwing an object would have been more difficult for Jackson than most in the crowd; after an accident in 1930, his left arm had been amputated above the elbow. Kalsky also alleged he saw Jackson reach his hand through the smashed window and take merchandise from the display. Garmise reported pipes, clocks, watches, razors and other goods worth about $100 were stolen. Neither the affidavit nor the Probation Department Investigation specify what, if any, of that merchandise was found on Garmise. Kalsky told a Probation officer that as he approached, Jackson threw “some of the merchandise” back in the window. That phrasing suggests Jackson may not have had any merchandise on him when Kalsky arrested him, as does his later agreement to plead guilty to unlawful entry, rather than petit larceny, as others arrested for looting who made plea bargains did. However, the New York Daily News report of Jackson's appearance in the Court of General Sessions to plead guilty, and the New York Times report of his sentencing, attributed all $100 of the stolen goods to Jackson. (The only other newspaper story to include details, the report of the sentencing in the New York Age, mentioned only that Jackson had admitted throwing a milk bottle through the store window).



Thomas Jackson (whose real name was Thomas Dean), Raymond Easley and Robert Tanner all appeared in the Harlem Magistrates Court on March 20. Magistrate Renaud sent all three to the Grand Jury on the charge of burglary, and Easley also to the Court of Special Sessions charged with possession of a weapon. While Jackson and Tanner were indicted, and then agreed to plead guilty, Easley had the charges against him dismissed. There is no evidence to explain that decision. Neither the 28th Precinct Police Blotter or the District Attorney’s case file recorded the outcome of his prosecution for carrying a knife. Judge Donellan sentenced Jackson to six months in the workhouse; and Judge Nott sentenced Tanner to the New York City Reformatory, in line with his age.

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