This page was created by Anonymous.
Romanoff Drug store looted
The same officer from the 28th Precinct arrested all three men, according to the Harlem Magistrates Court docket book; the clerk's handwriting is too messy to decipher his name. Austin, Bonaparte and Nicholas are among those listed as being arrested for burglary, the charge used in cases of alleged looting, in the lists published in the Atlanta World, Afro-American and Norfolk Journal and Gazette, and in the New York Evening Journal. However, the 28th Precinct Police blotter records the charge as Attempted Burglary, suggesting that they were not arrested with any merchandise in their possession. In the Magistrate's Court all three men were charged with Disorderly Conduct, an offense not used in cases of alleged looting, suggesting the men may have broken the store windows but not attempted to take any merchandise. When the men appeared in the Harlem Magistrate's Court on March 20, Magistrate Renaud acquitted them. This outcome might explain why Austin, Bonaparte and Nicholas are missing from the newspaper stories about those arraigned in the Magistrates Court after the disorder. While the acquittals indicate that there was no compelling evidence linking the men to damage done to the store, the initial charges do suggest that the store was looted.
Whatever damage the Romanoff Drug Store suffered did not prevent it continuing to operate. It appears in the MCCH Business survey in the second half of 1935, and is visible in the Tax Department photograph taken between 1939 and 1941.
This page has tags:
This page references:
- "Transcripts of Police Blotter - Precinct 28, March 19 & 20, 1935," MCCH - Juvenile Delinquency - 1935-36, Departmental Correspondence. Box 34, Folder 1 (Roll 171), Records of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, 1934-1945.
- "List of Dead And Injured In Riot In New York City," Norfolk Journal and Guide, March 30, 1935, 18.
- "Says Economic Conditions in Harlem Are Bad," Atlanta World, March 27, 1935, 1, 2.
- "Harlem Riot Damage is Figured at Half Million," Afro-American, March 30, 1935, 1, 2.
- "List of Those under Arrest in Harlem Riot and the Charges They Face," New York Evening Journal, March 20, 1935, 3.
- Harlem Magistrates Court docket book
- "Harlem: Survey - Census Tracts #223-24 (28)," 1935, Roll 80, Subject Files, Office of the Mayor, Fiorello H. La Guardia records (New York City Municipal Archives).