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Sam Nicholas arrested
Just what Nicholas allegedly did is uncertain. He appears 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 Guide, and in the New York Evening Journal. However, the 28th Precinct police blotter records the charge against him as attempted burglary, suggesting that he was not arrested with any merchandise in his possession. In the Magistrate's Court, Nicholas was charged with disorderly conduct, an offense not used in cases of alleged looting. Instead, a charge of disorderly conduct suggests he had been in the crowds around the store when it was looted and clashed in some way with police. However, Magistrate Renaud acquitted Nicholas, an outcome also recorded in the 28th Precinct police blotter. Renaud's verdict indicates Nicholas was a spectator, perhaps arrested as part of police efforts to disperse crowds on the street. The Romanoff Drug store was located in the midst of the area of Lenox Avenue that saw multiple arrests and reports of looting and violence, likely after midnight. Nicholas may have been among the crowds drawn to the street by the noise. He lived at 224 West 124th Street, midway down the block between 7th Avenue and Eighth Avenue, five blocks south of the store.
J. Romanoff was also the complainant against Oscar Austin, a twenty-nine-year-old Black man, and Jacob Bonaparte, a twenty-four-year-old Black man, both arrested by the same police officer, according to the Harlem Magistrates Court docket book. Both men's prosecutions followed the same pattern as that of Nicholas, ending in acquittal. They lived closer to the store, on West 128th Street.