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Sarah Refkin's delicatessen looted
Wright denied any involvement in the looting of the store when interviewed by a Probation officer. Instead he said he was returning to his home at 155 West 123rd Street, around the corner from the delicatessen, having gone out to buy cigarettes, when he saw the crowd in front of the store. Those men ran when they saw Rothengast approaching; Wright said he stayed where he was as he was not involved in attacking the store. He appeared in the Harlem Magistrate's Court on March 20, was sent to the grand jury by Magistrate Renaud, and indicted. After Wright pled guilty Judge Donnellan sent him to the Workhouse for three months.
The store appears to have remained in business despite the damage and losses. Refkin had insurance for the store windows, which cost $47.41 to replace according to the Probation Department investigation report (the insurance company unsuccessfully sought to have the judge require Wright to pay them restitution for that cost). A white-owned delicatessen is recorded at 2067 7th Avenue in the MCCH Business survey from the second half of 1935, with the investigator adding the note that it was a "Small, neat store." The business captured in the Tax Department photograph from 1939-1941 is also likely Refkin's delicatessen; while the name is not legible, signage typical of grocery stores can be seen in the window. By then Nathan Pavlowitz was likely no longer the store manager. He told census enumerators in 1930 and 1940 that he was a painter, making his job in the store likely the result of being unable to find such work in the Depression. By the time he registered for the draft in 1942 he was employed as a painter, still traveling from his home at 1225 Boston Road in the Bronx to Harlem, to the Superior Decorating Company based at 271 West 125th Street.
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This page references:
- Probation Department Case File, 26453 (1935) (New York City Municipal Archives).
- "Continue Inquiry At Courthouse As Three Men Are Sentenced To Workhouse For Riot Activities," New York Age, April 13, 1935, 1, 2.
- District Attorney's Closed Case Files, 203998 (1935) (New York City Municipal Archives).
- US Census, 1930, Enumeration District 3-272, Sheet 7B, Bronx, New York, New York (Ancestry.com).
- "3 Negroes Sentenced For Looting in Riot," New York Times, April 9, 1935, 44.
- US Census, 1940, Enumeration District 3-516, Sheet 10B, Bronx, New York, New York (Ancestry.com).
- Draft Registration Cards for New York City, 1940-1947, Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group 147, National Archives and Records Administration (Ancestry.com)
- "Harlem: Survey - Census Tract #221-222 (26)," 1935, Roll 80, Subject Files, Office of the Mayor, Fiorello H. La Guardia records (New York City Municipal Archives).