Peekskill USA: Inside the Infamous 1949 Riots (13 page)

Three of the most important participants in
Peekskill:
Paul Robeson, to the left, Leon Straus of the lnternational Fur and Leather Workers Union, standing center, and Howard Fast, on the right. The injured man who is seated is Wilson McDowell who was hurt in one of the buses. Paul Robeson holds one of the rocks which crashed into the bus, over a smashed auto window.

William L. Patterson, one of the great leaders of the Negro people and the national head of the Civil Rights Congress. It was under Mr. Patterson's leadership that the Golden Gate meeting referred to in the book was organized. During the concerts and since then William L. Patterson has been in the vanguard of the struggle to halt this kind of growing fascism.

Appendix I

Summary Conclusions of the American Civil Liberties Union Investigation of the Two Peekskill Affairs

1. There is no evidence whatever of Communist provocation as defined on page 32
^*
on either occasion.

2. While the demonstrations were organized to protest against and express hatred of Communism, the unprovoked rioting which resulted was fostered largely by anti-Semitism, growing out of local resentment against the increasing influx of Jewish summer residents from New York. It was heightened by the area's tradition of political violence evidenced in the attacks on the KKK which is now an important part of the local legend.

3. The local press bears the main responsibility for inflaming, possibly through sheer irresponsibility, Peekskill residents to a mood of violence.

4. Robeson's concerts were not an intrusion into Peekskill but were private gatherings held five miles outside of Peekskill which were disrupted deliberately by invading gangs from nearby localities.

5. Terrorism was general against all who advocated freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and preservation of constitutional rights.

6. The evidence proves beyond question that the veterans intended to prevent the concerts from being held.

7. Effective police protection at the first concert was deliberately with held.

8. Preparations to, police the second concert appeared adequate; therefore, there was reason to believe that the concert-goers would be protected.

9. These preparations were largely a sham insofar as the Westchester County police were concerned and left the concert-goers undefended.

10. The wounding of William Secor, rioting veteran, occurred while he was assisting in the commission of a crime.

11. The location of the veterans' parades was deliberately provocative. The county authorities did not insist that the parades be held elsewhere.

12. The evidence indicates that at least some of the state troopers honestly tried to preserve law and order while county police fraternized with the rioters.

13. There is strong indication that the initial violence was planned and was carried out according to plan.

14. Terrorism spread over the whole area and included threats against private individuals, against their safety, lives, property and business.

15. National condemnation has been the chief factor causing residents of the Peekskill area to question this action. The local clergy have joined in this denunciation.

16. Sentiment in the area is now sharply divided and there is evidence that the legal authorities are moving toward restriction of freedom of speech and assembly, presumably in violation of the Constitution.

*
ACLU pamphlet on Peekskill.

Appendix II

On the Role of the Police

1. Westchester Committee for a Fair Inquiry Into the Peekskill Violence

On Wednesday night, August 24, eleven residents of the Peekskill area, realizing that an atmosphere of violence was developing, sent the following telegram to N. Y. State Attorney General Nathaniel Goldstein, to Westchester County Executive Herbert Gerlach, and to County District Attorney George Fanelli:

“Inflammatory statements directed against the concert have appeared in the Peekskill (N. Y.)
Evening Star
of Tuesday, August 23.

“The editorial of that issue states: The time for tolerant silence is running out' A letter to the editor appearing in the same issue, signed by Vincent Boyle, states: ‘I am not intimating violence, but.…'

“In our view these statements lead to the inspiring of illegal action and violence against a peacefully conducted concert.

“We urge you to conduct an immediate investigation of these statements as well as the intentions of their authors.

“We also respectfully urge you to take all necessary measures to guarantee that the concert, the artists, the sponsors and guests are fully protected in the peaceful enjoyment of their civil liberties.”

This telegram was received by the officials it was addressed to and was acknowledged. County Executive Herbert Gerlach replied by wire that he had referred his telegram to the District Attorney's office “and have every confidence that the matter will receive all necessary and proper attention from our law-enforcement dept.”

The District Attorney's office stated that the matter would be referred to local authorities.

The Hawthorne barracks of the State Police (according to the
Peekskill Star
, Aug. 26) “said that no unusual circumstances were expected but that troopers would be on hand if needed.”

2. Westchester Committee for a Fair Inquiry Into the Peekskill Violence (Concerning the First Concert)

On at least three separate occasions, from 7:30 until the police arrived at 10 p.m., men from the group defending the road and bandstand made their way out of the ambush to telephone the local police, the state police, the State Attorney General's office and Governor Dewey—all without result.

The three sheriffs and three FBI men, who had been on the scene from the beginning, made no arrests and held no one for questioning, though fourteen cars were overturned and at least thirteen people were hurt seriously enough to require medical attention.

3. Testimony of Leon Straus

“We asked Gaffney and Fanelli to provide an escort for Paul Robeson into the grounds. They refused to provide it.

“At about 11:00 o'clock several hundred policemen marched into the grove and were stationed throughout the area, some of them within the inner line of the concert guards.

“Then, at about 1:00 o'clock Gaffney came to see me in the grove, and demanded that I withdraw all our guards from the entire perimeter and move them inward a quarter of a mile or so. This I refused to do —because it would have left that whole area undefended.

“Gaffney threatened me that he would withdraw all bis police and leave us without any police protection if I didn't comply with his demand. He then partially carried out his threat by removing all the several hundred policemen from the grove—they marched out in a body—which made it clear to us that there was collusion between the police and the mob.

“When the concert ended, the mob was blocking the exit completely.

“We then spoke to the police, demanding that the exit be opened. The police asked for time to clear the exit. It took about three-quarters of an hour for these 900 policemen to move the mob of about 1000 and create a little opening through which a car could pass. We are convinced that during this time the mob was given instructions to spread out along the road for several miles, specifically in places where the state troopers were supposed to guard the road.

“Finally, when all the cars had left, and more than half of our guards had left, about a thousand of the guards remained. These were organized into a body, and started marching out of the grounds, with the intention of finding transport by bus or train.

“The police then charged into the grove with their clubs out, and many with their guns out, encircled our guards, and beat up with their clubs several of them. They arrested about twenty-five of us at the head of the column, and marched us into the police compound with our hands over our heads, as prisoners.

“We were then searched for weapons of any sort, which we did not have, and were held under arrest for several hours, while the remaining men in the grove—about a thousand—were similarly searched there.

“By 1:30 a.m. everyone had left the area.”

4. American Civil Liberties Union on the First Concert

Observers of the first riot, including all newspapermen present, agree that no more than six police officers were on the scene until after 10 p.m. Because of this, the organizers of the concert have accused the state and county authorities of wilful failure to provide police protection for an assembly known to be threatened with mob violence. It is of paramount importance to decide whether that accusation be true.

The
New York News
of August 29 reported:

“The state troopers denied charges that they had not arrived in time to head off the three hour riot in which cars were overturned, women frightened into the woods, and veterans and Robeson fans alike beaten with clubs, stones and fence-posts.…

“In the first place, Sergeant Johnson (the first sergeant of Troop K at Hawthorne) pointed out the vets had a legal right to parade and had obtained a permit. Besides, he said, no one had officially requested that troopers be on hand before the trouble started.

“‘There was no need to be there in advance,' he asserted. ‘We don't play into the hands of the Commies. We went in when we found that a crime had been committed.'”

The investigators are satisfied that Sergeant Johnson is telling the truth when he says that no one had officially requested that troopers be on hand. They are equally satisfied that this is intended to convey the impression that no request had been made for police protection.

Plea for Police Protection

The facts are:

At least three separate requests for police protection were made by the sponsors of the Robeson concert. On August 25, a telegram under the signature of Mrs. Pauline Brody of Crompond, New York, and others, was dispatched to Herbert C. Gerlach, County Executive, pleading for police protection in view of the threats of violence widely circulating in the Peekskill area. An appeal for protection was sent to N. Y. State Attorney General Nathaniel Goldstein. Westchester County District Attorney George Fanelli was also asked to guarantee protection.