Sworn to before me this 31st day of August, 1900.
FRANK MOSS, Notary Public, N. Y. County.
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_City and County of New York, ss._:
Mack Thomas, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I reside at 238 West 40th Street. On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, I
attended the St. Paul Baptist Church in West 43rd Street, and at about
ten P. M. left for home. Knowing that the rioters were at
work, I decided, instead of taking my usual route home, to go to 9th
Avenue and transfer to 34th Street, to 7th Avenue, and thence back to
40th Street, thinking by that means to be able to avoid the rioters and
reach home in safety. I boarded a 9th Avenue car at 43rd Street and
transferred at 9th Avenue, and had reached the corner of 8th Avenue
and 34th Street, when I saw a mob on the corner, and heard them shout,
"There's two on the car; go after them, get them; lynch the niggers!" I
stayed on the car until the mob boarded the car, when I jumped off and
ran east on 34th Street pursued by the mob, several members of which
struck me with their fists, but with no serious result. I had got so
far as the middle of the block when I met four or five officers, one
of whom stepped in front of me and struck me a blow with his club on
the head, cutting it open. When he did so he said, "Who hit you?" I
said nothing; then he said, "Get on the car, you black son of a b----,
and get home out of here!" I got on the car and reached home without
any further interference. Deponent declares it to be his belief that
if he had not been stopped by the police, and struck by them, he would
have reached his home without any serious injury; not mentioning the
fact that the police made no attempt whatever to interfere with the
mob. Deponent further declares that he would prefer to have taken
his chances with the mob than to have met the said police officers.
Deponent further declares that he was perfectly sober, was proceeding
quietly on his way home, and was taking extraordinary measures to reach
his home in safety and without violence.