Sworn to before me this 13th day of September, 1900.
GEO. P. HAMMOND, JR., Notary Public (164), N. Y. County.
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_City and County of New York, ss._:
Maria Williams, of No. 206 West 27th Street, and Carrie Wells, of No.
239 West 29th Street, in the Borough of Manhattan, being severally duly
sworn, depose and say:
On Wednesday, August 15th, 1900, we were sitting on the stoop of No.
239 West 29th Street, talking; we had been sitting there since 9:30
P. M. We had there learned of the assaults on the Negroes in
this section, and heard the noise of the crowds and the stopping of
the cars on 8th Avenue. There was no crowd in the street at this time.
There were white and colored folks sitting on nearly all the stoops,
the same as occurs on any ordinary warm night. About 11:30 several
officers came through the street from 8th Avenue and walked towards
7th Avenue, three on the north side and four on the south side. No
one in the street had been molested by anyone. These officers walked
up the stoops, and without any warning ordered us into our houses,
at the same time striking at us. Mrs. Wells, the mother of deponent
Carrie Wells, was on the stoop one step from the bottom with three of
her children, aged respectively fourteen, thirteen, and twelve years.
An officer who is called "Joe," and whom we know, stepped up to Mrs.
Wells, and said, "Get in there, you black son of a b----," and struck
her viciously across the right hip, when she ran in with her children,
the officers still following, striking at her until he reached the top
step, looked around, and threatened to strike us if we came out again,
and he then went away. Deponent Williams looked out of her window and
saw these officers go through the same procedure wherever colored
folks were sitting. Nothing was said or done to any white people. We
see this officer every day. At about 2:15 in the morning some officers
came through the block and clubbed colored people wherever they saw
them, men as well as women. Deponent Wells lives at home with her
mother, and helps her keep house; deponent Williams keeps house for
herself and husband. Deponent Wells is a member of the Church of the
Transfiguration, at 29th Street and 5th Avenue, where I have attended
for years. Mr. and Mrs. Miller, of West 29th Street, know of us; Mrs.
McGurk, of No. 225 West 29th Street, Mrs. Kloze, of 223 West 29th
Street, all can vouch for our character.