worksheet7 - Reading
readings:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6225/
Worksheet – Week 7
Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in All its Phases,” Address at Tremont Temple in the Boston Monday Lectureship. Feb. 13, 1893.
1. How did the media (newspapers) contribute to the presumption of guilt of the African American men who were accused of attacking the deputies?
2. Why did Wells feel confident in the criminal justice system at first? After the men were killed, how did Wells’ faith and understanding in due process and law enforcement change? How do you think this affected both whites and blacks in Memphis?
Maria Carter – Ku Klux Klan Violence in Georgia, 1871.
1. What was John Walthall crime? How did the KKK act as a law enforcement agency? What laws were they trying to uphold?
Jane Dailey, “Southern Historical Association Deference and Violence in the Postbellum Urban South: Manners and Massacres in Danville, Virginia.”
1. Dailey essentially argues that historians must look at resistance in a situational light (Not all resistance is physically fighting or marching for rights). For Dailey, she looks at public space (sidewalks especially). African Americans had to abide by strict social rules in the South. Explain the purpose of enforcing these “laws” by whites and breaking these “laws” by Blacks. Why is there so much importance to public space – for Blacks and whites?
Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in All its Phases,” Address at Tremont
Temple in the Boston Monday Lectureship. Feb. 13, 1893.
From Our Day (Boston: Our Day Publishing Co., 1893), 333-347.
[page 333]
I am before the American people today through no inclination of my own, but
because of a deep seated conviction that the country at large does not know the extent to
which lynch law prevails in parts of the Republic nor the conditions which force into
exile those who speak the truth. I cannot believe that the apathy and indifference which
so largely obtains regarding mob rule is other than the result of ignorance of the true
situation. And yet, the observing and thoughtful must know that in one section, at least,
of our common country, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people,
means a government by the mob; where the land of the free and home of the brave means
a land of lawlessness, murder and outrage; and where liberty of speech means the license
of might to destroy the business and drive from home those who exercise this privilege
contrary to the will of the mob. Repeated attacks on the life, liberty and happiness of any
citizen or class of citizens are attacks on distinctive American institutions; such attacks
imperiling as they do the foundation of government, law and order, merit the thoughtful
consideration of far sighted Americans; not from a standpoint of sentiment, not even so
much from a standpoint of justice to a weak race, as from a desire to preserve our
institutions.
The race problem or negro question, as it has been called, has been omnipresent
and all pervading since long before the Afro American was raised from the degradation
of the slave to the dignity of the citizen. It has never been settled because the right
methods have not been employed in the solution. It is the Banquos ghost of politics,
religion, and sociology which will not down at the bidding of those who are tormented
with its ubiquitous appearance on every occasion. Times without number, since invested
with citizenship, the race has been indicted for ignorance, immorality and general
worthlessness declared guilty and executed by its self constituted judges. The operations
of law do not dispose of negroes fast enough, and lynching bees have become the favorite
pastime of the South. As excuse for the same, a new cry, as false as it is foul, is raised in
an effort to blast race character, a cry which has proclaimed to the world that virtue and
innocence are violated by Afro-Americans who must be killed like wild beasts to protect
womanhood and childhood.
[page 334]
Born and reared in the South, I had never expected to live elsewhere. Until this
past year I was one among those who believed the condition of masses gave large excuse
for the humiliations and proscriptions under which we labored; that when wealth,
education and character became more feral among us, the cause being removed the effect
would cease, and justice being accorded to all alike. I shared the general belief that good
newspapers entering regularly the homes of our people in every state could do more to
bring about this result than any agency. Preaching the doctrine of self help, thrift and
economy every week, they would be the teachers to those who had been deprived of
school advantages, yet were making history every day and train to think for themselves
our mental children of a larger growth. And so, three years ago last June, I became editor
and part owner of the Memphis Free Speech. As editor, I had occasion to criticize the city
School Boards employment of inefficient teachers and poor school buildings for Afro-
American children. I was in the employ of that board at the time, and at the close of that
school term one year ago, was not re elected to a position I had held in the city schools
for seven years. Accepting the decision of the Board of Education, I set out to make a
race newspaper pay a thing which older and wiser heads said could not be done. But there
were enough of our people in Memphis and surrounding territory to support a paper, and
I believed they would do so. With nine months hard work the circulation increased from
1,500 to 3,500; in twelve months it was on a good paying basis. Throughout the
Mississippi Valley in Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi on plantations and in towns,
the demand for and interest in the paper increased among the masses. The newsboys who
would not sell it on the trains, voluntarily testified that they had never known colored
people to demand a paper so eagerly.
To make the paper a paying business I became advertising agent, solicitor, as well
as editor, and was continually on the go. Wherever I went among the people, I gave them
in church, school, public gatherings, and home, the benefit of my honest conviction that
maintenance of character, money getting and education would finally solve our problem
and that it depended us to say how soon this would be brought about. This sentiment bore
good fruit in Memphis. We had nice homes, representatives in almost every branch of
business and profession, and refined society. We had learned helping each other helped
all, and every well conducted business by Afro- Americans prospered. With all our
proscription in theatres, hotels and railroads, we had never had a lynching and did not
believe we could have one. There had been lynchings and brutal outrages of all sorts in
our state and those adjoining us, but we had confidence and pride in our city and the
majesty of its laws. So far in advance of other Southern cities was ours, we were content
to endure the evils we had, to labor and to wait.
[page 335]
But there was a rude awakening. On the morning of March 9, the bodies of three
of our best young men were found in an old field horribly shot to pieces. These young
men had owned and operated the Peoples Grocery, situated at what was known as the
Curve a suburb made up almost entirely of colored people about a mile from city limits.
Thomas Moss, one of the oldest letter carriers in the city, was president of the company,
Cal McDowell was manager and Will Stewart was a clerk. There were about ten other
stockholders, all colored men. The young men were well known and popular and their
business flourished, and that of Barrett, a white grocer who kept store there before the
Peoples Grocery was established, went down. One day an officer came to the Peoples
Grocery and inquired for a colored man who lived in the neighborhood, and for whom
the officer had a warrant. Barrett was with him and when McDowell said he knew
nothing as to the whereabouts of the man for whom they were searching, Barrett, not the
officer, then accused McDowell of harboring the man, and McDowell gave the
lie. Barrett drew his pistol and struck McDowell with it; thereupon McDowell who was a
tall, fine looking six footer, took Barretts pistol from him, knocked him down and gave
him a good thrashing, while Will Stewart, the clerk, kept the special officer at bay.
Barrett went to town, swore out a warrant for their arrest on a charge of assault and
battery. McDowell went before the Criminal Court, immediately gave bond and returned
to his store. Barrett then threatened (to use his own words) that he was going to clean out
the whole store. Knowing how anxious he was to destroy their business, these young men
consulted a lawyer who told them they were justified in defending themselves if attacked,
as they were a mile beyond city limits and police protection. They accordingly armed
several of their friends not to assail, but to resist the threatened Saturday night attack.
When they saw Barrett enter the front door and a half dozen men at the rear door
at 11 oclock that night, they supposed the attack was on and immediately fired into the
crowd, wounding three men. These men, dressed in citizens clothes, turned out to be
deputies who claimed to be hunting for another man for whom they had a warrant, and
whom any one of them could have arrested without trouble. When these men found they
had fired upon officer of the law, they threw away their firearms and submitted to arrest,
confident they should establish their innocence of intent to fire upon officers of the law.
The daily papers in flaming headlines roused the evil passions of whites, denounced these
poor boys in unmeasured terms, nor permitted a word in their own defense.
The neighborhood of the Curve was searched next day, and about thirty persons
were thrown into jail, charged with conspiracy. No communication was to be had with
friends any of the three days these men
[page 336]
were in jail; bail was refused and Thomas Moss was not allowed to eat the food his wife
prepared for him. The judge is reported to have said, Any one can see them after three
days. They were seen after three days, but they were no longer able to respond to the
greetings of friends. On Tuesday following the shootings at the grocery, the papers which
had made much of the sufferings of the wounded deputies, and promised it would go hard
with those who did the shooting, if they died, announced that the officers were all out of
danger, and would recover. The friends of the prisoners breathed more easily and relaxed
their vigilance. They felt that as the officers would not die, there was no danger that in
the heat of passion the prisoners would meet violent death at hands of the mob. Besides,
we had such confidence in the law. But the law did not provide capital punishment for
shooting which did not kill. So the mob did what the law could not be made to do, as a
lesson to the Afro-American that he must not shoot a white man, no matter what the
provocation. The same night after the announcement was made in the papers that thee
officers would get well, the mob, in obedience to a plan known to every eminent white
man in the city, went to the jail between two and three in the morning, dragged out these
young men, hatless and shoeless, put them on the yard engine of the railroad which was
in waiting just behind the jail, carried them a mile north of the city limits and horribly
shot them to death while the locomotive at a given signal let off steam and blew the
whistle to deaden the sound of the firing.
It was done by unknown men, said the jury, yet the Appeal Avalanche which
goes to press at 3 a.m., had a two column account of the lynching. The papers also told
how McDowell got hold of the guns of the mob and as his grasp could not be loosened,
his hand was shattered with a pistol ball and all the lower part of his face was torn away.
There were four pools of blood found and only three bodies. It was whispered that he,
McDowell killed one of the lynchers with his gun, and it is well known that a police man
who was seen on the street a few days previous to the lynching, died very suddenly the
next day after.
It was done by unknown parties, said the jury, yet the papers told how Tom
Moss begged for his life, for the sake of his wife, his little daughter and his unborn infant.
They also told us that his last words were, If you will kill us, turn our faces to the West.
All this we learn too late to save these men, even if the law had not be in the
hands of their murderers. When the colored people realized that the flower of our young
manhood had been stolen away at night and murdered there was a rush for firearms to
avenge the wrong, but no house would sell a colored man a gun; the armory of the
Tennessee Rifles, our only colored military company, and of which McDowell was a
member, was broken into by order of the Criminal Court judge, and its guns taken. One
hundred men and irresponsible boys from fifteen years
[page 337]
and up were armed by order of authorities and rushed out to the Curve, where it was
reported that the colored people were massing, and at point of the bayonet dispersed these
men who could do nothing but talk. The cigars, wines, etc., of the grocery stock were
freely used by the mob, who possessed the place on pretence of dispersing the
conspiracy. The money drawer was broken into and contents taken. The trunk of Calvin
McDowell, who had a room in the store, was broken open, and his clothing, which was
not good enough to take away, was throw out and trampled on the floor.
These men were murdered, their stock was attached by creditors and sold for less
than one eighth of its cost to that same man Barrett, who is to day running his grocery in
the same place. He had indeed kept his word, and by aid of the authorities destroyed the
Peoples Grocery Company root and branch. The relatives of Will Stewart and Calvin
McDowell are bereft of their protectors. The baby daughter of Tom Moss, too young to
express how she misses her father, toddles to the wardrobe, seizes the legs of the trousers
of his letter carrier uniform, hugs and kisses them with evident delight and stretches up
her little hands to be taken up into the arms which will nevermore clasp his daughters
form. His wife holds Thomas Moss, Jr., in her arms, upon whose unconscious baby face
the tears fall thick and fast when she is thinking of the sad fate of the father he will never
see, and of the two helpless children who cling to her for the support she cannot
give. Although these men were peaceable, law abiding citizens of this country, we are
told there can be no punishment for their murderers nor indemnity for relatives.
I have no power to describe the feeling of horror that possessed every member of
the race in Memphis when the truth dawned upon us that the protection of the law which
we had so long enjoyed was no longer ours; all had been destroyed in a night, and the
barriers of the law had been down, and the guardians of the public peace and confidence
scoffed into the shadows, and all authority given into the hands of the mob, and innocent
men cut down as if they were brutes the first feeling was one dismay, then intense
indignation. Vengeance was whispered from ear to ear, but sober reflection brought the
conviction that it would be extreme folly to seek vengeance when such action meant
certain death for the men, and horrible slaughter for the women and children, as one of
the evening papers took care to remind us. The power of the State, country and city, and
civil authorities and the strong arm of the military power were all on the side of the mob
and of lawlessness. Few of our men possessed firearms, our only companys guns were
confiscated, and the only white man who sell a colored man a gun, was himself jailed,
and his store closed. We were helpless in our great strength. It was our first object lesson
in the doctrine of white supremacy; an illustration of the Souths cardinal
[page 338]
principle no matter what the attainments, character or standing of an Afro-American, the
laws of the South will not protect him against a white man.
There was only one thing we could do, and a great determination seized the
people to follow the advice of the martyred Moss, and turn our faces to the West,
whose laws protect all alike. The Free Speech supported ministers and leading business
men advised the people to leave a community whose laws did not protect them. Hundreds
left on foot to walk four hundred miles between Memphis and Oklahoma. A Baptist
minister went to the territory, built a church, and took his entire congregation out in less
than a month. Another minister sold his church and took his flock to California, and still
another has settled in Kansas. In two months, six thousand persons had left the city and
every branch of business began to feel this silent resentment of the outrage, and failure of
the authorities to punish lynchers. There were a number of business failures and blocks of
houses for rent. The superintendent and treasurer of the street railway company called at
the office of the Free Speech, to have us urge the colored people again on the street cars.
A real estate dealer said to a colored man who returned some property he had been
buying on the installment plan: I see what you niggers are cutting up about. You got off
light. We first intend to kill every one of those thirty one niggers in jail, but concluded to
let all go but the leaders. They did let all go to the penitentiary. These so-called rioters
have since been tried in the Criminal Court for the conspiracy of defending their
property, and are now serving terms of three, eight, and fifteen years each in the
Tennessee State prison.
To restore the equilibrium and put a stop to the great financial loss, the next move
was to get rid of the Free Speech, the disturbing element which kept the waters troubled;
which would not let the people forget, and in obedience to whose advice nearly six
thousand persons had left the city. In casting about for an excuse, the mob found it in the
following editorial which appeared in the Memphis Free Speech, May 21, 1892: Eight
negroes lynched at Little Rock, Ark., where the citizens broke into the penitentiary and
got their man; three near Anniston, Ala., and one in New Orleans, all on the same charge,
the new alarm of assaulting white women and near Clarksville, Ga., for killing a white
man. The same program of hanging then shooting bullets into the lifeless bodies was
carried out to the letter. Nobody in this section of the country believes the old threadbare
lie that negro men rape white women. If Southern white men are not careful they will
overreach themselves, and public sentiment will have a reaction. A conclusion will then
be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women.
Commenting on this, The Daily Commercial of
[page 339]
Wednesday following said: Those negroes who are attempting to make lynching of
individuals of their race a means for arousing the worst passions of their kind, are playing
with a dangerous sentiment. The negroes well understand that there is no mercy for the
negro rapist, and little patience with his defenders. A negro organ printed in this city in a
recent issue published the following atrocious paragraph: Nobody in this section believes
the old threadbare lie that negro men rape white women. If Southern men are not careful
they will overreach themselves and public will have a reaction. A conclusion will be
reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women. The fact
that a black scoundrel is allowed to live and utter such loathsome and repulsive calumnies
is a volume of evidence as to the wonderful patience of Southern whites. There are some
things the Southern white man will not tolerate, and the intimidation of the foregoing has
brought the writer to the very uttermost limit of public patience. We hope we have said
enough.
The Evening Scimitar of the same day copied this leading editorial and added this
comment: Patience under such circumstances is not a virtue. If the negroes themselves
do not apply the remedy without delay, it will be the duty of those he has attacked, to tie
the wretch who utters these calumnies to a stake at the intersection of Main and Madison
streets, brand him in the forehead with a hot iron and-
Such open suggestions by the leading daily papers of the progressive city of
Memphis were acted upon by the leading citizens and a meeting was held at the Cotton
Exchange that evening. The Commercial two days later had the following account of it:
ATROCIOUS BLACKGUARDISM.
There will be no Lynching and no Repetition of the Offense.
In its issue of Wednesday The Commercial reproduced and commented upon an
editorial which appeared a day or two before a negro organ known as the Free Speech.
The article was so insufferably and indecently slanderous that the whole city awoke to a
feeling of intense resentment which came within an ace of culminating in one of those
occurrences whose details are so eagerly seized and so prominently published by
Northern newspapers. Conservative counsels, however, prevailed, and no extreme
measures were resorted to. On Wednesday afternoon a meeting of citizens was held. It
was not an assemblage of hoodlums or irresponsible fire eaters, but solid, substantial
business men who knew exactly what they were doing and who were far more indignant
at the villainous insult to the women of the south than they would have been at any injury
done themselves. This meeting appointed a committee to seek the author of the infamous
editorial and warn him quietly that upon repetition of the offense, he would find some
other part of the country a good deal safer and pleasanter place of residence than this.
[page 340]
The committee called a negro named Nightingale, but he disclaimed responsibility and
convinced the gentlemen that he had really sold out his paper to a woman named Wells.
This woman is not in Memphis at present. It was finally learned that one Fleming, a
negro who was driven out of Crittenden Co. during the trouble there a few years ago,
wrote the paragraph. He had, however, heard of the meeting, and fled from a fate he
feared was in store for him, and which he knew he deserved. His whereabouts could not
be ascertained, and the committee so reported. Later on, a communication from Fleming
to a prominent Republican politician, and that politicians reply were shown to one or two
gentlemen. The former was an inquiry as to whether the writer might safely return to
Memphis, the latter was an emphatic answer in negative, and Fleming is still in hiding.
Nothing further will be done in the matter. There will be no lynching, and it is very
certain that there will be no repetition of the outrage. If there should be----Friday, May
25.
The only reason there was no lynching of Mr. Fleming who was business manager
and half owner of the Free Speech, and who did not write the editorials himself because
this same white Republican told him the committee was coming and warned him not to
trust them, but get out of the way. The committee scoured the city hunting him, and had
to be content with Mr. Nightingale who was dragged to the meeting, shamefully abused
(although it was known he had sold out his interest in the paper six months before.) He
was in the face and forced at the pistols point to sign a letter which was written by them,
in which he denied all knowledge of the editorial, denounced it and condemned it as
slander on white women. I do not censure Mr. Nightingale for his action because, having
never been at the pistols point myself, I do not feel that I am competent to sit in judgment
on him, or say what I would do under such circumstances.
I had written that editorial with other matter for the weeks paper before leaving
home the Friday previous for the General Conference of the A.M.E. Church in
Philadelphia. The conference adjourned Tuesday, and Thursday, May 25, at 3 p.m., I
landed in New York City for a few days stay before returning home, and there learned
from the papers that my business manager had been driven away and the paper
suspended. Telegraphing for news, I received telegrams and letters in return informing
me that the trains were being watched, that I was to be dumped into the river and beaten,
if not killed; it had been learned that I wrote the editorial and I was to be hanged in front
of the court house and my face bled if I returned, and I was implored by my friends to
remain away. The creditors attached the office in the meantime and the outfit was sold
without more ado, thus destroying effectually that which it had taken years to build. One
prominent insurance agent publicly declares he will make it his business to shoot me
down on sight if I return to
[page 341]
Memphis in twenty years, while a leading white lady had remarked she was opposed to
the lynching of those three men in March, but she wished there was some way by which I
could be gotten back and lynched.
I have been censured for writing that editorial, but when I think of five men who
were lynched that week for assault on white women and that not a week passes but some
poor soul is violently ushered into eternity on this trumped up charge, knowing the many
things I do, and part of which tried to tell in the New York Age of June 25, (and in the
pamphlets I have with me) seeing that the whole race in the South was injured in the
estimation of the world because of these false reports, I could no longer hold my peace,
and I feel, yes, I am sure, that if it had to be done over again (provided no one else was
the loser save myself) I would do and say the very same again.
The lawlessness here described is not confined to one locality. In the past ten
years over a thousand colored men, women and children have been butchered, murdered
and burnt in all parts of the South. The details of these terrible outrages seldom reach
beyond the narrow world where they occur. Those who commit the murders write the
reports, and hence these blots upon the honor of a nation cause but a faint ripple on the
outside world. They arouse no great indignation and call forth no adequate demand for
justice. The victims were black, and the reports are so written as to make it appear that
the helpless creatures deserved the fate which overtook them.
Not so with the Italian lynching of 1891. They were not black men, and three of
them were not citizens of the Republic, but subjects of the King of Italy. The chief of
police of New Orleans was shot and eleven Italians arrested and charged with the murder;
they were tried and the jury disagreed; the good, law abiding citizens of New Orleans
thereupon took them from the jail and lynched them at high noon. A feeling of horror ran
through the nation at this outrage. All Europe was amazed. The Italian government
demanded thorough investigation and redress, and the Federal Government promised to
give the matter the consideration which was its due. The diplomatic relations between the
two countries became very much strained and for a while war talk was freely indulged.
Here was a case where the power of the Federal Government to protect its own citizens
and redeem its pledges to a friendly power was put to the test. When our State
Department called upon the authorities of Louisiana for investigation of the crime and
punishment of the criminals, the United States government was told that the crime was
strictly within the authority of the State of Louisiana, and Louisiana would attend to
it. After a farcical investigation, the usual verdict in such cases was rendered: Death at
the hand of parties unknown to the jury, the same verdict which had been pronounced
over the bodies of over 1,000 colored persons! Our federal
[page 342]
government has thus admitted that it has no jurisdiction over the crimes committed at
New Orleans upon citizens of the country, nor upon those citizens of a friendly power to
whom the general government and not the State government has pledged protection. Not
only has our general government made the confession that one of the states is greater than
the Union, but the general government has paid $25,000 of the peoples money to the
King of Italy for the lynching of those three subjects, the evil doing of one State, over
which it has no control, but for whose lawlessness the whole country must pay. The
principle involved in the treaty power of the government has not yet been settled to the
satisfaction of foreign powers; but the principle involved in the right of State jurisdiction
in such matters, was settled long ago by the decision of the United States Supreme Court.
I beg your patience while we look at another phase of the lynching mania. We
have turned heretofore to the pages of ancient and medieval history, roman tyranny, the
Jesuitical Inquisition of Spain for the spectacle of a human being burnt to death. In the
past ten years three instances, at least, have been furnished where men have literally been
roasted to death to appease the fury of Southern mobs. The Texarkana instance of last
year and Paris, Texas, case of this month are the most recent as they are the most
shocking and repulsive. Both were charged with crimes from which the laws provide
adequate punishment. The Texarkana man, Ed Coy, was charged with assaulting a white
woman. A mob pronounced him guilty, strapped him to a tree, chipped the flesh from his
body, poured coal oil over him and the woman in the case set fire to him. The country
looked on and in many cases applauded, because it was published that this man had
violated the honor of the white woman, although he protested his innocence to the last.
Judge Tourjee in the Chicago Inter Ocean of recent date says investigation has shown
that Ed Coy had supported this woman (who was known to be a bad character) and her
drunken husband for over a year previous to the burning.
The Paris, Texas, burning of Henry Smith, February 1st, has exceeded the others
in its horrible details. The man was drawn through the streets on a float, as the Roman
generals used to parade their trophies of war, while scaffold ten feet high, was being
built, and irons were heated in the fire. He was bound on it, and red-hot irons began at his
feet and slowly branded his body while the mob howled with delight at his shrieks. Red
hot irons were run down his throat and cooked his tongue; his eyes were burned out,
when he was at last …
Southern Historical Association
Deference and Violence in the Postbellum Urban South: Manners and Massacres in Danville,
Virginia
Author(s): Jane Dailey
Source: The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Aug., 1997), pp. 553-590
Published by: Southern Historical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2211650
Accessed: 10-08-2017 02:17 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2211650?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
Southern Historical Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to The Journal of Southern History
This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Thu, 10 Aug 2017 02:17:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Deference and Violence in the
Postbellum Urban South:
Manners and Massacres in
Danville, Virginia
By JANE DAILEY
WVILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY-PLANTER, WRITER, AND (AS HE SUP-
posed) racial liberal and friend of the Negro-was concerned. As he
finished his autobiographical Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of
a Planters Son, Percy fretted over the increasingly acrimonious state
of race relations in the South. Published in 1941, just before the south-
ern legal and cultural edifice of racial segregation and official white
supremacy began to dissolve under the ideological strain of the Second
World War, Lanterns on the Levee included A Note on Racial
Relations in which Percy worried about the erosion of black manners.
Referring to white violence, Percy noted that the Negro is losing his
most valuable weapon of defense-his good manners. He continued:
When a Negro now speaks of a man he means a Negro; when he
speaks of a lady he means a Negress; when he speaks of a woman
he means a white woman. Such manners are not only bad, they are not
safe, and the frame of mind that breeds them is not safe. Covert inso-
lence is not safe for anybody, anywhere, at any time.1
Identifying and interpreting covert insolence among the subjugat-
ed has become something of a cottage industry in the academy since
1 William Alexander Percy, Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of a Planters Son (New
York, 1941; Baton Rouge, 1990), 307. In The Negro: The Southerners Problem (New York,
1904), Thomas Nelson Page made similar veiled threats regarding (the lack of) black deference
and the potential for white violence. See especially pp. 203-4.
For their stimulating and insightful comments I thank the five anonymous readers and the edi-
tor and associate editor of the Journal of Southern History. I am in addition indebted to the
Virginia Historical Society, whose Mellon Grant supported my research; to Richard Hamm, who
fed me documents at the VHS; and to David Nirenberg, Edward Ayers, Fitz Brundage, Carl
Caldwell, Glenda Gilmore, James McPherson, Nell Painter, Christine Stansell, Peter Wallenstein,
Sean Wilentz, and Richard Wolin, all of whose sharp commentary helped me to see what was at
stake on the streets of Danville.
Ms. DAILEY is an assistant professor of history at Rice University.
THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORY
Volume LXIII, No. 3, August 1997
This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Thu, 10 Aug 2017 02:17:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
554 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORY
Percy condemned its deployment by black southerners. Inspired by the
work of social historians such as Eric J. Hobsbawm and E. P.
Thompson, the search for what the anthropologist James C. Scott called
the hidden transcript of resistance has become a central
pursuit of scholars interested in questions of domination and resistance.
The uncovering of what Scott dubbed infrapolitics and what the
Czech philosopher Vaclav Benda called the parallel polis has focused
scholarly attention on the political subtext of acts of resistance that stop
short of open rebellion. The definition of politics has been broadened to
include the breach of manners so vexing to Will Percy.2
Historians of the American South have profited in particular from
the insights gained by uncovering and deciphering the hidden tran-
script. Several scholars whose work preceded Scotts formulations-
Herbert Aptheker, Eugene D. Genovese, Lawrence W. Levine, Albert J.
Raboteau, and Gilbert Osofsky-applied the concept of underground
resistance to relations between masters and slaves in the antebellum
South.3 More recently historians have explicitly used Scotts approach
to analyze black-white relations under Jim Crow. Robin D. G. Kelley,
for example, has employed Scotts notion of infrapolitics to draw atten-
tion to African Americans broad repertoire of acts of everyday resis-
tance in the segregated twentieth-century South in order to show how
seemingly innocuous, individualistic acts of survival and opposition
shaped southern urban politics, workplace struggles, and the social
2 E[ric] J. Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the
19th and 20th Centuries (New York, 1963; originally published as Social Bandits and Primitive
Rebels [Glencoe, Ill., 1959]); Edward P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class
(New York, 1963); Thompson, The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth
Century, Past and Present, No. 50 (February 1971), 76-136; James C. Scott, Weapons of the
Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (New Haven and London, 1985); Scott,
Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts (New Haven and London, 1990);
Vdclav Benda, The Parallel Polis, in Palach Press Bulletin (London, 1979). Without referring
to a hidden transcript, VWclav Havel makes a similar point in The Power of the Powerless in
John Keane, ed., The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern
Europe (London and other cities, 1985). There Havel refers to the attempts of the oppressed to
live within the truth as subversive of the official version of life and defines attempts to live with-
in the truth as any means by which a person or a group revolts against manipulation .... Havel
also notes that the regime prosecutes, almost as a reflex action preventively, even the most mod-
est attempts to live within the truth (pp. 42-43).
3 Herbert Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts (New York, 1943); Eugene D. Genovese,
Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (New York, 1974); Lawrence W. Levine, Black
Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom (New
York, 1977); Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution in the Antebellum
South (New York, 1978); and Gilbert Osofsky, ed., Puttin on Ole Massa: The Slave Narratives of
Henry Bibb, William Wells Brown, and Solomon Northup (New York, 1969). See also Raymond
A. Bauer and Alice H. Bauer, Day to Day Resistance to Slavery, Journal of Negro History,
XXVII (October 1942), 388-419; and Sterling Stuckey, Through the Prism of Folklore: The
Black Ethos in Slavery, Massachusetts Review, IX (Summer 1968), 417-37.
This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Thu, 10 Aug 2017 02:17:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
MANNERS AND MASSACRES IN DANVILLE, VIRGINIA 555
order generally.4 While documenting and fully appreciating the
importance of urban black working-class opposition at home, in the
community, and in the workplace, Kelley urges historians to focus on
black resistance to white domination in public space and to rethink
the meaning of public space as a terrain of class, race, and gender con-
flict. It was, Kelley argues, urban public space-a citys parks, its
streets, and particularly its public transportation system-that provid-
ed most of the opportunities for acts of resistance and simultaneously
embodied the most repressive, violent aspects of race and gender
oppression ....5
What had been the hidden weapons of the weak in urban public
spaces of the antebellum South-the accidental jostling of whites on
the sidewalk or on a city trolley, the profanities and depredations mut-
tered under ones breath-would later become acts of covert resistance
during the rigid days of the Jim Crow era. But during the crucial transi-
tion between slavery and Jim Crow, these same acts emerged as the
open and public acts of an enfranchised, and to a limited degree,
empowered people. In the years after emancipation and before the cod-
ification of the white supremacist South (completed in 1908 with the
passage of Georgias referendum on black disfranchisement), African
Americans devised a series of strategies for resisting white definitions
of black rights, opportunities, and sociability. Not unexpectedly, con-
flicts arose between black and white southerners over what was proper,
acceptable, or demeaning mutual behavior in public arenas. The forms
of black behavior now recognized as covert resistance in the antebellum
and Jim Crow eras-such as a refusal to yield to whites on the sidewalk
and the reservation of appellations of gentility for themselves-were
precisely those through which black men and women asserted in public
their claims to citizenship and equal civil and political rights with
whites. Such assertion by blacks risked violence by whites, either indi-
vidually or in groups, and urban spaces during the New South era fre-
quently became battlegrounds over public behavior. Eventually, segre-
gation regulated both public space and civil behavior by dividing each
according to race, along phantasmagoric separate but equal lines. As
Howard N. Rabinowitz demonstrated twenty years ago, the postwar
Souths urban spaces were the first settings for the rationalized system
I Robin D. G. Kelley, We Are Not What We Seem: Rethinking Black Working-Class
Opposition in the Jim Crow South, Journal of American History, LXXX (June 1993), 75-112
(quotation on p. 78). Eugene Genovese makes a similar point in Roll, Jordan, Roll, where he
writes (p. 598) that Such apparently innocuous and apolitical measures as a preachers sermon
on love and dignity or the mutual support offered by husbands and wives played . . . an indis-
pensable part in providing the groundwork for the most obviously political action [insurrection
and running away], for they contributed to the cohesion and strength of a social class threatened
by disintegration and demoralization.
5 Kelley, We Are Not What We Seem, 109-10.
This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Thu, 10 Aug 2017 02:17:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
556 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORY
of racial segregation that by World War I characterized the region as a
whole.6 But even segregation could not solve fully-to the satisfaction
of whites-the issue of black behavior in public space. As the work of
historians of the twentieth century shows, African Americans continued
to assert their claim to civility, and to dignity, in public.7
The story of what historians know as the Danville Riot illuminates
the ways that disagreements over civil behavior between white and
black urban southerners intersected with other social and political
developments. In 1883 a dispute over street etiquette in the burgeoning
industrial town of Danville, Virginia, escalated into a massacre when a
white mob shot into a crowd of unarmed black men, women, and chil-
dren. White Democrats then took control of the city and spread rumors
of black insurrection throughout the state. Coming three days before an
important Virginia state election, the violence in Danville and
Democratic stories about it contributed to the downfall of the
Readjuster party, a biracial third party that had governed Virginia since
1879. As occurred more notoriously in Wilmington, North Carolina, in
6 Howard N. Rabinowitz, Race Relations in the Urban South, 1865-1890 (New York, 1978);
and Rabinowitz, From Exclusion to Segregation: Southern Race Relations, 1865-1890, Journal
of American History, LXIII (September 1976), 325-50. On segregation see C. Vann Woodward,
The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York, 1955); Richard C. Wade, Slavery in the Cities: The
South, 1820-1860 (New York, 1964); John W. Cell, The Highest Stage of White Supremacy: The
Origins of Segregation in South Africa and the American South (Cambridge, Eng., and other
cities, 1982); and LaWanda Cox, From Emancipation to Segregation: National Policy and
Southern Blacks, in John B. Boles and Evelyn Thomas Nolen, eds., Interpreting Southern
History: Historiographical Essays in Honor of Sanford W Higginbotham (Baton Rouge and
London, 1987), 199-253. On the Woodward thesis and its critics see C. Vann Woodward, The
Strange Career of a Historical Controversy, in American Counterpoint: Slavery and Racism in
the North-South Dialogue (Boston and Toronto, 1964), 234-60; Howard N. Rabinowitz, More
Than the Woodward Thesis: Assessing The Strange Career of Jim Crow, and C. Vann
Woodward, Strange Career Critics: Long May They Persevere, Journal of American History,
LXXV (December 1988), 842-56 and 857-68, respectively. On patterns of urban residential seg-
regation in the South see John W. Blassingame, Before the Ghetto: The Making of the Black
Community in Savannah, Georgia, 1865-1880, Journal of Social History, VI (Summer 1973),
463-88; Blassingame, Black New Orleans, 1860-1880 (Chicago and London, 1973); John
Kellogg, Negro Urban Clusters in the Postbellum South, Geographical Review, LXVII (July
1977), 310-21; Kellogg, The Formation of Black Residential Areas in Lexington, Kentucky,
1865-1887, Journal of Southern History, XLVIII (February 1982), 21-52; Paul A. Groves and
Edward K. Muller, The Evolution of Black Residential Areas in Late Nineteenth-Century
Cities, Journal of Historical Geography, I (April 1975), 169-91; and Michael B. Chesson,
Richmond After the War, 1865-1890 (Richmond, 1981), Chap. 5. As a rule, the newer the city,
the greater the residential segregation.
7 Kelley, We Are Not What We Seem, 101-2. As Kelley points out, many of these day-to-
day struggles for black dignity under Jim Crow were fought out in public spaces, especially on
public transportation. In the nineteenth century, African Americans protested civic attempts to
segregate streetcars. See Roger A. Fischer, A Pioneer Protest: The New Orleans Street-Car
Controversy of 1867, Journal of Negro History, LIII (July 1968), 219-33; August Meier and
Elliott Rudwick, The Boycott Movement against Jim Crow Streetcars in the South, 1900-1906,
in Meier and Rudwick, eds., Along the Color Line: Explorations in the Black Experience
(Urbana, Chicago, and London, 1976), 267-89; Neil R. McMillen, Dark Journey: Black
Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow (Urbana and Chicago, 1989), 291-95; and John Dittmer,
Black Georgia in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920 (Urbana, Chicago, and London, 1977), 16-19.
This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Thu, 10 Aug 2017 02:17:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
MANNERS AND MASSACRES IN DANVILLE, VIRGINIA 557
1898, white men in Danville usurped the power of the state through
violence and overthrew a democratically elected biracial government.8
While this article will explore the whys and hows of the violence in
Danville, its broader aim is to reveal the links between civility and civil
rights and between manners and massacres. It will examine both how
black men and women in the New South enunciated their claim to civic
equality through their behavior in urban public spaces and how whites,
determined to maintain their social, political, and economic control,
responded to such black behavior. The sequence of events that led to
gunfire in Danville began with a confrontation over sidewalk space
between a white man and a black man. Central to this analysis is the idea
that, particularly for people (such as women and racial and religious
minorities) whose identities have traditionally been defined spatially, as
place, the act of appropriating public space-whether on a New South
city sidewalk or on a Jim Crow streetcar-is a political and subversive
A number of scholars stress the quest for dignity in blacks attempts to undermine the Jim Crow
system, e.g., William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the
Black Struggle for Freedom (New York and Oxford, 1980); Earl Lewis, In Their Own Interests:
Race, Class, and Power in Twentieth-Century Norfolk, Virginia (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and
Oxford, 1991); George Lipsitz, A Life in the Struggle: Ivory Perry and the Culture of Opposition
(Philadelphia, 1988); Robin D. G. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the
Great Depression (Chapel Hill and London, 1990); Michael K. Honey, Southern Labor and Black
Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers (Urbana and Chicago, 1993); and Adam Fairclough,
Race and Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972 (Athens, Ga., and
London, 1995).
8 On the Readjuster movement and black political power and participation in postbellum
Virginia see Charles Chilton Pearson, The Readjuster Movement in Virginia (New Haven,
London, and Oxford, 1917); Richard L. Morton, The Negro in Virginia Politics, 1865-1902
(Charlottesville, 1919); Alrutheus Ambush Taylor, The Negro in the Reconstruction of Virginia
(New York, 1926; rpt., 1969); James Hugo Johnston, The Participation of Negroes in the
Government of Virginia from 1877 to 1888, Journal of Negro History, XIV (July 1929), 251-71;
Nelson Morehouse Blake, William Mahone of Virginia: Soldier and Political Insurgent
(Richmond, 1935); Luther Porter Jackson, Negro Office-Holders in Virginia, 1865-1895
(Norfolk, Virginia, 1945); Charles E. Wynes, Race Relations in Virginia, 1870-1902
(Charlottesville, 1961); Raymond H. Pulley, Old Virginia Restored: An Interpretation of the
Progressive Impulse, 1870-1930 (Charlottesville, 1968); Allen W. Moger, Virginia: Bourbonism
to Byrd, 1870-1925 (Charlottesville, 1968); Jack P. Maddex Jr., The Virginia Conservatives,
1867-1879: A Study in Reconstruction Politics (Chapel Hill, 1970); Carl N. Degler, Black and
White Together: Bi-Racial Politics in the South, Virginia Quarterly Review, XLVII (Summer
1971), 421-44; Degler, The Other South: Southern Dissenters in the Nineteenth Century (New
York, 1974); James Tice Moore, Two Paths to the New South: The Virginia Debt Controversy,
1870-1883 (Lexington, 1974); Moore, Black Militancy in Readjuster Virginia, 1879-1883,
Journal of Southern History, XLI (May 1975), 167-86; Brooks Miles Barnes, Triumph of the
New South: Independent Movements in Post-Reconstruction Politics (Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Virginia, 1991); Lawrence L. Hartzell, The Exploration of Freedom in Black
Petersburg, Virginia, 1865-1902, in Edward L. Ayers and John C. Willis, eds., The Edge of the
South: Life in Nineteenth-Century Virginia (Charlottesville and London, 1991); and Jane E.
Dailey, Race, Sex, and Citizenship: Biracial Democracy in Readjuster Virginia, 1879-1883
(Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1995). Harold S. Forsythe is currently completing a dis-
sertation at the University of California, San Diego, on African American politics in Southside
Virginia, 1863-1902, including the Readjusters.
This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Thu, 10 Aug 2017 02:17:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
558 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORY
act. The appropriation of public space was an important way for African
Americans in this period to assert their humanity, demonstrate their
political rights, and stake their claim to equal citizenship. When black
men and women stood their ground on the streets of Danville insisting
on the impartial rule of law, white men responded violently and
reclaimed the streets, and ultimately the political arena, for themselves.
The struggle for black equality in the New South was fought on
many fronts. Exercising the right to vote and to make contracts were
two of the most obvious means by which African Americans pro-
claimed their new civil status. Appropriating public space was another.
Although the racial politics of Congress and the state legislatures is
better documented, the streets of the urban South had a politics of their
own. It was here, in the everyday pushing and shoving of white and
black southerners, that broader questions of political, economic, and
sexual competition were enacted and represented daily.
By the time of the automobile, black place was so firmly defined by
the racial code of Jim Crow that southern cities found nothing odd in bar-
ring black motorists from the public streets.9 By the 1930s the inner side
of the sidewalk was designated in custom if not in law as the white
mans right of way .10 But this was not yet the case in the 1880s or even
on the eve of the twentieth century in areas of the South where black
political influence survived or was resurrected. In such places, in the
absence of either a rigid system of racial hierarchy or mutually agreed
upon conventions for public conduct between the races, questions of
honor, hierarchy, and deference arose in every encounter in public.
Broad questions of racial domination and subordination were frequently
9 McMillen, Dark Journey, 11. In 1930 Robert Russa Moton, the president of Tuskegee
Institute, recalled that in the early days of the automobile ... Negroes driving their own cars
were dragged out and whipped, and their cars wrecked, for their imputed arrogance and imperti-
nence in presuming to enjoy privileges to which whites alone were entitled. Moton, What the
Negro Thinks (Garden City, N.Y, 1930), 213. On race-based rules of the road in Mississippi in
the 1930s see also Hortense Powdermaker, After Freedom: A Cultural Study in the Deep South
(New York, 1939), 49-50.
10 Bertram Wilbur Doyle, The Etiquette of Race Relations in the South: A Study in Social
Control (Chicago, 1937), 168. On racial etiquette in the South see Ray Stannard Baker, Following
the Color Line: An Account of Negro Citizenship in the American Democracy (New York, 1908);
John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town (New York, 1937), Chaps. 5, 7, 8, and 12; and
J. William Harris, Etiquette, Lynching, and Racial Boundaries in Southern History: A
Mississippi Example, American Historical Review, C (April 1995), 387-410.
11 As J. Morgan Kousser and others have argued, post-Reconstruction southern politics was
extremely volatile, largely because of the tenacity of black political power. See Kousser, The
Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South,
1880-1910 (New Haven and London, 1974). See also C. Vann Woodward, Origins of the New
South, 1877-1913 (Baton Rouge, 1951); Joseph H. Cartwright, The Triumph of Jim Crow:
Tennessee Race Relations in the 1880s (Knoxville, 1976); Gordon B. McKinney, Southern
Mountain Republicans, 1865-1900: Politics and the Appalachian Community (Chapel Hill,
1978); and George C. Wright, Life Behind a Veil: Blacks in Louisville, Kentucky, 1865-1930
(Baton Rouge, 1985), Chap. 7.
This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Thu, 10 Aug 2017 02:17:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
MANNERS AND MASSACRES IN DANVILLE, VIRGINIA 559
distilled in public interactions on the streets of the urban South, and
negotiation over the rules of common courtesy became a principal venue
for the ongoing contest between blacks determined to assert their identi-
ty as civic actors and whites intent on denying blacks that power.
In a column published in January 1884 entitled Manners, Orra
Langhorne, a white woman who regularly contributed to the Hampton
Institutes monthly news publication, the Southern Workman, decried the
public behavior of the new generation of black southerners, those born
in freedom. It is a common thing in the towns of Virginia, she charged,
for several Negro boys to lock their arms together and parade the
streets, rudely jostling passers by, for whom they refuse to make way,
and terrifying ladies and children. Langhorne herself had recently been
knocked off the sidewalk in this way by a group of young black men that
included the son of one of her tenants, good old Uncle Ben. She report-
ed to him his sons behavior, and the son was sent to apologize. He was
not, he explained, drunk (as Langhorne supposed) but was only pro-
jeckin. Langhorne did not favor such projecting. Rather, she urged
Virginia blacks to recall the amiable and gentle manners which once
distinguished the southern slaves and recommended the advice old
aunt Hester gave to a young African American man excited about the
passage of the Civil Rights Bill: Dont you mine so much bout Civil
Rights-Civil Rights is very good in dere place, but you try civil man-
ners an behavior an youll git along wid white folks.12
It was a commonplace among postwar white southerners that black
civil rights had eroded black civility, especially on the public streets.
Countless white diarists and political commentators left behind stories of
black rudeness in public. Planter Henry W. Ravenels impression of post-
war Charleston is typical of contemporary accounts: It is impossible to
describe the condition of the city-It is so unlike anything we could
imagine-Negroes shoving white persons off the walk-Negro women
drest in the most outr6 style, all with veils and parasols for which they
have an especial fancy-riding on horseback with negro soldiers and in
carriages ....13 Georgia Bryan Conrad, a young white woman, first
12 Southern Workman, XIII (January 1884), 2. Orra Langhorne was a white southern liberal
who could, in the same breath, denounce the Bourbons, defend black civil rights, and promote
educational qualifications for the suffrage, as in her October 1883 column published in volume
XII of the Southern Workman. For a cross-section of Langhornes writings see Charles E. Wynes,
ed., Southern Sketches from Virginia, 1881-1901 (Charlottesville, 1964). In October 1883 the
Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which sought to give all
persons equal access to restaurants, theaters, etc. under the Fourteenth Amendments denial of dis-
crimination along lines of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The court ruled that the
federal government could not apply the Fourteenth Amendments prohibitions to protect individ-
uals from the discriminatory acts of other individuals, but only from state governments.
13 Henry W. Ravenel (1865), quoted in Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long: The
Aftermath of Slavery (New York, 1979), 259. Myrta Lockett Avary concurred with Ravenel: The
new manners of the blacks were painful, revolting, absurd.... Southerners had taken great pains
This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Thu, 10 Aug 2017 02:17:18 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
560 THE JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORY
realized the magnitude of the postwar transformation of southern social
life when a huge Negro soldier compelled her to take to the gutter, to
escape coming in contact with him, and her father did nothing.
Complaining of similar behavior in postwar Memphis, Elizabeth Avery
Meriwether remarked that Any stranger, seeing those negroes, would
have supposed the Blacks not the Whites, were masters in the South.14
These images are familiar because twentieth-century authors and
filmmakers used them to represent the social and political inversions of
Reconstruction. Margaret Mitchell made niggers pushin white folks off
the sidewalks a defining feature of Republican-ruled Atlanta.15 In his
1915 film The Birth of a Nation, D. W. Griffith used disputes between
whites and blacks over sidewalk space as a synecdoche for the decline of
black deference toward whites and the corresponding loss of white
power and prestige. As Griffith has the mulatto carpetbagger Silas Lynch
explain to one white protagonist, The side walk belongs to us as much
as it does to you, Colonel Cameron.16 And in his 1941 magnum opus
The Mind of the …
Worksheet #6 – Antebellum Violence and the Rise of Urban Policing
1. Monkkonen points to three reasons why large cities in the United States created uniformed police departments. What were they? Give a short explanation of what he means by this. (Hint: He starts his argument on page 50)
2. Why was there such hesitancy to put the police in uniforms? What did uniforms represent?
3. In Monkkonen’s explanation he argues that “Social Control” was a main facet of the early police movement. Explain what he means by this.
4. Why were cities such sites of anxieties for Americans? Think about the time period, what’s happening in the cities at this time?
5. What were some of the causes of riots in the North? Why do we not see riots in the South during this period? (Hint: Think about the main causes of riots in the North.)
U.S. Copyright Law
(title 17 of U.S. code)
governs the reproduction
and redistribution of
copyrighted material.
Downloading this
document for the
purpose of
redistribution is
prohibited.
Police headquarters — lost children waiting for parents
Police in urban America
1 8 6 0 - 1 9 2 0
E R I C H. M O N K K O N E N
Department of History
University of California, Los Angeles
C A M B R I D G E U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S
Cambridge
London New York New Rochelle
Melbourne Sydney
P u b l i s h e d by the P r e s s S y n d i c a t e of the U n i v e r s i t y o f C a m b r i d g e
T h e Pitt B u i l d i n g , T r u m p i n g t o n Street, C a m b r i d g e C B 2 1RP
32 East 57th Street, N e w York, N Y 10022, U S A
296 B e a c o n s f i e l d Parade, M i d d l e P a r k , M e l b o u r n e 3206, Australia
© C a m b r i d g e U n i v e r s i t y Press 1981
First p u b l i s h e d 1981
Printed in the U n i t e d S t a t e s of A m e r i c a
T y p e s e t by D a v i d E. S e h a m A s s o c . , Inc.
Printed and b o u n d by V a i l - B a l l o u Press Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
M o n k k o n e n , Eric H 1 9 4 2 -
P o l i c e in u r b a n A m e r i c a , 1 8 6 0 - 1920.
(Interdisciplinary perspectives on modern
h istory)
Includes b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l r e f e r e n c e s and index.
I. P o l i c e - U n i t e d S t a t e s - H i s t o r y . I. T i t l e .
II. S e r i e s .
H V 8 1 3 8 . M 6 5 3 6 3 . 2 0 9 7 3 8 0 - 1 6 7 6 2
I S B N 0 5 2 1 23454 9
1 The historical development of
the police
To prevent the c o m m i s s i o n of crime is a paramount o b j e c t , and if
the appearance of the police, in a dress d i s t i n g u i s h i n g them from
other citizens, will tend to this result, it is well worth the experi-
m e n t . . .
B o s t o n , Annual Report of the Chief of Police (1857)
The urban locus of policing
Because the details of t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of the criminal j u s t i c e sys-
t e m , and especially of t h e p o l i c e , in the n i n e t e e n t h a n d early t w e n -
tieth centuries h a v e i n h e r e n t i n t e r e s t , it h a s b e e n relatively easy for
h i s t o r i a n s to a v o i d a d e e p e r , m o r e analytic v i e w o t h e r than that
w h i c h c o m e s from narration a n d d e s c r i p t i o n . 1 T h i s is n o t to d e n y
the value of such d e s c r i p t i o n and c h r o n i c l i n g , for it is v a l u a b l e , b u t
to d e m o n s t r a t e t h e difficulty of u n d e r s t a n d i n g u n d e r l y i n g relation-
s h i p s in the u r b a n p o l i c e across the U n i t e d States in t h e n i n e t e e n t h
century. W e k n o w that, w i t h only slight v a r i a t i o n s , police forces
h a v e evolved i n t o m u c h t h e s a m e m o d e l across the n a t i o n today,
b u t w e n e e d to k n o w if each police system followed the s a m e devel-
o p m e n t a l path a n d if each evolved from the s a m e s t a r t i n g p o i n t . 2 If
the p o l i c e in different c i t i e s b e g a n f r o m completely d i f f e r e n t p o i n t s ,
c o n v e r g i n g only w i t h t h e c o m p l e t i o n of the m o v e s i n t o u n i f o r m ,
the police m u s t h a v e b e e n s h a p e d b y s i m i l a r external forces. If,
h o w e v e r , all c i t i e s h a d t h e s a m e k i n d of p r e - u n i f o r m e d police that
followed the s a m e e v o l u t i o n a r y p a t h to the u n i f o r m , then it is un-
clear w h a t k i n d s of p r e s s u r e s h a p e d the c h a n g e - i n t e r n a l , external,
or b o t h . I argue that t h e first s i t u a t i o n o b t a i n e d : S t a r t i n g f r o m di-
verse i n s t i t u t i o n a l a r r a n g e m e n t s a n d following d i v e r s e p a t t e r n s ,
external forces and c o n s t r a i n t s created m o d e r n u r b a n police forces
in virtually the s a m e m o l d .
T h e d e s c i p t i o n and a n a l y s i s that follows is b a s e d on the w o r k of
v a r i o u s scholars w h o in t h e past ten years h a v e each a d d e d a p i e c e
to a puzzle that h a s b e g u n to s h o w its o u t l i n e s , even t h o u g h m u c h
m o r e work r e m a i n s . It h a s taken a decade for a c o m p r e h e n s i v e pic-
ture to b e f a s h i o n e d b e c a u s e the details t h e m s e l v e s h a v e e i t h e r
30
The historical development of the police 31
b e e n i g n o r e d b y h i s t o r i a n s i n t e r e s t e d in t h e b r o a d e r aspects of so-
cial a n d u r b a n h i s t o r y , or b e c a u s e t h e p o l i c e , from t h e p o i n t of v i e w
of m a n y scholars, h a v e b e e n and r e m a i n an u n a n a l y z e d part of t h e
historical social structure. In the late n i n e t e e n t h a n d early t w e n t i e t h
c e n t u r i e s , p o l i c e h i s t o r i e s f u n c t i o n e d as a f o r m of c o m p a n y h i s t o r y ,
a s s e m b l e d to s h o w a g l o r i o u s o r i g i n , often w i t h c o n s c i o u s i n t e n t of
instilling c o n t e m p o r a r y p o l i c e p r i d e : E v e n the title of A u g u s t i n e
C o s t e l l o s Our Police Protectors (1885) s h o w s t h i s a s p e c t of t h e
b o o k s p u r p o s e . R e c e n t historical s t u d i e s , h o w e v e r , s h o w a m o r e
critical attitude toward p o l i c i n g in the p a s t , b u t t e n d to c o n v e y t h e
i m p r e s s i o n that t h e h i s t o r y of p o l i c i n g h a s b e e n t h e story of p r o g -
ress a w a y from the b a r b a r i s m of t h e n i n e t e e n t h a n d early t w e n t i e t h
c e n t u r i e s .
A s p e c i f i c political c h a n g e u n d e r l i e s t h e m o r e v i s i b l e c h a n g e i n
p o l i c i n g b e t w e e n 1800 and 1920: t h e shift of p o l i c i n g f u n c t i o n s f r o m
a traditional, if v a g u e , a t t a c h m e n t to the j u d i c i a l b r a n c h of g o v e r n -
m e n t to a f i r m l o d g i n g in m u n i c i p a l a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . T h e c h a n g e in
the n a t u r e of the p o l i c e f r o m an i n f o r m a l , e v e n casual, b u r e a u c r a c y
to a f o r m a l , r u l e - g o v e r n e d , militaristic o r g a n i z a t i o n m i r r o r e d t h i s
d e e p e r p o l i t i c a l s h i f t . A s t h e n a t u r e of t h e p o l i c e o r g a n i z a t i o n
c h a n g e d , so d i d its s p e c i f i c d u t i e s , w h i c h m o v e d first f r o m a g e n -
eral c o n c e r n w i t h t h e orderly f u n c t i o n i n g of c i t i e s , a small part of
w h i c h w a s c a t c h i n g c r i m i n a l s ; to t h e f u n c t i o n in t h e m i d a n d late
n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y of controlling t h e d a n g e r o u s class, w i t h a g r o w -
i n g e m p h a s i s on c r i m e control; a n d finally to the f o r m of social c o n -
trol that w e r e c o g n i z e today, e m p h a s i z i n g c r i m e a n d traffic control.
T h e criminal arrest p o w e r h a s always b e e n the u l t i m a t e p o w e r u n -
derlying t h e p o l i c e , b u t w e m u s t k e e p in m i n d that this in n o w a y
expresses the totality of p o l i c e b e h a v i o r , e i t h e r in the p a s t o r today.
I n d e e d , o n e of the m i n o r p o i n t s of this c h a p t e r will b e to s h o w t h e
diversity of t h i n g s the p o l i c e h a v e d o n e , a n d the m a i n task of t h e
c h a p t e r will b e to d e s c r i b e h o w t h i s diversity h a s c h a n g e d . T h u s ,
although the m o s t v i s i b l e f u n c t i o n of the p o s t - World W a r I police
is c r i m e control, w e m u s t r e m e m b e r that t o d a y t h e average officer
s p e n d s a g o o d deal of t i m e in n o n - c r i m e - r e l a t e d a c t i v i t i e s , a situa-
tion that, incidentally, creates a frustrating i n c o n s i s t e n c y b e t w e e n
the i m a g e a n d actuality of police w o r k .
English origins
In the p r e - u n i f o r m era, the c o n s t a b l e a n d w a t c h , a s y s t e m w i t h ori-
g i n s r e a c h i n g b a c k i n t o t h i r t e e n t h - c e n t u r y E n g l a n d , p o l i c e d c i t i e s
Police in urban America, 1860 — 1920
and villages. T h e s p e c i f i c office of c o n s t a b l e as a p a r t - t i m e p e a c e
k e e p e r h a d evolved b y t h e late fifteenth century, b u t formal codifi-
cation h a d occurred m u c h earlier w i t h the Statute of W i n c h e s t e r
(1285), w h i c h h a d also c o d i f i e d the watch a n d the h u e a n d cry. T h e
c o n s t a b l e , s u b s e r v i e n t to the j u s t i c e of the p e a c e , arrested t h o s e
w h o b r o k e the k i n g s p e a c e , raised the h u e and cry, a n d arrested
p e r s o n s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e c o m m o n n u i s a n c e s of the w a r d ,
w h i c h could range f r o m b a k e r s c h e a t i n g on the w e i g h t of b r e a d to
the w h o l e c o m m u n i t y n e g l e c t i n g to p r o v i s i o n the p o o r . 3 Although
the p o s i t i o n of c o n s t a b l e , an elected o n e in t h e A m e r i c a n c o l o n i e s ,
w a s c o m p e n s a t e d b y f e e s a s s i g n e d b y the court or j u s t i c e of the
p e a c e , the n i g h t w a t c h b e g a n as an u n c o m p e n s a t e d , v o l u n t a r y p o -
s i t i o n . In its t h i r t e e n t h - c e n t u r y o r i g i n s , the u n c o m p e n s a t e d n i g h t
watch w a s a m e t h o d of c o m m u n i t y s e l f - p r o t e c t i o n , a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y
of all adult m a l e s . By S h a k e s p e a r e s t i m e in E n g l a n d , the develop-
m e n t of a m o n e y e c o n o m y a n d g r e a t e r u r b a n c o m p l e x i t y h a d
r e d u c e d the watch to a decrepit force of u n e m p l o y a b l e s , paid a
m i n i m a l w a g e that h a d b e g u n as a f e e - b a s e d s c h e m e of b u y i n g
s u b s t i t u t e s for w a t c h duty. O n c e the w a t c h h a d c h a n g e d from a
voluntary p o s i t i o n to o n e d e p e n d e n t on p a i d s u b s t i t u t e s , it b e c a m e
the constant b u t t of j o k e s b o t h in E n g l a n d a n d A m e r i c a , and w h a t -
ever the effectiveness it h a d p o s s e s s e d d i s a p p e a r e d . In 1808, for
e x a m p l e , the Louisiana Gazette c o m m e n t e d on the N e w O r l e a n s
watch: S i n c e substitutes have b e e n allowed, the patrol is com-
p o s e d principally of the m o s t w o r t h l e s s p a r t of the c o m m u n i t y , n o t
to u s e a m o r e appropriate t e r m . It is like setting w o l v e s to guard
s h e e p . 4
T h e reason for the w a t c h s f e e b l e n e s s , although usually b l a m e d
on the p o o r p a y and i n e f f e c t i v e , defective or a n c i e n t p e r s o n n e l , in
fact derived from its earliest E n g l i s h conceptual b a s i s , w h i c h w a s
shared b y the c o n s t a b l e and b e s t e x e m p l i f i e d in the h u e a n d cry and
posse comitatus. T h e t w o legal o b l i g a t i o n s of the p o s s e c o m i t a t u s ,
theoretically c o m p o s e d of all m a l e s over the age of fifteen in the
county as called up b y the sheriff, a n d of the h u e and cry, the s h o u t
of the v i c t i m of a c r i m e o r a c o n s t a b l e , w h i c h legally b o u n d all males
h e a r i n g it to p u r s u e the o f f e n d e r until c a u g h t , formalized c o m m u -
nity law e n f o r c e m e n t . 5 A s the b r o a d e s t level of c o m m u n i t y enforce-
m e n t , t h e s e legal o b l i g a t i o n s concretely s p e c i f i e d the u l t i m a t e inter-
est of all community m e m b e r s in the preservation of order and law
e n f o r c e m e n t . H o w e v e r , that the v o l u n t a r y aspects of c o m m u n i t y
law e n f o r c e m e n t h a d b e e n d e f i n e d as a legal o b l i g a t i o n b y the Stat-
44 The historical development of the police
45
ute of W i n c h e s t e r should m a k e us s u s p e c t t h e i r truly v o l u n t a r y and
organic n a t u r e .
I n d e e d , if w e step b a c k to the era p r i o r to the Statute of W i n c h e s -
ter, b e f o r e the codification of c o m m u n i t y law e n f o r c e m e n t , w e dis-
cover that from the t i m e of the N o r m a n c o n q u e s t until the thir-
teenth c e n t u r y the A n g l o - S a x o n i n h a b i t a n t s of B r i t a i n , ruled b y the
N o r m a n s , h a d b e e n u n d e r the c o m p u l s o r y social control s y s t e m of
frankpledge. Frankpledge, described b y its historian as a system of
compulsory collective bail fixed for i n d i v i d u a l s , n o t after their ar-
rest for a c r i m e , b u t as a safeguard in a n t i c i p a t i o n of i t , forced the
c o m m u n i t y to accept r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for the b e h a v i o r of its i n d i v i d -
ual m e m b e r s , to p r o d u c e o f f e n d e r s f o r trial, or, if u n a b l e to d i s c o v e r
the offender, to p a y the f i n e s . 6 T h u s , frankpledge d e m a n d e d that
the c o n q u e r e d A n g l o - S a x o n s p r e s e r v e N o r m a n - d e f i n e d law and or-
der w i t h i n the c o m m u n i t y . E x e m p l i f y i n g c o m m u n i t y law enforce-
m e n t at its m o s t b a s i c level, f r a n k p l e d g e p r o v i d e d the conceptual
b a s i s for the law e n f o r c e m e n t s c h e m e in the Statute of W i n c h e s t e r .
H o w e v e r , it is clear that t h e n a t u r e of frankpledge w a s n o t volun-
tary c o m m u n i t y s e l f - d e f e n s e , b u t rather a s i m p l e w a y of c o n q u e r o r s
controlling the c o n q u e r e d . C o m m u n i t y p o l i c i n g , t h e r e f o r e , devel-
o p e d n o t out of a n y organically evolved s y s t e m of social self-con-
trol, b u t from an e x p e d i e n t m e a n s of social control b y alien con-
q u e r o r s . It is n o w o n d e r that this m e a n s of l a w e n f o r c e m e n t n e v e r
developed i n t o an effective or j u s t s y s t e m , w h e t h e r in E n g l a n d or
A m e r i c a , for it w a s b a s e d on a faulty c o n c e p t .
In translation from B r i t a i n to A m e r i c a , certain c h a n g e s in the of-
fice of t h e s h e r i f f c a m e a b o u t . O r i g i n a l l y an e x e c u t i v e of great
p o w e r in E n g l a n d , the sheriff h a d b e c o m e the officer in charge of
the courts b u s i n e s s in the U n i t e d States b y the b e g i n n i n g of the
n i n e t e e n t h century. A l t h o u g h s o m e t i m e s r e s p o n s i b l e for the e n -
f o r c e m e n t of c r i m i n a l law, the sheriff and h i s d e p u t i e s or m a r s h a l s
n e v e r h a d a patrol r e s p o n s i b i l i t y like that of the w a t c h . T h e term
marshal in the n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y did not always refer to an officer
of the court. In the territorial W e s t , especially in the m i d n i n e t e e n t h
century, local police officers a n d t h e i r u n d e r l i n g s w e r e called mar-
shals and d e p u t i e s , t h e m a r s h a l s c o r r e s p o n d i n g to h e a d c o n s t a b l e s
and the d e p u t i e s to c o n s t a b l e s . For i n s t a n c e , in D e n v e r the citys
first charter u n d e r a territorial g o v e r n m e n t d e f i n e d a m a r s h a l as an
official who could do all the acts that a Constable may lawfully
d o . 7 U n l i k e h i s c o n s t a b u l a r y c o u n t e r p a r t , h o w e v e r , the m a r s h a l
had n o n i g h t w a t c h formally e s t a b l i s h e d ; c o n c e i v a b l y , the m a r s h a l s
Police in urban America, 1860 — 1920
d e p u t i e s could f u n c t i o n as a w a t c h w h e n n e c e s s a r y . T h e lack of a
watch system in the West suggests that its well-known reputation
for ineffectiveness had created no reasonable substitute short of a
uniformed police, and the n e w g o v e r n m e n t s simply dropped the
watch provision.
Although the specific duties of the watch and constable (or mar-
shal) varied from place to place a n d t i m e to t i m e in the U n i t e d
States, the general duties covered a b r o a d range of police functions.
T h e n i g h t watch p r e s e r v e d order, b r o a d l y d e f i n e d to i n c l u d e re-
p o r t i n g fires, r a i s i n g the h u e and cry if t h e y d i s c o v e r e d criminal
o f f e n s e s , and arresting or d e t a i n i n g for arrest s u s p i c i o u s and disor-
derly p e r s o n s . In B o s t o n , for e x a m p l e , the watch h a d a statutory
o b l i g a t i o n to e x a m i n e all p e r s o n s , w h o m t h e y h a v e r e a s o n to sus-
p e c t of unlawful d e s i g n ; to walk the r o u n d s in and a b o u t the
s t r e e t s ; to report fires and suppress riots and disturbances; and to
light a n d m a i n t a i n t h e s t r e e t l a m p s . 8 A l t h o u g h such d u t i e s s o u n d
straightforward e n o u g h , the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n often p r o v e d u n s a t i s -
factory. In C i n c i n n a t i , for i n s t a n c e , in the 1850s each w a r d elected
its w a t c h m e m b e r s . T h e w a t c h , b e c a u s e of its w a r d - b a s e d loyalties,
reported only t h o s e fires w i t h i n the ward. Even w o r s e , w h e n var-
ious v o l u n t e e r fire d e p a r t m e n t s clashed, the v a r i o u s w a r d w a t c h e s ,
w h i c h h a d p o w e r s of arrest e q u a l to t h o s e of the c o n s t a b l e s , ar-
rested m a i n l y f i r e m e n from o t h e r w a r d s , t h u s c o m i n g to the battle
aid of t h e i r n e i g h b o r h o o d fire d e p a r t m e n t . 9
R e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r o r d e r m o r e broadly d e f i n e d to i n c l u d e e l i m i -
n a t i n g health h a z a r d s a n d road o b s t r u c t i o n s , as well as e x e c u t i n g
court orders a n d c a t c h i n g c r i m i n a l s , fell u p o n c o n s t a b l e s . C o m -
p a r e d to the w a t c h , the c o n s t a b l e s or m a r s h a l s d u t i e s w e r e even
m o r e v a r i e d . N o t only did t h e y w o r k for the c o u r t s , arresting of-
f e n d e r s , b r i n g i n g in w i t n e s s e s , and serving p a p e r s ; t h e y also h a d to
keep an eye on s u s p i c i o u s p e r s o n s and places in the city, plus act as
health officers. In D e n v e r , f o r i n s t a n c e , in 1860 the city m a r s h a l
u s e d h i s authority to o r d e r t h e removal of a s l a u g h t e r h o u s e a n d a
tannery, b o t h located in the c e n t e r of t o w n . 1 0 Further, a n d m o r e
distastefully, the D e n v e r m a r s h a l h a d a c o n s t a n t b a t t l e w i t h stray
dogs, p i g s , a n d o t h e r livestock; b u t w h i l e the h o g a n d livestock
p r o b l e m h a d b e g u n to a b a t e b y t h e 1870s, t h e stray d o g s c o n t i n u e d
to b e c o n s i d e r e d a p r o b l e m . M a r s h a l s dealt w i t h dogs b y s h o o t i n g
t h e m , and during the 1880s, w o u n d e d , m a i m e d , a n d d y i n g dogs,
their entrails trailing, h o w l e d t h r o u g h t h e streets of D e n v e r . N o t
until 1883 did t h i s attract a n y n e g a t i v e c o m m e n t s , a n e w s p a p e r edi-
tor finally proclaiming that There is something essentially cruel in
44 The historical development of the police
45
filling the h i n d q u a r t e r s of even a d u m b b r u t e w i t h b u c k s h o t a n d
s e n d i n g h i m m o u r n i n g n o i s e l y u p the streets, w i t h h i s liver a n d
l u n g s a n d o t h e r a b s o l u t e n e c e s s i t i e s i n t a c t a n d q u i v e r i n g w i t h
p a i n . 1 1
It m u s t b e e m p h a s i z e d that all t h e s e duties d i d n o t result from a
c o n c e p t i o n of t h e v a r i o u s officers of t h e p o l i c e as p r e v e n t i n g c r i m e ,
d i s c o v e r i n g c r i m i n a l o f f e n s e s , or regularly i n t e r v e n i n g in t h e crimi-
nal p r o c e s s b e f o r e a c o m p l a i n i n g v i c t i m o r a w i t n e s s a p p e a r e d . 1 2
T h o s e o f f e n s e s that officers w e r e o b l i g e d to discover on t h e i r o w n
initiative w e r e only the o n e s that affected the p u b l i c health a n d
welfare as a w h o l e : All o t h e r activities resulted f r o m s o m e k i n d of
formal r e q u e s t , w h e t h e r to arrest a n o f f e n d e r or to care for an i n -
sane p e r s o n . 1 3 T h u s , w h e r e a s the duties of t h e c o n s t a b l e a n d w a t c h
were v a r i e d , they w e r e p r e c i s e in t h e i r general c o n c e p t i o n . T h e y
took i n i t i a t i v e in p r e s e r v i n g health a n d order rules that affected the
c o m m u n i t y as a w h o l e , a n d t h e y r e s p o n d e d to r e q u e s t s from i n d i -
vidual v i c t i m s of c r i m i n a l o f f e n s e s .
It is difficult to j u d g e t h e overall e f f e c t i v e n e s s of the c o n s t a b l e -
watch s y s t e m , o t h e r t h a n to o b s e r v e its a b i l i t y to p e r s i s t for 600
y e a r s . 1 4 Its m a i n failure s e e m s to h a v e b e e n its i n a b i l i t y to protect
property a n d control riots, for alternative m e a n s of social control
developed for b o t h t h e s e - t h e thief catchers and the m i l i t i a o r mili-
tary. T h i e f catchers existed in E n g l a n d at least as early as 1534, a n d
the s y s t e m d i d not e n d u n t i l the u n i f o r m i n g of t h e police a n d t h e
d e v e l o p m e n t of i n s u r a n c e in the m i d n i n e t e e n t h century. T h i e f
catchers did n o t actually catch t h i e v e s , b u t rather recovered stolen
property; functionally, t h e y r e s e m b l e d f e n c e s in that t h e y acted as
m a r k e t i n g agents for t h i e v e s . T h e m o s t f a m o u s thief catcher i n E n -
gland, Jonathan Wild, managed to act as a broker between thieves
and t h e o w n e r s of stolen p r o p e r t y ; t h e o w n e r s p a i d a r a n s o m f e e for
the p r o p e r t y w h i l e W i l d carefully a v o i d e d actually c o m i n g i n t o p o s -
s e s s i o n of the property.
A l t h o u g h n o i n d i v i d u a l s in the U n i t e d States operated on such a
large scale as W i l d , A m e r i c a n c i t i e s d i d h a v e p r o m i n e n t t h i e f
catchers. R o g e r L a n e cites t h e e x a m p l e of G e o r g e R e e d , b o t h a con-
stable a n d a t h i e f catcher in B o s t o n in the 1820s: A c c o r d i n g to a
c o n t e m p o r a r y , T h e secret of h i s [ R e e d s ] w o n d e r f u l s u c c e s s , so it
w a s s a i d , w a s in h i s h a v i n g in h i s e m p l o y p a r t i e s w h o w e r e in h i s
p o w e r , w h o s e l i b e r t y a n d in s o m e cases, it w a s i n t i m a t e d , t h e i r
p e r m i s s i o n to p l y t h e i r v o c a t i o n , d e p e n d e d on the v a l u e of the i n -
f o r m a t i o n t h e y w e r e a b l e to f u r n i s h h i m . 1 5 T h e constable/thief
catcher, like R e e d , a n d t h e c o m m e r c i a l t h i e f catcher like W i l d , dif-
36 Police in urban America, 1860 — 1920
fered m a i n l y in the g r e a t e r b a r g a i n i n g p o w e r of the c o n s t a b l e w i t h
h i s legitimate p o w e r of arrest; the p a s s a g e cited b y L a n e s u g g e s t s
that t h e c o n s t a b l e s , like police detectives today, b a r g a i n e d w i t h
t h i e v e s , trading f r e e d o m for i n f o r m a t i o n . B u t u n l i k e m o d e r n detec-
tives, the constable/thief catcher then traded the information with the
victim of the theft for a reward.
In t h e t h i e f - c a t c h i n g s y s t e m of r e t u r n i n g stolen p r o p e r t y , the i n -
dividual p r o p e r t y o w n e r took the risk, as o p p o s e d to the m o r e re-
cent i n s u r a n c e system w h e r e a large group of p r o p e r t y o w n e r s dis-
tributes the risk. F u r t h e r m o r e , in the t h i e f - c a t c h i n g s y s t e m , the
thief catcher r e t u r n e d t h e actual stolen property, b u t t o d a y the in-
surance c o m p a n y r e t u r n s a p r o p o r t i o n of the m o n e y v a l u e . 1 6 A
third s y s t e m a t i c difference n o w allows s o m e w h a t neutral third p a r -
ties, the p o l i c e , rather t h a n s o m e k i n d of criminal receiver, to b e
involved in the t r a n s a c t i o n : T h u s t h e i n s u r a n c e s y s t e m b r e a k s t h e
material c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n t h i e v e s and p r o p e r t y o w n e r s . T h e
t h i e v e s and c r i m i n a l receivers m a r k e t the stolen g o o d s a n d the i n -
surance c o m p a n i e s b e a r the c o m p e n s a t o r y cost. T h e police do n o t
h a v e to n e g o t i a t e w i t h t h i e v e s as d i d thief catchers, a n d therefore
n e e d only to d e f i n e the g o o d s as stolen. B e c a u s e t h e c h a n g e f r o m
thief c a t c h i n g to i n s u r a n c e lagged b e h i n d t h e u n i f i c a t i o n of the po-
lice, for a p e r i o d in t h e m i d to late n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y police detec-
tives f u n c t i o n e d as t h i e f catchers, n e g o t i a t i n g b e t w e e n thieves a n d
p r o p e r t y o w n e r s for p e r s o n a l profit. In N e w York, for i n s t a n c e , dur-
ing the 1850s, the return of a stolen watch could cost a p a y m e n t of
s e v e n t y - f i v e dollars to the p o l i c e . 1 7
T h e second w e a k n e s s of the c o n s t a b l e - w a t c h s y s t e m , its i n a b i l -
ity to control m o b s a n d riots, also resulted in the u s e of alternate
control s y s t e m s . T h i s s h o u l d not b e interpreted as the s y s t e m a t i c
failure of the c o n s t a b l e - w a t c h s y s t e m , b u t rather as s h o w i n g the
i n h e r e n t i n a b i l i t y of a n y civil p o l i c e force to deal w i t h m a s s actions.
A l t h o u g h civil a u t h o r i t i e s still m a k e the a t t e m p t , the control of
m o b s h a s n e v e r b e e n successfully or totally transferred from the
military to the p o l i c e . F o r i n s t a n c e , in 1842 in C i n c i n n a t i the consta-
b l e - w a t c h type police failed to s u p p r e s s a riot, and the militia h a d
to b e called i n . A s a result, the city council created the P o l i c e
G u a r d , a militia/police reserve u n i t specifically for riot c o n t r o l . 1 8
In the late 1850s, P h i l a d e l p h i a also created a reserve corps for riot
control, w e a r i n g t h e first police u n i f o r m s in the c i t y . 1 9 In b o t h
cases, the reserve corps d e m o n s t r a t e d the failure of traditional p o -
lice s y s t e m s a n d the n e e d for s o m e k i n d of militia. T h e u n i f i c a t i o n
a n d u n i f o r m i n g of the police did little to i n c r e a s e their riot control
44 The historical development of the police
45
ability. For example, a decade after the N e w York police had b e e n
u n i f i e d a n d u n i f o r m e d , t h e draft riot of 1863 erupted. T h i s riot,
often cited as an e x a m p l e of successful p o l i c e protection of blacks
from h o s t i l e Irish rioters, in fact d e m o n s t r a t e d the i n a b i l i t y of t h e
N e w York M e t r o p o l i t a n Police to control d e t e r m i n e d rioters. T h e
riot c o n t i n u e d until t h e a r m y successfully quelled it. T h e p o l i c e ,
although relatively well o r g a n i z e d and c o o r d i n a t e d , and d e m o n -
strating r e m a r k a b l e d i s c i p l i n e , s i m p l y lacked the p o w e r and tactics
n e c e s s a r y to w i n . 2 0
O n e can u n d e r s t a n d the m e a n i n g and details of t h e c h a n g e from
t h e t r a d i t i o n a l c o n s t a b l e - w a t c h m e a n s of p o l i c i n g to t h e u n i -
f o r m e d police b y looking b r i e f l y at the o r i g i n s of t h e M e t r o p o l i t a n
Police of L o n d o n . C r e a t e d b y H o m e Secretary R o b e r t Peel in 1829,
the M e t r o p o l i t a n Police p r o v i d e d a m o d e l f o r the earliest u n i f o r m e d
police forces in the U n i t e d States. Peels p r i o r e x p e r i e n c e in polic-
ing h a d b e e n the creation a n d a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of t h e police of Ire-
land. In s u b d u i n g the continually r e b e l l i o u s Irish, h e h a d l e a r n e d
h o w to o v e r c o m e the political and p h i l o s o p h i c a l r e s i s t a n c e to a u n i -
f o r m e d p o l i c e as well as h o w to structure t h i s n e w k i n d of p o l i c e .
Ireland, a nation of unwilling subjects ruled b y a loyal English lord
l i e u t e n a n t a n d h i s secretaries, h a d p a r l i a m e n t a r y r e p r e s e n t a t i o n
only t h r o u g h Irish Protestants loyal to E n g l a n d . Peel b e c a m e chief
secretary to t h e lord l i e u t e n a n t of Ireland at t h e age of t w e n t y - f o u r ,
just three years after h i s father h a d p u r c h a s e d h i m a seat in t h e
H o u s e of C o m m o n s . A r i s i n g t a l e n t a m o n g c o n s e r v a t i v e s , P e e l
f o u n d h i s n e w p o s i t i o n in Ireland b o t h difficult and c h a l l e n g i n g , as
it a m o u n t e d to a d m i n i s t e r i n g a h o s t i l e c o u n t r y and r e p r e s e n …
CATEGORIES
Economics
Nursing
Applied Sciences
Psychology
Science
Management
Computer Science
Human Resource Management
Accounting
Information Systems
English
Anatomy
Operations Management
Sociology
Literature
Education
Business & Finance
Marketing
Engineering
Statistics
Biology
Political Science
Reading
History
Financial markets
Philosophy
Mathematics
Law
Criminal
Architecture and Design
Government
Social Science
World history
Chemistry
Humanities
Business Finance
Writing
Programming
Telecommunications Engineering
Geography
Physics
Spanish
ach
e. Embedded Entrepreneurship
f. Three Social Entrepreneurship Models
g. Social-Founder Identity
h. Micros-enterprise Development
Outcomes
Subset 2. Indigenous Entrepreneurship Approaches (Outside of Canada)
a. Indigenous Australian Entrepreneurs Exami
Calculus
(people influence of
others) processes that you perceived occurs in this specific Institution Select one of the forms of stratification highlighted (focus on inter the intersectionalities
of these three) to reflect and analyze the potential ways these (
American history
Pharmacology
Ancient history
. Also
Numerical analysis
Environmental science
Electrical Engineering
Precalculus
Physiology
Civil Engineering
Electronic Engineering
ness Horizons
Algebra
Geology
Physical chemistry
nt
When considering both O
lassrooms
Civil
Probability
ions
Identify a specific consumer product that you or your family have used for quite some time. This might be a branded smartphone (if you have used several versions over the years)
or the court to consider in its deliberations. Locard’s exchange principle argues that during the commission of a crime
Chemical Engineering
Ecology
aragraphs (meaning 25 sentences or more). Your assignment may be more than 5 paragraphs but not less.
INSTRUCTIONS:
To access the FNU Online Library for journals and articles you can go the FNU library link here:
https://www.fnu.edu/library/
In order to
n that draws upon the theoretical reading to explain and contextualize the design choices. Be sure to directly quote or paraphrase the reading
ce to the vaccine. Your campaign must educate and inform the audience on the benefits but also create for safe and open dialogue. A key metric of your campaign will be the direct increase in numbers.
Key outcomes: The approach that you take must be clear
Mechanical Engineering
Organic chemistry
Geometry
nment
Topic
You will need to pick one topic for your project (5 pts)
Literature search
You will need to perform a literature search for your topic
Geophysics
you been involved with a company doing a redesign of business processes
Communication on Customer Relations. Discuss how two-way communication on social media channels impacts businesses both positively and negatively. Provide any personal examples from your experience
od pressure and hypertension via a community-wide intervention that targets the problem across the lifespan (i.e. includes all ages).
Develop a community-wide intervention to reduce elevated blood pressure and hypertension in the State of Alabama that in
in body of the report
Conclusions
References (8 References Minimum)
*** Words count = 2000 words.
*** In-Text Citations and References using Harvard style.
*** In Task section I’ve chose (Economic issues in overseas contracting)"
Electromagnetism
w or quality improvement; it was just all part of good nursing care. The goal for quality improvement is to monitor patient outcomes using statistics for comparison to standards of care for different diseases
e a 1 to 2 slide Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on the different models of case management. Include speaker notes... .....Describe three different models of case management.
visual representations of information. They can include numbers
SSAY
ame workbook for all 3 milestones. You do not need to download a new copy for Milestones 2 or 3. When you submit Milestone 3
pages):
Provide a description of an existing intervention in Canada
making the appropriate buying decisions in an ethical and professional manner.
Topic: Purchasing and Technology
You read about blockchain ledger technology. Now do some additional research out on the Internet and share your URL with the rest of the class
be aware of which features their competitors are opting to include so the product development teams can design similar or enhanced features to attract more of the market. The more unique
low (The Top Health Industry Trends to Watch in 2015) to assist you with this discussion.
https://youtu.be/fRym_jyuBc0
Next year the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare industry will finally begin to look and feel more like the rest of the business wo
evidence-based primary care curriculum. Throughout your nurse practitioner program
Vignette
Understanding Gender Fluidity
Providing Inclusive Quality Care
Affirming Clinical Encounters
Conclusion
References
Nurse Practitioner Knowledge
Mechanics
and word limit is unit as a guide only.
The assessment may be re-attempted on two further occasions (maximum three attempts in total). All assessments must be resubmitted 3 days within receiving your unsatisfactory grade. You must clearly indicate “Re-su
Trigonometry
Article writing
Other
5. June 29
After the components sending to the manufacturing house
1. In 1972 the Furman v. Georgia case resulted in a decision that would put action into motion. Furman was originally sentenced to death because of a murder he committed in Georgia but the court debated whether or not this was a violation of his 8th amend
One of the first conflicts that would need to be investigated would be whether the human service professional followed the responsibility to client ethical standard. While developing a relationship with client it is important to clarify that if danger or
Ethical behavior is a critical topic in the workplace because the impact of it can make or break a business
No matter which type of health care organization
With a direct sale
During the pandemic
Computers are being used to monitor the spread of outbreaks in different areas of the world and with this record
3. Furman v. Georgia is a U.S Supreme Court case that resolves around the Eighth Amendments ban on cruel and unsual punishment in death penalty cases. The Furman v. Georgia case was based on Furman being convicted of murder in Georgia. Furman was caught i
One major ethical conflict that may arise in my investigation is the Responsibility to Client in both Standard 3 and Standard 4 of the Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals (2015). Making sure we do not disclose information without consent ev
4. Identify two examples of real world problems that you have observed in your personal
Summary & Evaluation: Reference & 188. Academic Search Ultimate
Ethics
We can mention at least one example of how the violation of ethical standards can be prevented. Many organizations promote ethical self-regulation by creating moral codes to help direct their business activities
*DDB is used for the first three years
For example
The inbound logistics for William Instrument refer to purchase components from various electronic firms. During the purchase process William need to consider the quality and price of the components. In this case
4. A U.S. Supreme Court case known as Furman v. Georgia (1972) is a landmark case that involved Eighth Amendment’s ban of unusual and cruel punishment in death penalty cases (Furman v. Georgia (1972)
With covid coming into place
In my opinion
with
Not necessarily all home buyers are the same! When you choose to work with we buy ugly houses Baltimore & nationwide USA
The ability to view ourselves from an unbiased perspective allows us to critically assess our personal strengths and weaknesses. This is an important step in the process of finding the right resources for our personal learning style. Ego and pride can be
· By Day 1 of this week
While you must form your answers to the questions below from our assigned reading material
CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (2013)
5 The family dynamic is awkward at first since the most outgoing and straight forward person in the family in Linda
Urien
The most important benefit of my statistical analysis would be the accuracy with which I interpret the data. The greatest obstacle
From a similar but larger point of view
4 In order to get the entire family to come back for another session I would suggest coming in on a day the restaurant is not open
When seeking to identify a patient’s health condition
After viewing the you tube videos on prayer
Your paper must be at least two pages in length (not counting the title and reference pages)
The word assimilate is negative to me. I believe everyone should learn about a country that they are going to live in. It doesnt mean that they have to believe that everything in America is better than where they came from. It means that they care enough
Data collection
Single Subject Chris is a social worker in a geriatric case management program located in a midsize Northeastern town. She has an MSW and is part of a team of case managers that likes to continuously improve on its practice. The team is currently using an
I would start off with Linda on repeating her options for the child and going over what she is feeling with each option. I would want to find out what she is afraid of. I would avoid asking her any “why” questions because I want her to be in the here an
Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of using an Internet site as means of collecting data for psychological research (Comp 2.1) 25.0\% Summarization of the advantages and disadvantages of using an Internet site as means of collecting data for psych
Identify the type of research used in a chosen study
Compose a 1
Optics
effect relationship becomes more difficult—as the researcher cannot enact total control of another person even in an experimental environment. Social workers serve clients in highly complex real-world environments. Clients often implement recommended inte
I think knowing more about you will allow you to be able to choose the right resources
Be 4 pages in length
soft MB-920 dumps review and documentation and high-quality listing pdf MB-920 braindumps also recommended and approved by Microsoft experts. The practical test
g
One thing you will need to do in college is learn how to find and use references. References support your ideas. College-level work must be supported by research. You are expected to do that for this paper. You will research
Elaborate on any potential confounds or ethical concerns while participating in the psychological study 20.0\% Elaboration on any potential confounds or ethical concerns while participating in the psychological study is missing. Elaboration on any potenti
3 The first thing I would do in the family’s first session is develop a genogram of the family to get an idea of all the individuals who play a major role in Linda’s life. After establishing where each member is in relation to the family
A Health in All Policies approach
Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. At a minimum
Chen
Read Connecting Communities and Complexity: A Case Study in Creating the Conditions for Transformational Change
Read Reflections on Cultural Humility
Read A Basic Guide to ABCD Community Organizing
Use the bolded black section and sub-section titles below to organize your paper. For each section
Losinski forwarded the article on a priority basis to Mary Scott
Losinksi wanted details on use of the ED at CGH. He asked the administrative resident