REVERE, ANOTHER TIME, 8/8/1920, 94 YEARS AGO TODAY, THE GREAT REVERE RIOT. Part # 1 of 2 parts. At the outset permit me to say I fancy myself a bit of an amateur historian of things Revere. It was only about 3 years ago, in the process of researching something else, did I discover there had once been a Great Revere Riot, occurring on the evening of Sunday, August 8, 1920 --- 94 years ago today. The number 1 source on Revere History is Ben Shurtleffs book, published in 1938, and it contains no mention of the riot. Consequently, I wanted more than what I could find on the internet, hence; it was back to the Revere Journal (Journal) microfilm, and to the Lynn Library for info in the Daily Item (Item), and then into Boston to research the Boston Herald (Herald) and the old Boston Evening Transcript (T/script). An internet source reports the Lexington (KY) Herald also ran a story on the riot. From these sources a time-line and outline of events surrounding 8/8/1920 and a portion of the next day began to emerge. That story is presented herewith. The Item contained the best description of the of the days weather: The hot, sultry weather had brought one of the largest crowds in its history to the beach. The Items use of sultry almost makes it sound like the opening to a torrid romance novel. In actuality the connotation was humidity. Beach-goers of the day must of experienced extreme humidity due to their style of dress. Have you ever seen those old post cards of Revere Beach? On a hot summer day women are attired in full length cotton dresses accompanied by long sleeves plus a waist jacket. The men likewise appear in a semi-formal mode, wearing suits and ties. Whatever casual dress was at the time, it wasnt displayed on the beach. To give you an idea of how different those times were here are a few news clips from the Journal of 8/14/1920: The police raided a hen coop in the back yard of one Harry Brook, at 484 Beach St., and found a moonshine operation with 16 gals. of alleged Whiskey. Additionally, 5 barrels of mash was discovered. Welcome to Prohibition, it had started on Jan. 17. The Journal also reported Reveres first ever public boxing match was to take place at the cycle track (Wonderland) on Aug. 26. The event was under the auspicious of American Legion Post 61. Also a few interesting ads appeared that week. You could get 5% interest on your savings at the Revere Trust Co. Wow, Id like those bank rates today. I would also like to get the shoe prices W. F. Bradley of Chelsea was offering for men and women shoes. They were running 3 specials a pair of shoes for either 95 cents, or $1.95, or $4.95. Another ad by James Tiernan florist, 325 Bway. proclaimed they would give careful attention to all orders --- good customer service was in vogue even then. Another aspect of those times were the close proximity of large military bases to the beach. The Boston Navy Yard was a fairly good size installation manned by many sailors and marines. Down the harbor and north a couple of miles you had Fort Banks in Winthrop. The fort was about a mile from Beachmont and contained a large number of soldiers. My military service was in the 60s and like the 20s whenever you have a few thousand, or more, men centered in one location they are going to either drink, gamble, or look for women --- or a combination of the 3. Revere Beach provided 2 of the 3, drinking and an opportunity to meet women. Yes it was Prohibition, but drink was easily obtained. In fact after the riot it was proved many sailors brought their bottles with them and shared same with others. So you have a large contingent of military personnel, plus a crowd estimated by some to be over 100,000 mixing on a hot day at Revere Beach. There was a widespread belief by the militarys enlisted ranks that they were unjustly treated by the Metropolitan Park Police (henceforth referred to as the Mets). The reasons supporting this thinking was the large number military men arrested each week. The Mets side of the issue was its their duty to arrest people who are publicly intoxicated and/or causing a disturbance --- peace has to maintained! If you want, you can go round and round with this argument and get nowhere. The problem was not a new one it had existed for a long time. In fact the then Revere Mayor, Roscoe Walsworth, had on several occasions tried to have a permanent provost guard (essentially military police) on duty during peak times to augment the Mets. The mayors actions were based on what he called past riots. Although I found no substantive research to support the mayors contention, my conclusion would be one of semantics. How do you define, in a quantitative manner, what constitutes a riot as opposed to a disturbance? I suspect there may have been several past flare-ups that were more easily subdued than the Great Revere Riot. Research did indicate there were occasional instances when a temporary provost guard was provided for what I believe were the extraordinary crowd times, e. g., 4th of July, Labor Day week end, or a special event. In the post riot period Mayor Walsworth made a strong appeal to Reveres Congressman, Alvin T. Fuller, for establishment of a provost guard at the beach. Whatever became of the appeal would require additional research, however; as a kid on the beach in the 50s I do recall MPs and Sps walking the beach and dealing with drunken military members. Please permit me to dash off on a tangent for a moment. Congressman Alvin T. Fuller was a most interesting person. He started out with a bicycle shop in Malden. Became one of the bigger Packard automobile dealers in America. Went on to become Governor of Massachusetts. He was considered a true law & order man when, as sitting Gov., he finally sent Sacco & Vanzetti to the electric chair, a decision he is still criticized for in the 21st century. He also had the vision way before it was obvious to drop Packard and take on Cadillac. He started the famous Caddy Olds dealership on Bostons Commonwealth Ave., that lasted into the mid 70s. Besides his dealership he was also GMs Cadillac distributor for New England. He, actually his son Peter, would be the last GM distributor when their contract expired in 1965. Peter would become famous for his association with boxing and horse racing. His horse Dancers Image went on to win the Kentucky Derby in 1968 coming from dead last to win by 1 1/2 lengths only to be disqualified. OK, back to the riot. HERES WHAT HAPPEN: As previously noted hot weather, drinking, and an attitude of the Mets were out to get us culminated in an incident that took place around 9:30 PM. Patrolman John A. Murphy, a Lynn resident, observed a drunken sailor in front of the Pleasanton Hotel, not too far from the police station. It was later revealed the sailor was John C. Wilkes of the U.S.S. Delaware. Officer Murphy approached Wilkes and must of made a final determination to arrest. He informed Wilkes he was under arrest. In all honesty it should be noted there are variations in some of the facts as reported by different news outlets. The T/scripts. version of the initial arrest indicates the ensuing. Murphy takes Wilkes in his charge and starts for the station house. Almost instantaneously he is aggressively being pelted by rocks and tonic bottles from angry sailors who demand Wilkes be released. In self-defense Murphy draws his gun, the aggravated group momentarily relents. All the while Murphy is holding Wilkes and simultaneously using him as a shield as he continues to walk backwards toward the police station. The angry crowd moves in counter--harmony with the Murphy. As he steps backward they step forward. Finally near the station other officers come to Murphys aid. They then haul Wilkes up the stairs and into the station as they do another barrage of rocks begin hitting the Mets. By now the word has spread along the immediate beachfront area that another sailor has been unjustly arrested and his comrades tried to extract him a cop with a drawn gun. From out of nowhere a huge crowd of sailors, marines, and soldiers materializes. Caught in the inexorable path of their onrush are many civilians -- men, women, and children, some get trampled. Its now onto station house. One source has the number at 300 and another at over 600. I think its safe to say it was somewhere in between. You now have hundreds of people virtually in a lock step march towards the Mets station. And with each step they take the tension and drama heighten. As they approach the station they go by some shooting galleries. The sight of the galleries causes a slowdown in the tempo of their marching steps. In true rapidity they break for the galleries and begin grabbing rifles. The few workers who are there are no match for this irate crowd, make that an avenging mob. Were these rifles secured to the counters like they were in our day or unsecured? Research has not provided an answer. If they were secured I believe the rioters inflamed passions of the moment could easily of overcame such security. The hostile crowd has now escalated the fray to a new level. Besides being armed with rocks and tonic bottles, they have firepower in the form of rifles. Gun-play is an anticipated outcome. With jeering, cursing, and yelling the march has reached its objective, the police station. Therein, held in a cell is a drunken John C. Wilkes whose freedom has become their cause-celebre. Chants of were going to get our man (Wilkes) out of the station. The chants are mixed with rocks and bottles breaking windows, accompanied by the sound of gun fire. This is now a mob out of control with violence an acceptable course to achieve their end. Ill post part # 2 tomorrow night.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 01:31:03 +0000