On 1 August 1871, David Metcalf, a Black laborer charged with disorderly conduct in the aftermath of an incident in Buffalo where a group of Black laborers were beset by a large group of white rowdies, went to trial. The Buffalo Evening Courier and Republic, and its associated morning newpaper, the Buffalo Daily Courier reported extensively on the trial on the 1st and 2nd of August 1871 respectively, and provided readers with a running digest of the testimony. It is provided here, verbatim*.
The trial of David Metcalf, one of the six colored men charged with disorderly conduct on the evening of the 24th of July last, began yesterday morning before Squire Courtney. Below will be found all of the testimony of any importance, beginning with the statement of Captain Chas. Thomas.
Capt. Thomas–Reside at 812 Washington street, am captain of police. [Defense held the present police force illegal and objection made–overruled;] was a member of the force on the 24th day of July; was sworn in the 22d of June, 1870; saw Metcalf on the 24th of July last; first saw him on west side of Main street, between Virginia and Edward; about 6:10 P. M.. July 24, this present year, left Station No. 6, Cold Spring; came down on a street car, got off at Burton alley and Main street; went to my residence; just after supper, about five minutes past seven o’clock, came again to corner Burton alley and Main street; waited about three minutes for a street car; got on the rear of the car, going to duty; passed this colored troop coming down, coming two abreast; twenty or twenty two of them; at the medical college, on the sidewalk; put my hand in my pocket to pay my fare, and some one at the corner of Burton alley and Main street call out “n____r,” that attracted my attention, and I looked around, and saw a number of colored folks throwing stones at the opposite party; got off the car and went back; showed my badge of office; told them they were under arrest; they refused to be arrested; Metcalf refused and said he would not be arrested by any white man; he said I was not a police officer and had no business to take him; other of the colored people ran; during the commotion some citizens came and asked if I wanted any assistance; as the party resisted, I accepted their assistance to arrest those I had picked out as throwing stones; under my request they attempted to arrest these men, but were resisted; some profane language was used; cannot identify Metcalf as using bad language; had Metcalf in charge and he made attempts to get away; at the corner of Goodell and Main, special McCarthy came up.
T. R. Clinton, sworn: Am city clerk; this is the book in which the record of the city ordinances is kept; know the writing of Mr. Geo. S. Wardwell; he was city clerk prior to myself; this is his signature.
Cross-examined–This is not the original ordinance. [Printed copy pasted in.]
Capt. Thomas re-called–We remained at the corner of Main and Goodell till the street car came up. and I and prisoner got on car and went to station; there were six arrested at that time (objected); heard no loud noise prior to my interfering, with the exception of the party calling “n____r”; there was a loud noise after I went to make the arrest; cannot identify the persons who made the noise; it came from some of the party arrested; defendant said he would be d—-d if he would be arrested by me or any white man.
Cross-examined–Have been Captain since the 16th of last May; I am 23 years of age, will be twenty-four on the 24th of next April; was born in 1847 on the 24th of April; hear the cry “n____r” distinctly called; was standing on the rear end of a street car; can’t say whether any stones were thrown before the call “n____r” was made; did not jump off the car when I heard the call; did not see the party who called “n____r” nor did I see the other party throw stones; saw only the negroes throw stones; came back to ascertain what there was of the affair, after I had taken the prisoners in; do not remember having been told that a party in a wagon had a pile of stones in a wagon and threw them at these colored men before the colored men threw stones; was told nothing of that kind; have had a description of a white man who threw stones, but I do not know his name; do not know that this party was coming from work; kept my eye on this party because I wanted to pick out the ones throwing stones; Metcalf was the first one I arrested; took hold of two at once; did not see one of them kicked after arrest; know a Mr. Blackmar; do not recollect that he assisted to make the arrest; do know who assisted; Fred. Whistlar and ____ Pfeiffer; do not remember seeing a man named Thompson; the prisoners, after attempting to get away, and failing, stood quietly until the car came; had no assistance in arresting the defendant Metcalf; did not threaten to shoot him.
Re-direct–Did not see any one on the other side of the street where the call “n____r” came from; have no warrant for the arrest of any of the opposite side; arrested only those who I saw violating the law.
F. G. Herr–Live 72 Bristol street; was at 815 Main street, 7 o’clock, 24th July; saw this party of colored people; was talking to the keeper of a saloon, when a stone weighing about two pounds came into the saloon; we went to the door and saw stones flying from the colored party on the west side of the street; saw nobody on my side of the street; neither saw any stones thrown from my side; saw Captain Thomas running across the street, jump into the crowd of colored people and take two of them; returned to the saloon.
Alfred Meill sworn–Am a conductor of a street car; was on duty evening of the 24th; McCarthy was on my car, and got off between Edward and Tupper; I was on the rear of the car; saw the crowd, and saw Capt. Thomas have two men in charge; they got on the car; they were noisy in the car.
Cross-examined–The men did not want to get on the car, and pulled back; have been on the road about ten months; Capt. Thomas stopped the car before I reached the crowd, and put the men on; there was a crowd on both sides of the street; don’t call it a large crowd–some twenty people.
E. Baumstock, sworn–Reside 801 Main street; saloon keeper; was standing behind my bar that night; saw the crowd pass that night, and saw a young man jump into it; did not know who it was, but when I crossed the road I saw it was Thomas; he had hold of two men; when asked if he wanted help Thomas said he could handle them himself; when McCarthy came he was told to arrest two others; saw no stones thrown; heard no loud talking.
Nicholas Loesch, sworn–Live 815 Main street, east side; saw this disturbance; was behind my counter; a stone came in to the room; went to the door and saw a man throw another stone, and then saw Thomas arrest two men, and thought it was all right, and went back to my counter.
John C. Huntley, sworn–Reside on Utica street; saw this disturbance; was in a store corner Burton alley and Main street, east side; there was some noise and confusion outside, and we ran to the door; saw Thomas running down the street after some colored men, did not see any stones thrown, but heard a rattling noise; went down the street and saw Thomas make the arrest, and saw Thomas and McCarthy put their prisoners in the car.
Charles F. Grissam, sworn–Live at 580 Michigan street; did not see this party till after the arrest was made; was in Woolford’s saloon and heard a noise and went to the door; first saw some of the colored men–two of them–in charge of Thomas; there were many people there; saw no stones thrown, but saw some fall on the east side; had seen this party before; they stopped me on Delaware street; was coming from Dr. Lord’s, at a regular gait, when my horse was stopped by a colored man who grabbed it by the bits; I said let go my horse, you can’t get a ride, or words to that effect; they began to climb in and one man put his foot on the step; Michael Hogan was sitting on the outside, and raised his foot; the man then struck him; so he said; did not see it; someone halloed from the gutter “that wont do,” and the man then let go of my horse, and it started off on a gallop; I looked back, and saw the party walking very fast after us; drove down to Main street, to Woolford’s; Hogan got off, and I got off, and Thompson remained on the wagon; went in to get beer; Hogan went off; heard a racket outside, and went out; saw Thomas have two men; he put them on the street car; can’t say that these two were of the same party that stopped me on Delaware street.
Cross-examined–One of our party put some stones in the wagon before we reached Main street.
Re-direct–Threw the stones off the wagon after we reached Main street.
At this point the court adjourned till three o’clock P. M.
Afternoon Session
The trial was resumed at three o’clock P. M., the first witness being John Wander, called by the prosecution, who testified as follows.
Was unloading a wagon on the 24th on Main street; they commenced throwing stones, and Mike Hogan threw stones at them; cannot say who threw first.
Cross-examined–Saw stones flying; don’ know who threw them first.
James Fox, sworn–Reside at Cold Springs; am a street car conductor; Thomas got on my car on the evening of the 24th, and a few moments after he got on I saw the colored men going down the street; Thomas said he guessed there was going to be a muss, and he got off; I saw one stone thrown.
B. M. Thompson, sworn–I saw some of the difficulty; I was in a wagon on Delaware street; saw a party of negroes going down; two of them came out and took the horse’s head and stopped it; they tried to get into the wagon; they were told there was no room; some one in the wagon made a pass at one of them, and the colored man made a pass [b]ack; I think Hogan made the pass; we then went to Main street; we met a party of friends, and had a drink at Woolford’s; while there we heard a disturbance; Parker, Grissam, Mike Hogan and myself heard loud talk and a crash, and all went out; Hogan was out when we got out; the next I saw, Thomas had two colored men under arrest; then I heard profane language; the two men tried to get away from Thomas; saw another man running toward Mr. Spaulding’s house.
Cross-examined–Am a dry goods clerk; have done no work the last month; Mike Hogan, Campbell, Grissam, myself and Parker were in the wagon; I drank with these men; I saw the colored men throw stones.
The people here rested and Mr. Josiah Cook opened for the defense; stated what he expected to prove by his witnesses, and called upon the stand George A. Woodbury, who testified in substance as follows:
Live No. 30 North Pearl street; saw part of this difficulty; a man came out of a saloon above Spaulding’s house on Main street, and commenced throwing stones at the colored men, who were walking down on the opposite side of the street quietly; Thomas came running down Main street, and arrested two of the colored men, the white man threw stones first; as he came out of the saloon he beckoned to the others of his party, who stood in the door, to come; this man threw four or five stones at the negroes; I saw no disorderly conduct on the part of the colored men.
George J. Bryan, sworn–On the evening of the 24th of July, while on my way to my residence, saw a crowd of colored men on Main street; heard a noise, and noticed quite an excitement; saw one man running toward Spaulding’s house; saw nothing in the deportment of the colored men that was reprehensible.
A delay here took place of some ten minutes, on account of a statement made by the counsel for the defense that Hon. E. G. Spaulding was expected to appear and give his testimony; but word came that that gentleman had gone to his dinner, whereon Mr. Cook placed the defendant Metcalf on the stand, who testified as follows: Live in Buffalo; have been at work at the Park for about two months; twenty or thirty colored men and myself, who are laborers at the Park, were returning from our day’s work, and were coming down Delaware street, in the vicinity of Dr. Lord’s residence, when a wagon came out of Dr. Lord’s yard, and came past our party; some of the persons in the wagon commenced hallooing “look at the d–d n_____s!” and squawked and said “see the black sons of b—-,” and came up opposite us, when two of our party stepped out to the side of the wagon, and asked the persons in it why they called us bad names; Hogan, who was sitting with one leg hanging over the side of the wagon, commenced feeling in his pockets, as if for a knife or pistol; he then said “get out, you black rascals,” and made a kick at one of the two men, but did not hit him with his foot; they then drove on; no one of our party touched the horse or wagon, or attempted to get into the wagon; before the wagon got out of our site they stopped it, some of them got out, put a lot of stones in the wagon, and drove off from Delaware toward Main street; we came on down to Virginia street, turned into Main around the Medical College, and when opposite the saloon on Main street, near the St. Louis Church, Mr. Hogan came out of the saloon, went to the wagon, took out an armful of stones and beckoned to the rest or [sic] his party to come on; he said “here comes the d–d n____s, the black sons of b—-;” he called us “park commissioners,” and commenced throwing stones at us; he threw six or eight at our party; two of our party picked up two or three of the stones he had thrown and threw them back; we were walking along quietly; not one of our party, from the time we left our work, up to the time these stones were thrown at us, had insulted any person, or given any one occasion to insult us; after the stones had been thrown, I saw Thomas come running toward us; he seized two of our party; the boys pulled back, and did not want to go with him; told him we had done nothing, that the other party had attacked us, and asked him to arrest the other party; told him that they were the guilty parties and had begun the difficulty; Thomas replied that he would attend to them; none of our party used profane or indecent language to Thomas or any one else; Thomas said, “Come along, I want all of you, you black rascals;” he arrested two and put them in a car; another officer, McCarthy, assisted in making the other arrests; while Thomas had hold of one of the colored men, Hogan came across the street and was pointed out to Thomas as the man who commenced the disturbance and Thomas was requested to arrest him; subsequently Hogan kicked one of the colored men under arrest; during the whole transaction none of the boys used indecent language; we were then, six of us, put in the car and taken to Station No. 6; the reason we came down in a body was, that frequently when the boys came down singly they had been attacked and insulted by rowdies.
Cross examined– I threw no stones at any one; did not see which of our boys threw them; I had a stone in my hand, but was arrested before I had a chance to throw it, and I dropped it on the sidewalk.
Eighteen other witnesses were then sworn for the defense, all of whom fully collaborated the testimony given by defendant Metcalf. At the conclusion of the testimony Mr. Cook summed up for the defense, and dwelt at some length upon the rights of the colored population; spoke of them as an honest, hard working and peaceable class of citizens, and claimed that there had been no disorderly conduct on the part of the prisoner, and that he should be acquitted; that a breach of the peace, if there had been one, lay at the door of the other parties; and it was time to ascertain whether colored people could, or could not, enjoy the poor privilege of earning an honest living with being insulted as they passed through the streets.
Assistant City Attorney Morey followed Mr. Cook in an address to the jury for the prosecution, lasting about fifteen minutes, in which he submitted that it was a question for the jury to decide whether the prisoner had been guilty of disorderly conduct. He forcibly presented every point that would lead to a conviction, but gave the prisoner the benefit of every doubt.
The jury, at the conclusion of Mr. Morey’s address, retired, and after a deliberation of ten minutes, returned a verdict of “not guilty,” and the prisoner was discharged. The cases of the remaining five prisoners were adjourned till Thursday morning, and juries have been called in all the cases.
* Note: The article quoted was written in 1871. There are a number of instances in that reporting where terms were used which were both then and now particularly vulgar and inflammatory. I have elided a portion of the word in this transcription, whereas it was used openly in the original, its nature is not difficult to discern. Other terms were used which were then deemed polite and acceptable but today are certainly not appropriate to use. They appear here unedited solely to maintain accurately the context of the time. I apologize in advance for any offense they may rightly give, but I believe it necessary for an exact transcription of the contemporary record to be presented. – S. M. Broderick
260303