Students Get Concussions and Cuts When Police Quell "Riot"

The 39 Harvard students, including alleged rioters and onlookers, who were arrested in the Square early Saturday morning when a police call for aid was turned in following a disturbance caused by the curiosity of an after theatre crowd in the arrest of two inebriates, will be arraigned in the Third District Court next Friday before Judge Robert Walcott. The charge against a majority of the men will be disturbance of the peace. The trial was postponed from Saturday until next Friday at the request of Dean Chester N. Greenough in order to give the authorities of the University an opportunity to collect evidence concerning the disturbance. The students involved were released on personal recognizance at the court house Saturday morning.

A charge of assault and battery will be preferred against O. D. Ferguson '28, who was badly injured and who is still confined to the Stillman Infirmary, with a possible fractured skull. Ferguson was in the act of crossing to a restaurant from his room in the Yard when he was seized by police reinforcements from Central Square. In resisting the unexpected arrest, Ferguson injured Patrolmen Joseph O'Connor and James Prior. He was overpowered finally and clubbed unconscious. O'Connor was also taken to the hospital and is confined there with internal injuries. He was not using his stick, and was hurt while trying to save Ferguson from a more severe beating.

The altercation between police and students came shortly aftere the crowd emerged from the Mid-Night Smoker held especially for Harvard men at the University Theatre. A dispute between two men, who are not believed to have been students of the University. In front of the Harvard Trust, attracted a crowd. Patrolman Murphy, on duty at the Square, intervened, and started to lead the men away. The crowd followed the officer, and in a good natured manner, interfered with the arrest. The taxi which the officer commandeered, was first held up, and later pushed to the sidewalk.

Patrolman Prior, coming to Murphy's aid, was jostled by the crowd, and his hat knocked off, Seeing all the signs of a riot in this act, Prior drew his gun, and holding the students at bay, backed to the signal box on the square, and turned in a call for assistance.

Four Wagons Arrived on Scene

When the rumor went about that patrol wagons were on the way, many in the crowd dispersed, but a considerable number remained out of curiosity. With the Square still filled with students, the four patrol wagons, loaded with 40 policemen, arrived, charged through the crowds, and drew up at the subway station. No one was injured though several people narrowly escaped being run down by the police cars.

Two patrol wagons were soon filled as the police got the situation well in hand. Scattered melees between officers and small bodies of students continued, but after the police had here once again been victorious, the "action" turned into a man hunt, with the police seizing all those present in the Square.

A. D. Fuller '26, one of those arrested, was injured after being placed in the patrol wagon. Fuller had an unlighted pipe in his mouth. He was ordered to remove the pipe, but before he could comply, he was hit across the face with a night stick. The blow broke his glasses, fractured his nose, and inflicted a gash that required three stitches on his cheek.

B. W. Fuller '30,--who was taken in the same wagon to the Brattle Square station, was arrested while standing under a Yard gate. He was hit on the head from behind, and dragged in a dazed condition to the patrol wagon. At the station he refused to give his name to anyone but the desk sergeant. He was seized by three patrolmen, dragged to the hall, and while two of them held his arms, a third knocked him unconscious with a fist blow to the face.

"Arthur" Escapes Injury

J. I. Shaw '28, walking home in company with Arthur Clement on Holyoke Street, was overtaken by a crowded patrol wagon on the way to the station. Although neither Shaw nor Clement offered any resistance, they were both thrown into the wagon, Shaw after receiving a blow on, the head that necessitated several stitches, Benjamin Dorman '29, half a block down the street received the same treatment, and did not recover complete consciousness for several hours.

Certain incongruities are also to be found in the happenings of the night. There was, for instance, H. S. Barker, a Somerville drug clerk, who in attempting to transfer from a bus at the Square, before taking 10 steps, was hit on the head and piled into the wagon with the students. Baker, it is said, is "married and has two children"