Show 0 by L L STEVENSON for several weeks now war has been waging in the east side of har lem it is a sort of juvenile affair those taking part ranging in age from 14 to 20 years on one side west of park avenue are porto ri cans on the other east of park avenue are the italians the start is said to have been insults offered to italian girls sporadic clashes between the two races were followed by more general engagements park avenue was set as the deadline if an italian lad crossed over that he got into trouble if a porto rican crossed his luck was also bad mat reached such a stage that more police were stationed in the dis brict in some sections there were several cops to the block but the knights errant were numerous on both sides so the police were kept busy without much results usually no matter how fast they moved they arrived as the battle ended A recent serious clash was occa signed by a large body of porto ricans invading forbidden territory A group estimated at about 50 strong crossed the deadline they almost reached lexington avenue before they encountered resistance the defenders at first were putnum bared that was soon corrected by eager volunteers sticks stones and knives figured in the fray the de fenders were aided by allies on roof tops who tore down chimneys and used the bricks for ammunition store owners and housel householders whose property was damaged set up loud calls for police the police re spondee quickly and in mass when they broke up the fray they had 14 prisoners since then there have been other but smaller clashes and park avenue is still the deadline harlem is not entirely a place of peace even among members of the same race there is eternal con flicht between west indian and na tive negroes american negroes hold that the west indians look down on them that attitude is bitterly resented and frequently leads to brawls landlords with houses in which west indian and american colored people dwell have heavy re pair bills at times because of intra mural strife are also oc cas ional street fights in which knives flash it seems th that at the new york world s fair can dig up the dirt in westchester after all the town of harrison brought suit to restrain contractors from trucking west chester county topsoil over to the flushing meadows it was contend ed that the wholesale removal of westchester earth would turn the county into a dust bowl and thus badly depreciate property values after a hearing the court held that the soil owners had a right to sell their holdings by the truckload if they so desired thus a consid erable part of westchester is amov ing to long island again this season there are those who w ho light matches in crowded the aters in order to scan programs to get the name of some actor or find out where the action is taking place many of the worst offenders are an n the theater night after night yet seemingly do not know that for a few cents they may purchase a flashlight that fits into a hand bag or an illuminated pencil or bly they prefer to increase the fire hazard though exposing themselves to danger As for those in such a hurry to smoke that they light cig arestes in the aisle evidently noth ing can be done about them fred stone tells of a man who came up to him in the theater one night and asked him if he didn dian t re member him stone replied that so far as he knew he had never seen him before the man seemed quite cast down he then explained that that when stone was playing the scarecrow in the wizard of oz back in 1903 the visitor s father was stage manager and that he as a lit tie tle lad had pulled straws out of stone 9 s costume you ve certainly changed since then laughed the actor the man was the wrestler man mountain dean a bell ben syndicate service |