June 27, 2003

100 YEARS AGO

• A lynch mob of about 4,000 men, women and children broke into the Wilmington, Del., jail and dragged out George White, who was black, and burned him alive on a bonfire. White had been accused of raping and killing the daughter of a local reverend. His trial had been scheduled for September, which, evidently, was not soon enough for the enraged mob. Policemen attempted to prevent the mob from entering the jail, and four people were shot dead trying to break in; the mob, however, eventually overwhelmed the guards.

75 YEARS AGO

• Should a person who refuses to rent a room to a person because he’s a Jew be allowed to teach in the public school system? Mary Raymond, a teacher in the Jersey City school district, placed an ad in the local paper to rent a room in her house. There was only one requirement: Jews need not apply. George Bernstein, a longtime member of the Jersey City Board of Education, brought the case before the board, arguing that if Mrs. Raymond can’t stand to rent rooms to Jews, then the Jewish taxpayers of Jersey City can’t stand to have her on their payroll.

• The Forward profiles Jewish Detroit: “How many hold-ups have there been since you’ve been with us?” “11,” I answer. “And how many bombs have gone off?” “13!” I tell him. “And how many people have been run over by cars?” “You can’t count them,” I say fearfully. “Nu,” says the Detroiter, laughing in my face, “Detroit is just like a little New York.”

50 YEARS AGO

• It’s said that Menachem Begin cannot even calmly say the name “Ben-Gurion.” Begin verbally attacks David Ben-Gurion constantly and with great bitterness. When the government trotted out the evidence on the recent discovery of the weapons cache of the Jewish terrorist group the “Zealots” and had them branded a terrorist group, Begin really lost control and called Ben-Gurion a “cowardly menace.” It’s not only Begin that’s doesn’t agree with the assessment of the Zealots as terrorists — nearly all the religious parties were opposed to the ruling. There seems to be a connection between yeshiva boys and the Jewish fascists.

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