BOSTON -- The entire Fourth Brigade of the State Guard, including cavalry, machine guns, motor corps and infantry, are being rushed this afternoon from several outside points to protect Boston from further out breaks of rioting and lawlessness following the strike of the police.
Following Mayor Peters' action in calling out the tenth regiment of Boston for "active duty," Governor Coolidge ordered the "immediate" mobilization of the 11th, 12th and 15th regiments of the state guard. These regiments compose the entire Fourth Brigade and will be under command of Brigadier General Samuel D. Parker.
The machine gun corps of the 14th Regiment of the New Bedford has been ordered to entrain for Boston at the earliest possible moment, it is announced here late this afternoon.
Mayor Peters took the first step to call troops to take charge of the city, when Sept. of Police Crowley announced that the "situation was beyond his control."
Rioting broke out in Scolley Square shortly after 1:30 this afternoon.
Great crowds were reported moving towards the down town business section. There was much fighting.
At 1:45 the emergency call summoning militia to mobilize was sounded on the fire whistles of Cambridge, where the Eleventh Regiment will gather.
Governor Coolidge announced that he could not declare martial law without the permission of the legislature, which is not in session. Lacking this authority he stated that all state guardmen will be under orders of Mayor Peters.
Following a night of riots, disorder and lawlessness, in which mobs of men, women and boys looted scores of shops after practically the entire police force went on strike, order was slowly being restored here today.
Rioting at several widely separated points, however, occurred shortly after 10 o'clock today, when mobs attacked volunteer policemen who had arrested looters. In many cases the prisoners were released by the crowds.
Up to noon today 150 men and boys had been arrested. Of this number fifty were charged with looting.
The loss from looting and property damage will amount to $500,000 it was estimated by city officials. Supt. of Police Crowley said that in one small area in South Boston alone, the loss would reach $600,000. It was hinted that before tonight Boston may be under martial law. In the meantime the authorities were taking stern measures to suppress disorders. An order to call out the Massachusetts state guard was expected momentarily, while several hundred Harvard students, including the varsity football squad, with about 200 volunteer citizen policemen, were already on duty.
The worst feature of the crime wave which swept over the city was attacks upon girls and women in the north end of the city, where small groups of rowdies terrorized women throughout the night.
At 3 o'clock this morning the central part of the city was almost completely in control of mobs numbering from a dozen to several hundred, who systematically looted and destroyed property and only stopped with the coming of daylight. The small force of police on duty, made up of precinct captains, lieutenants and sergeants, was powerless.
Street fights, which developed into riots, were frequent. Men fought and clubbed each other, not knowing why they fought.
The majority of shops looted were hardware, jewelry, shoe and men's furnishing establishments.
Daylight brought partial restoration of order in Boston today, following a night in which the city was virtually without protection as a result of the police force strike.
The few emergency policemen, consisting of Captains, lieutenants and sergeants, augmented by civilian volunteers were unable to handle the situation in several sections. Several stores were looted, some property was destroyed and scores of street fist fights occurred. The damage amounted to thousands of dollars.
The strike went into effect 5:45 yesterday afternoon. Practically every policeman left his beat at the hour. The principal demand has been for recognition of the union.
In a short time gangs of rowdies began congregating on the side streets. Soon afterward they started their work of looting and destruction. There were clashes with the handful of police on duty, but as soon as one disturbance was quieted others broke out in other sections.
Jewelry stores, shoe shops and men's furnishing stores were broken into and robbed. In many cases the looting was done by boys but in several instances organized mobs at tacked stores, smashing their way in and plundering them out of their more valuable contents.
In one shoe establishment the novel spectacle was presented of thieves sitting in the chairs while other thieves fitted them to shoes.
Several groups of vandals roamed the streets, broke into store windows and scattered their contents about the streets in and orgy of willful destruction.
Law abiding citizens, including women, were terrorized in several districts and these streets were soon deserted by all save the lawless element.
Shops in Avery, West, Winter, Washington and Summer streets were looted while Scooley Square today presented a scene of destruction unequalled anywhere in the city.
Tremont street in the fashionable shopping district, showed the result of the disorders. Jewelry stores had been robbed and the glass from the broken windows covered the side walks.
More store keepers had taken the precaution to barricade their windows and doors with heavy timbers, foreseeing just such results as were attendant on the strike.
At 8 o'clock today several hundreds of Harvard students were called to police duty, following the offer of their services by President A. Lawrence Lowell. A few hundred citizens, who volunteered for police duty were also assigned to patrol the streets. It was feared that even this force is inadequate to cope with the situation, if the lawlessness of last night is duplicated tonight.
Mayor Peters said he had been assured last night by Governor Coolidge and Police Commissioner Curtiss that ample measures to protect the city had been taken. He declined to comment on the situation today.
As a result of last night's disorder, it was expected that the State Guards of which ten thousand can be mobilized, will be called out immediately.
