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1920 Union Club riot in Manhattan... Irish-Americans...
1920 Union Club riot in Manhattan... Irish-Americans...
Item # 718611
November 26, 1920
CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE, Nov. 26, 1920
* Union Club riot in Manhattan
* Irish & Anglo-Americans clash
* A hanging British flag as provocation ?
* Post "Bloody Sunday" in Dublin, Ireland
The front pager has a nice banner headline for display: "IRISH RAID NEW YORK CLUB" with subheads. (see images)
Complete with 20 pages, light toning ans a little wear at the margins, generally good.
AI notes: On Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1920, the Union Club Riot erupted in Manhattan when a group of Irish-American protestors, angered by the display of the British flag at the exclusive Union Club on Fifth Avenue and 51st Street, clashed with police and caused significant property damage. The flag was seen as a provocation, especially in the wake of "Bloody Sunday" in Dublin just four days earlier, where British forces killed 14 civilians at a Gaelic football match following IRA assassinations. The Union Club, known for its pro-British elite membership, had raised the Union Jack to commemorate the Pilgrims' landing—a move that many Irish-Americans perceived as deeply offensive amidst the escalating Irish War of Independence. The protest quickly turned violent, with a crowd estimated in the hundreds hurling stones and bricks, shattering windows, and prompting a large police response that included mounted units. Four individuals were arrested, including William Hoffman, a club member found carrying a sword cane, though he was later acquitted. The incident, widely reported in the press, symbolized the growing transatlantic tensions between Irish republicans and Anglo-American elites, making the Union Club Riot one of the most vivid examples of Irish-American political unrest in early 20th-century New York.
Category: The 20th Century
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