CITY STREETS NEED CLEANING AFTER 'STRAW HAT RIOTS'
New York City (JFK+50) On September 16, 1922, New York City street cleaners were busy following the straw hat riots* of the previous evening. The riots extended from the Battery to the Bronx.
The Evening Star reports straw hats were "a signal for hoodlums to begin work." Some hats were destroyed with sticks which had nails in them.
Even the police were victims. Three plain clothes detectives had their hats destroyed and a sergeant "was tripped and fell into a gutter while chasing boys who had battered his hat."
As many as a thousand "hoodlums" were seen destroying hats on the Upper West side.
*Straw Hat Riots of Sept 1922 in NYC resulted because of unwritten rules in men's fashion and tradition of taunting those who did not stop wearing straw hats after the beginning of autumn. Most of those arrested opted to pay a fine rather than go to jail.
SOURCE
"Straw Hat Riots Keep Police and White Wings Busy," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 16, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
