Reading Eagle – May 1, 1940
‘Kidnaping’ Starts Riot at Harvard
Rochester, Benny’s Stooge, Center
of Fracas
Cambridge, Mass.. May 1 (AP)—
The first
riot of spring occurred in Harvard Square last night and seven Harvard students
were arrested for disturbing the peace.
The riot, which embodied all the
usual features of Harvard Square spring disturbances, apparently developed from
a combination of the warm evening air and the fact that a group of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology students put one over on the Harvards by “abducting”
Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Negro comedian on the Jack Benny radio program.
Rochester, scheduled to appear at
a Harvary smoker, turned up instead at the Delta Kappa Epsilon House at M. I.
T., after being persuaded by a group of Dekes to leave his plane at Providence,
R. I., and motor to Cambridge.
The comedian thought he was at
Harvard until two hours later. The riot, which found some 200 students milling
around in the square, followed soon after, giving police quite a good workout
for about an hour.
Americans are cultivating a taste
for the exotic Cuban papaya fruit. Demand during February trebled over the
month in 1939.
Middlesboro Daily News – May 3,
1940
Riot Over Rochester
Eddie (Rochester) Anderson
Students at Harvard university,
Cambridge, Mass., rioted when Eddie Anderson, who is the “Rochester” of the
Jack Benny radio program, reported he had been “kidnaped” by students of “another
college,” which fact caused him to be later for an appearance at a ‘Harvard
freshman smoker. As a result a battle between Harvard and Massachusetts
Institute of Technology students occurred. Later students and police and firemen
skirmished.
The Pittsburgh Press – May 1, 1940
Benny’s Valet Visits Harvard—He’s
a Riot
Rochester ‘Kidnaped’ and ‘Avenged’
in Jumble of Events
By The United Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 1—Five Harvard
students were convicted and two classmates pleaded guilty in District Court
today to peace disturbance charges in connection with a riot of 1000 Harvard
and Massachusetts Institute of Technology students last midnight.
All were fined $5. Richard N.
Brill, 18, of New York, one of five who pleaded not guilty, appealed his fine
and was held in $10 bail.
The others convicted were Nicholas
Saterlee, 24, of Rochester, N. Y.; Royce B. McKinley, 19, of Ann Arbor, Mich.;
John G. Buchanan Jr., 22, of Pittsburgh, and Richard G. Harris, 19, of Hamden,
Conn.
Both Henry M. Maciog, 18, of
Derby, Conn., and William H. Savage, 21, of New York City, pleaded guilty.
The mixture included:
The “Kidnaping” of Rochester and
his manager, Harry Browning, by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students.
An auto race in which Browning and
Rochester, taken from a Tech fraternity house, were followed by a score of MIT
students to Harvard.
A minor scuffle between the “kidnapers”
and Harvard students when Rochester was produced several hours late at his
destination—a Harvard freshman smoker.
Growth of scuffle into a riot of
500 Harvard students who, for some reason known only to themselves, marched on
Radcliffe Girls College.
The “kidnaping” of Rochester, the
Negro comedian, Eddie Anderson, and his manager occurred at the Providence, R.
I., airport.
A minor battle between the rival
students started when Rochester explained his tardiness by saying “We were
taken to some college, but it wasn’t Harvard.”
Within a few minutes students
poured from various Harvard buildings, some even left Memorial Hall where
Rochester was remained in their rooms hurled bags filled with water.
Police arrived.
Said Rochester from his hotel room
early today:
“We’re going to New Haven
tomorrow. I hope the Yale boys behave.”
The Victoria Advocate – May 1,
1940
BENNY SHOW IS ‘KIDNAPED’ BY MIT
By United Press
An attempt by Tech students
telling him that they would drive smoker started the riot. The Mit men Kidnaped
Eddie Anderson, the “Rochester” of Jack Benny’s radio program, who was to have
appeared at the smoker.
Cambridge police riot squads were
summoned twice before the disturbance was quelled. A false alarm was sounded,
one group of Harvard students left the fray minus much of their clothing and
fire crackers and water-filled paper bags were tossed from Harvard dormitory
windows.
The Mit students intercepted
Anderson at Providence, R. I. to break up a Harvard freshman him to Cambridge.
Anderson was taken to a Mit
fraternity house and thought he was at the right place. Two hours later he was
informed of the hoax and the students took him to the Harvard smoker. The
Harvard students threatened the Mit boys with fists.
After Anderson’s act, the Harvard
students decided to settle with the Mit men.
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