Anarchy in Bay View

On Sept. 9, 1917, a riot broke out in Bay View’s “Little Italy.” The violence erupted when members of the Bay View Italian club, I Diletanti Filodrammatici del Circolo Studi Sociali (roughly translated as the Dramatic Lovers Social Study Club), attempted to break up a street revival meeting conducted by Reverend August Giuliani, an Evangelical Methodist minister.

Giuliani’s main church, the Italian Evangelical Church, was located on N. Astor Street in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. The Italian club, known by some in the neighborhood as “self-professed anarchists,” did not want Giuliani in their neighborhood preaching patriotism and encouraging young men to enlist in the military to fight in the war that raged in Europe. Giuliani argued that the meeting was primarily a religious meeting.

The stage was set for conflict two weeks before the riot on Sunday, Aug. 26, when Giuliani and his band of missionaries set up their first Bay View revival meeting at the corner of E. Potter and S. Bishop (now Wentworth) streets. When the mission group opened with the song “America, the Gem of the Ocean,” members of the Italian club gathered around Giuliani and began to heckle him, expressing their hatred for government, laws, church, God, and more. During Giuliani’s sermon, “God and Country,” the heckling intensified to such extent that Giuliani’s group, fearing for their safety, was forced to leave the area. However, Giuliani’s parting shot was a promise to return the next Sunday.

On Sunday, Sept. 2, Giuliani’s group was met with more heckling and threats. A police officer was called to the scene, but he found the Italian club members more than he could handle. According to an article in the Milwaukee Daily News, Giuliani and his group walked to the bus line, followed by the angry hecklers. When Giuliani promised to return the next Sunday with increased police protection, the Italian group shouted, “Don’t come back anymore. We will kill you-the police too.”

The third meeting, Sunday, Sept. 9, proved to be a deadly one. Four police detectives were present at the revival meeting. As Giuliani’s group opened their meeting, a group from the Italian club marched northward from their clubhouse toward the religious meeting, singing an anarchist song. Surrounding Giuliani’s group, the Italian group mocked the missionaries. When one of the detectives threatened to arrest the group if they didn’t disperse, one of the Italians used vulgar language. It was reported that one of the detectives frisked an Italian club member and then shoved him. A scuffle ensued, guns were drawn on both sides, and shots were fired. The altercation left two Italians mortally wounded and two police officers slightly injured. Suspects were rounded up. Eventually 11 Italians were charged with assault with the intent to kill.

The violence on Sunday, Sept. 9 had a disastrous and shocking aftermath. On Nov. 24, 1917, a bomb was found outside Giuliani’s Third Ward church. A church member transported the bomb to the Central Police Station, and while police detectives were examining it, the bomb exploded, killing nine police officers and one civilian. It was generally believed the bomb was placed next to Giuliani’s church in retaliation for the killing of the two Italians in the Bay View riot. Suspects were rounded up from Milwaukee’s Italian communities, but due to the bomb’s sophisticated nature, police suspected that Chicago anarchists were involved in planting the bomb.

Four days after the bombing of the police station, the trial of the 11 Italians involved in the Bay View riot began. Sympathizers predicted that due to the bombing of the police station, the defendants would never get a fair trial. The trial was quite sensational and was followed closely by the public and the media. The case went to the jury Dec. 20, and after only 17 minutes, the jury found all 11 defendants guilty of assault with the intent to kill. The judge sentenced all 11 to 25 years of hard labor at Waupun Prison. However, in April 1919, finding no evidence of a preconceived conspiracy to commit harm, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdicts of nine of the 11 defendants. Eventually all 11 were deported.

These three events-the Bay View riot, the bombing of the Central Police Station, and the proceedings of the Bay View riot trial-were heavily covered by the news media. Numerous news articles appeared in the five major Milwaukee newspapers. My new book, Anarchy in Bay View’s Little Italy, September 9, 1917-and the Shocking Aftermath, documents these three events through newspaper reports.

This book can be purchased through Schwartz Bookshops or by contacting Anna Passante at elexday@yahoo.com.