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'Kidnaping’ Starts Riot at Harvard





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 riot was the outgrowth of balmy evening and Jack Benny’s radio valet Rochester.
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

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 1—Sixty policemen dispersed 1,000 rioting Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology students early today. Seven Harvard men were arrested and released in $25 bail each.
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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