The First Columbus Day Arose From Bloodshed and Political Calculation
ISDA StaffOctober 4, 2023


THIS INCIDENT WAS THE WORST MASS LYNCHING IN U.S. HISTORY!

War was on the table between the U.S. & Italy after 11 Italian immigrants were lynched in New Orleans in 1891.

The diplomatic crisis cooled thanks to the first Columbus Day, and what followed was a cultural celebration built on inclusion & assimilation.

The Columbus Circle statue was unveiled on Oct. 13, 1892, at the foot of Central Park in New York City. It was built to appease the Italian American community during a period of unflinching discrimination. NYC council members now want to tear it down.

On March 14, 1891, prominent New Orleans citizens — including future mayors and governors — led the largest lynch mob ever to assemble on U.S. soil.

Numbering in the tens of thousands and wielding torches, rifles and rope, the mob of vigilantes stormed into Parish Prison and murdered 11 Italian immigrants, all of whom had either just been acquitted or were falsely implicated in the 1890 murder of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy.

The lynching victims were identified as follows;

–Antonio Bagnetto, fruit peddler: tried and acquitted
–James Caruso, stevedore: not tried
–Loreto Comitis, tinsmith: not tried
–Rocco Geraci, stevedore: not tried
–Joseph Macheca, fruit importer and Democratic Party political boss: tried and acquitted
–Antonio Marchesi, fruit peddler: tried and acquitted
–Pietro Monasterio, cobbler: mistrial
–Emmanuele Polizzi, street vendor: mistrial
–Frank Romero, ward politician: not tried
–Antonio Scaffidi, fruit peddler: mistrial
–Charles Traina, rice plantation laborer: not tried

Mob conspirators claimed that mafia influence swayed jurors, despite no evidence; and according to History.com, the court proceedings surrounding Chief Hennessy’s murder marked the genesis of Italian American mafia tropes that persist today (from boorish Saturday Night Live sketches, to Hollywood’s repetitive stereotypes).

A lynch mob breaks into Parish Prison on March 14, 1891, to abduct and kill 11 Italian immigrants who were wrongfully accused in the murder of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy. (Credit: E. Benjamin Andrews)

Italian Americans and leaders of the Kingdom of Italy were outraged by the mass lynching. Italy broke off diplomatic relations and recalled its ambassador from Washington, D.C. Then-President Benjamin Harrison, in turn, removed the U.S. legation from Rome. The lynchings even touched off talk of war between the U.S. and Italy, according to The Washington Post.

Prominent U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, praised the lynchings. Theodore Roosevelt, in a letter to his sister, sided with the mob, writing: “Personally, I think it a rather good thing.”