The suggestion of Nathan Sweedler counsel for the three Jewish internes mistreated by their non-Jewish colleagues at the Kings County Hospital, that the six guilty of the attack resign from their posts, in which case prosecution against them would be withdrawn, was rejected by Peter P. Smith of 44 Court Street, Brooklyn, counsel for the suspended internes. His clients, Mr. Smith declared, would not resign, but would fight the charges against them to the end.
It developed yesterday that the six accused of the excesses, who were suspended by order of Mayor Walker, were ordered by Commissioner Coler to leave the hospital and not return to their posts until they are acquitted.
Dr. Charles C. Adams, L. B. Armstrong, William Wills, Kenneth Clough, William B. Strutton and Frank Hamm, the six physicians charged with the attack, had previously been permitted to remain in their quarters at the hospital.
Four new internes, Jews, have been designated to take the places of the suspended doctors. The new physicians are Drs. Salmon and Glazier of the City Hospital and Drs. Maysick and Weingrow of the Metropolitan Hospital.
It also developed that the mistreatment of the Jewish internes at the Kings County Hospital was the climax of a series of persecutions against Jewish internes and patients in the hospital. Correspondence between Rabbi Louis M. Gross of Union Temple, Brooklyn, and Dr. Mortimer D. Jones, medical superintendent of Kings County Hospital, disclosed that negotiations were carried on with a view to ending the anti-Semitic agitation in the hospital prior to this last occurrence.
It appears that the attack upon the Jewish internes was an act of vengeance for the complaints submitted to the Superintendent by a delegation of Rabbis. Many former Jewish patients signified their willingness to testify at the Mayor’s inquiry, regarding anti-Semitic feeling which prevailed at the hospital for a long time.
"This anti-Semitism at the Kings County Hospital has been continuous for years," said Mr. Sweedler, counsel for the three Jewish internes. "Internes with Jewish names have not been allowed to sit at the same tables in the dining rooms with the Gentile doctors. When they took places at the general table, the Gentiles would rise, throw down their napkins–sometimes in the faces of the offenders–and march out of the room. The Jewish internes were not allowed to play on the hospital tennis courts, although they offered to pay their share of the upkeep.
"Foul-smelling capsules have been thrown into their rooms. If they locked their doors, the transoms were pried open. Their books and clothing have been torn. Nurses have been encouraged to be discourteous to them and to disobey their orders."
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
