Thread by @1919raceriots

📢INQUEST RESULTS📢

Mohamed Abdullah was found by his brother, Hassan Abdullah, in a boarding house on #ButeStreet, #Cardiff, #Wales during the 1919 race riots. He died from fatal blows to the head on 13th June 1919. 1/

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots

The verdict of the jury was "Haemorrhage and concussion due to injuries received by some person or persons unknown", ie., he was hit, received a concussion, experienced a haemorrhage and died from his injuries.

He was 21 years old.

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 2/

The Doctor on duty pronounced Mohamed dead at King Edward VII Hospital on #NewportRoad in #Cardiff. The inquest into Mohamed Abdullah's death was held on 10th July 1919 in #Cardiff, Wales🇬🇧

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 3/

From the remarks:

'About 8pm on 12th June there was an attack made on 264 Bute St. by a very hostile crowd throwing stones, with the result that the occupants who were coloured men fired back with revolvers💥into the crowd outside.'

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 4/

'The Police entered the house to disarm the occupants of their firearms and to do so they had to draw their batons.'

*remember this* ☝️🏾

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 5/

The crowd rushed in after the police, leading to 'a general melee', and Mohamed Abdullah 'got struck in the head with some weapon and rendered unconscious.'

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 6/

'Some weapon' is where things get a little dubious: Constable Lamborne states that he witnessed Abdullah become struck by 'a civilian' who was trying to contain the crowd with 'the leg of a table'.

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 7/

Meanwhile, the doctor further states his 'fracture could have been caused by a baton or any blunt instrument'

This possible police baton is to become a recurring trope in the inquest following the death of Mohamed Abdullah.

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 8/

Mrs Mabel Ali, the (white) wife of the owner of the boarding-house said she 'saw a police baton strike Abdullah's head - but that the blow was meant for the crowd.'

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 9/

Abdullah's wasn't the only head injury from that night. Five men, four of them black, were also taken in with skull fractures. Other pieces of evidence from Bute St. point towards excessive police force.

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 9/

This, taken with the fact that 10 black men and no white men were arrested after the Millicent St. dust-up, where the white crowds vastly outnumbered black lodgers, would suggest some police bias.

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 10/

'Given this evidence, the Blacks' resort to arms is more understandable, even if it cannot be excused.'
- Jacqueline Jenkinson

#1919RaceRiots #Cardiff1919RaceRiots 11/

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