Five Harvard Men Arrested July 4 At Baltimore Amusement Park Sit-In

At least five Harvard students were arrested during the Independence Day attempt by CORE to integrate an amusement park near Baltimore, Md. County police arrested 283 persons on charges of trespassing when they refused to leave the Gwynn Oak Amusement Park after police had read the state trespass law to them.

According to Steven H. Johnson '64, chairman of Tocsin, there were practically no violent incidents during the demonstration, although several protestors had to be carried off to jail and were subsequently charged with resisting arrest.

Everyone arrested was indicted on the trespassing charge and trial was set for October. The defendents were released on cognizance of their lawyers, relieving them of the responsibility of paying bond. CORE lawyers plan to carry the case to the Supreme Court if necessary in an effort to test the validity of the Maryland trespass law.

Johnson, who was one of the Harvard students involved, said the group went to Baltimore to help dramatize the situation at the park, which has been a point of chronic irritation for years. "We also though it was a most fitting way to spend July 4," Johnson added.

As local police were warned by a story in a Baltimore newspaper of the integration attempt, the demonstrators attempted to outflank the police by sending a token party to the front gate and deploying the main force to side and rear entrances.

These tactics were only partically successful, Johnson reported, as the police quickly moved to close any unguarded exit when the demonstrators approached.

Harvard men arrested include Johnson, Todd A. Gitlin '63 national president of Students for a Democratic Society, Richard J. Rothstein '63, John H. Ehrenreich '63, and Thomas A. Timberg '64.