A wrong gate, a nervous guard, and a pistol pressed too close turned an ordinary return to the Fox Hills hospital into a night of alarm.
On March 15, 1922, disabled ex-soldier Bernard A. Curran was shot in the hip after a hospital guard mistook him for an intruder.
The wound was slight, but the reaction was not. Within moments, more than 200 former soldiers poured toward the scene, anger rising fast enough that attendants feared a riot and called in the police.
By the time reserves reached the Staten Island hospital, the disturbance had quieted.
Near Riot When Guard Shoots Soldier Patient
STATEN ISLAND, New York. — A near riot, in which more than 200 disabled ex-soldiers quartered in the Fox Hills, Staten Island, hospital participated, followed the shooting of Bernard A. Curran, 26, one of the patients, by a guard, who mistook him for an intruder.
Curran suffered a slight wound in the hip.
Some of the attendants, hearing the shot and seeing scores of patients rushing to the scene, sent a riot call to the Stapleton, S.I. police, and reserves were hurried to the hospital.
The disturbances, however, had subsided when they arrived, hospital authorities said. George Schmidt, the guard, was held for investigation.
Hospital officials said Curran and a companion entered the wrong gate upon returning to the hospital tonight, and refused to make their identities known to Schmidt, who placed his pistol against Curran’s side and fired.
Patients from all parts of the building and grounds flocked to the spot and were reported to have threatened several other guards who came to Schmidt’s assistance.
Source: Evening Star. Washington, D.C. March 15, 1922.
