On this day, 23 January 1909, the so-called “Tottenham outrage” took place in London when Latvian Jewish revolutionaries the rubber factory where they worked, leading to a legendary chase and shootout.
Jacob Lepidus (25) and Paul Helfeld (21), who were armed, stole £80 in cash from a company driver at the factory gates, which was immediately opposite Tottenham police station. They made off down Chestnut Road, with two police officers, the driver and several members of the public, one of whom was also armed, in hot pursuit. Gunfire was exchanged which put the car out of action, and then hit a 10 year old bread delivery boy, Ralph Joselyne, killing him.
One of the police officers, William Tyler, caught up with the robbers, who then shot him in the head. After running for 3 miles, Lepidus and Helfeld then used a hijacked tram, a milk float then a horse and cart as getaway vehicles, while police commandeered another tram to pursue them, as well as a horse and cart, until Helfeld shot the horse.
The pair eventually reached a fence by the River Ching. Lepidus climbed over, but Helfeld was unable to, and so shot himself to prevent capture. Lepidus ran towards Epping Forest, and, almost six miles from the site of the robbery, shut himself in a house on Oak Hill. Police burst in, shooting, and found Lepidus dead, reportedly by suicide.
In total, four people were killed during the incident and 25 injured. In the aftermath, the media drummed up anti-immigrant sentiment against Jewish migrants, many of whom had been forced to flee antisemitic pogroms in the Russian Empire. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2193016560883482/?type=3