PREVENTED RIOT — Patrolling the Norwood business district after police emptied Roll-Land of unruly crowd of over 800 were Norwood police carrying night sticks and State Troopers. Dozens of cars were stopped and teen-age occupants told to leave Norwood and go to their homes. (Eugene McLean Photo)
Decisive action by local and state police averted a not involving between 400 and 500 teenagers in Norwood Monday night.
The situation developed after several fist fights that broke out at the weekly dance at Roll-Land resulted in the dance being halted and the hall cleared. This sent more than 450 teenagers to their cars and into the streets. Police of Norwood and Stale Troopers from a half dozen barracks converged on the area to disperse the. throngs and ensure law and order.
Charles Santoro, owner of Roll-Land, said that several out-of-town groups started the fracas, shouting "Stop The Music," and threw a waste paper basket onto the dance floor.
Sergeant James Curran and Patrolman William Costello, who were on special duty at the dance, tried to quiet the milling dancers but when they stopped a fight in one section of the hall another would break out on the other side.
They finally told Santoro that the hall would have to be emptied.
Two State Troopers, who were in their car outside the Roll-Land building at Route 1, near Dean Street, were called in and went to the aid of the Norwood officers They radioed to State Police 'Headquarters in Framingham for additional help when the situation seemed to be getting out of hand. Troopers from six other barracks were rushed over the road to Norwood.
Meanwhile, Patrolman T. Michienzi, who was on desk duty at the police station, had been, notified what was happening at Roll-Land and he contacted Police Chief James M. Murphy and Sergeant William Travers, who were rushed to Roll-Land along with every available officer. Additional officers were called 'from their homes.
When the hall was finally cleared, the dancers took to their cars and with many on foot, started to gather again at Art Johnson's roadside stand at Route 1 and Everett Street.
Troopers and Norwood police, along with Westwood police, tried to keep the throng moving and finally asked the manager of Art Johnson's, William Libby, to close down the stand so that the crowd would disperse. He complied immediately with the request of the police.
The roaming cars then started to converge on Norwood Centre and scores of the dancers tried to enter the McManus ice cream store and Brigham's store. They, too, were finally closed at the request of the police.
Police were patrolling Washington Street with 24-inch nightsticks and Chief Murphy had a supply of helmets and tear gas bombs available in case any rioting broke out.
The first calls into the Norwood police station that something was amiss at Roll-Land came from Boston newspapers, the police said, several minutes before they got official word from the police at the scene.
Troopers John Flynn and Brian Sheehan of the Foxboro barracks were the troopers that first entered Roll-Land to assist the local police in starting the dancers on their way home.
The scheduled summertime dances have been extremely popular with the younger set, and Santoro said that he was canceling next week's dance, the final one of the season, due to the fracas on Monday night.
Norwood police took the registration numbers of dozens of cars that kept driving back and forth along Washington Street after the dance was called off and the hall cleared shortly before 9:00 p.m. At 11:00 p.m. cars were still driving through the town after the ice cream stands had been closed.
Santoro said that the trouble was definitely started by out-of-towners and that the Norwood teenagers at the dance were in no way responsible for what happened.
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