Ingram, of John Derrick, of Lieutenant Gilbert, of the Columbia, Tennessee destruction, the Freeport slaughter, the Monroe killings — all important cases in which Negroes have been framed on capital charges or have actually been killed. But we want it also to know of the typical and less known—of William Brown, Louisiana farmer, shot in the back and killed when he was out hunting on July 19, 1947 by a white game warden who casually announced his unprovoked crime by saying, “I just shot a n——r. Let his folks know.” The game warden, one Charles Ventrill, was not even charged with the crime.
Typical Cases
We cite some typical cases from the voluminous evidence. Each represents a part of the pattern of genocide. This pattern repeats itself throughout the nation, south and north, rural and urban. It is a pattern of government-directed and sanctioned genocide. The following are typical of police killings:
Henry Gilbert, 42, was beaten to death in the Harris County, Georgia jail in May, 1947. That was in the South.
But in the north, Beverly Lee, 13, was shot and killed in Detroit, Michigan on October 12, 1947 by Patrolman Louis Begin. Mrs. Francis Vonbatten, of 1839 Pine Street, Detroit, testified she saw Lee and another boy walking down the street when Begin’s squad car approached. She heard an officer say “Stop, you little son-of-a-bitch,” and then she heard a shot. The officer was cleared by Coroner Lloyd K. Babcock.
Roland T. Price, 20-year-old war veteran, was shot and killed in Rochester, New York, by six patrolmen who fired twenty-five bullets into his body just after he had viewed the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence on the “Freedom Train.” He went into a restaurant where he complained he had been short changed. Patrolman William Hamill was called, drew his gun, forced Price outside, where he was joined by five other officers. All began shooting. All were cleared.
Versie Johnson, 35, a saw mill worker of Prentiss, Mississippi, was shot to death in August, 1947 after he fled when a white woman raised the cry of rape. Three white officers, members of a posse that tracked Johnson down, were arrested and charged with manslaughter. They were exonerated.
Raymond Couser was shot and killed by Patrolman Frank Cacurro on Montrose Street in Philadelphia, on November 16, 1947. Eyewitnesses said they saw the patrolman with drawn revolver stalking Couser as he walked down the street, Couser apparently unaware that he was being followed. The patrolman said he thought Couser was armed and had been called to the vicinity because of a quarrel in the Couser home.
