The Omaha guide., 1935-01-19

REIGN
TAKES TWO LIVES

Jacksonville, Fla-Two dead. one
badly beaten, and score endangered is
the score thus far in Jacksonville's
latest wave of police terror which be-
gan when a Negro r~ailroaded into a
life sentence for the s~elf-defense slay-
ing Of a bullying fireman was granted
a new trial here two weeks g
Most brutal and coid-blooded of the
police atrocities was the wanton muir
der of George Bennett, ~21-year-old
president Of the Brooklyn section Of
the cit4. Bennett was arrested on
Sunday and jailed on suspicion Of re
was removed from the jail to the hos
ptal, and on Thursday, relatives were
notified that he was dead. The expla-
nation given was that Bennett had
had a "ft". Relatives, however, as
sert that Bennett had never had a
fit in his life, and that when taken to
the police station had been in the
best Of health and unsecured in any
way. This co~ntrasted sharply with
the manglcd conditions Of his body
when it vas given to the undertaken;
the back of the head was horribly
crashed in and one eye had been
knocked almost out.
On the following Tuesday morning
the second killing was chalked up b.
the swashbuckling official thugs when
Elijah Sallee was shot through the
heart by patrolman J. H. Allen. Allen
excuses the crime on the grounds that
Sallee had a knife in his hand with
blood on it), and when approached
slashed at the officer. The only evil
dence Of this attempted attack" on
the person of the policeman, however,
was a small cut in his uniform. Sal
lee died Immediately.
About a week ago an eleven-year-
old boy whose name was not learned
was cursed viciously by the white
clerk of a doughnut shop in the heart
of the city. He demonstrated with the
clerk, and was hit across the head
with a stool. The boy was not serious
ly hurt, however, and ran, hurting a
brick at his tormentor as he did 50.
Police were called, and a few mo-
ments later several armed men in
plain clothes drove upon the scene,
drew a pistol upon the helpless lad
and then beat him pitilessly about the
head with a blackjack. The boy
eventually escaped.
That the wave of terror has a d.
rect connection with the case Of the
death Of the fireman is clearly shown
in the events that followed the killing
last March. Charles Curvin, a Negro
beil-hop. was returning from a dance
just before daybreak. As he reached
q corner he was stopped BY someone
who thrust a gun through the closed
window Of Ills automobile and began
c~ursing him. Excited by the breaking
glass and fearing a holdup, Curvin
fired the revolver he carried in his car
for protection. The shot killed J. ].
Williams, later proved to be a fire
man who was attempting in the usual
local n to command Curvin to
halt his car because of a fire hose.
Curyin was Immediately arrested,
and in the presence Of dozens of white
and Negro witnesses taken back to
the scene Of the killing and brutality
pummelled in an attempt to wiring a
confession from him. Witnesses to
the open third degree claim that Cur
vim was red from head to foot" after
this torture. Despite his protesta-
tions of innocence of generalization,
he was given a life sentence.
Constant efforts on the behalf Of
his white employer, however, forced
a retrial of his case, and at the latter
trial his crime was changed from muir
der to manslaughter, the latter carry
ing a penalty of as little as one year,
and from this date began the present
series of atrocities by local hired
thugs.