The Wilmington morning star., 1940-02-19
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
By PRESTON GROVER

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1S.-Many months will
pass before the impact of the supreme court
decision again denouncing the third degree
is felt in the bull pen of the nations police
stations, but in time it will get there like a
refreshing breeze.
The supreme court, speaking through Justice
Black, told Florida that four negroes could
not be executed on the basis Of forced confes'
sions to a murder. A respected citizen of Pom
pano, Fla, was killed in 1898 and about two.
score negroes were rounded up in double-quick
time. Then the third-degree heat was applied
steadily for five days. Three Of them broke"
on the sixth day.
Easy Confessions"
Many policemen will defend third. degree
methods to the last breath on the ground that
it saves a heap of time to get the convictions
that way.
Probably every cub reporter ever assigned
to a police beat has seen the process or watch.
ed its results. There will be a series of petty
thefts and house-breakings around the town.
The papers and the public will begin to howl
at police inefficiency. Then some luckless devil
will be captured around the railroad yard. The
police will question" him. Before another "a
hours have passed his confession" will estab.
fish a new high in efficient b%anditry.
With a dozen unsolved thefts to account for,
the police often enough saddle the whole cate.
S0Ay upOA I"S Ooopt oid Slo"iuSly dSSQIo luS
citizens that one more menace to public safety
has been cleared up by Chief of Police Wiley
Beckstoop.
Station-House Tactics
Not all the third-degree p~ractises are confin.
ed to the south among the negro population.
We had our book filled out west where a mans
a man, and a buns a bum with the police
after him.
Wp'Ve hepn awaU q fou fropo po1ioo
courts as a regular beat and some of our
friends tell us that things have changed. That
is nice to hear, and at this point it ought to
be explained that your policeman out on the
corner guiding traffic and old ladies across
the street cuts mighty little pie in this .hird
degree business. That falls to the station-house
boys who have to make good for the chief.
Black Proves Fair
1t might be added that the supreme courts
opinion in the case of the Florida negroes was
written by the member Of the court who for a
long time was expected to be it's public scape.
goat because of his early Khan affiliations.
But opinion is growing steadily around the
court that Justice Black is building himself
a reputation for alert Jurisprudence.
Without question he writes the smoothest
opinions, from a strictly spectators standpoint,
of any of the new appointees and is a close
rival in that respect to the chief justice.
One-Man Decision
But we can't pass now without letting you
know that in the Arkansas gasoline case the
Constitution is what Justice McReynolds saws
it is. He wrote an opinion saying Arkansas
had no right to levy special taxes on gasoline
In the tanks Of through" vehicles.
Four other members of the court agreed
with his final idea but refused to say it as
ne did. They wrote a special "concurring'
opinion of their own.
Three others disagreed altogether. However,
since McReynolds was officially assigned to
the JOB by the chief justice, his one-man opin.
ion became the official voice of the court.