Draft:Murder of Evelyn Wagler

Evelyn Rene Wagler (1949–October 3, 1973) was a white woman who was burned alive in Boston, MA, after 6 black male youths forced to pour gasoline over herself then they ignited her

Personal life
Wagler lived in a politically active mixed race feminist woman's collective in Roxbury, a Boston neighborhood. She moved to America recently from Germany, spending 3 months in Philadelphia learning carpentry and taking on the more masculine name René which was used on legal documentation, before moving to Boston.

Murder
On Monday, October 1, René Wagler, a twenty-four-year-old white woman who lived in a racially mixed feminist collective in Roxbury, was walking along Blue Hill Avenue when she encountered three young blacks who told her, “Honky, get out of this part of town. On Tuesday, October 2nd, 1973, Wagler had run out of gas near her home. She walked to a service station with a two-gallon gas can. Wagler’s trip was short, a couple of blocks, up Blue Hill Ave, in the middle of Roxbury, an overwhelmingly Black section of Boston. The area was now known for high levels of crime, and for being particularly dangerous for Whites. On her way back from the station, Wagler was stopped by a gang of six young Black males. They forced her down a side street and beat her until she doused herself with the gasoline. One of them tossed a match. Wagler was engulfed in flames. Wagler dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt, running down the block to a liquor store, asking for an ambulance. Then she turned and walked out. Several customers ran after her and tried to smother the flames. The police arrived and took her to the hospital.

She had very extensive third degree burns, covering 90 per cent of her body, from below her knees, and including her back, front, head, neck and face, unable to see any surviving skin, her eyes burned shit and unable to open. Her hair had all been burned off. In spite of this, she was lively, lucid, and conversant. She died a couple hours later.

Aftermath
Despite Boston police announcing they expected arrests soon, the individuals responsible have never been found. The murder escalated existing racial tensions with negative sentiments that it happened at all, to negative sentiments to how the death of a white woman was reported on.

https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/04/archives/six-youths-burn-woman-to-death-in-boston-attack.html https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/04/archives/six-youths-burn-woman-to-death-in-boston-attack.html