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The Greenville Lynching Trial


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 * Rebecca on Culbertson:"But great play was made with the Scripture; it might almost be called ball play. The Bible belonging to Greenville County Court House is in terrible shape. Like many Bibles, it has a flounce, or valance, of leather protecting its edges, and this is torn and crumbling, while its boards are cracked, and small wonder. Its quietest hours are when it is being sworn upon; at any other time it is likely to be snatched up from the small stand on which it rests, which is like that used for potted plants in some homes, and waved in the air, held to an attorney’s breast, thrust out over the jury box, and hurled back to its resting place in a convulsion of religious ecstasy. Some of the Bible-tossing in this case was inspired by sincere conviction. But it looked as if a great deal was done in cold sacrilege to impress the jury, who were assumed to be naïvely pious. This was only one of the cynical efforts to exploit the presumed naïveté of the twelve men in the box. The subjects of these efforts were, as well as religion, alcohol, the hatred of the state for the nation, the hatred of the South for the North, and the hatred of the white man for the Negro. This last the judge had expressly ruled should not be mentioned in court... Mr. John Bolt Culbertson... openly defied it... He [Culbertson] used his hope that the jury were xenophobes to make an attack on the freedom of the press. He pointed to the press table and declared that because of this fussy insistence on the investigation of a murder there was now a trial to which Northern papers had sent representatives; and the implication was that they had come for the purpose of mocking and insulting the South. “Lai-ai-aife and Tai-ai-aime,” he chanted with the accent that was so much stronger in the courtroom than it sounded in the hotel lobby or the drugstore, “have sent representatives.” The judge pointed out that Mr. Culbertson had no evidence of the existence of these people and that they therefore could not be discussed. The thread on which these pearls were strung appeared to be the argument that the murder of Willie Earle was of very slight importance except for its remote political consequences. Mr. Culbertson was to prove that he did not give this impression inadvertently. He went into his crouching stance, his hands were spinning, he shone with frosty glee, exultantly he cried, “Willie Earle is dead, and I wish more like him was dead.” There was a delighted, giggling, almost coquettish response from the defendants and some of the spectators. Mr. Hurd and his father looked fortified. There was a gasp from others of different mind. Thunderously the judge called him to order: “You confine yourself to my ruling or I’ll stop you from arguing to the jury.” Culbertson, smiling at the defendants, almost winking at them, said, “I didn’t refer to Willie Earle as a Negro.” When the judge bade him be careful, he continued, still flirting with his audience, “There’s a law against shooting a dog, but if a mad dog were loose in my community, I would shoot the dog and let them prosecute me.” A more disgusting incident cannot have happened in any court of law in any time."

- Rebecca West

Sequence of events
Greenvilleroots.com has published a sequence of events as follows:


 * Saturday, Feb. 15, 1947: Taxi driver Thomas W. Brown picks up Willie Earle and perhaps a second fare -- accounts differ -- at the corner of Markley and Calhoun streets for a run to Liberty.


 * 10 p.m.: Brown, stabbed three times but still alive, is found on a road near Pickens. His cab is 500 yards away.


 * Sunday, Feb. 16, 12:30 p.m.: Pickens authorities take Earle into custody and hold him in the local jail.


 * Monday, Feb. 17, 5 a.m.: A group of men, many wearing taxi driver's caps, take Earle from his jail cell.


 * 6 a.m.: Anonymous call to a black-owned funeral home in Greenville reports the location of a body on Bramlett Road.


 * 6:50 a.m.: Greenville Coroner J.O. Turner arrives at the scene and finds Earle, dead from a beating and one or more shotgun blasts.


 * Midmorning: Local, state and federal authorities launch investigation.


 * 11:40 a.m.: Brown dies at St. Francis Hospital.


 * Tuesday morning, Feb. 18: Authorities begin rounding up the first of what will be 31 men to be charged in Earle's death.


 * Monday, Feb. 24: Judge George B. Greene sets bond at $2,500 for each defendant. All but three are taxi drivers. All post bond.


 * Monday, May 5: Circuit Judge J. Robert Martin rejects defense attorneys' motion to delay the trial.


 * Tuesday, May 13: Jury selection begins and is completed the next day.


 * Wednesday, May 14: Judge Martin overrides defense objections and allows the prosecution to enter into evidence the confessions of 26 of the defendants.


 * Thursday, May 15: Statements of five defendants are read. Each names one defendant as the triggerman. Another statement in which that defendant denies firing the fatal shots is read.


 * Friday, May 16: Reading of statements continues. Defense lawyers cross-examine investigating officers on the methods used to obtain the statements.


 * Monday, May 19: The state rests. Judge Martin issues directed verdicts of acquittal for three defendants on the grounds of insufficient evidence. The defense rests without calling witnesses.


 * Tuesday, May 20: Closing arguments. Judge Martin's charge bars the use of race and any acts by Earle as justification for his death.


 * Wednesday, May 21, 3:20 p.m.: The case goes to the jury.


 * 10:30 p.m.: The jury returns verdicts of acquittal for all of the remaining 28 defendants.