Texas, B, 1873-2002, Undated

THE NEW YORK TIMES,

THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1986

Inmate Is Given Lethal Injection’

_ After Apologizing for He Crimes ne

HUNTSVILLE, Tex., April 16 (AP
_ HUNTSVILLE, Te, Apel 16 (AP)

the Sor het of a minister who had be-
ended him was executed by injection

carly today after telling witipeetes tet Pa

he deserved to die.
“I’m sorry for what 1 ding,” the

said the. icmate was hci and cheer:
| ful and nearly joking with the chaplain

sertion. of two needles into his arms.

- solved to its taking

man, Jeffrey Allen Barney, said in a| Said.

final statement. ‘‘I deserve it. I hope
Jesus forgives me.”

Mr. Barney, 28 years old, a native of
'Dayton, Ohio, had asked that no ap-
| peals be filed to halt the execution, the
second in Texas this year and the ‘2th
| since the state resumed the death pen-
alty in 1982. He was pronounced dead at
12:22 A.M.

His execution was the second in the ;

United States within 14 hours. On Tues-
day, Daniel . 37, was put to
death in the electric chair in Florida for
killing a man and raping the man’s
wife on New Year’s Day 1976.

Attorney General Jim Mattox, who
was in the death chamber when Mr.
Barney was summoned at midnight,

juvenile record, was arrested in Day-
‘ton on Nov. 28, 1981, driving a Cadillac
owned by the victim, Ruby Longsworth

days earlier, Mrs. Longsworth, 54, had
been raped and strangled with a micro-
phone cord, =»

‘Never Got Along WH

The a Sbeerbend. tae Rev. John
Longswo Mr. Barney
get a job after Mr. Barney was re-
leased from prison after serving time
for stealing an automobile. He was
using the couple’s home as a mailing
address and got into an argument while
visiting the house, the police said.

Mrs. Longsworth’s daughter, Debra |

ras he was being prepared” for the in-~

“*He' “was. very: understanding,. re-
place and even glad
‘to have it fakin piace,” Mr, Mattox |

Mr. Barney, who had an extensive ~

of Pasadena, a Houston suburb. Four

Jeffrey Allen Barney |

Murrell, said her mother and Mr. Bar-
ney never got along.

“I didn’t care for him, either,’ she
said. ‘He never did an against
us. But honestly, he :just :
wrong way..It was not hatred. That’s
= ore It was just a personality
Cc as. 9?

’ The police said they bad. found Mr.
Barney’s fingerprints at the scene and
aed witnesses. who saw . hig: at the

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’ “States in as many days early today,

* cal motives,

: Spent his last hours playing dominoes
_ with a guard. His last meal was two

after the injection. His shoulders and

ing. He was pronounced dead at 12:22
* a.m. h

«©
' * Dayton, Ohio, on Nov, 28, 1981, driving
‘+ the Cadillac owned by Ruby Longs-

» Worth. Four days earlier, Mrs,

me Sei 54; had been raped and stran-

women”
executed,
one quietly

The ted Press )
| Blham be Y-/6- $l
Jeffery Allen Barney became the
second man executed in the United

proclaiming that he deserved to die for
the rape and murder of the wife of a

' Minister who had befriended him in
1981. =

&
“Tm sorry for what I done,” Barney

said in a final statement before his exe-
. cution at Texas’ Huntsville Prison. “I

deserve it. I hope Jesus forgives me.” ;
Barney, 28, had asked that no 4

. appeals be filed to halt the execution,

which was by injection. It was the fifth.
execution in the United States this year ©
and the 55th since states resumed ,
imposing the death penalty in 1976.

The 54th execution took place at

* midday Tuesday, when Daniel

37, was put to death in Florida’s elec-
tric chair for killing a man and raping |
his wife during a 10-month crime Spree ;

» in 1975 and 1976.

PRT |
IN CONTRAST to Barney's repen-\,
tant comments, Thomas Struggled with -

. his guards for seven minutes to avoid

being strapped into the electric chair. |
He also made a final statement in|
which he accused Florida Gov. Bob °
Graham of executing people for politi-

Barney was described throughout his
final day as calm — so calm that he

boxes of cereal and a pint of milk,
“T’'m a tingling all over,” he said

chest trembled briefly, a tear rolled
down his cheek and he stopped breath-

Barney, who had an ‘extensive juve-
nile record, was arrested in his native

gled in her Houston-area home.

In Florida, Thomas was pronounced »
dead at 11:19 p.m. CST Tuesday, five
minutes after a black-hooded execu-
tioner threw a switch that pe:
volts of power through ovat
" Thomas, 37, was a leader of the “ski-
mask gang” that rampaged through "|
rural Central Florida for 10 months in
the mid-1970s. He was convicted of the
New Year's Day 1976 Shooting death of
Charles Anderson, 48. Anderson's wife
was raped as her husband bled to
death. ei they Vises

Tei ace Sa SO a RLS akin i Anes

ean decane:


Death Row inmate ready
to ‘pay debt,’ chaplain says

Associated Press
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Convicted
killer Jeffery Allen Barne mr, ene

that no a name,
was moved to a small holding cell
outside the Texas death chamber yes-
terday to await his execution b >
jection, The execution was to
been carried out after midnight.

Barney, 28, a native of
Ohio, was convicted of stran
raping a minister’s wife in 1981,

“I’m guilty of what I was convicted
of,” he told the judge who last month
set today as the execution date, “I
just wish that the sentence be carried
out.”

Attorney Mary Moore said, “I'm
hoping he changes his mind, but I
don't foresee it.”

Texas already has had one execu-
tion this year, 11 since the state re-
sumed executions in 1982,

Barney, who could select up to five
— to wateh him die, picked onl

wo — Freddie Wier and Nichols C.
Amrhein, both Harria County Jail
chaplains.

ppeals be filed in

ayton,
and

Wier, who saw Barney on Monday,
said: “He said he is guilty and has
made it right with the Lord and has
to pay. his debt with society.”

Barney was driven the 15 miles
from Death Row to the Texas De-
partment of Corrections Walls Unit,
which houses the death chamber.

Barney was arrested in Dayton on
Nov. 28, 1981, driving the Cadillac
owned by Rub Longrwertf 54, She
had been killed four (ays earlier, A
microphone cord had been wrapped
tightly around her neck,

Her husband, John, was a minister
who helped Barney get a job after his
release from a prison term for auto
theft. He was using the Longsworth
residence as a mailing address,

“He went over there the evening of
her death to pick up mail and they got
into an argument,” said Pasadena Po-
lice Lt. William Lanier, who arrested

Barn i

hen she called me a bum, I
just exploded,’ ” Lanier said Barney
told him,

‘he Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville. Wednesday, April 16. 1986

» ag

BA

al
OS,

Charles W., white, lethal injection Texas 3-11-1986,

BIRMINHAM NEWS, March 12, 1986.

of

«

‘

a ee

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A
man convicted of murdering a city
marshal in a Houston shootout was put
to death by injection early today after
telling his weeping mother “Don’t feel
bad, Mama. I deserve this.”

“Tell everybody goodbye,” Charles

' Bass, 29, told his mother, Rose Eng-

land, who was among witnesses to the
execution.

Bass took two deep breaths, looked
at her, then stared at the ceiling. He
was pronounced dead at 12:21 a.m.,

‘Attorney General Jim Mattox said.

The execution at the Texas Depart-
ment of Corrections’ Wall Unit was the

"second in the United States this year

and the 56th since the Supreme Court
allowed states to resume capital pun-
ishment in 1976.

Another condemned killer, Roger
“Animal” DeGarmo, had also been
scheduled for execution early today,

wwoeen “te 1

Texas officer slayer...
- executed by

saw

injection

but won a stay from a federal judge in

Houston Tuesday.

Bass was convicted in 1980 in the
August 1979 slaying of Houston City
Marshal Charles Henry Baker, who
along with another officer investigating
a $300 holdup stopped Bass as he was
walking down a street. In a scuffle that
ensued, Bass and Baker traded gunfire.

Bert Graham, the assistant district
attorney who prosecuted Bass, said the
execution was “a matter of self-defense
for society.”

Bass’ criminal record included
lengthy juvenile detention. He also
served a prison term for burglary. A
counselor testified at his trial that Bass
once told of stabbing his mother in the
back. :

DeGarmo’s attorneys argued suc-
cessfully Tuesday that people opposed

.to the death penalty were excluded

from the jury in his trial.
DeGarmo was sentenced to death for

—_ ~~ ee,

Charles Bass
the 1979 slaying of Kimberly Ann
Strickler, a 20-year-old Houston hema-
tologist who was shot to death as she
lay in the trunk of her car after being

kidnapped from a shopping center
parking lot.

-@ a v

Fy eer Sey oe
- “ : as

BASS v.

* see ‘paola oe ¢
ESTELLE

Cite as 696 F.2d 1154 (1983)

e. - gounsel were ineffective in failing to prop-
érly present to state courts, and so to ex-
= haust, all possible claims of trial counsel’s
ineffectiveness; and (5) remand would be
ordered for hearing on state prisoner's
claims that trial counsel was ineffective,
but only as to those claims that had been
exhausted in state courts and advanced in
the district court and on which no hearing
had ever been held.

Order accordingly.

Goldberg, Circuit Judge, filed specially
concurring opinion.

<1, Habeas Corpus ¢>25.1(1)
A state prisoner, barred by procedural
_ default from raising a constitutional claim
on direct appeal, cannot do so in a federal
habeas. proceeding without demonstrating
both cause for the default and actual preju-
dice resulting from it.

1a * Criminal Law = 1035(5)

tes Under Texas law, a contemporaneous
i, objectian to'the exclusion of a venireman is

Bes: required on pain of waiver of the point on

‘, _ appeale; |
8, Criminal Law ¢=1134(8)
* °°. Standard of review for capital cases is
, the game as for noncapital cases.
4 Habeas Corpus @25.1(1)

ae Any prisoner bringing a constitutional
a eth alee to the federal court after a state
¥
1
aed,

) procedural default must demonstrate cause
.& ~’ and actual prejudice before obtaining habe-
as corpus relief.

2, 5. Criminal Law ¢=1035(5)
Regt : State prisoner’s failure to object to dis-
; _missal of'‘venireman at trial could not be
“excused on grounds that at the time the
tate. ‘court: system of Texas failed to prop-
rly; understand ° and apply Witherspoon.

“Habeas Corpus a=25. 1(4)

Issue whether trial court properly ‘dis-
nissed venireman was waived for federal
auhere state nrisoner failed

Ord atin

7. Criminal Law @1152(2)

The trial court’s refusal to discharge a
juror is reviewed for abuse of discretion
only.

8. Criminal Law @1144.8

Trial court’s refusal to discharge a jur-
or is endowed on appeal with a presumption
of correctness.

9. Jury 149
Trial court did not abuse its discretion
in refusing to discharge juror who sought
release from jury service in a capital case
_ after she awakened to find a knife-bearing
intruder in her bedroom.

10. Criminal Law @ 641.12(1)

Trial court did not deny state prisoner
effective ussistance of counsel by refusing
his request, made two days prior to trial, to
dismiss his court-appointed counsel and for
a continuance to permit his representation
by new counsel who knew nothing about
the case and were just commencing a
lengthy trial in another state.

11. Habeas Corpus #113(5'A)

State prisoner would not be allowed to
present for the first time on appeal from
denial of his federal habeas petition claims
that predecessor appellate counsel were in-
effective in failing to properly present to
state courts, and so to exhaust, all possible
claims of trial counsel’s ineffectiveness.

12. Habeas Corpus @113(13)

Remand would be ordered for hearing
on state prisoner's federal habeas claims
that trial counsel was ineffective, but only
as to those claims that had been exhausted
in state courts and advanced in the district

court and on which no hearing had ever
been held.

Will Gray, Simonton, Tex., Stanley
Schneider, Houston, Tex., Stefan Presser,
ACLU, Houston, Tex., for petitioner-appel-
lant.

Leslie A. Benitez, Asst. Atty. Gen., Aus-
*tin, Tex., for PebpoRGenlenyPe tee.

ondem por er Sane) S

object eS pgp treet by

TX law,


na

NF Lh,
h Me
gia

iv “i

n issue is unne

‘dismissal 0
e facts, the


REAPS an th inh

te ce See

inosine iy Sti kasi

P= 4568101, 102 SCL 1658, 71 LEA 2d
798 (1982), discussed below. Since the sug-
"geatic gestion is merely ‘general and implicit, we

pee?

ty tional;claim—that due process re-
res:} 00 “of ‘a negative, the absence of
fe shore that defense negates an

tof the: ‘crime charged—was pre-

oan where the requisite con-

mets

alee igh 238.
ja the ae ce
ul$), In; Engle,.v, “Isaac, supra, the Su-
: ‘preme Court ‘considered whether a colorable

Fp feguards, the Court
ception for any con-
ver to the rule of

A ied padiats Eye

1 baat The breadth
n, a. constitutional
. ren yan analysis by
stioner seaeritents that Wither-
it ation " g,cannot, per se, be waived.

pand: to2 the law of the
to be made to rules

dt follow

} , the Court, it is for
nake the n, not for us.
sand eee however, recognize
an: be avoided by a showing of
tidal CO WARKAL BASS, gcse s w
tral response to the implici€ suggestion,
pote Our disagreement with it. The various
ressions ofthe’ Supreme Court quoted by
ss are ‘not more than precatory ones, expres-
eof: p sanctity: with which all decent men
ew: human ‘lifeas endowed and the gravity
j wh i they regard a decision—however
sured it ; terminate it. Nor are
ns ?niovel. or the sentiments
jw. newly-arisen; they go back to
ap.and beyond, stretching far into
fan life.was shorter, more peril-
ss highly reg than it is today.
they alsorrefer,to the many explicit
; v been enacted or de-
concerns: ‘But to sug-
I'mode. of review is

ipl a ‘night somehow
é - cha “as’ whether a life
me fora enhy term of years was

seater ap one system of
property, ‘ review, .

€ ‘our t's ccs sai in response to
ion that where the constitutional error
mht have affected the nec ee

dpi ae “ii . Roy ee

.

LAA Ne Blt A TAN |

/157

~caontiom sor Hh 04 ¢
x that “oaven", “existed in his case. This is

said to be so because at the time of e trial
the state court system of Texas failed prop-
erly to understand and apply Witherspoon
and hence any objection would have been
meaningless. A very similar suggestion
was, however, squarely rejected in Engle.
Witherspoon v. Illinois, decided in 1968,
long antedated petitioner’s trial in 1980, so
that the basis of the contentions successful-
ly made in Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. 38, 39,
100 S.Ct. 2521, 2523, 65 L.Ed.2d 581 (1980)—
the same contentions that counsel alludes to
here—was apparent and available. Peti-
tioner’s contention to us therefore goes
down before the specific language of Engle:
Where the basis of a constitutional claim
is available, and other defense counsel
have perceived and litigated that claim,
‘the demands of comity and finality coun-
sel against labelling alleged unawareness
of the objection as cause for a procedural
default.

456 U.S. at 184, 102 S.Ct. at 1574, 71
L.Ed.2d at 804.

(6] We hold that petitioner’s Wither-
spoon objection to the discharge of Mrs.
Hall was waived. An objection to the dis-

tha

function an exception to the Sykes’ waiver
should be made, could scarcely be more sweep-
ing: i
We do not believe, however, that the prin-
ciples of Sykes lend themselves to this limita-
tion. The costs outlined above do not depend
upon the type of claim raised by the prisoner.
While the nature of a constitutional claim
may affect the calculation of cause and actu-
al prejudice, it does not alter the need to
make that threshold showing. We reaffirm,
therefore, that any prisoner bringing a consti-
tutional claim to the federal courthouse after
a state procedural default must demonstrate
cause and actual prejudice before obtaining
relief.
Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. at 107, 102 S.Ct. at
1572, 71 L.Ed.2d at 801. ;
4. Bass also appears to contend that since on
occasion the Texas court addresses the merits
of claims which it might. have viewed as
waived, and that when it does so we consider
ourselves authorized to do likewise, e.g., Burns
v. Estelle, 592 F.2d 1297 (5th Cir.1979), aff'd en
banc 626 F.2d 396 (1980), we must disregard
the state’s contemporaneous objection rule in

Pernt?

ET Mok a ad ke nia ea MANERA econ -

we eee


Lad Be ee
Tt ww mm CU, e DUANw wren weet nt

eset oe
charge of a venireman is little to require;
to hold otherwise would open the discharge
of every venireman, objected to or not, in

lated his constitutional rights to due process
and an impartial jury.

peal. We cannot countenance such am- determinations €ven on direct appeal, are

: bushing of state Processes, reviewed for abuse of discretion only. Bass
v. State, 622 S.W.2d 101, 106-7 (Tex.Cr

The Refusal to Discharge Juror Turner App.1981) United States y Horton, 646

About a month after being selected as
the fourth juror, and before trial] com-
her bed- Presumption of cor-
Sumner y, Mata, 449 U.S. 539,
1011S, 764, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981). The
trial court both heard and saw the manner
of Ms. Turner’s testimony. We discern no
abuse of its discretion,$

al F to her agitated state, extending even to Refusal of Continuance for New Counsel
Ee) physical Symptoms such as nausea and [10] Two days before trial, Bass sought
43 ! sleeplessness. She also testified, however, Permission of the court to dismiss his court-
‘ that she was willing to do her civic dut appointed counsel and for a continuance to
ef and that she would do her best to follow the permit his representation by new counsel
i court’s instructions on the law. Bass refus- from Alabama, counsel who knew nothing
; ed to consent to her release unless he was of the case and Were just commencing a
e granted additiona] peremptory challenges lengthy trial in Georgia. Bass’s case had
his having been exhausted. The trial court been set for trial for two months. His

declined to do so or to discharge her and stated ground was a sudden loss of personal

‘ the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals confidence in his appointed counsel and a

desire for new ones specializing in “death

Cases.” After hearing argument, the court
Federal Court
to excuse é efault in a case where the state
courts have not, Instead, we have looked to
Florida law to determine what the state
courts have done in the case before us. This

all cases. We have recently rejected this con-
tention, Speaking of our Practice of reaching
the merits where the state court has done So,
rather than resting on Procedural default, we
explained:

The appellant asserts that we have circum-
vented Sykes and Isaac by finding that, in a
completely unrelated case, Florida excused
Stale procedural default. To the contrary, we

do not mean to SUPEest that past excuse of a -

demir

Bae th aye Rare er Le

as?

PROP it webbed

is a necessary, accepted analysis in habeas
Cases. See, e.g, County Court v. Allen, 442
U.S. 140, 149-51, 99 S.Ct. 2213, 2220-22, 60
L.Ed.2d 777 (1979),
Henry v. Wainwright, 686 F.2d 311, 314 n. 4
(Sth Cir.1982),

5. She testified that the intruder was not Bass
and had been apprehended,

6. Ms. Turner's Situation is a far cry from that
of Juror Sevely in United States v. Taylor, 554
F.2d 200 (5th Cir.1977), an opinion on direct
appeal cited to us by Bass. There the trial
judge failed to disclose to defense counsel her
Stated fear for her life resulting from living in
the same location as defendants, having been &

POST Victim GF them, efc.

{ ees
, BURY wan a ee
sermaiirieenenea a. or


R - —— a
' SATURDAY, DEC. 9,.1905."

Weller Bates Hanged
Pald Tho Death Penalty For
His Crime-On The Scat-

fold In Columbus
Yesterday,

THE CUME FOR WHICH WALTER |

BATES PAID THE DEATH PEN- |

ALTY.

Sometime during the night of |
Saturday,-July 15th, a horrible
deed was enacted at Habn Bros. |
& Waugh’s ranch house on their
rice farm about four miles south
of here. Fred Kuhle and wife
whoare thrifty, inoffensive Ger. |
mans, Were beaten into uncon-.
sciousnesa and left lying in pools!
of blood for dead. Mr. Kuhble)
was foreman on the rice farm!
and his wife cooked for the,
hands. The crime was reported!
to the officers here the following
Sunday morning and Deputy |
-Bhorift Harvey. Vineyard went atl

Se,

——

‘led by law ©

ws

for December 8th. After the.
verdict had been rendgred Bates
agked ‘for’ the shortest time, ;
which ia thirty days, 9s presorib-
BE ee) ie Saud
Deputy Vineyard worked hard
on this.case, pearcely closing hjs
eyes in sleep from the time he
heard of the crime until he landed
his prisoner safely behind the
bara in - the ‘Columbus | jail,
which was the following Tuesday
morning, He. also worked out
the mysterious murder and se-
cured the evidence by which Hen-
ry Holmes was hanged in Colua
bus last November a year ayo.
Harvey Vineyard is une of the
best peace officers in Texas and
Colorado county people arc proud
of him,

}-—Walter Bates who was. convict-.
ed atthe last term of district
court and scntenced to hang,
paid the death penalty on the
gullows which had been erected
for the occasion at the county
furm about one mile from Colum-
bus, yesterday afternoon. At 2:35
o'clock Sheriff..Bridge and de-
puties, with the condemned man,
went upon the scaffold. Besides
Bates and Sheriff Bridge, those
on the scaffold were W. A. Barr,
Bruce Mayes, Chas. Robertson,
Lon Ames, Henry Insall and D.
George and two ‘colored preach.
ers, Dan Thomas and P. B. Ben-
nets, Bates’ spiritual advisers,
A couple of songs were suny.and
aproyer given by the colored
preachers, but Bates did not
make any statement from the’
scaffold, While the preachers |,

were singing and promptly at
2:50 o'clocic Sheriff Bridge turn-

ed his head in an opposite direc.

Ltion 40.83 not to.aes.theaizhtand

Wa

‘once to the scene of the crimer

and a horrible sight met hia eyes.
Fred Kuhle was found uncon-
scious, lying in a pool of blood on
the front-yallery with bis head
horribly beaten. His wife wus
found inside the house also un-
conscious, having been struck in
the left temple, a gush several
inches long being made, and that
side of her face smashed ina hor-4
rible ‘manner. An axe and a
&reen club abuut four feet long,
both covered with blood, were

found near the house which were
afterwards proven ta be the
weapons used. The tloor of the
bouse and bed Clothing were cov-
ered with blood. For sometime
the victims were not expected to
125. Fliresents an attract-]"~
aa CVeO aU ps rpuse~ or Two
bery, as buroau drawers; titnks
aud every receptacle was empt.-
ied on the floor, and $10 in money
and a pistol were taken. Walter
Bates, the negro who yesterday
paid the death penalty was ar-
rested in Rosenberg about three
days after th’ crime was. com-
mitted with a pistol in his pos-
session which: was afterwards
identitied as the one taken frown
Kuhle. At the timeof his arrest
Bates made a partial confession
‘to Mr. Vineyard,’ implicating
‘another negro in the crime, but
in the lastterm of the district
courtat Columbus he pleaded
guilty tothe charge of robbery
by the use of deadly weapons,
admitting that he alone com mit:
ted thia horrible crime. After
‘hearing the evidence, the jury
rendered a verdict uusessing the

“~\

‘death penalty, and the day of ex-
ecution was set by Judge Kennon

Si airey eae aa usd. «

cata ewe: cals dl!

ume oa

| kind to forgive him... ‘>

elegant’ dinner that was furnisb-

at.

fot last year. ° :.:

~ ese CMe

sprung the trigger, which hurled
Bates’ soul into eternity. Nine
minutes after the trigger had
been sprung the negro was pro-
nounced dead by Dr. R. Henry
Harrison and Sheriff Bridge cut
the body down.

- AHEADLIGHT reporter called
at the jaila few minufes before
the condemned negro was taken
from his cell.. Bates said that he
Was very thankful to Sheriff
Bridge for the kindness which
he had shown ‘him. during his
continjnent, and expressed him-
selfthatifhe had been advised.
and talked toas Mr. Bridge had.
talked to him since he had been.

{in jail, he would never have been:
| Ruilty of such g crime. © He said:
}vhat he had made peace with his’
'|God and was not afryid’.to: dieé

>

|| He stated that he did not. ‘want

his body sold, and said:thet he.
heartily forgave and. asked man-

He partook. sparingly, ‘of an.

ed bim and sjnoked cigaretteg
Incessantly. He did not weaken‘

course way.

Holmes was hanged in November.

ohe

ey

adoeepecially, for, the


| 10) SOUTHWESTERN -2nd- 37
BEARD, Augustus Dwight, white, electrocuted Texas (Dallas) on June , 1937.

"When Augustus Dwight Beard, 27-year-old North Carolina football star who turned into what
Dallas police described as one of the Nation's most desperate criminals and killer, goes to
his death inthe electric chair at the Huntsville penitentiary Friday morning there will be
present the partner and friend of the man for whose death the State is taking Beard's life,
"That man is John Adair, 503 Monte Vista, retired Dallas police officer. When Adair was in
active service, he undertook the dangers that beset a policeman's path with John Roberts,
veteran officer whose life was brought to an end at the age of 60 by bullets from the gun

of Beard.

"Adair would have little to say about the matter Wednesday other than that he would leave

for Huntsville late in the day with Police Lieut. Louis Spencer, and would be in the death
chamber when the switch was thrown to makeBeard pay with his life for the life that he took,
"tT just want to be there,' Adair said, Also present will be Sheriff *“Smoot Schmid, on whose
shoulders rested the responsibility of keeping the dangerous Beard confined until he was
transferred to death row at Huntsville,

"Beard's body will be brought to Dallas and held pending word from relatives as to funeral
arrangementse Revis-Suggs Funeral Home employees will be at Huntsville and start back to
Dallas with the body immediately after the execution,

"Arrangements for bringing Beard's body to Dallas were made by his parents, Mr, and Mrs, |
R. A. Beard, Lenoir, N,. C., during tie trial in Dallas. They made the arrangements in neni
their son did not escape the chair and the contract was confirmed by telephone Wednesday. Di-
rections as to the funeral and burial is expected Friday.

"Roberts was killed onthe night of Dec, 23, 1935, as he sat chatting with G. C. Scott in
Scott's North Loop Garage. Beard, then under the name of Bob Hogan, an alleged candy sales=
man, entered the garage with his pistol drawn and ordered Scott to give him the money from
the cash register. Beard claimed that Roberts reached for a pistol and sent four bullets
into his body,

"with the killing of Roberts, Dallas city and county officers turned on one of the most in-=
tensivemanhunts ever in the history of the two law enforeement organizations, The result

was that Beard was captured in a house near White Rock Lake by Dallas police officers led by
Inspector J, W. Fritz.

"Jack Archer, a member of the homicide squad, who was ammong the officers, recalled the
incident Wednesday. ‘We were very careful,' Archer said, 'because we knew that Beard was a
killer.

"Beard, alias Hogan, gave up without a fight, wha the officers got the drop on him and ad-
mitted that he was an escaped convict from North Carolina,

#Beard was a star football player at North Carolina State in 1931 and he turned to crime on
February 18, 1932, when he killed Augustus Bonous, a storekeeper at Valdese, N, C., ina
holdup, Sentenced to death for the crime, Beard escaped the chair through his sentence bein
commuted to life imprisonment, Later he escaped from the North Car§lina penitentiary by
walking through the main gate disguised as a visitor, From then until his capturedin Dallas,
he led a life of crime that took him to many sections of the Nation, He even one time serve
as an instructor in a Minnesota boys' camp.

"His second attempt to escape the electric chair failed at Huntsville on Tuesday when he mad
a pistol from soap and intimidated a guard.

"Finis will be written to the career of Beard in Dallas following his execution, District
Attorney Andrew Patton announced Wednesday. A motion to dismiss five robbery indictments
pending against Beard will be filed in Criminal Court to bring to an end the law's case
against the husky athlete who found very true the oft-repeated adage that crime does not pay,
MORNING NEWS, Dallas, Texas, June 3, 1937 (Sedtion Two, Page One, Column One)

"Huntsville, Texas, June l, 1937-Augustus Dwight Beard, 27, who once played football for
North Carolina State College, died in the electric chair at the penitentiary early Friday fo
the slaying of a former Dallas detective, John R, Roberts. The first bolt of electricity

struck him at 12:02 am,.
"Beard, {former college weestler and religious worker, died for slaying Roberts in a garage

holdup two years ago,
"when he had entered the death chamber he calmly surveyed the group of about forty newspaper
men, prison officials and witnesses, andsaid to Warden W. Waids 'I want to say that of
the crime for which I was convicted in Dallas, another man is guilty, He is in Arlington,
Of the crime in North Carolina that I was accused of, another boy was guilty, I have been
well prepared for death by Father Finnegan and the Catholic Church,"

NEWS, DALLAS, TEXAS, June h, 1937 (page one, column eight).


re

Texas

THE KILLER

WITH

TOO

By Inspector Will Fritz

Of the Dallas, Texas, Police Department, as Told to

the door of the North Loop ga-

rage in Dallas that cold, wintry
night of December 23, 1935. Unruly
shocks of curly chestnut ‘hair peeked
out from under a sporty tweed cap.
His broad face was set squarely on
massive shoulders which tapered to
the thin hips of an athlete. But that
boyish countenance was set in a grim
expression and the well-formed legs
were widespread in a position of fore-
boding.

There was an unnatural, steely glint
to the baby-blue eyes that peered from
narrowed slits, and the yellow glow
from the incandescent bulbs, casting
his hirsute countenance in a sallow
tinge, gleamed on the nickel of a pis-
tol in his right hand.

His voice was rasping as he com-
manded:

| fk WAS so big he stooped to enter

Pat Kleinman

“Open that cash register!”

C. C. Scott, proprietor of the garage,
looked up from his conversation with
B. F. Cason, a liquor salesman, and
John Roberts, a retired detective, who
were visiting.

“Come on, open up,” the gunman or-
dered impatiently.

Scott and the other two were slow.
to comprehend. Was this some kind
of practical joke?

The third -command, _ insistent,
threatening, left no doubt. The man
with the gun advanced menacingly.
Scott arose quickly and went to the
register. The clank and clatter as he
pushed the “No Sale” key rang out
alarmingly in the deathly quiet of the
room,

Moving swiftly, the intruder grabbed
eight one-dollar bills from the till. He
turned, sweeping the trio with the up-

Augustus

Murderer

raised gun. His eye fell on the elderly,
white-haired Roberts, who was still
sitting quietly.

“Stand up, I want to see what you’ve
got on you,” he ordered. Roberts rose
slowly.

“Turn around, you two,” he told
Scott and Cason. They wheeled as the
heavy man, gun thrust forward, moved
toward Roberts.

Suddenly there was the .crash of
gunfire. Scott and Cason later thought
they heard four shots, one after an-
other in machine-gun succession.

HEY whirled. The big man was
running out the back, through the
garage. ;

Roberts stood quietly erect. There
was an impassive, dazed expression on
his kindly face. His .44 caliber service
pistol hung limply in his right hand.

OFF UCL ARE = TECTIOE

Dwight
couldn't stay away from night clubs.
is Elizabeth Cooley—one woman too many

The man who

At right

Beard:

This Desperate Holdup Man and
Should Have
That All Women Are Not Alike

Known

A thin wisp of blue smoke curled: up-
ward from the barrel. His left hand
gripped his abdomen. On his right
sleeve a spat of crimson appeared and
grew as the men watched with morbid
fascination.

“Are you hit?” Scott asked, breaking
the tension.

“Yes,”.Roberts replied slowly. ‘He’s
killed me.”

The old man, sixty, who had spent
most of his lifetime in the incessant
war on crime and criminals, tottered
and slumped to the floor. Cason ran
to the telephone and summoned police.

I was on my way to police head-
quarters at the city hall when the ra-
dio in my car whined and sputtered
with the staccato announcement of the
robbery and shooting. It was exactly
6:48 p.m. I drove immediately to the
nearest telephone and directed all

21

AAA RY Le, ZIST


BEARD,

a bathing suit... f was
nense. The day I heard
ne children laugh at

I decided t
eil Belt, —-

ive a new enjoyment
life . . . work
er, eat better, play
er... didn't realize
much | was missing!

IS DANGEROUS ?
ming but it also
1. Insurance com-
ger of fat accum-
-dical authorities
’, SO don’t wait

ther you take off
days or it won’t

S. NO EXERCISES|
2il Belt has been
educing by men
»m business men
‘ho find that it

: fat with every
‘tdoor men

& dtection it

Dwight, wh,

EVER give a sucker an even break”

was the motto of “Tough Tony”
Garlaus. He obeyed his own rule when
he and two others shot down and killed
aman during a tavern holdup in Brooklyn,
N. Y. Tough Tony, Watson Edwards and
Harry Eisenberg were electrocuted at
Sing Sing for the murder.

Dwight Beard, former University of
North Carolina football star, died in the
electric chair at Huntsville, Texas, for the
murder of a policeman. He had boasted
that he was wounded more than 30 times
in gun battles with police.

Two-Gun Robert Romano decided to
fight it out in the streets of New York
with Patrolman David Rubin. He shot
the officer in the arm. But Rubin’s aim
was better. He killed Romano.

John Becker, 36, convicted of the attack

murder of Kathryn Bracken, was recently
electrocuted at Rock-
view penitentiary at
Bellefonte, Pa. Becker,
father of two sons,

- bade them farewell in
the death cell. His final
words to them were,
“Be good, boys.”

For the double mur-.
der of Mr. and Mrs.
Reed Taylor in = an
attempted robbery,
Arnold Clift, 24, was put to death in the
electric chair at Eddyville, Ky” .

John Masseria, brother of the late
racketeer, ‘Joe the Boss,” was kidnaped
in his own car and murdered by two gun-
men speeding the car 60 miles an hotir as
a lone patrolman ina radio car raced in
vain to the rescue. The body was dumped
into the gutter of a New York street. A
moment later the murder car crashed into

John Becker

a pole and the killers made their escape in

a taxicab.

elec. TX® (Dallas) June 4, 19

October, 1937

| SLAIN PROFESSOR ...

THE MONTH'S BEST CASES.

POISON CUP OF CALIFORNIA’S LOVE BORGIA ........
. By Edward S. Sullivan 8

A Heateles beauty saccihans an ere man on the altar of passion.

. Co er ee ee ee eee

THE MAN.WITH THE CAMERA EYE ...... By Joe Massal 12
The amazing story of a crack sleuth whose career covers half a
century.

CASE OF THE SQUANDERING COOLIE ...............

Baa se a a .By Richard S, Haviland 16
Sudden opulence of a rec Maw boy discloses the doom of a pretty
missionary.

TATTOO:OR DEATH 5003 040

. By Detective John P, ‘Clifford, Jr., and James Mack 20
Kanens City detectives uncover bsibuudng evidence in a city-wide
death plot.

PENNSYLVANIA’S COUNTERFEIT SOLDIER AND THE

.By Capt. William MacDonald 26
y All Philadelphia was shocked by this appalling murder.

NIRGINIA’S BIGAMOUS KILLER AND THE FLOATING
VA _ _ CORPSE. : By Detective W. J. Anthony and Walden Snell 30

A passion-crazed Lothario turns killer and is trapped by his mul-
tiple loves,

FATAL TRYST OF THE DOOMED BEAUTY ............
NOG oe ees ee By Pearl Puckett 36

A young couple have one last dance before crimson death parts
them forever.

SKELETON ON THE WITNESS STAND ...............
Se ee ce ae By Lowell Ames Norris 40

From beyond the grave came the witness that sealed the doom of
a wanton killer.

TRAILING WASHINGTON’S PHANTOM SLAYER ........
Oe ee By Frank Wait Hanford 46

At auditions holdup ended in death, confronting officers with a
baffling mystery.

SHORT FEATURES

STRAIGHT FROM HEADQUARTERS ................. 4
a a i 3
THE LAW’S FORGOTTEN MAN ...................... 6
RIDDLE OF THE WOUNDED GAMBLER ............... 25
PHOTO PEAR i UG ie. 34
BROOKLYN’S MOST WANTON SEX CRIME ........... 44
TRAGEDY OF THE BIG TOP ......................5. 82

DARING DETECTIVE is published monthly by Country Press, Inc., at 1100 W. Broadway.
Louisville, Ky. Re-entered as second- pe matter at the post office at Louisville, Ky.,
with picionl entr Cpe at Greenwich, Conn. itorial offices, 1501 Broadway, New York City,
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subscriptions, as well as notification of change, of address, should be addressed to the General
Offices in Greenwich, Conn. Printed in U. S. A. Copyright 1937 by County Press, Inc. Adver-
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York, 1501 Broadway; Chicago, 360 N. Michigan Ave.; San Francisco, Simpson-Reilly, 1014
‘Russ Bldg. ; Los Angeles, Simpson-Reilly, 536 S. Hill St.

MEMBER AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS


dited prisoner, bound with bracelets and
haltered with chains, re-lives all things,
good and bad, as he speeds back to the
scene of his crime.

I walked into the Morgantown jail fac-
ing an indictment charging murder in the
first degree! And that “S. 8. out of
the State” wasn’t even up!

There is little to say about the trial for
the murder of the Valdese storekeeper. I
fought it, but I lost. That Burke County
jury filed back into the box, and a stern
judge looked down on them. The court-
room was as silent as the tombs of the
Egyptians. All eyes were turned upon me
—upon a boy who used to snatch down
passes for North Carolina State on the
football field. Ages passed from the time
the jury marched back from its delibera-
tions until the verdict was uttered. This
is what I heard:

“We, the jury, find the defendant guilty
of murder in the first degree... .”

It meant the chair!

At twenty-three I was being beckoned
to by Death.

fp in my cell I sat down, bewildered,
I heard a North Carolina negro called
“Tickle Toe” say to a man in another
block, ““He’s got his row to hoe.” And his
friend replied, “Yah, he’s goin’ to de hot
squat.” They weren’t being unkind; they
were just being jail inmates.

On May 6th, 1934, I occupied a cell in
death row of North Carolina State Peéni-
tentiary at Raleigh.

Heretofore I had had to fight detection
only. One has a chance to shoot one’s way
out of police traps. One ean run, espe-
cially when one is of such physical build
as I am. But death row—the home of
the condemned—that is a different matter.
Eseape? I would say it is impossible in
the North Carolina death row. I had to
fight for my life legally, and I had to win,
or my chips were going to be attracted to
that weapon by which the State exacts its
eve for an eye, and tooth for a tooth.

I had friends working for me, and of
course my family and relatives at Lenoir
were doing their utmost to gain me a
commutation of sentence.

Let us go back. It will be recalled that
when I was in Cleveland, after lamming
out of North Carolina, [ received a news-
paper clipping informing me I had been
named as the trigger man in the Valdese
murder. That clipping revealed that one
Alvin Eller, charged with the murder,
had named meas the killer, A jury ac-
quitted him on the murder charge, but he
was immediately re-arrested and given an
eight-year rap as an accessory before the
fact. Subsequently he had escaped from
the North Carolina pen.

Time was drawing short. The Governor
and the pardons board, apparently, were
not going to lift the rap. The thongs of
the death chair drew closer, closer.

Vrantically my family and _ friends
worked against time, fought fate with
both hands. But it appeared to be a
losing battle.

Then Eller was recaptured in Seattle
and brought back to the North Carolina
Penitentiary, eight days before I was to
have gone to the chair.

He made a statement in which he said

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86

was caught. He looked around the room
desperately, ag if in search of a miracu-
lous deliverance. ;

This could not. be happening to him,
David Riggle! The whole thing had a
nightmarish quality, a spectral’ unreality.
It must belong to a world other than his.
Slowly, in the depths of the killer, self-
pity began to throb like a nervous pulse.
Soon an assurance of his own rectitude
possessed him. - Riggle stood upright,
squared his shoulders.

“I’m innocent,’ he declared. “That’s all
I’m going to say now.”

Detective Kreps, who had hurried away
with the gun to have it checked for finger-
prints, slipped into the room at this junc-
ture and whispered into his chief’s ear.

“TNHERE is another little flaw in your
story, Riggle,’ Dinsmore then an-
nounced. “There were no fingerprints on

that revolver Kreps found beside Jim. If .

you had grabbed it by the barrel, as you
contend, your fingerprints would be there,
and Jim’s on the handle. I'll have to ar-
rest you for first degree murder.”

A paraffin test was made immediately
of the dead man’s hands, But the re-
volver had spat no nitrate into the pores.
Jim Algeo had not killed himself. Nor
could nitrate be found on Riggle’s hands.

As soon as the Washington and Pitts-
burgh newspapers reached the region of
the murder with the story of Riggle’s ar-
rest, evidence began to pile up. The wo-
man who had loaned Riggle a suit of
clothes telephoned Dinsmore. She had
sent the bloody suit to the Black & White
Cleaners in Washington, who had dis-
patched it to its dry cleaning plant in
Uniontown. A call halted its cleaning.

Indicted for murder in the first degree,
Riggle was held in the Washington Coun-
ty jail for eight months before going on
trial in May, 1936, before Judge Carl E.
Gibson.

While he clung doggedly to the last
story he had told, District Attorney James
C. Bane pounded away to the jury of
twelve men that Jim Algeo had no rea-
son to kill himself. The fact that he had
but recently given his married daughter
$3,000 to pay down on a home showed
that he was not hard pressed for funds.

One thing in Riggle’s favor was that
he and Algeo both had access to the lodge
funds and to the lethal weapon.

Martin L. Cook, Clarksburg, West Vir-
ginia identified the gun as one of two

with light, her husband came and his re-
volver was spitting fire even as he opened
the door. A slug crashed into the bandit’s
abdomen, he grasped himself and fled, a
stooping, tortured creature, through the
night.

The police records say the bandit’s name
was Augustus Dwight Beard, and in death
row of Texas Penitentiary I am not one
to argue the point. ‘

Regardless, I knew I was going to die—
you see, I had a bullet wound in my
stomach. I told the cops—but I’m getting
ahead. I risked going to a hospital for
treatment, stumbled through the door and
in human blood sealed my death war-
rant.

When I regained consciousness, there
were coppers all over the Minneapolis hos-
pital floor. I told them I was running beer
and had been shot in a hijacking. I
stuck to it. ‘They told me I was shot in a
fashionable St. Paul home while trying to
prowl the place. They stuck to: it.

True Detective Mysteries

revolvers he had left in his office in the
Odd Fellows temple at Washington when

-his office effects were levied upon and

sold in 1932. The guns had been kept
thereafter in the lodge safe.

Cook identified the revolver through
an accidental mark on the sight, made by
a screw driver, a figure in the serial num-
ber that might be either a “7” or a “T,”
also by a peculiar mark inside the rubber
handle.

Defense Attorney George J. Bloom pro-
duced several witnesses to testify as to
Jim Algeo’s alleged infatuation for Olive
Riggs.

Three women told the jury they had
seen Algeo in Miss Riggs’ apartment sev-
eral times, and asserted Miss Riggs told
them Algeo helped purchase the furniture
and gave her two diamond rings.

Ben Hall, who married Miss Riggs on
May 27th, 1935, testified that on that
very day as they walked from the court-
house, where the knot had been tied by
an alderman, Algeo came up to the
bride and told her he wanted to speak
to her.

“T have just been married, Jim,” Hall
quoted his wife as replying.

“T beg your pardon,” Algeo was quoted
as answering as he walked away.

Hall said that made him suspicious of
Algeo, so he kept close watch on his wife.
Once he saw her gettirfg into Algeo’s car,
they quarreled when she got home, and
the following day they separated.

“On September 7th, 1935, Jim Algeo
came to me and asked me to take my wife
back,” testified Hall. “I agreed, and she
returned the next day.”

Olive Riggs Hall herself, called by the
State, denied that Jim Algeo had spent
money lavishly on her.

“TP the two men struggled in the car,
it was when Riggle drew the gun and
Algeo grabbed it in an attempt to save
his own life,” argued District Attorney
Bane. “Why didn’t Riggle throw the pis-
tol out of the car window if he was try-
ing to prevent his friend’s suicide?
“Riggle was not so panicky that he
couldn’t take the body to a lonely spot,
conceal it in bushes, and toss the gun
at the side, close to the right hand.
“Riggle even wiped fingerprints from
the gun and arranged his friend’s cloth-
ing. Then, to carry out his alibi, he
poured oil on the upholstering and wrote
the receipts and note to clear himself of

Three Time Loser

(Continued from page 41)

And for twenty-seven days as I fought
off death, with a copper by my side like
no guardian angel, to be sure, they sought
to identify me. The coppers never left
me. I “dummied up.” Some fifty charges of
burglary and jewelry hijacking were stand-
ing against me. Still I clung to my claim
that I was a beer runner. I feared the
mountains of North Carolina. I grew
clammy at the thought of mountain jus-
tice.

Then it came. Gone was my lamming,
gone were my plans, gone was my mask.
They tell me a copper by the name of
Edward J. Fitzgerald, who had been main-
taining all the time,that he had scen either
me or my picture some place, remembered
something. And what he remembered was
a page from True Detective Mysteries
Magazine, and: that page, neatly filed away
in his pocket, had my picture on it. There
it was, record, description, all of it.

I admitted it. ‘There was nothing else
to do. But as I admitted it I cursed the

blame for the lodge shortage. Besides,
there were no powder marks on Riggle’s
hand; this would be impossible if Riggle
had the gun by the barrel as he says. It
was cold blooded murder, and we de-
mand the death penalty.”

The jury brought in its verdict at 2:29
A.M. on May 138th, 1936. Deputy Sheriffs
James Kane and George Mosely had a
difficult time awakening Riggle in his
cell. After standing six for murder and
six for acquittal for several hours, the
jury had compromised on a verdict of
voluntary manslaughter, carrying a sen-
tence of from six to twelve years in prison.

Standing arrogantly before the Court,
Riggle showed no emotion while Judge
— rebuked the jury for its light ver-

ict.

“The acts of David Riggle were those
of a designing and unscrupulous mind,”
thundered the Court, “and they justified
your conclusion that the shooting was
not accidental.

E concealed the body, arranging it

and the weapon to simulate suicide.
He obliterated bloody stains on his person
and ear, and falsified to officers and friends
searching for the body. He tried to place
on his friend full responsibility for em-
bezzlement of lodge funds.

“He resorted to forgery after his friend
was dead. His obtaining the penciled
receipts was part of a plan to kill and
conceal. He tried to blacken Mr. Algeo’s
memory among his fellow lodge members.
And to show his callousness of heart, when
he mailed the forged receipts he at the
same time mailed a birthday card bear-
ing tender greetings to his mother.”

Judge Gibson subtracted the eight
months spent in jail from Riggle’s sen-
tence, fined him $500 and costs of the
prosecution and ordered him confined in
Western Pennsylvania penitentiary for
five years and four months.

In a few weeks Riggle, in prison gray,
was back before Judge Gibson to stand
trial on indictments charging embezzle-
ment of funds from the lodge.

As he entered the -courthouse, Riggle
waved and called out, as though nothing
had happened, to men who had once been
his friends—and acted surprised when they
turned away from him.

Riggle’s plea of guilty cleared the name
of Jim Algeo from any connection with
the lodge shortage, and brought him five
more years to serve in prison.

magazine that brought it about.

The St. Paul cops gave me up to North
Carolina officers and, handcuffed and
shackled, I started back to Morgantown,
the county seat where the murder charge
was lodged.

I looked at those handcuffs cutting into
my well-developed wrists—I realized then
I would never again know the feel of a
golf club or a tennis racket. I knew that
I would never again experience the thrill
of shooting a canoe across a moon-bathed
lake. Those biceps would never work over
another tree., Those arms would never en-
fold another girl. Those shackled feet
would never again move in rhythm to a
night club band.

It makes no difference how short the
road is that leads back, there is too much
time for reflection. It is said that a drown-
ing man sees his whole life pass before him
in « sky-rocketing sequence as he stages
a futile fight.

I know, and truthfully, that an extra-

dited p
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88

through the bars twenty-three times, once
for each year of my life, to shake the
hands of those who walked the last mile.
I had heard the shuffle of death, and the
clanging of the little steel door that cuts
off existence from eternity. I had seen
them cat their last meals, heard them
scream, heard them scoff, seen them shud-
der, seen them strut.

And now it -was my time to hear the
Warden ask, “Do you have anything you
wish to say ?” I wondered if I would have
anything, anything at all.

Then it came, the commutation!

The Warden came to me that day, three
days before the date of my execution, and
stood before my cell.

“Governor Ehringhaus,” he said, “has
commuted your sentence to life imprison-
ment.”

That was all, a simple statement.

I had lammed it out of the chair!

That was March 30th, 1935. I had gone
a long way since a North Carolina farmer
missed his pig and found it roasting in a
forest camp.

WAS removed from death row imme-

diately, and started the career of a lifer.
I reflected then, on the greener pastures
theory. When in death row, I had wanted
only that commutation. Truthfully, I
didn’t want to take the rap; I didn’t
want to die. Give me that commutation,
and I’ll be a lifer, I told myself. But I
got the commutation, and I cast longing
eyes at the walls. I had escaped one
phase, why not another? I had fooled
the chair, why not fool the stern old pen-
itentiary?

Escape! Regardless of what you hear,
it is the word uppermost in the minds of
those in stir. Always it is pounding at
their temples. Escave! Escape! ESCAPE!
How? How? HOW? When? When?
WHEN? Always it is there like a giant
trip-hammer, blow after blow—how can
I get over the walls and away?

Call it stir-crazy, call it a mania, call

' it anything you please—it needs no desig-

nation. We who are in, want out. That is
as old as the hills, as old as the Spanish
dungeons.

I was made a trusty. That was. break
No. 1. My perfect. physique, molded by
years of outdoor activities and sports, again
proved an asset for me. I was easy-going,
strong, helpful, perhaps a model prisoner.
Regardless, I was chosen for a trusty.

I kept my eyes open. April had gone,
May had slipped by, warm June had
passed, torrid July was history. I kept
watching, waiting. By.my side was one
John Peterson, another lifer. He, too,
looked at the horizon over the walls.

August came and was on its way out.
Peterson and I waited and watched—al-
ways anticipating the break that would
give us a lever to pry our way out of
that monument of steel and stone. The
fifteenth of the month slipped away. We
were growing restless. We considered run-
ning for it, dropped the idea, both of us
having suffered the pangs of rocketing lead
that spits fire as it crashes into flesh.

Then came that morning of August 27th.
For five months I had been a lifer. Peter-
son nudged me, gently. Slowly, I saw it.
Into the gates was coming a contractor’s
truck. We watched it, even though to an
outsider we were paying it no attention.
It drew to a halt within the grounds, and
we had access to the grounds while on
duty.

A crew of painters, their brushes stick-
ing through that little loop in their cover-
alls, dismounted.

“Tt’s the break,” said Peterson out of
the corner of his mouth.

I thought a minute, and smiled an affir-
mative.

True Detective Mysteries

Slowly we moved ina eirele toward the
truck.

The walls seemed a thousand miles away.

Would it work? That kept pounding
through my brain as we walked non-
chalantly toward the truck.

It, was only a matter of minules—may-
be seconds—until we had donned the white
coveralls of the painters. There were some
buckets and brushes inside. And white
caps. We took them all, and with brushes
in our hands, and buckets swingiag as we
walked, we sauntered through the gate
to freedom. We had made it!

“You're Class C now,” we kept telling
ourselves. Not that it mattered. I knew
what it would mean if I was caught. It
meant a Class C rating as a lifer, and that
carries with it the death of hope. A Class
C man can get neither pardon nor parole.
He must serve his entire term, be it two
years or life. And mine was life.

John Peterson went his way and I went
mine. We had engineered our escape and
there we parted. I do not know what
course he took, but mine, I later discov-

“T don’t like the guy,” Beard said of
Inspector Will Fritz (above), Dallas
detective who trapped him

ered, was to be studded with misfortune
and peppered with buckshot.

he alarm was out soon after we left
the prison, and the heat was turned on
Augustus Dwight Beard. “Shoot-to-kill!”
orders went abroad; fliers bearing my pic-
ture were in every police station and
sheriff’s office in the Southland. Lamming
wasn’t going to be easy this time.

I penetrated far into the woods, not
so much to hide as to map a course. I
had stolen some clothes off a back porch
to replace thoxe I had worn in prison, and
the white painter's overalls. Those trees
about which I had fearned so much when
my name was on the right side of the
ledger, beckoned to me. I had to make
a decision, and it had to stick.

I checked the cities away. I couldn't
go near either North or South Carolina
again. Those two states were definitely
out. St. Paul, which had been poison to
me once, would prove poison again. That
whole section would be hot after me, and
I knew it. My territory was restricted.
The decision I reached wouldn’t have
made Horace. Greeley proud of his advice,
I feel sure. I got up and stretched. It
was “go west, young man” for me.

Although I knew it was dangerous, I
headed directly for Atlanta. I needed two
things—money and a woman. Other neces-

sary ilemes, such as firearms, rmmunition,
a retreat, a means of escape and clothes
were contingent upon the two. Money
was most important, but a woman who
could love not wisely but too well was
essential for a man who had just cracked
the stir, Understand, Thad) no woman
in mind. But I had to have a woman.

Later I found one back in South Caro-
lina.

I played my cards cautiously, slowly. |
renewed and made new contacts with
fences. Atlanta was hot for me, and no
one realized it more than I. But I had to
get a little ahead. Things picked up—and
I with them. I was beginning to get on
my feet again, although it was necessary
for me to lie low for weeks at a time in
the plantation country, in the woods,
along the streams.

But I hit Atlanta regularly and then,
growing venturesome, I presume, I went
back to Greenville, South Carolina. Why?
Why did I go back to Raleigh that time?
Honestly, I don’t know. But I did, and
I met and married Ruth May Moon. I
did not know whether my first wife had
obtained a divorce or not, and to a Class
C lifer on: the lam out of North Carolina
Penitentiary, it didn’t make any differ-
ence. We were married on October 18th,
1935. I guess bigamy was again chalked
up against my record—which is something
like charging Bluebeard with chicken theft.

Then Atlanta again! And an _ apart-
ment! And some money—somebody
else’s money—in my pockets! Life was
getting brighter for a tree-surgeon gone
wrong.

And let me say here regarding that
wave of profitable robberies, and jewel
burglaries that swept Atlanta during the
latter months of 1935—I was hot, I was a
lifer without a chance in the world, I
loved my freedom—in words far more
simple, I had to get along.

HE police department’s unsolved rob-

bery docket began to get cluttered up.
It is true they suspected me, but they
couldn’t find me. But from the news-
papers and from past experience, I realized
that a gunman on the loose was going to
find it decidedly unhealthy for him if and
when he was sighted. I was right.

It was in late October or early Novem-
ber, when I knew Atlanta would soon be
ehind me. I was cruising, and out of
the corner of my eye I noticed a police
squad car turn into the main artery. |
didn’t know whether they were tailing
me or not, but I couldn’t take chances.
Leisurely I nosed my car out of traffic
into a side street. They followed. |
speeded up, and they speeded up. I circled
and headed back into the arterial crush—
they were on my tail. It was no coinci-
dence—it was real and, what’s more, it
was dangerous. I made a dash for it,
whipped through traffic lights, carecned
off the main thoroughfare and thought 1
was doubling back. And then my stomach
came up in my throat. I had hit a dead-
end street, a blind alley, and the cops were
closing in behind me!

I had but one thing to do—a thing |
had learned by living beyond the pale.
And I did it, automatically. I reached fo
my shotgun, stuck its ugly nose throug)
the window, wheeled the car around ani
with an unofficial but effective escort o/
buckshot went through the trap. I left
a copper wounded, a prowl car punctured
with slugs.

The officer’s name was I. P. Jones, |
learned later. He survived, but he wil!
carry the facial scars to his grave.

I saw him once after that, in the Dallas
County jail.

“Pm sorry I didn’t kill you,” I told him.
and retreated to the darkness af my cell,


Why did I tell a man a thing like that?
Honestly, I don’t know.

But was my escape worth the price?
{ knew I was recognized as the bandit on
the loose, and that the connection between
that fellow and Augustus Dwight Beard
had been made. I had to take ‘a lam
on it.

I called my wife, gave her an address,
and told her to meet me. She tried, But
the cops were uninvited guests. They
had got wind of the rendezvous, prob-
ably through tapping wires, and were wait-
ing for me. I came, I suspected, and I
eft.

Y wife was arrested, but later re-

leased as they had nothing against
her. We tried again for a meeting, and this
time we picked Greenville—a foolish
move.

There was no bucking the Southland.

Our rendezvous turned into a roaring
hell as I drove into the biggest police
trap of my career. There must have been
a hundred Atlanta, North and South Caro-
lina’ cops in that woody place we had
selected outside of Greenville when I
wheeled into,it. And they hadn’t come to
capture me—they had come to kill me.
I thought I was safe, and had not given
any thought to a possible trap. And they
were smart. Hidden behind trees, below
little hills, beneath bushes, they pulled a
fast one. They let me get into the center
before they started firing.. But even before
the first volley was fired I knew what I
had done—I had seen a man’s shoe stick-
ing out from under a bush. And all cop-
pers’ feet look alike. .

Lead rained from everywhere. Blue
blazes darted from powerful machine guns.
Bushes swayed as sawed-off shotguns sent
their buckshot crashing into my automo-
bile—the stolen automobile I was using.

True Detective Mysteries

Smoke curled around the car, seemed to
sear my very throat. Death, I thought,
surely must be riding the harvest moon
for Dwight Beard.

As desperately as I worked, as fast as
I swung into action, I remember now
what a strange thing it was to think of
when red lead was spattering all about
me. I recalled a boy from Lenoir, who
had come back from the trenches of
France without a scratch. And he told
my dad that “Them Boches didn’t have
a bullet with my name on it.” His words
flew through my mind as I hurdled
through my own individual section of hell.

When it was all over and I—or what was
left of me—was out of it, I had fifteen
gunshot wounds ranging from grazed flesh
to solidly embedded buckshot in my arms
and shoulders. The boys below the Ma-
son and Dixon line had given me a go-
ing away party. And was I going away!

Once more the newspapers blazed the
name of Dwight Beard across their front
pages.

T went to Athens, Georgia, where I knew
a girl. I was weak from loss of blood,
and suffering some with my wounds. Only
my excellent physical condition kept me
going. The girl dressed the wounds, ap-
plied a strong antiseptic, and that was all.
She. wasn’t aiding a fugitive; she was
just helping a friend—at least that’s my
version. Georgia had been added to my
hot list, and I wanted no more of it.

FRAID? Perhaps. A gunman fears

death. The bravest of them—and I
wonder if any really are brave---will al-
ways flee.

To paraphrase a bit, as I sped out_of
Georgia I hummed “My name is Bob He-
gan, America’s my nation; the open road's
my dwelling place, and Fort Worth’s my
destinaticn.”

89

The stench of St. Paul was behind me;
that lovely country of Canada was never-
more. Those mountains of the Carolinas,
those three wives, my family, my son—
past history, all of them. I, at last, was
headed west in a Plymouth sedan. I was
lamming into the wide open spaces while
Georgia cops were raiding every known
hideout of criminals. They didn’t know
I never worked with others.

I crossed the Texas line, moved on to
Forth Worth, on the fringe of the West.
The lure of the night clubs, the soothing
rhythm of a swing band beckoned me.
Bright lights were dazzling, pretty women,
white covered tables, a glistening wood
floor with couples dancing upon it—call it

what you will, madness, indiscretion, brav- .

ado, dumbness or just the love of a man
for the gayer things of life. The brand
you place doesn’t matter.

I MET a girl whom I shall call Janet
Hughes of Dallas. She was jobless, and
she cast her lot with me. She knew noth-
ing of my past, nothing of my present, less
than that of my future. We danced, we
laughed, we shared a little apartment.
And let me say here in justice to this
Dallas girl, she never knew until the show-
down came what I did for a living. She
is innocent of everything. To her and
her relatives and friends, I was a candy
salesman.

The cold winds from the North began
to reach Texas in December of 1935. Dal-
las and Fort Worth are thirty miles apart,
and one of the most prosperous little
towns in between is Arlington. I give you
this because the coppers say that Dwight
Beard rode this highway fast, and didn’t
stop to sell any candy. .

[ have neither time nor space here to
go into details regarding the wave of rob-
beries that struck both Fort Worth and

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58

him while they waited for the police.

Officers from St. Paul rushed him to
their city jail. The following morn-
ing all newspapers carried pictures of
the “Society Bandit” and the story of
his capture. In less than an hour, six
people had identified the gunman as
“Donald Haines,” the society playboy!

So Haines went to jail, while back
in North Carolina Chief Coffey was
beginning to wonder if he would ever
apprehend Dwight Beard.

A few days later at the St. Paul
Police Headquarters, Bertillon Expert
Edward J. Fitzgerald was looking over
some circulars he had on hand when
he found one that interested him. It

as a picture of the man known as

mald Haines! But the circular
stated that his name was Dwight
Beard and that he was wanted in
North Carolina for murder!  Fitz-
gerald immediately notified Chief
Coffey.

RMED with extradition papers,

Coffey sped to St. Paul and re-
turned Beard to North Carolina. Tak-
ing no chances, he lodged his prisoner
in the strong jail at Asheville. Beard
was repeatedly questioned about the
murder of Gus Bounous but he de-
nied any part of the crime. “Bevitt is
lying to save himself,” he declared.

Beard went’ on trial on Decem-
ber 18, 1933. Bevitt was to be the
State’s star witness but, once on the
stand, he refused to talk. Bevitt
stood on his rights that any state-
ment he made under oath might be
used against him later and, therefore,
he did not intend to implicate himself.
Judge Wilson Warlick agreed that this
was Peter Bevitt’s privilege and the
trial was halted. Beard was returned
to jail.

Meanwhile, Chief Coffey racked
his brain for some solution to the
baffling problem that faced him. Was
justice to be cheated at the. last min-
ute? Was the slayer of Gus Bounous
going free? Finally he thought of an
idea that might work.

He got in touch with a former de-
tective who lived in Winston-Salem
and asked for his assistance. The
man agreed to be of what service he
could. Thus a few days later an un-
shaven, roughly dressed individual
was shoved into the same cell with
Dwight Beard. Beard and the new-
comer soon became close friends.

Back in Valdese, Chief Coffey came
across an almost unbelievable bit of
evidence. A farmer came into his of-
fice and declared that he had seen the
men who shot Gus Bounous!

“You’ve waited a long time to tell
this,” Coffey reminded him.

“Yeah, I know it, Chief, but I wasn’t
sure what to do. You see, I was afraid
until you caught Beard. I hoped I
wouldn’t ever have to tell it but
I don’t want to see a guilty man go
free.”

Coffey commended him on his deci-
sion. “How did you happen to see
them?” he asked.

“T left town right behind Gus. My
lights give out on me near Gus’ place.
While I was trying to fix ‘them, I
heard two gun shots and saw Bevitt
and Beard come running out of the
yard. They came right by me and
headed towards town.” He added that
= started his truck and ‘hurried to his

me.

EARD’S second trial came up on
April 30, 1934. Neatly dressed
and unperturbed, . he calmly watched

the proceedings. Again Bevitt was
called and again he refused to testify.
But the State’s case held up this time.
The farmer who had seen Beard leav-
ing the Bounous’ yard on the night of
the crime was called. Although ham-
mered unmercifully by the defense
lawyers, his story stood up. Other
witnesses placed Beard near the
Bounous market on the night of the
shooting.

But the sensation of the trial was
the detective who had been planted in
Beard’s cell in the ‘Asheville jail.

“Dwight Beard admitted to me that
he shot Bounous,” he said. “But he
told me that was one rap he wasn’t

afraid of, since the police had nothing °

on him. He stated that he was afraid
of what they’d do with him out in

Minnesota as police there had the’

goods on him.”

He added that Beard had told him
how he intended making a daring es-
cape from the courthouse during the
trial at Morganton.

“He drew a map,” the detective con-
tinued, “and showed me how he was
going to swing out the window, drop
to the ground and race to a car that
would be waiting for him near the
hotel. He was very confident that if
the jury didn’t free him, he would get
away anyhow.”

Friends came to the support of the
former high school hero and made ‘a

reat attempt to establish an alibi for
him.

They asserted that he was wait-
ing for them in front of the local
theatre in Valdese when the first
show, which usually ended at nine,
was over. Consequently if. he had
been at the theatre at the same time

the crime was being committed, he

wasn’t guilty. ‘

But Chief Coffey destroyed the
value of this testimony when he pro-
duced evidence to show that it was
nine minutes past nine before the
show ended on the night in question.
Beard’s defense went up in smoke and

the jury found him guilty of murder -

in the first degree. He was sentenced
to die in the electric chair at the
state prison on July 5.

When they said goodbye, Bevitt
looked at Beard and remarked:
“You're getting a raw deal, Dwight.”

Beard nodded. “Don’t worry about
me, Peter. I’ll never sit in t hot
seat!” ;

Beard’s lawyers appealed his case
to the Supreme Court, thereby get-
ting a stay of execution. But the fol-
lowing spring, the Court refused the
former athlete a new trial.

Again the date for his execution was
set. But by now much public senti-
ment had been swayed in Beard’s
favor. The governor was_ besieged
with hundreds of letters asking that
the young man’s life be spared.

Finally on March 29, Beard was.

snatched from the electric chair and
his sentence commuted to life impris-
onment. He became a model prisoner
and was transferred to work in the
yard. There he became acquainted
with Clarence Peterson, who was
serving life for the slaying of an
Asheville policeman. Together they
began to make plans for an escape...

sf lipo long awaited opportunity came
on August 27, 1935. Beard and
Peterson were in a group working on
the hospital wing in the west end of
the prison. The day before they had
rehearsed their plans carefully.

“All set, Clarence?” Beard asked in

a whisper.

“Sure,” Peterson replied.
go!”

The two men slipped behind a tool
shed. Beard produced two suits of
“Grade A” overalls. They removed
their striped clothes and put on the
overalls. ¥

“No matter what happens,” Beard
urged, “keep going!” —

Since Grade A prisoners were per-
mitted to leave the prison for outside
duty occasionally, the guard unsus-
pectingly allowed the two desperate
men to walk through the west gate.
A short distance away, the convicts
boarded a fast freight that soon took
them out of the state.

Later that night their escape was
discovered! Telephone and teletype
wires were kept busy for the next
few hours.

Meanwhile, Beard roamed the south,
robbing and looting as he went. After
a series of robberies in Florida,’he was

“Let's

trapped near Orlando. Wounded, but -

still on his feet,, he shot his way to
freedom. In fact, later he boasted
that he had engaged in over 30 gun
battles with the authorities, had been
wounded a dozen times but had always
escaped.

His motto was: “Only suckers
work!”

He loved a good football or baseball
game, and never hesitated to mingle
with the public in order to see one.

EARD’S luck finally ran out in

December, 1936. Hunted, desper-
ate and broke, he landed in Dallas,
Texas.

He was no longer the dapper, neatly
dressed young man who had charmed
his way into the homes of the wealthy
citizens in St. Paul. Dirty, unshaven
and dressed in baggy clothing, he
walked the streets, looking for a place
to rob.

Two days before Christmas he

found his spot. Although the streets-

were thronged with holiday shoppers,
there was only one man on duty in
the store he had picked. He strolled
into the establishment and jammed
his gun against the merchant's body.
“It’s a holdup,” he snapped. “Give me
the money.” :

The frightened man readily com-
plied with his request. Beard took the
money and walked out.

The merchant followed him and met
Patrolman John Roberts on the side-
walk. “That man,” he. shouted, point-
ing to Dwight Beard, “just robbed
me!”

Beard started to run. Roberts fol-
lowed him down an alley. There was
a sudden exchange of shots and the
officer crumpled to the ground, mor-
tally wounded.

Seconds later a squad car screeched
to the curb and a squad of heavily
armed officers leaped out. Scatter-
ing, they covered the neighborhood.
By dawn, they had surrounded Beard.
The bandit used up his ammunition,
then surrendered.

Early in 1937, he went on trial for
his life. For the second time in his
hectic 27 years, he heard a judge sen-

- tence him to die in the electric chair!

However, Dwight Beard had not yet
reconciled himself to death. He be-
lieved that as long as there was life
there was hope. ccordingly, he lay
awake at night in his cell in the death
house at Huntsville planning some
means of escape. He decided to make
a gun out-of soap.

Sek Aa ee SE

A. few night
execution, he
on the guard
Forcing the g
with him, he h
door. But tt}
trouble and hi
tress. The tw
no further. 1.
of the trail.

On June 4,
and was exec

NAT

DEI

gave me a fe
the thought .
drawer goad
over heels ir
somest man }
could get by, :
... and add °
The dress |
A linen fro
straight. Whi
was another
at Marge, the
length mirro.
bob .did mak
face. Mike sa
my big blue e.
I guess I was
need workin;
beauty salon.
When I wa
and asked fc
ford stepped |
He was midc
harried look.
the word “jo!
heels with a
ointed to a
unch wagon
in there,” he
ou can ma!
ehind the c
get $30 a we
- That’s all t.
tions about ¢
where did I
Pop showed 1
things were
then went b:
was my first «
stool and ord.
a hamburger,

' an excellent

him, I sloppe:
of the cup w:
in front of hi:
Around ele
filled up and
after two. Iv
all of them
cracks to ma!
smile and the:
fast-talking F
dates and be:
One in par
was Joe Cro’
third cup of
between ord:
“?'m coming
night with
be I could g:
if I know yo
you in New
in the ware!
ing to do for
Nylons! J
and a smile
rocking. “VW
I asked, big-

a. “Let’s

ind a tool
» suits of
removed
ut on the

s,” Beard

were per-
‘or outside
rd unsus-
desperate
west gate.
e convicts
soon took

scape was
i teletype
- the next

i the south,
vent. After
ida, he was
unded, but
iis way to
he boasted
ver 30 gun
s, had been
had always

iy suckers

or baseball
to mingle
see one.

‘an out in
ed, desper-
i in Dallas,

pper, neatly
iad charmed
the wealthy
y, unshaven
clothing, -he
g for a place

iristmas he
1 the streets-
ay shoppers,
on duty. in
He strolled
ind jamm
hant’s body.
‘d. “Give me

eadily com-
card took the

him and met
yn the side-
vuted, point-
‘just robbed

Roberts fol-

There was
,ots and the
round, mor-

rar screeched
d of heavily

aded Beard.
ammunition,

t on trial for
i time in his
_a judge sen-
slectric chair!
d had not yet
-ath. He be-
1ere was life
iingly, he lay
‘lin the death
_anning some
‘ided to make

A few nights before the date of his
execution, he pulled his phony gun
on the guard and got out of his cell.
Forcing the guard to change clothes
with him, he hurried to the cell block
door. But the guard there sensed
trouble and hid the keys under a mat-
tress. The twice convicted killer got
no further. He had reached the end
of the trail.

On June 4, hé walked the last mile
and was executed for the murder of

NATIONAL |

DETECTIVE |

ave me a few uneasy twinges. But
the thought of that money In the
drawer goaded me on. I was head
over heels in love with the hand-
somest man in the world and if he
could get by, I wanted to be with him

- and add to the bank account. |

The dress I wore wasn’t anything.
A linen frock that hung pretty
straight. What it did for my figure
was another story. I gave a glance
at Marge, the hash slinger, in my full
length mirror. My shoulder length
bob did make a nice frame for m
face. Mike said I was beautiful wi
my big blue eyes and fair complexion.
I guess I was. And my figure didn’t
need working on by a high-priced
beauty salon.

When I walked into the lunch car
and asked for the boss, Pop Brad-
ford stepped from behind the counter.
He was middle-aged, fat and had a
harried look. He linked when I got
the word “job” out and turned on is
heels with a “follow me” order. He

ointed to a ¢loset at the end of the
unch wagon. “You'll find a uniform
in there,” he said. “They'll fit you or

ou can make them. And then get
behind the counter with me. You'll
get $30 a week.”

~ That’s all there was to it. No ques-
tions about could I wait on table or
where did I live. Just get to work.
Pop showed me where the dishes and
things were under the counter and
then went back to his stove. Mike
was my first customer. He slid onto a
stool and ordered a cup of coffee and
a hamburger, wRuperne, that I made
an excellent waitress. Just to tease
him, I slopped some of the coffee out
of the cup when I slammed it down
in front of him.

Around eleven o'clock, the wagon
filled up and stayed that way until
after two. I was ina whirl. The men,
all of them truckers, had a lot of
cracks to make. Those I took with a
smile and they liked it. They were all
fast-talking Romeos with ideas about
dates and beer and moonlight.

One in particular, he said his name
was Joe Crotchfelt, lingered over his
third cup of coffee trying to date me
between orders. “Listen,” he urged,
“l’m coming
night with a load of nylons. Might
be I could grab a pair or two for you
if I know your size and where to meet
you in New York. I'll have my truck
in the warehouse by nine with noth-
ing to do for the rest of the night.”

ylons! Joe got all my attention
and a smile that left the poor sa
rocking. “Where’s your truck, Joe?”
I asked, big-eyed and innocent.

through next Thursday |

Patrolman Roberts. To the last, the
college-educated killer never broke

down. :

Back in the hills of North Carolina,
Chief Coffey wrote “Closed” on the
Gus Bounous files to the strange case
of a murderer whom fate had reserved
for the hot seat.

The names Kurt Racine, Peter
Bevitt and Jim Hastings, as used here,
are fictitious.

HIJACK TIPSTRESS

“(Continued from page 10)

“Tt’s that Fleetrite there.” He
grinned. “What’s your size kid and
where do I meet -you?”

I told him I wore nines, and that
I’d meet him wherever he said. But I
had my fingers crossed when I told
him that. He named a cafe on 8th
Avenue at 35th Street and tossed fifty
cents on the counter. “That'll buy a
beer until I see you Thursday,” he
winked.

Mike whistled low when I told him
about the nylon cargo. He’d insisted
on driving over for me after work. If
he hadn’t, I’d have dropped in my
tracks I@was so tired. “That'll be
worth $3,000 to you,” he promised.

I kept the charm working and the
coffee moving fast for the next few
days. Pop smiled in appreciation at
the way I picked up the lunch car
chatter and pitched in with all I had.
Nights I knew Mike’d be waiting for
me. We made the rounds of the places
I loved, dancing and, having fun. My
wardrobe had undergone a startling
change with the help of that thou-
sand. I had clothes I’d always dreamed
about and all the accoutrements.

TP RURBDAY morning found me
nervous as a cat. The play part
of the whole deal was over and we
were getting down to rim business.
Mike had picked the place where he
planned to take Joe’s truck. It was
right around a sharp curve in the
road that led to a rolling hill.

“Flash red lights at a truck in this
spot,” he observed, “and the driver
has no alternative but to stop. He
doesn’t know what’s ahead and can’t
see behind.”

The gang had made a trial run with
us. They carried guns and blackjacks
and the way they handled them gave
me chills. Efficient and cold’ like.
Deadly, too.

“Brace up, kid,” Mike ordered when
I got into the car that night. It was
around 6:30 and dark with a threat
of or “Things are stacking up
right.’

e parked in the lunch wagon
space, watching the trucks roll by.
The light from the neon sign made it

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44


er

For nearly 40 years the so
bustling little metropolis of 7.722.522"
Valdese, North Carolina, had ‘"',°°" “7°
no jail. None was needed. 0, fer t r=

Then — m urder Strack! the 300 Waldensians to settle

UNTSVILLE, TEXAS, June 4.— Augustus Dwight Beard, 27,
Carolinian who forsook the cheers of unive
of crime, was electrocuted early tod:

Dallas policeman, during
As he calmly walke
enigmatically :
“Crime is one of the biggest rackets in the United States!”
Beard, who boasted that he had been wounded thirty times in b
in Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh, North Carolina;
nesota, and many other cities, spent his 1
Hugh Finnegan, prison chaplain.
Mass was held in Death Row Thursd
Holy Communion.

In a letter to his mother, Beard

husky North
rsity football crowds for a life
iy for the murder of John Roberts,
a holdup two days before Christmas, 1935.

d down the corridor to the execution chamber, Beard said

attles with police
3ristol, Tennessee; St. Paul, Min-
ast hours talking and praying with lather

ay afternoon and Beard participated in

asked that the Reverend Father Arnold Wal-
ters, chaplain at the North Carolina Penitentiary at Raleigh, conduct his funeral.

The former North Carolina University football star became acquainte
Father Walters while under sentence of death in North Carolina for killing a
storekeeper during a holdup for $1,400. That sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment and Beard later escaped.

Another murderer followed Beard to the chair, Wisie Ellinson, 38, Negro
from Lockhart, Texas, who beat his wife to death with a poker.

Beard told police after his capture in Dallas, that he once attended a football

game in a city where he was being hunted, and that once he joined a posse which
was searching for him.

d with

Beard’s last desperate bid for freedom was made last Tuesday night when he
fashioned a pistol out of a bar of soap and forced a guard to change clothes with
him. He failed to get out of the cell-house, however, when another guard hid a
key under a mattress while apparently complying with Beard’s orders.

assassinated by a human phan-

(above) visited the scene, he

trap the killer. Persistent de-

tective work, however, snared

esque town high up in the
French-Italian border, came

in Valdese, North Carolina.

45

>
Am orenceaneege Hy

a ene

Tierhi, ge Aiprit 5 Sefh1¢

A4 San Francisco Chronicle te wy te oe ot

- Texas Executes Killer |
‘Who Halted Appeals

Associated Press

- Huntsville, Texas

A killer who said he would
rather be put to death than have
lawyers telling lies in his behalf
was executed early yesterday af-
ter saying a brief prayer.

“J thank you Lord Jesus for
giving me the courage, for giv-
ing one the way,” Richard Bea-
vers said in a brief statement as
he was injected with lethal drugs
at the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice.

Beavers, 38, had asked a
month ago that all appeals on his
behalf be halted and that he be
executed.

'” “{ just don’t want lawyers go-
ing in there lying on my behalf,”
he told a judge in Houston.

Beavers was executed for
robbing and killing 24-year-old

Douglas Odle and shooting.

Odle’s wife, Jenny. The couple
had let Beavers, a former neigh-
bor, into their apartment on

Aug. 18, 1986, to use the tele-

phone,

After forcing them to with-
draw money from an automatic
teller machine and from a safe at
the restaurant where Odle work-
ed, Beavers took the couple to a
remote area and shot both in the
head.

Jenny Odle survived but suf-

fered brain damage and the loss.

of one eye. She testified against
Beavers, who was arrested in
Charlottesville, Va. a few
months after the shootings.

“It’s been a tough seven-plus
years,” Odle’s mother, Sharron
Odle, said yesterday. “Mainly,
with some of God’s help and
prayers, we have survived. We

know that Doug has been watch-

ing over us each day.”

RICHARD BEAVERS
Criminal record from age 10

Beavers, who had a criminal
record dating to age 10, had serv-
ed eight years in prison after be-
ing convicted of armed robbery,
burglary and abduction. While
in prison, he was convicted of
drug possession and escape.

His execution was the 282nd
in the United States since the Su-
preme Court allowed states to re-
ame use of the death penalty in

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went with Cardell and Wilson to the Zusas

Kimball msde = confession in the month cf
august, 1871, under the promise, it wes said, of immunity
and of being permitted to turn State's evizence. He
revealed that he started with two men, Cardell and the
deceased, from Wise county. Having learned thet Fhiilpot

carried a large sum of money in a trun placed in the

2

vagzon, he.(K.) turned off in another cirection, and
finding Barnes and Deal near the Brazos, informed them
of the fect. He, (K.) then hastened on to Austin, where
he found his former travellin: companions.

Barnes and Deal followed on the track, while Fimball
Fecen street, and to other resorts on the fatal Sate-
urday night, rewaining away from camp until ne:r mid-
night. Phillvot was left alone et the camm near

eal attempted to reb the
trunk, whereupon Phillpot resisted. He was then shot and

> ri, : 5
killed. +he murderers at once fled “acl: to the Br

ra)

ZOOS ,
whither Kimball followed after his release, cnd obtain-
ing his share of the money, when this confession was
elicited officers were dispatched after Barnes, who was
finally ceptured in Falls county by policeman C, T,
Allen. Ee wes brought to sustin. Deal eluded capture.

The innocence of Cardell being estcblished he was re=
©

leased.

BARNEY, Jeffeey Allen, white, leth. inj., Texas, h-16-19

pena

=

‘

| Convicted Rapist-murderer

—

TIMPAINGY 742

: -—er*

‘

9961 ‘ZI WHdv ‘AVOSHNHL

Executed by Injection

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Jeff-

__ ery Allen Barney, convicted of raping

and murdering the wife of a minister
who had befriended him, was exe-
cuted by injection early Wednesday
after telling witnesses that he de-
served to die.

“I’m sorry for what I done,” Bar-
ney said in a final statement. “I de-
serve it. I hope Jesus forgives me.”

Barney, 28, a native of Dayton,
Ohio, had asked that no appeals be
filed to halt the execution, the second

- in Texas this year and the 12th since
‘the state resumed the death penalty

in 1982. He was declared dead at
12:22 a.m.

His execution was the second in
the United States within 14 hours. At
midday Tuesday, Daniel Thomas, 37,
was put to death in the Florida elec-
tric chair for killing a man and rap-
ing the man’s wife on New Year’s
Day 1976. :

“I’m a tingling all over,” Barney
said just before his shoulders and
chest trembled briefly, a tear rolled
down his cheek and he stopped
breathing. :

Attorney General Jim Mattox, who
was in the death chamber when Bar-
ney was summoned at midnight, said
the inmate was “calm and cheerful

and nearly joking with the chaplain

as he was being prepared” for the

insertion of the two needles into his
arms.
“He was very understanding, re-

solved: to it taking place and even
glad to have it taking place,” Mattox

said.

Barney, who had an extensive juve-

‘nile record, was arrested in Dayton

on Nov. 28, 1981, driving a Cadillac
owned by Ruby Longsworth of Pasa-
dena, a Houston suburb. Four days
earlier, Mrs. Longsworth, 54, had
been raped and strangled with a mi-
crophone cord.

The woman’s husband, John, was a
minister who helped Barney get a job
after Barney was released from pris-
on for an auto theft conviction. He
was using the Longsworth residence
as a mailing address and got into an
argument during a visit to the house,
police said.

Debra Murrell, Mrs. Longsworth’s

daughter, said her mother and Bar- :

ney never got along.

“I didn’t care for him either,” she
said. “He never did anything against
us. But honestly, he just rubbed the
wrong way. It was not hatred. That’s
too strong. It was just a personality
clash.” :

Police found Barney’s fingerprints
at the scene and had witnesses who
saw him at the house.


Sh eam ine

& Wednesday, April 16, 1986 Ac3 -
ARCS

Texas killer

dies asking |
‘forgiveness.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Jeffrey =“
Allen Barney, saying he deserved to He
die for the rape and murder of a }::

‘minister's wife, asked for forgive
ness today as he was executed by ©
_ lethal injection.

Barney, 28, who had fought legal
attempts to halt his execution and
earlier this year had apologized to
his victim's husband, said from the
death chamber, “I’m sorry for what
I done, and I deserve it, and I hope
Jesus forgives me.” _

Barney was the 12th inmate in
Texas and the 55th person to be
executed in the United States since
the Supreme Court lifted its ban on
capital punishment in 1976.

Yesterday, Daniel Morris Thom-
as, who murdered a man and raped
his wife as his victim lay dying, was
executed in Florida after the high
court denied his bid for a Stay.
Thomas, kicking and screaming,
had to be restrained by seven-
guards as he was strapped into the
electric chair.

Barney, of Dayton, Ohio, was

convicted of killing Ruby Mae *
Longsworth, 54, in her Pasadena -:
home Nov. 24, 1981, while her hus- ©;
band was attending a ministers’ ©

convention.

+m 4S gt Sos:

Gan Tease Iheculy Ati

wel 9. ee Ae ees ce} tea '
uonvicted: killer
ie W ca "a esdag wh fef-e-F 6
Barney exécuted ©
@, tf 3 ak fed EA. :
in Texas prison:
‘Convicted killer Jeffery Allen
Barney, who asked that no appeals
be filed in his name, was executed
by’ lethal injection early today in
Huntsville, Texas. Barney, 28, was
Phpnoxinced dead at 12:22'a.m. CST
in“the Walls Unite Prison, said
Attorney General Jim Mattox.
‘’m sorry for what I. done. I
deserve this. I hope Jesus forgives"
é,” Barney said inthe’ death
chamber. Barney, a native of Day-
ton, Ohio, ;was convicted. of Stran-
gling and raping’a minister’s wife |
in 1981. “I’m guilty of what I was
convicted, of,”"'he told ‘the: judge
who Jast-month set: the execution [7
date.’“T just wish that the sentence |
be, carried out.”. He. became the
se¢ond Texas inmate to be :exe-
cuted this year and the.12th since
the state resumed executions in
19B 2. page


- April 16, 1986 w *

In

2 killers executed
‘lorida,

By Denny Hamilton
and five rapes.

bab ee ici ig I)-— Gang. “In Huntsville, Texas, another con-
eader Daniel Thomas was wicted murderer, Jeffrey Allén Bar-
dragged kicking and screaming Ob-’. ney; died by injection early today for
scenities to the electric chair and the murder. and rape of a ‘minister’s

Sactananls Bee Wlactdey 4ele-fe

'exas ”’

he ‘de accused in ‘another murder

- ecuted Tuesday for murdering

man and raping his wife as, his vic

tim lay:dying. ae
, Seven?men had to strap “Thor

it 9 r his crimes, *

wife. Barney fired his lawyer and re- - [
to authorize any appeals, say-
ing’ execution is not enbury punish- eo

into Florida's “Ole Sparky” ‘only 24° 4 oe
minutes‘after the Supreme Court re-, “Thomas’ s scheduled 7,a.m. execu-
fused to grant him a stay of execu-: tion to give the Supreme Court an op-
tion. =: ' - portunity to rule on the case.

“Get off me or I’ll kill you,” the 37-.

him down. He finally calmed ‘and ~ “electrocution in Florida's wooden
was allowed to read a final state- electri chair. :
ment. » Thomas. was coriginted of: the

_ “We are human tools and political ~ * shooting ‘death of Charles Anderson
pawns for human sacrifice,” Thomas. ,: on New ‘Years Day of 1976 during a
said; blaming his death on “politi+:” robbery at Anderson’s rural Polk

‘ cians seeking the highest office {a » County home. As Anderson lay dying
the state. ~ °°" \ of five:

“Governor Bob Graham has. raped his wife. :
- opened the-doors to a new wave of Thoma Wag, the 54th, ‘person exe-
politicking that says the best way to»: “cuted since th@ Supreme Court lifted

win political races is to boast that. its banjon the death ‘penalty a de-

eral appeals court delayed lg

The high court refused to stay the’
year-old son of a minister screamed ‘: execution at 11:55 a.m., clearing the ©
at the unarmed officers who held-- way for the scheduled 12:01 p.m. ©

gunshot wounds, Thomas :

‘Pll carry out the execution of every ‘cade ago. Florida has-executed 14 of
‘prisoner ‘on Florida’s death. ‘row,’” - ‘the 54, ithe most: of any state, fol-:
said Thomas. " Aowed by Texas with 11.

- Thomas had refused to touch his"

last meal of lobster, steak, barbe-

(The all-black “Ski Mask. Gang,”

«cued chicken, pecan pie, a doughnut, ‘victims, “stirT

Sand grapejuice. . — ‘ hostilit and ‘antagonism between
Thomas, executed shortly after the races” which adversely affected
é noon, was the leader of central Flori- .. the jury that convicted the Meridian,
' da’s notorious “Ski Mask Gang” and = Miss., minister’ $ son, said Thomas’

“which: preyed exclusively On white _
ed deep currents: of -

“9 *"" Associated Press
Daniel M.. ‘Thomas killed aman
and raped his wite | in 1976. |

application fora stely.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
rejected Thomas’ appeal just before

midnight, but granted a five-hour ~

stay to:give the Supreme Court oe

‘to review the appeal.

The high court refused the ‘ny
‘without comment, with the two jus-
tices who oppose the death penalty,
Thurgood Marshall and William
Brennan, dissenting.

— — The Sadlamento Bee $$

ee eee


Bb 6S Lk A. Bing

658 784 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES

Because of this: direction,.and other prob-
ems experienced over the years with the
admissions ‘rules; a Louisiana State Bar
Association Task Force to:Revise Bar Ad-
- mission Rules was formed. But the task
force neither came into being nor tailored
its performance because of Tucker’s suit:
The members of the task force were aware
of..the instant litigation, .as they were
aware of all prior litigation and near-litiga-
tion involving the administration of the ad-
missions rules. But this litigation was not
a moving force.

!: We join the special master and district
court in their assessment of the credibility

of the then-president of the Louisiana State.

' Bar Association; John C. Combe, Jr., and of
that association’s longtime Executive Coun-
sel, Thomas O. Collins, Jr.. Their testimony
reflects that Tucker’s suit had an insignifi-
cant effect on the subsequent rules modifi-
cations. Tucker’s efforts to prove other-
wise by reciting a chronology of events and

by very skillful‘ briefing and argument is.

not persuasive. We conclude and hold that
Tucker’s suit was not: “‘a ‘substantial
factor or a significant catalyst in motivat-
ing the defendants to end their unconstitu-
tional behavior’ ” (if-indeed the behavior of
the present defendants: was unconstitution-
al, an issue we do not reach), Hennigan v.
Ouachita Parish School Bd., 749 F.2d
1148, 1152 (5th Cir.1985) (quoting Garcia
v. Guerra, 744 F.2d 1159, 1162 (5th Cir.
1984), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct.
2139, 85 L.Ed.2d 497 (1985)); Frazier v.
Bd. of Trustees of Northwest Miss. Reg.
Med. Ctr., 765 F.2d 1278 (5th Cir.1985).

~The judgment of the district court reject-
ing the petition of Tucker for an award of
attorneys’ fees is AFFIRMED.

O © KEY NUMBER SYSTEM 7 |

rc

4qyims

_

Charles William BASS,
Petitioner-Appellant, ‘

Vv.

O.L. McCOTTER, Director, Texas »
Department of Corrections,
Respondent-Appellee. |

No. 86-2151.

United States Court of Appeals,
~ ‘Fifth Circuit.
March 11, 1986.

Petition for writ of habeas corpus and
motion for stay of execution were denied
by the United States District Court for the
Southern District of Texas, John B. Single-
ton, Jr., Chief Judge, and petitioner appeal-

- ed and sought stay of execution. The

Court of Appeals held that findings by
state habeas court that counsel who alleg-
edly committed misconduct did not repre-
sent petitioner at trial and that trial coun-
sel rendered effective assistance of counsel
were binding upon the Court of Appeals,
and conclusively refuted claim of ineffec-
tive assistance of counsel.

_ Order affirmed and motion for stay
denied. | |

See also, — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 89, 88
L.Ed.2d 73.

1. Habeas Corpus €-113(6) |

Court of Appeals was obliged to ad-
dress merits of appeal from decision of
district court denying petition for writ of
habeas corpus and motion for stay of exe-
cution, where district judge granted certifi-
cate of probable cause indicating belief that

petitioner would make substantial showing

of denial of federal right.

2. Habeas Corpus €-113(17)

Findings by state habeas court that
counsel who allegedly committed miscon-
duct did not represent: petitioner at trial
and that trial counsel rendered effective
assistance of counsel were binding upon
the Court of Appeals, and | such findings

7X,
Wall


Re ad

FIRST NAT. BANK OF JACKSON v. PURSUE ENERGY CORP. 659
Cite as 784 F.2d 659 (5th Cir. 1986)

sistance of counsel, on appeal from federal
district court’s decision denying petitioner’s
petition for writ of habeas corpus and mo-
tion for stay of execution, because such
findings:did not lack fair support in record.

Will Gray, Carolyn Garcia, Houston,
Tex., for petitioner-appellant.

~ Jim Mattox, Atty. Gen., Paula C. Offen-

hauser, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for
respondent-appellee. |

Appeal from the United States District
Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before GEE, POLITZ, and HIGGIN-
BOTHAM, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:
{1]- On December 20, 1985, petitioner’s
execution was scheduled for. March 12,
1986. The present successive petition for
writ of habeas corpus and motion for stay
of execution were filed with the district
court on March 5 and were denied yester-
day, March 10. Petitioner appeals these
denials to us and seeks a stay. Despite his
denial of the writ, the district judge grant-
ed a certificate of probable cause, indicat-
ing his belief that the petitioner had made a
substantial showing of the denial of a fed-
eral right. This being so, we are obliged
to—and do—address the merits of the ap-
peal. Barefoot v. United States, 463 U.S.
880, 103 S.Ct. 8388, 77 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1988).
We have heard argument by telephonic
conference on two occasions. At the first
of these, held at 4;00 P.M. C.S.T. on March
10, both sides made presentations and a
further hearing was scheduled. for 9:30
A.M. C.S.T. on March 11, to give petition-
er’s counsel time. to evaluate the respon-
dent’s reply to their filings. This hearing
was also held, both sides giving oral pre-
sentations.

_ [2] We have carefully considered the
grounds advanced for relief by the petition-
er, two of which attempt to assert that
misconduct of one who was found by the
state habeas court not to have represented

assistance of counsel and one of which
complains of a refusal of the trial court to
grant a continuance. The state court also
found that trial counsel rendered effective
assistance. We conclude that these and
other findings of the state habeas court
conclusively refute petitioner’s claims for
relief. Such. findings, unless they lack
even fair support in the record, are binding
upon us. Dunn v. Maggio, 712 F.2d 998
(5th Cir.1983). The record supports these.
Nor is petitioner’s reliance on Cuyler v.
Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64
L.Ed.2d 333 (1980), availing. There was no
showing that Mr. Blaine, found by the
court to have represented petitioner at tri-
al, suffered from any conflict of interest,
nor any attempt to show sucha thing. The
claim of conflict is directed at Mr. Sanders,
found by the trial court not to have acted
as trial counsel. This being so, Cuyler has
no application. The order denying habeas
is AFFIRMED, and the motion for stay of
execution is DENIED.

“ (o EKEY NUMBER SYSTEM

saNms

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF JACKSON,
as Trustee of the Dr. J.E. Wadlington
Family Trust, Plaintiff-Appellee,

Vv.

PURSUE ENERGY CORPORATION,
3300 Corporation; and Grace Petroleum
Corporation, Defendants-Appellants..

No. 85-4291.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.

March 12, 1986.

Lessees under oil, gas, and mineral
lease appealed from judgment of the Unit-
ed States District Court for the Southern


alll el eceeheanan aint ete

eo nn
1154 696 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES |

dence clearly demonstrated that Musial was
& most cooperative patient who did every-
thing requested of him by his doctors and
therapists and diligently attempted to reha-
bilitate himself.5 As the district court cor-
rectly concluded, the simple fact is that
Musial’s _ tragic accident—proximately
caused by the vessel owner’s and charterer’s
negligence—has left him totally and perma-
nently disabled.

[4] This Court also rejects appellants at-
tack upon the trial court's damage award.
The trial court’s award is not indicative of
an abuse of discretion and is not excessive,
see Moser v. Texas Trailer Corp., 623 F.2d
1006, 1017, modified on other grounds, 630
F.2d 249 (5th Cir.1980); Hawkes v. Ayers,
537 F.2d 836, 837 (5th Cir.1976); and
McKinzie v. Fleming, 588 F.2d 165 (5th
Cir.1979), but rather, the trial court’s deci-
sion reflects reasoned and considered judg-
ment.

[5-8] Musial contends by way of cross-
appeal that the district court erred by
granting legal interest from the date of
entry of judgment rather than allowing
pre-judgment interest. Generally in mari-
time law, pre-judgment interest should be
awarded. See Noritake Co. v. M/V HEL-
ENIC CHAMPION, 627 F.2d 724, 728 (5th
Cir.1980); Masters v. Transworld Drilling
Co., 688 F.2d 1013, 1014 (5th Cir.1982).
However, this general rule is not applicable
in this case. Musial’s complaint and award
were based upon the LHWCA, made appli-
cable to platform workers by the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), 43
U.S.C. § 1338(c). Since Musial is not a
seaman, the “[LHWCA] is the exclusive
remedy under the [OCSLA].” See Stans-
bury v. Seakorski Aircraft, 681 F.2d 948,
951 (5th Cir.1982). An award of interest in
a suit brought under OCSLA is governed by
federal law. See Berry v. Sladco, Inc., 495
F.2d 523, 528 (5th Cir.1974). Hence, pursu-
ant to 28 U.S.C. § 1961 “such interest shall
be calculated from the date of entry of the

judgment, at the rate allowed by state
law.” Aymond vy, Texaco, Inc., 554 F.2d
206, 211 (5th Cir.1977). The trial court's
award of interest is, therefore, affirmed.

Finding no error in the district court's
judgment, this Court affirms the district
court in all respects.

AFFIRMED.

W
° § KEYNUMBER SYSTEM

aN) > Pm.
ie

Charles William BASS, «
Petitioner-Appellant, 33: :.

a

hig gees ogee

W.J. ESTELLE, Jr., Director, Texas
Department of Corrections," ~
Respondent-Appellee, es

HES Seesaw ais genes
urban’ TINY fm REIN

State prisoner appealed froma detaon
of the United States District Court for the

of counsel by refusing. his: requ st

My se

two days prior to trial, to, dismiss,

ee ee ee


tion barred by the

cannot, determine
3. As McNutt did
ie district court’s
of the settlement
mong those provi-
with prejudice, of
rt actions. This
hose actions. To
settlement would
. thts of third par-
it.

; out that ordinar-
© obtain a stay of
‘ict court in order
ppeal. American
utd., 630 F.2d 245,
as a general rule,
ssed because the
ie bonaofits of the
Cl not volun-
tt....ional Har-
t Coast Truck, 547
n American Grain
t recognized that
iling to obtain a
‘ party may treat
trict court as fi-
Federal Practice,
79). Thus, in the
n of a character
| by the court of
1 reliance on the
1 result, the court
owerless to grant
e appellant. Un-
he appeal will be

‘d were McNutt v.
ion “D,” 19th Judi-
f East Baton Rouge,
c Securities Corp. v.
., No. 212,115, Divi-
‘ict Court, Parish of
of Louisiana; and
’ (207, Division “H,”
, Parish of East Ba-
na. All filed cross-
were also dismissed

ttlement document
he *-*7ict court is
t endix is not

Charles W ., white, leth. inj. Tex. (Harris) 3-11-198

woe decent le

Ai caer nls

BASS v. ESTELLE 121
Cite as 705 F.2d 121 (1983)

dismissed as moot. Moore, id. at 8-10.” §
630 F.2d at 247. In an earlier case, Nation-
al Labor Relations Board v. O.E. Szekely
and Associates, Inc., 259 F.2d 652 (5th Cir.
1958), this Court referred to Fink v. Conti-
nental Foundry & Machine Co., 240 F.2d
369 (7th Cir.1957) and approved its holding
that “if, pending an appeal an event occurs
which renders it impossible for appellate
court to grant any relief or renders the
decision unnecessary, the appeal will be dis-
missed as moot.” 259 F.2d at 654 (emphasis
in original). See also California Oil Co. v.
Huffstutler, 322 F.2d 596 (5th Cir.1963).

This is such a case. It is impossible for
this Court to vacate the judgment below,
for the dismissal of the state court actions
has sent that portion of the settlement irre-
trievably beyond our reach. Nor can we
simply take the $100,000 back from McNutt,
return him the promissory notes, and leave
the rest of the judgment intact, for it is
clear from the record that the numerous
settlement provisions were interdependent.
Even if we were to hold for McNutt on the
merits of the case, we could not possibly
return the parties to the suit, and third
parties, to the legal positions they held be-
fore the settlement took effect.

McNutt protests that such a result is
unfair because he was “unable” to post the
$1,500,000 bond set by Judge Polozola. This
argument does not ring true, however. The
record contains absolutely no evidence
showing that McNutt was unable to come
up with the bond. In fact, McNutt never
even attempted to raise the bond or to
investigate its cost. McNutt never moved
in either the district court or this Court to
reduce the amount of the bond. He simply
did not post the bond, then signed the pa-
pers and allowed the judgment to go into
effect, knowing fully well that the judg-
ment required the dismissal with prejudice
of the claims then pending in the Louisiana
courts. He cannot ask this Court to recon-
Struct a legal and financial puzzle which is
now missing several pieces.

6. Although American Grain Ass'n was a bank-
Tuptcy case, the Court was here discussing a

Clearly, McNutt fully intended through-
out the proceedings to appeal the judgment
of the district court. Nevertheless, he
failed to take the actions necessary to en-
able this Court to reach the merits of the
appeal. We cannot grant any relief and
have no choice but to dismiss the appeal as
moot.

APPEAL DISMISSED AS MOOT.

Ww
° eens

Charles William BASS,
Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

W.J. ESTELLE, Jr., Director, Texas
Department of Corrections,
Respondent-Appellee.

[ No. 82-2341. |

United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.

May 19, 1983.

Texas prisoner sought habeas corpus.
The United States District Court for the
Southern District of Texas, George E. Cire,
J., denied relief. The Court of Appeals, 696
F.2d 1154, affirmed in part and remanded
in part. On petition for rehearing, the
Court of Appeals, Gee, Circuit Judge, held
that Texas contemporaneous objection rule
requires some expression of dissent from
dismissal of a juror before it may be com-
plained of on appeal and that occasional act
of grace does not constitute such a failure
to strictly or regularly follow the contempo-
raneous objection rule as to permit its disre-
gard generally.

Rehearing denied.

1. Criminal Law <=1035(5)
Texas contemporaneous objection rule,
while excusing generality of an objection in

generally applicable legal! principle rather than
any rule specific to bankruptcy law.

CAD 0-0 25h. 2 ED, Res pasinenin sue

Ae ee Ne pe

Eb ener tet, ty glee ce nie emp men onlay. joven

Cao. ii acne

x oh

of


(COUPLE BEATEN
BY: ROBBERS,

| Fred ihe and Wite ea
dered Unconscious From :
-. Blows on. Me Head.

‘An Ane and Club Were the lentrys
3 ., Monts Used—Two Negroes Have
‘Been Arrested Charged With
. the Crime and Lodged. in
; _— re cos. dail,

A horrible’ duck’ Was:  anctad:
about fopr miles south ‘af -Eayle:
Lake sometime during Saturday!
night at Hahn Bros, & Waugh’s
ranch house dn their ricd farm,
where Fred Kuhle and his wife,
thrirty, inoffensive Germans, wore
beaten... data’. unconacionanes.
Mr: -Kuhle ds “foremnan:-on” the
pluce and his. wife aes, {or tho
-bands.. : a os Aint Pha :
' The crime was: ‘seported to the
officers: herw, Sanday morning,
‘and Deputy‘ ‘Sheriff: Harvey Vine:
yard, accom panjed by. Wr. How:
ard Fitagerald, went at ance to
the pcanc’ of the erime.aud upon
arrival a hor che aight mies shete;
eyes, ;
Fred Kable whe. “itind: ly ing
‘anconscious in.a poal of blood on
the frond. gallery with Wis bead
horribly beaten. ° Alia wife was
found inside of “the. house also
unconscioua,. having been’ strock
in the left temple, a. gexh- severul
lunches’ long being made, and that
‘side of her, Sune’ amnshed | inna hor-
oe manner. >. | ‘Sek
“An axe anda green, Sok about
‘tie aiza ofa wun's aru both cor-
jexed with blood were ‘discovered
near the hougé and are supposed
lac-hiaabend tha Seesuitattees, |

“4
Go olumbus,

fo shies ot
V0 LOFAaO

JU Z2(TOS

"The floor of the: hengeand bod.
olathes were « covered with hhlood.’

atthe sume time-as they were
¥ m 4 c and
oe een eat
Syoday saiara heer “Phpir’, heads
aire fearfully beaten yp ‘but they
tegained: consciousiess -. next
morning and Dr, Fitagerald, the,
attending . physiciga,’ pape: ‘sheir
recovery is expected" yi
7; Bareay drawers, - ‘$ranké and
every receptacle : was emptied pn.
{the floor’and, #9, in money pnd: a
Pistol taken, 680°,
Tt was g fondiahly brnial deed
and done:. :mmpponedly Fob
bery. ; *

Co., TX 12/8/1905,

"T'wo negroes. ‘hk aoen a little!
attor midnight Saturday-in_ the!
yard: of. Mr. R. -B.* “Dobbins:
by: some: *:boys;* slipping. “ap
toand away from his windows,
This was reported ta: Deputy,
Vineyard who chased them on
toot for more than a mile out ‘the
Southern Pacific railroad ' ‘track,
in'the direction of the rico ‘form,
buf failed: to catch them, ‘and:
these. two negroes are thought to!
hava. committed the crime, One

lof them giving hjs name ‘as Da-

mm

i ana , 1 roe ee cee

Heng,

prt ate

ti was: s arronted,hore Sunday by

Mr, Vineyard | and. admite havlog
perved a two years” term inthe
penitentlgry: for: ‘mn rder.. ‘The:
other negro waa arrested Jn Ros-

lenburg by ‘the city marshal of
that plage with : a pigtol said to be:
the one taken: from Kuble. The:
negro had juss bought a pair of.
shoes and was wajting to take a
south boynd Santa Fe train when |
he was ‘arrested: ‘Deputy Vine-

yard want to Rosenberg. Monday

afternoon and took ‘charge of the
prisoner, conveying. both negroes
to jail in: Colu mbus . that night

He says he feels shre that. he has
tlie guilty ones in custody. ;

Since the. above | was put in|
type Deputy Vineyard dafdrmed
us that tho negro,:. Walter Bates,
who was arrested In’ Rosenborg,
has made @ partial confession to
the awful crime: SHe doesn't ad-

mit thé deed: .himeelf, so Mr.

Vineyard says, -but-confesses to
thave been with ‘the negro who
did do it, and that: they left their
Prictims for dead. Mr. _Vineygrd
tells na that Bateb sald that the
man was struck first who gave 8
groan, rolled’ ‘out .of bed and
crawled ‘to the’ "front gallery
where he received” another ter:
riftic blow backrof the neck which

rendered him unegnscious, .
The negro Bates has the coun-
‘tenance of a. hardened criminal
and has served a-term for bur-
glary, having boon sent up from
‘Wharton county."
:. Deputy Vineyard has worked
\berd'on this:case, having ‘hardly!
‘any sleep Saturday, Sunday and:
Monday nighta. ‘jWe are not say-'
ing too much whan we say that’
‘Harvey Vineyatd is one of the.
‘best peace offices’s in the whole:
State of Texas, | d we feel aura,
he will land. the Bi).


a

—

BATES, Walter, black, hanged Columbus, Colorado Co., December 8, 1905.

Transcription of 3/5 card: |

“On July 15, 1905, Bates entered the home of an aged couple, Fred and Anna Kuhlee,
clubbed them over the head with an ax, and stole $9.50 and a pistol. The Kuhlees were
grievously wounded, but eventually recovered. Bates trial began on Oct. 9, 1905. Not realizing
that he could be sentenced to die, he pleaded guilty to assaulting Anna Kuhlee. On October 12,
he was sentenced to hang. The sentence was carried out on December 8 (1905) at the county
farm. His victims were among the crowd that witnessed the execution.”-Letter dated 7/27/1988
from Bill Stein, Nesbitt Memorial Library, 529 Washington, Columbus, TX.

BATES, Walter, black, hanged Columbus, Colorado Co., December 8, 1905.
“WALTER BATES HANGED.
“Paid The Penalty For His Crime On The Scaffold In Columbus Yesterday.
“The crime for which Walter Bates paid the death penalty.

“Sometime during the night of Saturday, July 15th, a horrible deed was enacted at Hahn
Bros. & Waugh’s ranch house on their rice farm about four miles south of here. Fred Kuhle and
wife who are thrifty, inoffensive Germans, were beaten into unconsciousness and left lying in
pools of blood for dead. Mr. Kuhle was foreman on the rice farm and his wife cooked for the
hands. The crime was reported to the officers here the following Sunday morning and Deputy
Sheriff Harvey Vineyard went at once to the scene of the crime and a horrible sight met his eyes.
Fred Kuhle was found unconscious, lying in a pool of blood on the front gallery with his head
horribly beaten. His wife was found inside the house also unconscious, having been struck in the
left temple, a gash several inchyes long being made, and that side of her head smashed in a
horrible manner. An axe and a green club about four feet long, both covered with blood, were
found near the house which were afterwards plroven to be the weapons used. The floor of the
house and bed clothing were covered with blood. For sometime the victims were not expected to
recover...

“The crime was committed for purpose of robery, as bureau drawers, trunks and every
receptacle was emptied on the floor and $10 in money and a pistol were taken. Walter Bates, the
negro who yesterday paid the death penalty, was arrested at Rosenberg about three days after the
crime was committed with a pistol in his possession which was afterwards identified as the one
taken from Mr. Kuhle. At the time of his arrest, Bates made a partial confession to Mr. Vineyard,
implicating another negro in the crime, but in the last term of the district court at Columbus, he
pleaded guilty to the charge of robbery by use of deadly weapons, admsitting that he along
committed this horrible crime. After hearing the evidence, the jury rendered a verdict assessing
the death penalty, and the day of execution waas set by Judge Kennon for December 8. After the
verdict had been rendered, Bates asked for the shortest time, which is thirty days, as prescribed by
law.

“Walter Bates...paid the death penalty on the gallows which had been erected for the
occasion at the county farm about one mile from Columbus, yesterday afternoon. At 2:35 o’clock
Sheriff Bridge and deputies, with the condemned man, went on the scaffold. Besides Bates and
Sheriff Bridge, those on the scaffold were W. A. Barr, Bruce Mayes, Chas.s Robertson, Lon
Ames, Henry Insall, and D. George and two colored preachers, Dan Thomas and P. H. Benets,
Bates’ spiritual advisers. A couple of songs were sung and a prayer given by the preachers, but
Bates did not make any statement from the scaffold. While the preachers were singing, and
prompotly at 2:50 o’clock, Sheriff Bridge turned his head in an oppsite direction so as not to see
the sight and sprung the trigger, which hurled Bates’ soul into eternity. Nine minutes after the
trigger had been sprung, the negro was pronounced dead by Dr. R. Henry Harrison and Sheriff
Bridge cut the body down...

“Fhe partook sparingly of an elegant dinner that was furnished him and smoked cigarettes
incessantly. He did not weraken a particle even to the last and took his death as a matter of
courseway. Bates was 24 years old, was born at Stafford Point, is an offspring of Wm. And Elsie
Bates who lived on Jack Adam’s farm in Fort Bend County.”-Headlight, Eagle Lake, TX,
12/9/1905.


Felonious
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS KILLED - 1979

, 1. ADAIR, Richard J. - Juneau, Alaska - April 17, 1979
“ 2. ALBERS, William D, - Baltimore, Maryland - August 19, 1979
. 3. AMOS, Arthur A, - Collier County, Florida - December 3, 1979 ]
& 4. ANAYA, Michael T., - San Diego, California - April 1l, 1979
* 5. BADDER, Duane A, - Presque Isle County, Michigan - October 29, 1979 :
f 6. BAKER, Charles H, — Houston) exasyiCity } Marshal - August 16, 1979
7. BALLARD, Albert E. - ‘Birmingham, Alabama - Naveuber’ 29; “1979
8. BARTHEL, George R. - Los Angeles County, California - April 19, 1979
9. BEDFORD, Thomas E, - Lincoln County, New Mexico - October 8, 1979
10, BENNETT, Royce L. - Deming, New Mexico - July 25, 1979
- 11. BENNINGTON, Dennis E, - Cincinnati, Ohio - March 6, 1979
= 12, BONNELL, John W. - St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana - July 10, 1979
- 13. BOONE, Christopher W, - Sacramento County, California - October 25,19°
Ee. 14, BOOTH, Henry J. - Mobile, Alabama - August 14, 1979
ee 15, BOSAK, William P, - Chicago, Illinois - March 3, 1979
16, BOWERS, James N. - Columbus, Georgia - April 3, 1979
. 17. BROWN, Randy E. - Albany, Georgia - June 10, 1979
Ae 18. CAISSE, William 0. - Paxton, Illinois - April 7, 1979
ae 19, CALDWELL, Harold L. - Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics - September
“Bab 14, 1979
7S 80. CAMPBELL, William - St, Louis, Missouri - May 30, 1979
oe 21. CARPENTER, James M. - Crowley, Texas - February 13, 1979
22. CHELIUS, Ronald P, - Nevada Division of Investigation and Narcotics -

March 13, 1979

Age 23. CHERRY, Calvin D. - Bertie County, North Carolina - August 2, 1979


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Three Time Loser 41

{ crossed the international border into Canada, changed my
name to Bill Frazier, and turned to athletics as_ before.
They stood me well. There was work on the Quilchina
golf course ‘at Vancouver, and entrance into a number of
tournaments. But my greatest thrill, I think, was when
a Miss Peggy Hoard of Vancouver, who thought I was just
a nice fellow from the golf club, and I went into the finals
of the British Columbia tennis tournament. There followed
work on the Coldstream Ranch near Vancouver.

But there was always the lam. Here I might say, if I had
any advice to leave to youth hovering on the brink of crime,
that the lam is the greatest punishment of them all.

Back to Minnesota I came, and from there to Denver,
where I worked as a salesman. Then to Miami, Florida, for
a job at the Flamingo Park tennis courts. Bill Frazier was
covering territory.

I’ve often wondered what drew me like a magnet back to
North Carolina? Why should I entertain such an insane
ilea? Who was I to spit in the face of Fate, thumb my
nose at danger? Frankly, I don’t know why I went back.
All I know is that I went and, having crossed the state line
—which was bad enough—risked a trip into Raleigh. There
I met face-to-face my first fiancée, a college student. She
gisped. I was startled at her fear. She screamed, and ran.
Not a word had been spoken.

Tome was nothing left for me to do but flee. But the
alarm had been spread. Dwight Beard was in town. It was
only a matter of a few hours until the coppers were loose with
their posse guns, and I was the target they sought.

I had a car—where I got it is incidental—that had out-of-
state license plates on it. I was spotted. The gun battle
that ensued was brief. It was either shoot, or be shot. So
I shot. Bullets whizzed over and around me. For the first
time I heard the ring of lead on steel as the posse’s slugs
struck my machine. It was my first police trap, and I
guess the officers must have bungled it, because I escaped
—and I was an amateur at such things. I escaped, understand,
with a slug in my scalp and several superficial body wounds.

There was nothing left then but to lam. I had a record.
There was the murder of Augustus Bounous staring me in
the face. I had my picture on police, circulars, and a reward

on my head. I had the coppers after me with orders to
shoot and kill if I offered resistance. I had no money, no
legal transportation, no hideouts, little chance to make an
honest living again. I couldn’t afford to stay in one place
too long; yet, I couldn’t risk traveling about too much.
But worse than all of these, my picture was in Truz De-

rective Mysteries’ Line-Up. And that meant that some-

body in every town had seen it.

Reduced to one brief word, I was “hot.”

Dressing my wounds as best I could, I again turned my
back on North Carolina. I don’t know how I escaped into
Washington, and from there to St. Paul, but I did.

It was a bad choice.

For awhile things moved smoothly. I got a room—and
this is paradoxical—at the Y. M. C. A. And I got a job
with a brewery. Not only that, but I landed a post as
physical director of the St. Croix Y. M. C. A. Camp.

I had a wife and baby in North Carolina, but I met a
girl. Her name doesn’t matter, I guess. She probably
wouldn’t appreciate being drawn into anything this sordid.
I married her. And that, a judge would say, constitutes
bigamy. The cops will tell you I married two others in St.
Paul, too. I regret I cannot boast of such a Casanova com-
plex. It simply isn’t true.

Soon after I landed the camp job, residents of fashionable
homes began to report burglaries. The intruder confined his
activities to jewels and cash.

I had turned my eyes to jewels—somebody else’s jewels!

This “phantom bandit”—that’s the newspapers’ trite label
for him—began to hold up fashionable bridge parties, lawn
parties, dinners and such. |

Always he took jewelry. Always he carried a nickel-plated
pistol. You might keep that latter item in mind. The St.
Paul and Minneapolis police records reveal he gathered in
some $15,000 in gems and cash during that series of hijack-
ings and burglaries.

Then came the morning of August 31st, 1933. The phan-
tom had slipped through a moon-lit garden to a window in
the fashionable home of a Mr. and Mrs. Carl Weschke on
Riverwood Place, St. Paul. He carried a nickel-plated pistol.
But as easily as he moved, his stealthy footsteps awakened
the woman. She flooded the room (Continued on page’ 86)

Still able to smile, although death was drawing ever nearer, Beard (7) displayed in this photo some of

the charm which made him attractive to women.

(8) The grim execution chamber was just around the

corner when this picture of “the man who was born to burn” was made in the row of the condemned

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40 True Detective Mysteries

a year. I will spare her name, because when death is
chilling one with its wings, one starts thinking of decent
things.

Regardless, after a year, a son was born.

And there was life, sound, beneficial, sane and healthy life,
stretching out ahead. Then came the crossroads in the
guise of a farmer’s pig.

LOOK back now—reflection decorates the bars of death

row where I sit—across the years to that Christmas
week of 1931, and the incident of the pig. And I wonder
what motive Fate had in placing that crossroad right. there.

Let me say here that at that intersection, Augustus Dwight
Beard the student, the athlete, the husband, the father and
the man become Dwight Beard the criminal.

There I divorced life, embraced an inglorious death.

A group of us, all boys, were in my cabin in Pisgah Na-
tional Forest in North Carolina, on a house party. I was
doing forest ranger work at the time.

. A pig was stolen from a farmer, duly roasted and con-
sumed. It was a costly meal.

I took most of the blame for the incident when the irate
farmer went to the authorities. I maintain now—and it
must be recalled that doom has cracked around my ears, and
the little green door is beckoning me—that I was away from
camp when the pig was stolen. But I. knew about it; I ate
part of it. So I stood’ up and took my medicine. °

There were six of us, and five received suspended sen-
tences of two years. I, too, received a suspended sentence,
but it had‘a “rider” to it, and when I heard the Judge pro-
nounce it, I was nauseated.

“S. S. out of the State,” the boys in stir call it. Trans-
lated, that means suspended sentence, but the defendant

must remain outside the borders of the State for any num-.

ber of years set by the jury. And the jury decreed that I
must remain outside for five years. Five years, S. S. out of
the State—it’s much worse than it sounds.

Well, crime had caressed me with one of its velvet-like
tendrils.

I reflect now that the jurors probably thought they were
being lenient with me, saving me from the penitentiary as
they did and giving a suspended sentence instead. But, to

me, their penalty was a harsh one. Remain out of my be-
loved North Carolina for five years? Did a new life rest
over the mountains? Was it possible to go out of one’s na-
tive land with a conviction hanging over one’s head, and
start all over again?

Dll never know the right answers, because from the time
the jury spoke its verdict, I guess I never looked back.

On February 18th, 1932, a well-built, athletic type of
youth strode into the store of Augustus Bounous, popular
merchant in the small town of Valdese, North Carolina.

“Stick ’em up!” snapped through his teeth, but they were
not the precise, smooth words of the veteran gunman. They
were more hysterical, more like words with fever, so to put
it. For you see, it was the first time this gunman _ had
barked them.

Bounous complied, but the bandit lost his head. Two
slugs from a pistol chopped their way into the storekeeper’s
body. And that, in any language, means murder.

Chief of Police J. P. Coffey of Valdese named me as the
gunman who stood there and shot a man down for $1,800.
Life—my part of it—is too short now to contradict him, |
have always maintained, however, there was doubt present.

Notwithstanding, in March of 1932 I dropped completely
out of sight. The last of the month found me in Cleveland,
Ohio, where for a while I played professional baseball. There
I remained until July, and during that time I had become as-
sistant scoutmaster of the 105th-Street Methodist Church
Boy Scout troop.

All the time I was struggling with myself. What to do?
Go back and face it? In my pocket was a newspaper clip-
ping which told how I had been named as the trigger man in
the Valdese case. What to do about it? There in Cleveland,
the honor that had been bred into me, the better side of me,
the things my mother and father had taught me, the sweet
things like the soft rays of the lamp bringing out the rich-
ness of the little leather-bound Bible—there those things beck-
oned to me as a last resort. For days I debated what I
should do—whether to return as a‘man and face it or flee
as a fugitive and gamble on it.

I chose the latter course, and right there I learned the true
definition of the word “lam.” I was on it, definitely.

I was a fugitive, and I knew it.

Continuing the pictorial record of Dwight Beard’s career, he is shown (5) as he sat manacled to a chair
in the office of Inspector Will Fritz, Dallas detective, who, according to Beard’s own statement, is “hell!
(6) The co-author as he faced trial in Dallas for a murder committed during a holdup

on killers.”


BEARD, Dwight,

Tw Sot

elec, Tex. 8 P. (DALLAS CO.) 6/4/1937oe~

TRUE DETECTIVE MYSTERIES, November, 193TL 6

FROM COLLEGE TO DEATH ROW—When these snapshots were made, the shadow of criminality had not touched

the life of Dwight Beard. (1) As he appeared when a freshman at North Carolina State in 1928; (2) as a scoutmaster
at Lenoir in 1929; (3) the physique that made Beard a member of the varsity wrestling team and (4) as he played
on the North Carolina State football team, a fast, flashy end whose athletic prowess made him popular with students

It is the truthful account of theft, imprisonment, bur-
glary, robbery and finally murder. It is the story of
-crime—and where it gets you.

In short, it is my story. I am not proud of it.

Let us begin with those earlier days when life stretched
before me; and by life, I mean one that is sweet, whole-
some, normal. Let us start with those days in Lenoir, North
Carolina, where I had a respectable mother and father, a
home that offered everything a growing boy should need.
My life is ragged around the cuffs, the linens of my youth
are soiled and wrinkled and shoddy. But it can never be said
that I am where I am because of my environment. My
family was not rich, but we were in comfortable circum-
stances. We had everything we wanted. I had a high
school education, and was ready for the university. You'll
never find criminal influences in surroundings such as these
—in a home where a lamp stood upon a table, its rays bath-
ing a dog-eared Bible on the scarf below.

High school, as I said, was behind me. Already I had
realized years of ambition to have a perfect physique. When
young, I was in poor health, but as a kid in knee pants I
had been determined to develop my body. It took years of

Ti is the story of a man who shot the works in crime.

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training, but when I emerged from high school I had sue-
ceeded. I had my letter from Lenoir.as a crack backfield

‘man on the football team. I had a body I was proud of.

My outdoor work had made me a forest ranger while in
high school.. I had learned to love trees. Three years as the

‘ Lenoir fullback were chalked up to my record. I had learned

to be an expert wrestler. I was a Boy Scout. worker, and
specialized on boys’ camps. j

Then came North Carolina State, where I plunged ints
my engineering and forestry courses.. For three years I was
champion wrestler in collegiate circles, and for three year
I was end.on the North Carolina State football team. For
three -years I was assistant physical director of the Raleigh
Y. M. C. A. and for the same length of time I wag
Y. M. C. A. camp director at Camps Edgerton and Linville
in North Carolina. i

Meredith College, a Methodist institution for girls, w:
not far from the North Carolina State campus. And
mance found a way.. Romance, it appears, always has f
me.

On December 7th, 1930, I eloped with a prominent

‘from my home town of Lenoir. She was a Meredith studen

I had exhausted my funds and was staying out of State f

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the delivery truck homeward. Ordinarily there were several
dark stretches on the McGalliard Falls Road on which Gus
lived, but that night every object was clear in the bright
moonlight. A careful man, Gus had never gotten over feel-
ing uneasy while carrying so much money with him, but
what could happen on a moonlit night like this? The money
would be deposited in the morning anyhow. But as if to
mock Gus Bounous’ light-heartedness—over a good day’s
work done in a business, started on a small scale, but now
growing by leaps and bounds—an unseen passenger rode
with him.

The stowaway’s name was Death.

Driving north about three-quarters of a mile on the un-
paved MeGalliard Falls Road, Gus reached his driveway,
turned into the yard, and alighted before his house.

Only about fifty yards away, a man sat in his car with
the lights off. The lights on his car had gone out, he later
(much later) said, and he pulled to the side of the road.
What that man saw, that moonlit night in 1932, the police
and public were not to know for many months.

us Bounous’ WIFE was expecting him at home. She
heard him drive into the yard, heard loud, angry voices.
Then two shots, followed by moans.

Terrified, she rushed out to find her husband stumbling
towards the house, doubled up with pain and clasping wounds
in the abdomen.

The nearest hospital was over eight miles away, in Mor-
ganton. Without even going back into the house, Mrs.
Bounous turned the car around, somehow got Gus inside,
and drove as fast as the car would go to the hospital. And
a cruel, tortuous drive it was for her—with a probably
fatally-wounded husband moaning beside her, and two
babies, one only four months old, alone and unprotected at
home where now, after this, anything might happen.

Valdese, the erstwhile “crimeless” town was dazed. Gus
Bounous had been robbed of $1,400, shot down in cold blood,
and now lay between life and death in a hospital!

Thankful that they had chosen their police officers care-
fully when forced to have them, they urged Police Chief J.
P. Coffey, to leave no stone unturned in apprehending the
guilty party.

With only tracks across the field which lay beyond the
road from Bounous’ house, as clues, Chief Coffey carefully
measured the distance between the house and Bounous’ mar-
ket, and learned the exact time the first performance of the
Colonial Theater had ended Thursday night.

Then came a clue that promised to end the search then
and there. Ironically enough, it came through a second dis-
turbance in Valdese, this time racial trouble.

A number of Negro laborers had been imported to Valdese
to work on a new waterworks project. Led by two men,
Alvin Eller and Knox Brown, a movement was instigated to
drive not only these, but all Negroes out of town.

Just two days after Bounous was shot—as if they had
chosen the time when the police were engrossed in trying
to solve the startling crime—Eller and Brown were arrested
ior taking part in flogging a Negro high school janitor. And
Brown, hoping to gain leniency from Chief Coffey, gave
him amazing information concerning Alvin Eller’s highly
incriminating actions on the night of the shooting.

Eller had asked to borrow his coat, Brown said, explain-
ing he was going to “pull a job.” When asked what kind of
job, Eller had replied:

“Just wait until tomorrow and read about it in the papers.”

Eller, a tall, slim, sallow youth of twenty-three, had joined
his parents in Valdese the previous fall, and since that time
kept a photographer's studio near Bounous’ market.

He was immediately questioned, but vehemently denied
any connection with or knowledge of the crime. He was
held, however, for the time being.

The slayer (right) and (be-
low) the year-book write-up
of the athlete with a prom-
ising career. Sentenced to
life imprisonment, the So-
ciety Hog Thief made his
escape, but eventually paid
for his crime-ridden years
by forfeiting his life in the
electric chair.

LS pin Gus Bounous died, the third day after the hold-
up, the indignation of the Waldensians rose to fever
pitch. Bounous had not recognized his masked assailant,
but he was certain, however, that the man was not a Wal-
densian. What the dying man told Dr. J. B. Riddle con-
cerning his slayer added fuel to the Waldensians’ wrath.

“He didn’t give me a-dog’s chance,” said Bounous.

Disregarding expense, the outraged Waldensians brought
R. L. Roscoe, well-known Charlotte detective, to Valdese.

Eller was closely questioned and although extremely nerv-
ous, continued to protest complete innocence. After four
days of confinement, since his fine in the Negro assault case
had been paid and since no further evidence to corroborate
Brown’s damning testimony against him could be secured,
he was released. Chief Coffey had tried desperately to find
a charge on which he could be held, and was not surprised
when Eller disappeared immediately after being freed.

When Detective Roscoe abandoned the case at the end of
a week, the Waldensians had spent considerable moncy, but
the crime still seemed as far from solution as ever. Ilaving
learned tenacity in a hard school, however, they had their
more prominent citizens file plea after plea with authorities
to push the investigation.

Convinced that Alvin Eller, if not_an accomplice, at least
had knowledge of the crime, Chief Coffey set about tracing
him. Other efforts failing, the officer resorted to a clever
ruse. He was fairly certain that Eller’s parents, still in
Valdese, were ‘corresponding with their son. Using a youth
who was in jail on a minor charge and had been intimate
with Eller, he deliberately allowed him to escape, telling
him to go to the home of Eller’s parents and get Alvin’s
address. Posing as a fugitive who (Continued on page 83)

47


cipht-year sentence. Although having
hoped for conviction on a more SCrious
charge, there was satisfaction for the Wal-
densians in knowing Eller was not to go
entirely unpunished.

Now that Eller could not be convicted
of the murder, efforts to locate Dwight
Beard were redoubled.

WANTED FOR MURDER
By

Valdese, North Carolina, Police
AUGUSTUS DWIGHT BEARD
Of Lenoir, N. C.

DESCRIPTION: Weight, 175 pounds ;
height, 5 ft. 11 ins. ; age, 23 years ; com-
plexion, fair; hair, light and curly ; ath-
letic build; usually wears light colored
clothes.

Wanted For Murdering And Robbing
Augustus Bounous, A Merchant, At
Valdese, North Carolina, On February
18, 1932.

$500.00 REWARD FOR ARREST
AND CONVICTION OF
MURDERER.
J. P. COFFEY, Chief _of Police,
VALDESE, NORTH CAROLINA

So ran the reward bulletins carrying a
picture of Beard which Chief Coffey sent
to the police throughout the country. And
by the tips that soon began to result from
these notices, it was evident that Beard by
that time was knee-deep in crime.

At Richmond, Virginia, Beard escaped
capture by sheer bluff. A residential sec-
tion of that city had experienced a scries
of robberies and special officers were de-
tailed to watch the neighborhood. One
nieht they saw a man alight from a new
Ford V-8 and start to enter a house.
They seized him, but he suavely and un-
excitedly told them he lived at that address.
Ile was released after being searched, and
proceeded casually towards the house, but
alter some fifty yards, turned and bolted
into the darkness, making good his escape.

BB i THE BIG news broke. North Caro-
lina papers screamed it in headlines. A
man identified as Dwight Beard had been
arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Police there wired Coffey, asking for
more details. Then came a letter from
Mrs. W. R. Bell, of St. Paul, with news-
paper and magazine clippings enclosed.
She had been first to discover that Beard,
pictured in a detective magazine as a
wanted criminal, was evidently the same
person as “Daniel Haines,” the man ar-
rested in her city. “Haines” and Beard
were actually the same man, Coffey re-
plied, after a careful check-up.

Newspaper accounts coming out of St.
Paul soon informed the Waldensians of
Beard’s bizarre life there. Posing as a
man-about-town, dressing well, the one-
time hog-thief had gained entree into St.
Paul society! Since he seemed a man of
means, played tennis especially well, he
“made the grade’ and became popular
among the elite. Gossip even brooked an
approaching marriage between the sporty
Southerner and a St. Paul socicty girl.

But Beard had not reformed.

“Foldup at 10:00 rp. M., June 15
(1933), home of Mr. and Mrs. J. F.
Raether with bridge party on—permit-
ted woman to keep wedding rings, but
took $3,020 worth of jewelry and
$26.80 in money.

“Holdup 12:05 a. M., July 22, at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Lewis,
who were entertaining—loot $450 in
jewelry and watches, $70.00 in cash.

“Holdup at 2:30 a. mM. August 8,

84

home of C. A. Brantnober, bridge

party, loot $153.00 cash.”

These were some of the sixty-three of-
fenses charged against Beard by St. Paul
authorities.

The “400” in St. Paul were incensed to
learn that “Daniel Haines” was. really
Dwight Beard ; he was wanted for murder ;
had been living a Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde
existence and was the “Society Bandit”
local police had been diligently trailing for
months. Mingling as a gentleman of Iei-
sure with the wealthy during the day, he
had been holding up and robbing the
wealthy by night!

Haines’ downfall came one night when,
dressed in golf clothes, he arrived at a
Minneapolis hospital, asking for treatment
for wounds received while attempting to
rob the home of Carl Weschecke, of St.
Paul. The police had been informed by
Weschecke and arrested Haines at the hos-
pital. His identification soon followed, but
extradition was granted by Governor Olson
of Minnesota only on condition that Beard
be returned to that state, if not convicted
in North Carolina.

N° SOONER HAD BEARD been returned and
lodged in the strong Asheville jail for
safe-keeping than he afforded the Walden-
sians another sensation. Beard had gone
insane, they heard. Could it be true? Had
he been crazy all the time? Had Gus Bou-
nous been killed by a madman? Or was
Beard merely feigning insanity in a desper-
ate effort to evade trial? Dr. G..M. Bill-
ings, Burke County physician, was imme-
diately dispatched to make an investigation,
But when he reached Beard’s cell, the pris-
oner refused to submit to an examination
and appeared perfectly normal.

Soon after, on December cighteenth,
Beard was brought to trial before a jury
secured from a far corner of an adjoining
county to avoid prejudice. Now that Al-
vin Eller had been cleared of the murder
charge, state prosecutors counted heavily
upon him as a star witness to pin the guilt
on Beard,

Pale, sickly and highly nervous, Eller
took the stand soon after the trial began.
But to the astonishment of everyone pres-
ent, he stubbornly refused to utter one
word of testimony against Beard. The
erstwhile photographer stood on his con-
stitutional right that, in testifying, he
might cause himself to be indicted as an
accessory after the fact. Judge Wilson
Warlick saw no alternative but to accede to
his plea and without Eller’s all-important
evidence, state’s attorneys were forced to
halt the trial and discontinue the case until
the next term of court.

Among the Waldensians there was bitter
resentment. To them a constitutional right
that enabled Eller to block efforts to avenge
the murder of a Waldensian was hard to
understand. If this man Eller knew the
details of the shocking crime, why should
he be permitted to keep his secrets?

Two or three days after Easter, Sheriff
Messer led a new prisoner into Beard’s cell
block. Jack Hart was his name and Beard
grew to like him. He wasn’t a clumsy
farmer, caught on the first “job” he pulled ;
neither was he such a damned crumb like
most of these other birds. Knew Balti-
more, too—where Beard had pulled a few
nifty jobs himself. Jack and Dwight he-
came pals, so when Jack said he was be-
ing switched to a jail in Johnson City, Ten-
nessce, Beard was sorry to see him go.

When Beard was again brought to trial,
April 30, 1934, the largest crowd in the
court history of Morganton fought for
standing room as a brilliant array of Iegal
counsel appeared for both sides.

Excitement was at a high pitch. What
new evidence could the State offer? Would
Eller testify this time?

Rivorts SAID a great change had come
over Eller, who had been brought from
a prison camp ina distant part of the state.
Besides growing more pale, he had taken
up religious studies with fervor and had
become leader of a literary society in his
camp.

Waldensians in the courtroom glared at
Eller as he was sworn in during the early
part of the trial. He began by answering
Solicitor L. S. Spurling’s questions readily.
The atmosphere scemed electrified. Was
Eller, at long last, to release those dark
secrets locked in his brain?

He was not. After answering only a few
questions, he compressed his thin lips and
sat in stony silence, refusing to testify fur-
ther. Judge Warlick rapped for order as
ominous murmurs arose among the densely
packed spectators.

Both State and defense lawyers pleaded
with Eller, in the absence of the jury, to
come clean. Solicitor Spurling first as-
sured him he would never be prosecuted for
any testimony he might give, then warned
him that he might be indicted for obstruct-
ing justice. Finally Eller spoke.

“Between all these promises and threats,”
he quavered, “I don’t know just what I do
know.”

He asked to be taken back to jail. His
request was granted.

Thus vanished what hopes the State had
of wresting evidence from Eller, and to the
public the chances of convicting Beard
seemed small.

Claude Oxentine, the Valdese store clerk
who had talked with Bounous in his market
the night of the murder, testified he had
seen Eller and Beard together near the
market that night, but admitted the pair
seemed in a jovial mood, joshing each other
light-heartedly.

Then came a sensation. Felix Whitener,
the farmer who had tried to sell calves to
Bounous shortly before the shooting, took
the stand. [le swore he actually witnessed
the entire holdup from a short distance.
It was Whitener whose automobile had
been halted near the Bounous home when
its lights had gone out.

Further, he swore that he recognized the
two robbers as the shots were fired. They
were Dwight Beard and Alvin Eller, he
said.

But, on cross-examination, —Whitener
could only account for keeping what he had
seen secret for more than two years by
answering :

“IT didn’t think of telling about it.”

And the State's case was dealt another
blow when Whitener admitted he was once
unconscious for twelve days from injuries
to the head suffered in an automobile
wreck. The witness became so excited at
this point in efforts to explain he was not
insane, that for a few minutes he could
not be silenced.

The State seemed to have lost valuable
ground, But the State was not through.

WIGHT BEARD HAD maintained an air of

nonchalance. Was it callousness, a
sheer display of bravado, or did he really
believe conviction impossible ?

The name of the next witness seemed to
interest him only vagucly.

“R, G. Thompson, come to the stand,
please,” shouted the solicitor,

Beard deigned to glance up when the
witness did not rise among the spectators,
but was summoned from outside the build-
ing.

The solicitor and special prosecution
lawyers were eyeing the defendant closely.
But if those lawyers, who knew the iden-
tity and significance of the new witness be-
ing sworn in, expected the prisoner to dis-
play any violent emotional strain, they were

disappoint
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Bux’ TILE FOREGOING DRAB portrayal of the ignominious
demise three years ago of a youth who, too late, found
that Crime Cannot Pay, lies a REAL life story of a ro-
mantic, near sinless group of men, women and children
whose modern Utopia pursued its even tenor without crime
until Beard broke its peace.

It is the Rear story of a real people who found their just
reward in clean-living, democracy and saving of their earn-
ings wrested from the earth through the sweat of their brow.

Forty years ago the earth lay like a ravaged carcass at
their feet. They had come to the Promised Land with eager
hearts—and found it dead! Now their-hearts were as stony
as the stony wastes at which they stared. They had been
faithful to the earth and the earth had betrayed them. From
the earth they had lived and begot life.

Now it was dead! ;

The tears of the women ran down furrowed checks and
dripped, drop by drop, salting the earth which had renounced
them. But they knelt and prayed, and their prayers were as
but onc—bread for the mouths of their babes!

Since then, most of the men and women who prayed to
God to give them food from the unyielding earth, have died.
But their prayers were answered, and the earth that slept, is
again alive and fruitful.

Valdesc, North Carolina, like most American cities during
infancy, had a hard, bitter struggle. Its streets did not re-
verberatce with the sounds of six-guns, like Tombstone and
Deadwood and hundreds of other more colorful communi-
ties; and its struggles were not with those of the unlawful
element, but simply the struggle of keeping body and soul

together.
Had not a charming Italian countess met an American
traveler at a reception in Rome, in the early nineties, Val-

dese, in all probability, would never have existed; nor would
the terse, matter-of-fact newspaper story of Beard’s electro-
cution and its bloody background, have been in order.

But, the Countess Bumpian did tell the American, Marvin
Scaife, of an ingenious, religiously-persecuted people who
traced their ancestry back through more than 1,900 years of
history, to Saint Peter himself. Their
homes, she said, were on the French-
Italian border, high in the Alps.

Catching the countess’ enthusiasm for
this picturesque people, the Waldensians,
Marvin Scaife, with Dr. Gai, brilliant
linguist and missionary in Rome, soon
formulated plans to transfer as many
Waldensians to America as desired to
emigrate from their eaglelike abode.

By 1932, Burke County, North Caro-
lina, was extremely proud of its unique
town of Valdese, named by the once
forlorn colony of “foreigners” who had
arrived there thirty-nine years before,
and had made good.

But in January, 1893, it had heen a
different story.

NDING A LONG, wretched journey,

300) small, wiry, travel-begrimed
immigrants disembarked from their
special train and viewed the 10,000
acres of Durke County land that was to
be their new home in America. Instead
of the “garden spot” they had fondly
anticipated, they found the land bought
with their life savings, composed of

gle to wrest a livelihood from that stony ground. Slowly the
landscape changed. Quaint little houses of the chalet type
appeared, and the once bare hills became green under ter-
raced vineyards—accomplished only through heartbreaking
toil.

So poor that the very bread they ate was kept in a com-
munity storehouse—each peasant-citizen receiving only so
many of the long, pointed loaves as his bare subsistence re-
quired—the Waldensians, nevertheless, erected a handsome
church of stone soon after their arrival. Almost fanatically
religious, they boasted that if all copies of the Bible were
destroyed, they could re-write the whole of it from memory.

And in those early days, small boys could be seen tending
their flocks on some hillside pasture, with a crook in one
hand and an open French Bible in the other.

Because they came to be recognized as a people of re-
markable industry and unimpeachable honesty, they were
eventually able to borrow money, on their word alone, and
without collateral, with which to build a flourishing manu-
facturing town, where only desolate hills had stood. before
they came. And, by 1932, with many of the older citizens
still tight-lipped, rudely frank and suspicious from early
hardships, Valdese was living up to the slogan of its newly-
formed Chamber of Commerce: “The fastest-growing town
in North Carolina.”

| Dre THEIR FIRST twenty years in Amcrica, only two
minor infractions of the law were charged against the
Waldensians, and in both cases, these simple peasants, in their
naive way, found American law something to puzzle over.
One Peter Tron, a carpenter, was drawn into a quarrel with
a native-born Burke County man who banged Tron'’s head
witha hammer. For participating, Tron was called to court,
but the other man was “given” a $50 fine and released. Tron,
thinking the man had been paid for his crime, offered
amazed protest. Patiently, it was explained to him that the

‘state received the fine, and that the Burke County man paid

it. Tron then said:

“An’ eff T pay $50 can T heet him over the head with a
hammer ?”

Until recent years—when native-
born Americans began moving to
Valdese to take advantage of the pros-
perity the “foreigners” had created—
the Waldensians had almost no crime.
Only for the last decade have they had
a police department, and not. until
1932, when a heartless murder rocked
the town, did they have a jail. For-
merly it was their proud boast:

“We have so little trouble that we
need no jail,”

On Thursday night, February 18,
1932, Augustus (“Gus”) Bounous was
winding up a busy day in his meat
market on Main Street. On pay days
Gus kept a large amount of money on
hand in order to cash the checks of
the workers in the knitting mills. And
this was pay day.

Claude Oxentine, clerk in another
Valdese store, entered Bounous’ place
and engaged him in a conversation.
While Oxentine was still there, Felix
Whitener, a farmer who lived some
three miles from town, came in and
tried to interest Gus in buying some

bleak, rocky hills, practically worthless Alvin Eller (above) refused to testify against | Veal calves.

for agriculture—the only occupation for
which most of them were qualified.
Then followed years of bitter strug-

46

Bounous' slayer during the latter's trial. Eller
was convicted of receiving stolen goods, but
was not implicated in the murder.

Shortly after Oxentine and White-
ner left, Gus Bounous closed his store
and, since his wife had the car, drove

the delivery :
dark stretche
lived, but th
moonlight.
ing uneasy -
what could
would be ck
mock Gus |
work done i:
growing by
with him.
The stow:
Driving »
paved McG:
turned into °
Only aboi
the lights ot!
(much later
What that 1
and public v

us Bov
heard |
Then two sl
Terrified.
towards the
in the abdo:
The neare
ganton.  \\
Bounous tu:
and drove a
a cruel, tor
fatally-wou
babies, one |
home where
Valdese, t
Bounous hac
and now lay
Thank ful
fully when |
P. Coffey, t:
guilty party.
With onl
road from F
measured th:
ket, and lear
Colonial The
Then cam
and there. |
turbance in °
A number
to work on
Alvin Eller :
drive not on
Just two |
chosen the t
to solve the :
for taking p:
Brown, hop
him amazin:
incriminatin:
Eller had
ing he was ¢
job, Eller h:
“Just wait
Eller, a tal

his parents 1:

kept a photo
He was i:

any connect)
held, howeve


on

awn the con-
x tor Niles

ad, L passed
‘ently hadn’t
or two later,
| near Car-
of a police
‘for me. I
d too much,
around one
irt road that
ucrete high-
ff the good
ce car went
sun in omy
went to pull
of fainted.
on the gas
— in the
and walked
-e afternoon
z overhead.
farm where
atching the
barn. That
rted to yelp,
-d him back
in the hay-

x, I tried to
{ get away
hitch a ride
d would be
-oo weak. I
n the barn.”

?” he was
t happened

“+s from
s from
hat the
worries and

n. His an-

crimes that
working on
en in those

e with him.
n had veri-
and was a

his private
reer,

it. I come
a good edu-
ight. Easy

“as a parade
rracks. His
s upheld by

, ffin and his

—

hen he was
‘rs, too, fell
rved rest.
aken for an
. the County
1eld without
‘vans. Sev-
eers listened
the police-
hey indicted
zree.

cH, Ruffin,

uted by the

efore Judge
icked with a

| friends of

the court
oner’s dock,
idressed the

counsel, I

plead guilty as I am charged!”

The county officials, the police and spec-
tators were stunned. They expected this
felon who had taken a life for a tankful
of gas and three paltry dollars to follow
the underworld practice and fight justice.

“Have you anything to say before I pass
sentence upon you?” the Judge asked
calmly.

“Yes, [ have something to say.”

He cleared his throat. He looked at the
grim faces of the hardworking men and
women in the audience. They didn’t un-
nerve him.

“May it please the Court,” he said, us-
ing a familiar legal phrase, “I killed Her-
man Reinke. I-did it in self-defense. He
pulled a gun and fired twice. He was a
good shot. I was hit twice. I tried to
knock the gun from his hand—I killed
him. It is true, I went there to rob him.
I went there with a gun. I never—never in
my life, have 1 ever thought of taking a
man’s life. I lost my head—he lost his
life!”

Chae CoURT WAS amazed at the legal
argument. However, Judge Evans
wasn't to be fooled by a slick criminal.

“You say you didn’t plan to kill any-
body. Why did you buy the ammunition
in Buchanan less than a half hour before
the murder?” he inquired.

“I didn’t want to hold up anybody with
an empty gun. I was afraid my victim
would get wise to it. If he did, I would

HOG THIEF MURDERER

wanted to join Eller, the pretending jail-
breaker secured. the desired address from
the former photographer’s parents, and
police in a distant city were asked to ques-
tion Eller concerning the murder of Gus
Bounous. pies

n Aprit 12, 1932, astounding news

struck like lightning in Valdese. Alvin
Eller had confessed to Los“Angeles, Cali-
fornia, police! ‘ ;

Eller, the: Waldensians learned, had re-
cently bought a café in the California city
and when summoned to Headquarters for
questioning concerning Bounous’ murder,
went without objection.” He was ques-
tioned hour after hour by a-detective who
constantly smoked an old -pipe. Finally,
Eller cried out, ;

“T can’t stand that pipe any longer; I'll
tell you everything.” :

He confessed that he received part of the
robbery loot, but named another man as
slayer of Bounous. Dwight Beard, former
college athlete from Lenoir, North Caro-
lina (only twenty miles from Valdese),
was triggerman and had ‘given him $400.00
“to keep his mouth shut,” he said.

Speculation was rife among the Wal-.
densians. Was Eller merely trying to
shift the blame to another? And who was
Beard? Early reports. from Lenoir,
Beard’s home town, said Eller’s confession
was absurd—that Beard was not in the
state at the time of the murder.

Francis Garrou, member of the wealthi-
est and most prominent Waldensian fam-
ily, took Chief Coffey and his son, John,
to the Coast to bring Eller back.

Meanwhile, the truth was learned con-
cerning Dwight Beard. Member of a
prominent Lenoir family, this handsome,
athletic youth of twenty-three had been ex-
pelled from North Carolina State College
for theft, and on returning home had com-
mitted crimes serious enough to be ban-
ished from the state for five years.

O@ BRUTAL ACT of Beard’s lent credibil-
ity to Eller’s testimony. In order to se-

get a trimming. It was only to emphasize
my threat of bodily harm to anyone who
refused to satisfy my demands,” the con-
vict answered,

Judge Evans read some notes on his
desk. He was about to pass sentence on
“Big Jim” Ruffin, the thief-turned-killer.

“T sentence you to spend the rest of your
natural days in State’s Prison at hard
labor. You are guilty of a dastardly crime.
You are a menace to Society. I feel as-
sured that your detention behind prison
walls will make this world a safer place
to live in. I want it also noted on_your
conviction papers that the Parole Board
notify me if at any time they consider
granting you a parole. You shall never re-
ceive my consent. Take him away !”

S: “Bic Jim” Rurrin was led down the
narrow hall to a prison van. He had
cleared the police records of a ruthless
murder, He had given the Blockade it’s
first crucial test. And it worked!

But Jim Ruffin, in prison, never has re-
vealed his true identity. He is ashamed
of his criminal pursuits and doesn’t want
his family to learn of his ignominious end
—the Dead End reward of every man or
woman who flouts the law.

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From page 47

cure food for a party, he visited a farmer's
place, hewed a ham from a live hog, leav-
ing the animal to a slow death! He then
broke into a school building, stole pots and
pans in which to cook the meat and gave
his friends a feast.

But most important, Beard’s banishment
had not taken place until.ten days after
Bounous’ slaying. Moreover, it was now
known that he had been seen often with
friends in Valdese, before going into exile.

P THE AMAZED CHAGRIN of the Walden-
sians, Alvin Eller not only refused to
talk, when returned to Burke County, but
repudiated his Los Angeles confession. He
had been forced, under duress, to make the
confession, he said.

Charged with murder and accessory be-
fore the fact, Alvin Eller went on trial
August. 13, 1932. Testifying in his own
defense, the sallow-faced photographer de-
nied any part in the crime. The State pro-
duced his damning Los Angeles confession.
Eller repeated he had confessed merely to
avoid further persecution from California
detectives. The trial lasted five days and
the jury deliberated as many hours before
reaching a decision.

“Not guilty,” was the verdict.

Determined to hold Eller, Chief Coffey
re-arrested him on charges of accessory
after the fact and receiving stolen goods.

Excitement again gripped Valdese, early
in December when Eller and others sawed
their way to. freedom from the Morgan-
ton jail. A full week’s search ended only
after Chief Coffey and Deputy W. E.
Harris trailed Eller high into the wild
South Mountains and re-captured him in
the secluded home of a woman. He was
returned to face his second trial just one
day later, December, sixteenth.

P WAS WITH mixed feelings that the Wal-
densians heard Fller’s lawyers offer to
accept for him a directed verdict of know-
ingly receiving stolen goods, and hear the

State accept. Eller received a five-to-

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432 Tex.

“A. Yes, he has had blackouts, many.

“Q. Did you form an opinion as to
whether or not he had had a black-
out on August 18, 1986?

“A. Is that the date of the crime?

“Q. Offense.

“A Yes. He told me of not really re-
membering anything from around
noon and that’s fuzzy. He is not
real sure around 10:00 o’clock, but
somewhere around noon he has es-
sentially no recall until he found
himself around 8:00 [p.m.]. Again,
that’s fuzzy. That’s a rough time.
He is not sure there either, at the
door of this apartment trying to
put his key in his old apartment
door.”

Dr. Degner also testified that someone
who is having a blackout can appear to
another person to be functioning normally.
Dr. Degner testified it was unlikely appel-
lant could have committed a deliberate act
on the day of the offense because appellant
had drifted into an eight-hour blackout af-
ter ingesting drugs that morning.

“A. I just believe with what [appellant]
told me he had taken starting early
in the morning and then the types
of drugs he ingested still early in
the morning, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00
o’clock, and then drifting into an
eight-hour blackout, I think that’s
very, very likely that he was oper-
ating, you know, in an impaired
state. Now, how impaired I really
don’t know, but I think the chances
of having, you know, his wits about
him, all of his judgment, all of his
ability to consider consequences
and things like that would be high-
ly impaired.

“Q. Do you believe that a person who
had ingested, hypothetically, all
these drugs over this period of time
could be able to do a deliberate act,
a conscious, willful act, knowing
the full consequences of the act?

“A. | think that’s unlikely.”

On cross-examination, Dr. Degner con-
firmed appellant told him that he had a
blackout from 12:00 noon until 8:00 p.m. on

856 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

‘ 55
4

ee

the day of the offense, and he had some
memory of events after. that.

“Q. Doctor, I want to clear up some-
thing. You said [appellant] had a
blackout from 12:00 noon until 8:00
that night or p.m.?

“A Yes, that was what he told me.

“Q. On the day of the offense?

“A. Yes.

“Q. And did he have memory of the
events after that?

“A. Yes, he had some.”

Dr. Degner also testified appellant was ar-
ticulate and understood the concepts they
discussed. He testified appellant was not
like a mentally retarded person who has
the mental function of a 6-year-old.

On redirect, Dr. Degner testified appel-
lant understood the difference between
right and wrong when he was sober; how-
ever, he was not sure whether appellant
understood that difference when he was
intoxicated. Dr. Degner also testified ap-
pellant’s prognosis for improvement with
treatment was poor.

Father Brinkman, a priest, testified that
someone with appellant’s background
would be impaired in making certain kinds
of moral decisions. However, Father
Brinkman was unable to express an opinion
on appellant’s ability to make moral choices
at the time of the offense.

Walker, a jailer at the Harris County jail
where appellant was incarcerated before
trial, also testified. He said appellant was
well-behaved.

[1] A state cannot preclude a jury from
considering “relevant mitigating evidence”
offered by a defendant as the basis for a
sentence less than death. See Eddings v.
Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71
L.Ed.2d 1 (1982); Lockett v. Ohio, 438 US.
586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978);
see also Graham v. Collins, — U.S. —-,
__--——,, 113 S.Ct. 892, 901-902, 122
L.Ed.2d 260 (1993) (reh’g denied March 1,
1993); Penry, 492 U.S. at 316-18, 109 S.Ct.
at 2946. Here, appellant relies on evidence
of his drug abuse and addiction that retard-
ed his emotional development and ability to
make “good decisions,” and of his volun-

onsen

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BEAVERS v. STATE

Tex. 433

Cite as 856 S.W.2d 429 (Tex.Cr.App. 1993)

tary intoxication on the day of the offense
that caused him to have a blackout. Appel-
lant also relies on evidence of possible
childhood abuse in the home, and the possi-
bility he came from a dysfunctional family.
He also relies on evidence of his religious
conversion and good behavior in jail.

[2] Here, however, there is no evidence
appellant was having a blackout when he
committed the offense.! We also have held
evidence, like that here, “regarding [a de-
fendant’s] drug abuse and addiction [and]
his intoxication at the time of the offense”
requires no separate Penry instruction.
See Lane v. State, 822 S.W.2d 35, 39 (Tex.
Cr.App.1991), cert. denied, — US. —-,
112 S.Ct. 1968, 118 L.Ed.2d 568 (1992). In
addition, the thrust of appellant’s evidence
was that he was incapable of committing a
deliberate act at the time of the offense.
The jury could have given full mitigating
effect to that evidence in answering special
issue one. See Lackey v. State, 819 S.W.2d
111, 134-36 (Tex.Cr.App.1989); Graham,
— US. ——, —, 113 §.Ct. at 902-903.

[3] The evidence of appellant’s immatu-
rity and inability to make “good decisions”
due to his drug abuse, unlike the evidence
of mental retardation in Penry, does not
make appellant less morally culpable for
his adult behavior “according to contempo-
rary moral values as shared by a signifi-
cant segment of our society.” See Drau-
ghon v. State, 831 S.W.2d 331, 339 (Tex.Cr.
App.1992) cert. filed (October 5, 1992);
Lackey, 819 S.W.2d at 134-35; see also
Penry, 492 U.S. at 318-20, 109 S.Ct. at
2947. Therefore, this evidence required no
separate Penry instruction.

[4] Broussard’s testimony of possible
childhood abuse and the possibility appel-
lant came from a dysfunctional family, un-
like the evidence of a history of harsh

4. The only testimony we find concerning wheth-
er appellant was having a blackout at the time
of the offense is Dr. Degner’s. However, Dr.
Degner testified on both direct and cross-exami-
nation, based on appellant's own admissions to
him, that appellant's blackout had ended by 8:00
p.m. on the day of the offense, and he had some
memory of events after that. It is undisputed
appellant first entered the apartment of the
complainant and his wife at 9:00 p.m. There-

childhood abuse in Penry, raised no issue
of whether appellant suffered from a histo-
ry of childhood abuse or whether his com-
mission of the crime was attributable to
childhood abuse. Therefore, this evidence
required no separate Penry instruction.
See Lackey, 819 S.W.2d at 134-35.

[5] Finally, the jury could have given
full mitigating effect in answering special
issue two to appellant’s evidence of ““nosi-
tive character traits’ regarding his reli-
gious conversion and good behavior in jail.
See Goss v. State, 826 S.W.2d 162, 167
(Tex.Cr.App.1992), cert. filed (September
14, 1992); Boyd v. State, 811 S.W.2d 105,
111-12 (Tex.Cr.App.1991), cert. denied, —
U.S. —, 112 S.Ct. 448, 116 L.Ed.2d 466
(1991);. see also Graham, — U.S. —-,
113 S.Ct. at 902. Therefore, appellant’s
evidence of “positive character traits” re-
quired no separate Penry instruction. Ap-
pellant’s first point of error is overruled.

[6] Appellant’s second point of error
claims the trial court erred in submitting a
charge to the jury pursuant to the version
of Article 37.071(d), (e) and (g), V.A.C.C.P.,
applicable to appellant’s case.” The trial
court refused to submit the following
charge appellant requested at the punish-
ment phase:

“You are instructed that you may not

answer any issue ‘yes’ unless you unani-

mously agree beyond a reasonable doubt.

You may not answer any issue ‘no’ un-

less ten or more you (sic) have a reason-

able doubt thereof. The State has the
burden of proof to show beyond a rea-
sonable doubt that the answer is ‘yes.’ ”

Pursuant to former Article 37.071, sub-
sections (d), (e) and (g), the trial court in-
structed the jury as follows:

“You are further instructed that if any

juror, after considering the evidence and

fore, we find no evidence that appellant was
having a blackout at the time of the offense, so
we find it unnecessary to decide whether such
circumstances in a case like this would require
a separate Penry instruction. See Lackey v.
State, 819 S.W.2d 111, 136 (Tex.Cr.App.1989).

5. See Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 44 § 2, eff. Sept.
1, 1985.

eer


INT USI TERRES ONS

434 Tex.

these instructions, has a reasonable
doubt as to whether the answer to a
Special Issue should be answered ‘Yes,’
then such juror should vote ‘No’ to that
Special Issue in the jury’s deliberations.
“If ten (10) jurors or more vote ‘No’ to
that Special Issue, and only if ten (10)
jurors or more vote ‘No,’ then the answer
of the jury shall be ‘No’ to that issue;
and the Foreperson will so record the
jury’s answer by signing his or her name
to the finding reflecting such answer on
the form provided for that purpose.

“You are further instructed that if the
jury returns an affirmative finding on
each of the issues submitted, this Court
shall sentence the defendant to death. If
the jury returns a negative finding on
any issue submitted, the Court shall sen-
tence the defendant to confinement in

the Texas department Corrections for
Life.”’

Appellant argues he timely requested a
jury charge which would have permitted
the jurors to refuse to answer a special
issue if they were unable to do so. He
then argues the trial court’s instruction
was coercive in that it suggested to the
jury that the issues must be answered ei-
ther “‘yes” or “no.” He concludes by argu-
ing:

“[A]gain in light of Penry v. Lynaugh,

the jury was not permitted to exercise its

‘reasoned moral response’ to the circum-

stances of this appellant and the case.”

Appellant, in effect, argues he was enti-
tled to a charge instructing the jury it
could abstain from answering the special
issues. However, the jury was charged in
accordance with the statute, and appellant
makes no constitutional challenges to the
statute.

In addition, we recently have rejected
appellant’s argument and similar argu-
ments on constitutional grounds. See Hat-
horne v. State, 848 S.W.2d 101, —— - ——
(Tex.Cr.App.1992) (reh’g denied January
27, 1993), no cert. history; Draughon, 831
S.W.2d at 338 (abstention is not a jury
option). To the extent appellant argues the
court’s charge prevented the jury from con-
sidering relevant mitigating evidence, we

856 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES >

disagree, and appellant has not demonstrat-
ed how the charge prevented the jury from
considering relevant mitigating evidence.
Tex.R.App.Pro. 74(f). Appellant’s second

-point of error is overruled.

{7] Appellant’s third point of error as-
serts the trial court erred in not allowing
him to retrospectively exercise an unused
peremptory strike on juror Prilop after she
had been exposed to prejudicial pretrial
publicity. The record reflects appellant
had one unused peremptory strike at the
close of voir dire. Prilop previously had
been accepted by the State and the defense
during voir dire. Before the panel was
sworn and empaneled as a jury, appellant
filed a motion for mistrial because the veni-
re had been exposed to articles about the
case appearing in two local newspapers.
The trial court held a hearing at which each
member of the venire was questioned indi-
vidually. The trial court denied appellant’s
motion for a mistrial and appellant’s re-
quest to use his unused peremptory strike
on Prilop.

The State argues no error occurred be-
cause appellant’s request to retrospectively
use a peremptory strike is not authorized in
a capital case. See Grijalva v. State, 614
S.W.2d 420, 424-25 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Ar-
ticle 35.13, V.A.C.C.P. Appellant responds
by arguing that Article 35.13 was unconsti-
tutionally applied to him because it permit-
ted a juror, who was unable to render a
fair and impartial verdict, to sit on appel-
lant’s jury. Appellant further argues,
“[W hile [Prilop’s] examination by the par-
ties did not necessarily show grounds for
removal for cause, appellant’s counsel was
understandably concerned about her ability
to render a fair and impartial verdict.”

In support of his claim that Prilop had
become unable to render a fair and impar-
tial verdict, appellant relies on the follow-
ing portion of the record during his initial
questioning of Prilop at the hearing on
appellant’s motion for mistrial.

“Q. You haven’t heard anything other
than that or read anything other
than that one particular thing?

“A. Yeah, there was something in the
paper this morning.

Lsicaiaaiustins

{

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}


BEAVERS v. STATE

Tex. 435

Cite as 856 S.W.2d 429 (Tex.Cr.App. 1993)

“Q. Based upon that information, just
what you have just told me, would
you feel comfortable if you were in
[appellant’s] shoes to have a juror
of your caliber sitting with that
knowledge in the back of your
mind?

“A. Probably not.”

Appellant claims Prilop admitted she would
feel uncomfortable if she were in appel-
lant’s place. The foregoing portion of the
record does not necessarily support this
claim. Even if it did, getting Prilop to
admit that she would feel uncomfortable if
she were in appellant’s place, does not es-
tablish she had become a biased juror.

Moreover, based on later questioning by
the trial court, it was entitled to find the
pretrial publicity had not affected Prilop’s
ability to be a fair and impartial juror.
See, e.g., Article 35.16(a)(10), V.A.C.C.P.

“Q. Is there anything in your mind
changed since you were sworn in as
a juror in this case at the time that
you were accepted by the State and
the defense and sworn in, is there
anything in your frame of mind
changed?

“A. No.

“Q. Do you have any preconceived no-
tions of guilt or innocence at this
point?

“A. No.

“Q. Can you be fair and impartial?

“A. I think so, yes.

“Q. Well, wait a minute. You think so?

“A. Yes.

“Q. Does that mean you can?

“A. Yes.

“Q. Can you sit through this trial and
listen to the evidence and judge this
case based upon the evidence and
the testimony and upon that testi-
mony and evidence alone and noth-
ing else? Can you do that?

“A. Yes.

“Q. Can you take an oath, and you have
taken an oath, to follow the law
that I give you, whatever that law
may be?

“A. Yes.

“Q. You know we discussed the law?
“A. Yes.

“Q. As far as that burden of proof is
you understand what that is?

“A. On the State.

“Q. Okay. And can you follow the
law?
“A. Yes.

“Q. Is there any reason in your mind
that you can think of why you can-
not serve and be a fair and impar-
tial juror and a true verdict render
according to the law and the evi-
dence in this case? Is there any
reason why you can’t do that?

“A. No.”

This record shows appellant’s. constitu-
tional right to a fair and impartial jury was
adequately protected. The trial court did
not err in refusing appellant’s request to
retrospectively use his unused peremptory
strike on Prilop. Appellant’s third point of
error is overruled.

Appellant’s pro se points of error one
through three make various constitutional
challenges to Article 37.071, V.A.C.C.P.
His fourth pro se point of error, in effect,
claims his trial counsel was ineffective for
failing to preserve his Penry claim. Hav-
ing addressed the merits of appellant’s
Penry claim, this point of error is moot.
Appellant’s pro se points of error one
through three lack merit. See Graham,
— US. at ——, 113 S.Ct. at 902; Penry,
492 U.S. at 315-17, 109 S.Ct. at 2945-46;
Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 96 S.Ct. 2950,
49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976). Appellant’s pro se
points of error one through four are over-
ruled.

The judgment is affirmed.

OVERSTREET, J., concurs in the result.

MALONEY, J., concurs in point of error
No. 1, and otherwise joins.

CLINTON, J., dissents.

BAIRD, J., concurring.

Appellant presented evidence that his
emotional development had been impaired
as a result of his continuous drug use.
According to the testimony of Dr. Degner,

Lrassipaiaumiluandbinns


gaa

436 Tex.
appellant had the maturity level of a ten
year-old child. Intervention specialist

Broussard described appellant as a “thir-
teen year-old child in a 33 year-old body.”
Appellant contends evidence of his retarded
emotional development constitutes “Penry
evidence,”! and that the jury could not
give effect to that evidence within the capi-
tal sentencing scheme of Tex.Code Crim.
Proc.Ann. art. 37.071. In support of this
argument, appellant relies solely upon the
United States Constitution and does not
seek relief under the Texas Constitution.
The majority concludes the evidence did not
require a “separate Penry instruction.”
Majority opinion pg. 433. For the follow-
ing reasons I join the majority opinion.

In Graham v. Collins, US. , 113
S.Ct. 892, 122 L.Ed.2d 260 (1993), the Su-
preme Court construed Jurek v. Texas, 428
US. 262, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 49 L.Ed.2d 929
(1976), “as holding that the circumstance of
youth is given constitutionally adequate
consideration” within the punishment is-
sues of art. 37.071. Graham, — US. at
—, 113 S.Ct. at 902. Therefore, in light
of Graham, the majority correctly con-
cludes appellant’s evidence of emotional
youth did not require a separate instruction
under the Eighth Amendment as interpret-
ed in Penry.

Although, appellant is presently foreclos-
ed from obtaining relief under the Eighth
Amendment, it is not clear what direction
the Supreme Court will take on the issue of
youth as a mitigating circumstance in a
capital context. Hopefully, that question
will be resolved when the Supreme Court
decides Johnson v. State, 773 S.W.2d 322
(Tex.Cr.App.1989), aff’d on reh’g (No. 69,-
750 delivered May 27, 1992), cert. grant-
ed, — US. —, 118 S.Ct. 1148, 122
L.Ed.2d 499 (1993).2 Therefore, absent a
separate claim under the Texas Constitu-
tion, we are bound to follow the Supreme
Court’s determination that youth can be
given adequate Eighth Amendment consid-
eration within the punishment issues under

1. Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct. 2934,
106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989).

2. The question presented in Johnson is:

.BEAVERS, Richard Lee, wh, LI TX® (Harris) April 4, 1994.

856 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

art. 37.071, until the Supreme Court alters
its prior holdings.

With these comments, I join the majority
opinion.

O © KEY NUMBER SYSTEM

4aYms

Khaled Marwan ABUSHAABAM,
Appellant,

Vv.

The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
No. 397-93.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,
En Banc.

June 16, 1993.

Defendant was convicted in the 263rd
District Court, Harris County, Charles J.
Hearn, J., of delivery of controlled sub-
stance, and defendant appealed. The Court
of Appeals, 848 S.W.2d 782, reversed and
ordered acquittal. On state’s petition for
discretionary review, the Court of Criminal
Appeals held that, in light of state’s argu-
ment that Court of Appeals failed to con-
sider docket entries in transcript demon-
strating that defendant waived court re-
porter’s presence at punishment proceed-
ing, cause would be remanded to that court
to consider docket entries in determining
whether punishment hearing was held and
whether record was complete for purposes
of reviewing sufficiency of evidence.

Petition granted; judgment vacated;
remanded.

Clinton, J., dissented.

Did the Texas capital sentencing statute un-
constitutionally preclude the jury from giving
full mitigating effect to the petitioner's youth-
ful age at the time of the offense?

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NATION

Thursday, August 16, 2001.

By MICHAEL GRACYK
Associated Press Writer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Four hours
before he was scheduled to die, a state
appeals court delayed the execution
Wednesday of Napoleon Beazley, whose
case has fractured the U.S. Supreme Court
and fueled fresh criticism for applying the
| death penalty to teen-agers.

) The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
| granted the delay to Beazley, who killed the
| ather of a federal appeals court judge in a
|

__| botched carjacking in 1994.
“Applicant is granted a stay of execution
| pending further orders by this court,” the
| court’s two-page order read. “The appli-
| cant presents 10 allegations challenging the
validity of his conviction and resulting sen-
4 tence.”

_ /Skakel’s lawyer)
__ promises alibi
__ for time of
Martha Moxley
killing in 1975

By DIANE SCARPONI
Associated Press Writer

| STAMFORD, Conn.
Kennedy cousin Michael

| Skakel will provide a formal:
| alibi for his whereabouts on
the night that 15-year-old
_ neighbor Martha Moxley was

_, killed, his lawyer said

; Wednesday.

Skakel will offer the alibi
| within 20 days, defense
| lawyer Michael Sherman said
during a motions hearing.

David Grudberg, another
defense attorney, told Stam-
ford Superior Judge John F.
Kavanewsky Jr. that a murder
case against Skakel should be
thrown out because there was
a five-year statute of limita-
tions in effect at the time of
the killing.

Prosecutors have contend-
ed that murder prosecutions
are not subject to any statute
of limitations. State law was
changed in 1976 to eliminate
_| time limits for prosecuting
, | serious felonies, including |
| murder. 4

The judge said he would
rule later on the i

eee ae IT IRE ES EEE WOE NTE TT EOS ET ET AE ee ae

STR IIT

SUE

Beazley, who was 17 at the time of the
killing, was scheduled to receive a lethal
injection Wednesday.
| He was writing a letter
in a small cell next to the
death chamber when he
learned of the delay,
authorities said.

“I just have to com-
prehend this,” prison
officials said he told
¥ them.

Calls to Beazley’s
attorney, Walter Long,
were not immediately

. returned.

Prosecutor Jack Skeen said he was dis-
appointed by the ruling.

Beazley, now 25, was to be returned to

Beazley

PEREGO RAGE Ss bos

Texas appeals court delays execution
of death row inmate Napoleon Beazley

the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

.Polunsky Unit, prison spokesman Larry

Todd said.

Beazley never denied his role in the slay-
ing, but his appeal to the state court listed
10 reasons for a reprieve, including consti-
tutional claims, allegations of false testimo-

.

ny, jury bias and his age at the time of the
‘alli

The state Attorney General’s office
opposed the motion; many of the argu-
ments have been made in earlier appeals
and rejected by the courts.

Beazley still-has an appeal before the
US. Supreme Court seeking a broader-

review of his case, including whether the

Constitution bars executing people who
were under 18 when they committed their
crimes.

ok YS
y
\,

8-A THE DOTHAN EAGLE

Texas case
offers look
at death ~
decisions

By ANNE GEARAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — Just
three of the nine Supreme
Court justices voted to go
~ .. forward
‘4 with the exe-
cution of
Napoleon
Beazley. But
in a case that
lifted the veil
from votes
normally
hidden, that
will probably be enough to
seal the Texan’s fate.

The unusual case under-
scores continuing conflicts
among the justices over
their role as judges of last
resort for some 70 or 80 con-
demned people a year.

Beazley’s case fractured
the court 3-3-3 — three
votes for a reprieve, three to
go forward with the execu-
tion and three abstentions
by justices with connections
to the victim’s family.
Under Supreme Court

rules, a tie vote means the

request for a reprieve is —
denied.

Beazley is to die Wednes-
day evening for shooting a
man to death during a
botched carjacking in 1994.
Beazley also fired at the vic-
tim’s wife, who played
dead while her husband lay
beside her on their drive-

way.
Unless the Texas gover-
nor’ steps in — or the

Supreme Court does — the
execution will proceed.


Wednesday, May 29, 2002

NATION

THE DOTHAN EAGLE 5-A

~ Teen who killed at 17 executed in Texas

By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The
Texas parole board on Tuesday reject-
ed requests to commute the death
sentence of Napoleon Beazley, who
was 17 when he killed the father of a
federal judge in 1994.

The board’s recommendation,
completed about seven hours before
Beazley was to be executed by injec-

tion, was sent to Gov. Rick Perry,

who could issue a one-time 30-day
reprieve.

Because the 25-year-old Beazley
was a juvenile at the time of the
killing, his case has focused interna-
tional attention on Texas, the nation’s

most aetive execution state.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles
voted 10-7 against
recommending
that Beazley’s sen-
tence be commut-
ed to life in prison
and 13-4 against a
reprieve to halt
the punishment.

The vote
marked the sec-
ond time the
parole board has
refused to recom-
mend a life sen-
tence for Beazley. Last August, the
panel voted 10-6 for the execution,
but it was stopped when a state

Beazley

~ appeals court decided to review a
late appeal filed: by the prisoner’s
lawyers.

The last time the board commuted
a death row inmate’s sentence to life
was in June 1998, for Henry Lee
Lucas. Lucas, who gained notoriety
as a confessed serial killer and then
recanted his confessions. He avoided
lethal injection and was sent to gen-
eral prison population after ques-
tions were raised about the convic-
tion that got him to death row. He
died of natural causes last year in
prison.

Beazley would be the 14th Texas
inmate put to death this year and the
fourth this month.

“Texas must recognize that the

brutal practice of executing children
is in complete and utter defiance of
international law,” said Sue
Gunawardena-Vaught, director of
Amnesty International USA’s Pro-
gram to Abolish the Death Penalty.

The courts have disagreed,
although his attorneys made another
try Tuesday in the U.S. Supreme
Court. The court last week refused to
halt the punishment or review the
case.

In their latest appeal, lawyers
again cited his age at the time of the
crime and challenged the makeup of
the all-white jury who convicted Bea-
zley, who is black, as reasons to stop
the punishment.

Beazley’s execution would make

him the 11th prisoner in the state and
the 19th in the United States to be put
to death since 1976 for a murder
committed when the killer was
younger than 18.

When he was arrested, Beazley
was not a juvenile in Texas, which is
among five states that allow the
death penalty for 17-year-olds and
where Beazley was among 29 death
row inmates who were under 18 at
the time of their crime. _

Seventeen other states allow pros-
ecutors to seek the death penalty for
16-year-olds.

Beazley didn’t deny gunning
down John Luttig, 63, during a car-°
jacking outside Luttig’s house in
Tyler in April 1994.

TRC ae ORES EO ice AIR Ne NE POTS

——

ee ee ee _=

= a 5 g |


NAME: BEHRINGER, EARL RUSSELL DATE OF EXEC.: 1997/06/11 NUMBER: 393

S: YofE: 97 DR #: TX-000914 METHOD: INJECTION TIME: 1817
soc. CLASS: M ECO. CLASS: M EXECUTION SET : 97/06/11-EXE NO.
RACE: W SEA: M TO-DR: 00.7 T-C: 10.7 AGH AT’ EXEC.: 33 DOB: 64/01/03
STATE: TX CO: TARRANT CITY: MANSFIELD
HOR: BOOK/MOVIE:

H: L: 3 C3. 3 E: 2 SPECIAL LIST:

DATE OF CRIME: 1986/09/14 AGE AT CRIME: 22 CATEGORY: LEO:
DATE OF SENT.: 1988/09/27 WEAPON: SHOT —-.9mm

CRIME: MURDER-ROBBERY NO. KILLED: 2 TOTAL KILLED:

VICT. CODE: WF21; WM22
CMTS#1: JANET HANCOCK [21], fiancee of MEYER, @ UT-Arlington, Education major
DANIEL BRENNON MEYER JR [22], Army 2LT, about to grad. from TX A&M
-~-shot repeatedly (2 & 9) at a “lovers’ lane” by MEYER’s p.u.truck
--they recognized him; he was there to “terrorize” anyone they could
find --stole purse & wallet {$15}
KNOWN PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS: none

ACCOMPLICE: ROUSE [40y] FIRST ENTER:

CMTS#2: ACCOMPLICE:
LAWRENCE SCOTT ROUSE [18], hs Sr [test. ] [40yrs]
~-went to the police the next morning [Sunday]; confessed
--she was shot twice in the face; he was shot 9 times
BACKGROUND: -~Student @ University of Texas -Arlington
~-he went to high school w/ the victims --US Army HD
-drum major

--married; salesman

APPEAL: 1996/02/12 ROUSE was the shooter
1997/06/11 "“evidence’ proves he did not commit the murders
(weapon was his and found at his home -ROUSE’s weapon
was a .308 rifle =both weapons regis. to BEHRINGER]

LAST WORDS: “I‘m sorry for the pain I caused you. If my death gives you any
peace, so be it. I confess my sins. I have been bapitised. I am going home
with Him...I’m gaing home.”

{The AP noted he started his last words with "I’s a good day to die. I
walked in here like a man. I am leaving here a man." ALSO wanted to thank
the Dallas Cowboys for giving me a lot of enjoyment these past years."}

LAST MEAL: scrambled eggs, picante sauce, hash browns, toast, gravy, sausage,
grape juice

HUMOR-STRANGE: --see last words

ALSO: ARREST ~arrested outside the Mansfield Church of Christ after
leading the closing prayer

SOURCE: TX DOC; TX AG DOC’s; AP-UPI; FT WORTH STAR IQ LEVEL:

CMTS#3: WITNESSES: VICTIMS FAMILIES ~ 6 members
~Catherine Meyers {mo.} "I didn’t sense any remorse.
.. he’s tried to trick God into believing he’s a good
» man." “It brings relief."


f

Sept. 4, 1998—
TEXAS:

In Tyler, a federal judge has cleared the way for a new execution
date to be set for a woman convicted of murdering her husband and
burying his body under a wishing well in her front yard.

The body of another husband was found buried beneath a storage shed
in the back yard of her home.

The stay of execution was vacated Tuesday by U.S. District Judge
John H. Hannah Jr., who ruled that the execution of Betty Lou Beets
can go forward, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported. Beets was
sentenced to die for the August 1983 murder of her husband, Jimmy
Don Beets.

The order from Hannah, made public Wednesday, apparently clears the
way for the woman to be returned to Henderson County to have an
execution date set.

District Attorney Donna Bennett said Thursday that she had not seen
the order and had "absolutely no comment.”

Beets has received 2 stays of execution since her conviction in
October 1985.

A federal court ruled in Tyler in 1991 that defense lawyer E. Ray
Andrews of Athens should have resigned to testify in her trial
instead of representing her because he was a material witness.

The woman was accused of murdering her husband so that she could
collect his insurance or pension benefits.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected her
appeal and the case was retumed so that Hannah could rule on 23
remaining alleged constitutional violations that Beets‘ lawyers
claimed hampered her right to a fair trial and resulted in the unjust
imposition of a death sentence.

Hannah denied each claim.

The woman's husband, a Dallas firefighter, disappeared Aug. 6, 1983,
and his fishing boat was found drifting on Lake Athens. He was
presumed drowned, but no body was found following a lengthy search.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

o>

Wednesday September 4, 1996 America Online: Gatha33 Page: 1


BEHRINGER, Earl Russell, white, injection TXSP (Tarrant Co.) June 11, 1997.

“.. Earl Behringer, who killed an Army lieutenant and his fiancee in a $15 robbery at a
lovers’ lane, on Wednesday became the 21st person to be put to death in Texs this year. The
execution of Behringer, 33, topped the previous mark of 20 executions carried out in 1935 when
the state used the electric chair to kill death row inmates. ‘It’s a good day to die,’ Behringer said
before receiving a lethal injection. ‘I walked in here like a man. I am leaving here a man.”

“Behringer, with a Bible on his chest, thanked family members and friends, then turned to
six members of his victims’ families. ‘I am sorry for any pain I have caused you,’ he said. ‘If my
death gives you any peace, so be it.” He then thanked the Dallas Cowboys football team ‘ for
giving me a lot of enjoyment these past years. ’...

“At trial an accomplice testified Behringer shot Daniel Meyer, Jr. 22, and Janet Hancock,
21, when he realized Hancock recognized him from high school. The killing happened in 1986 in
a remote area of Mansfield, just southeast of Fort Worth. Meyer was an Army lieutenant who
had been in the Corp of Cadets at Texas A&M University. His fiancee was an education major at
the University of Texas at Arlington.”-Associated Press, 6/12/1997, from Internet.


ate: 97-06-12 01:33:17 EDT
From: AOL News
BCC: Galba33

@::: Texas Sets Record for Executions

.c The Associated Press

By MICHAEL GRACZYK

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - With six months still to go in 1997,
Texas has already set a record for executions.

Earl Behringer, who killed an Army lieutenant and his fiancee in
a $15 robbery at a lovers' lane, on Wednesday became the 21st
person to be put to death in Texas this year.

The execution of Behringer, 33, topped the previous mark of 20
executions carried out in 1935 when the state used the electric
chair to kill death row inmates.

“It's a good day to die," Behringer said before receiving a
lethal injection. “| walked in here like a man. | am leaving here
a man.”

Behringer, with a Bible on his chest, thanked family members and
friends, then tumed to six members of his victims' families.

“lam sorry for any pain | have caused you,” he said. “If my
death gives you any peace, so be it."

He then thanked the Dallas Cowboys football team “‘for giving me
a lot of enjoyment these past years."

Texas, with 128 executions, leads the nation in capital

Qrrshrent and accounts for more than one-third of all executions
in the United States since 1976, when the Supreme Court allowed the
death penalty to resume. Three more convicted killers are set to
die here next week.

At trial, an accomplice testified Behringer shot Daniel Meyer
Jr., 22, and Janet Hancock, 21, when he realized Hancock recognized
him from high school. The killing happened in 1986 in a remote area
of Mansfield, just southeast of Fort Worth.

Meyer was an Army lieutenant who had been in the Corps of Cadets
at Texas A&M University. His fiancee was an education major at the
University of Texas at Arlington.

AP-NY-06-12-97 0117EDT

Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. The information
contained in the AP news report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without

prior written authority of The Associated Press.

To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles.
For all of today's news, go to keyword News.

Wednesday June 12,1996 America Online: Galba33 Page: 1

. 21st execution
breaks 62-year
record in Texas

Killer of pair in Mansfield
apologizes before his death

By RoBert THARP
Star-Telegram Staff Writer :

HUNTSVILLE — Moments
before a deadly mix of three
intravenous drugs was injected
into his forearm last night, Earl
Behringer turned to relatives of
two students slain in Mansfield
and apologized for the anguish
they’ ve felt.

“I am sorry for the pain I
caused you,” he said during a long
and rapidly paced statement while
strapped to a gurney. “If my death
gives you any peace, so be it.”

_ Behringer’s execution was the
21st in Texas this year, breaking a
62-year-old record.

Relatives of Janet Hancock
and Daniel Brennon Meyer Jr.

(More on EXECUTION on Page 20)

C12-9% Fp wot smie-Teetrny

Execution

From Page 1A

showed little emotion as they
watched Behringer raise his head,
gasp and cough before taking his
last breath. Meyer’s. mother,
Catherine, said the apology did
not go far enough because.
Behringer did not actually admit
_to the Sept. 13, 1986, shooting
deaths of the young couple that
shook the Mansfield community.

“I didn’t sense any remorse,”
she said. “I would characterize his
attitude like it’s always been —
that he’s tried to trick God into

| believing that he’s a good man. If
‘he’s a good person and a good
son, then God help us.’

In his last statement, Behringer
thanked his wife, family and
friends for their support, as well
as the Dallas Cowboys “for bring-
ing me lots of joy these past
years.”

“It’s a good day to die,” he
said. “I walked in here like a man,
and I am leaving here a man ... I
want my friends to know that this
is not the way to die, but I belong
to Jesus Christ. I confess my sins.
I have been baptized. I am going
home with him.”

Behringer, 33, was already
restrained on a stretcher with
leather straps tightened over his’
ankles, legs, chest, arms and
wrists when relatives of Hancock
and Meyer entered the death
chamber at 6:08 p.m., followed by
two of Behringer’s friends who
were led into a separate viewing
room. His arms were outstretched
and his hands were wrapped in
beige elastic bandages. A large
maroon Bible rested on his chest,
and an intravenous line was

. attached to his right forearm.

Behringer, wearing dark-
rimmed glasses, a white long-
sleeve V-neck work shirt, white
pants and tan leather work boots,
spoke rapidly into a microphone

- suspended from the ceiling just in

front of his mouth. At the end of
his statement, he asked a friend
who was present to tell his wife
and family that he loved them.
Then he gasped, coughed and qui-
etly whispered a prayer over and’
over until he lost consciousness.
At 6:15 p.m., a doctor
approached his body and checked:
his pulse. He returned two min-
utes later and checked again
before raising his hand and pro-
nouncing Behringer dead.
Outside the Walls Unit in
downtown Huntsville, about two
dozen protesters held up hand-
made signs in the blistering late

afternoon sun denouncing the
death penalty. “Texas — the
killing capital of the world,” read
one. “Jobs not jails,” read another.

Nearby, in the shade of several
large oaks, uniformed and plain-
clothes prison officials with hol-
stered weapons on their hips
watched the quiet protest with
detachment. Neither group spoke
with the other during the half-
hour vigil that ended a few min-
utes after the execution.

As the protesters dispersed,
Betty Matthews, a Pentecost min-
ister for Death Row inmates, pre-
pared to carry out one of
Behringer’s final requests.

“T’ve got to call his mother,”
said Matthews, who has coun-
seled condemned men in Texas
for the past 11 years. “His mother
is a strong Christian lady. He said,
‘Tell her I’m OK. I’ve confessed
my sins, and I’m going home,’”

Also watching the protesters
were many television news crews,
including ones from Germany,
Canada and Italy.

“Texas is being looked at by all
the world as barbaric,” said Gloria
Rubak, a fifth-grade teacher from
Houston and a member of the
Texas Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty. “The Europeans
don’t execute their citizens. Nei-
ther should we.”

Ruback said the protests will
continue as long as the death
penalty continues.

“The state is setting a record
for executions tonight,” she said.
“But this is not a solution. Killing
people can never be a solution.”

Behringer spent his last day
writing in a journal, reading the
Bible and other material and
speaking with other Death Row
inmates, relatives, his attorney
and friends. For his last meal he
requested a large portion of
scrambled eggs, with two table-
spoons of salsa on the side, hash
browns, toast, gravy, sausage and
grape juice.

Behringer’s death placed 1997
in the record books for the num-
ber of executions in a single year.
Just six months into the year,
Texas has executed 21 inmates,
more than the previous Texas and
U.S. record of 20 executed by
electric chair in 1935. The num-
ber also exceeds the modern
record of 19 lethal injections in

- 1995.

Behringer was executed for the
slayings of Meyer, 22, of Ever-
man and his fiancee, Hancock, 21,
of Mansfield.

On that autumn evening 11
years ago, Behringer and his
friend, Scott Rouse, loaded two of
Behringer’s guns and decided to
harass youths parked along a

secluded Mansfield road that
served as a lovers’ lane, according
to court testimony. The two crept
up on each side of a pickup
parked there and confronted Mey-
er and Hancock, ordering them
out of the vehicle.

At some point, Hancock recog-
nized Behringer because the two
had attended Mansfield High
School, where she was a member
of the drill team and he played in
the marching band’s drum corps.
When Hancock asked him what
he was doing, he reportedly
replied, “Shut up, bitch, you
wouldn’t give me that time of day
in school.”

Rouse testified that Behringer
“freaked out” and shot the two
after Hancock confronted him,
and Meyer began struggling for
Rouse’s gun. At the time of the
slayings, Meyer was a senior at
Texas A&M University and an
Army lieutenant; Hancock was a
student at the University of Texas
at Arlington studying education.

The next morning, Rouse
walked across the street from his
parents’ Pantego home to the Pan-.
tego police station and confessed.
to the slayings. Behringer was
arrested that afternoon, after he
had led the closing prayer at the,
Mansfield Church of Christ and
was preparing to attend a gun
show with a friend who was a
Mansfield police officer.

At the time of his July 1988
conviction, court observers
expressed surprise that Behringer
received the death penalty
because he had no previous criti-
nal record and was well thought
of in the growing community of
Mansfield, just south of Arling-
ton. Behringer was a business
major at UT-Arlington and had
recently married his high school
sweetheart.

Rouse pleaded guilty to murder
and received a 40-year prison sen-
tence in exchange for his testimo-
ny against Behringer and the

, agreement that the victims’ fami-
‘lies will not challenge his parole

hearings. He remains imprisoned
in the Wynne Unit near
Huntsville, where he has report-
edly earned two college degrees.
He has been eligible for parole for
the past five years, but has so far
been turned down at each hearing.

Catherine Meyer said the exe-
cution brings relief because she
no longer has to monitor his
appeals and worry that he may
one day be set free. “I’m glad that
it’s over, and I am satisfied,” she
said. “I don’t feel badly about
what happened tonight.”

Staff writer John Moritz con-
tributed to this report.

~ Man who killed couple in Mansfield
is state’s 21st to be executed this year

Continued from Page 33A.

breathing.

“It seemed like an easy death for
him, considering the violent way
he killed Brennon and Janet,” said
Catherine Mey-
er, Mr. Meyer’s
mother. “I’m
glad it’s over
and we have

knowing’ he
won't kill any-
one again. It
wasn't difficult

Earl Behringer for me to watch.

... I doubt I will feel better. I do

know I don’t have to worry about .

him.”

Mrs. Meyer said she was sur-
prised by his comments to her fami-
ly, but that he didn’t really ac-
knowledge the killing.

“I guess I didn’t sense he was
really remorseful,” she said. “I
would characterize his attitude that
somehow he would trick God into
believing he was a good man. If he
was a good person or a good son,
God help us.”

Mrs. Meyer’s daughter, Anne Ma:
son, said the comment about the
Cowboys was “off the wall.”

“That was bizarre,” her husband,
Paul, added.

Mr. Meyer was in the Corps of
Cadets at Texas A&M University.
His fiancee was an education major
at the University of Texas at Arling-
ton.

They were parked in Mr. Meyer’s
pickup truck in a remote area of
Mansfield, just southeast of Fort
Worth, when they were ambushed,

peace of mind ©

gunned down and robbed.

Within hours, Lawrence Scott
Rouse, an 18-year-old high school
senior, turned himself in to Pante-
go police, implicated Mr. Behringer,
and led police to the victims’ wal-
lets.

_ Mr. Behringer, an Army veteran
who was attending the University
of Texas at Arlington, was later ar-
rested at his house while apparent-
ly ‘preparing to sell a gun that was
linked to the killings.

Mr. Rouse testified against Mr.
Behringer in exchange for a 40-year
prison. sentence. In a taped state-
ment to police, Mr. Rouse said Mr.
Behringer “did kind of freak out,”
firing a 9mm pistol at the couple
after he realized Ms. Hancock recog-
nized him. HeLa

Ms. Hancock and her killer had
known each other casually at Mans-
field High School. She was on the
drill team, and he was a drum major
for the marching band.

‘Ms. Hancock was shot twice in
the face. Mr. Meyer, who would
have been 33 this week, was shot
nine times. .

“It was my gun, my pistol,” Mr.
Behringer told The Associated
Press in a death row interview. And
while acknowledging he was in the
area “playing war games,” he de-
nied being at the murder scene. “I
wasn’t there. I didn’t do it.”

Prosecutors said Mr. Behringer
and Mr. Rouse, carrying the loaded
9mm and an assault rifle, went to
the deserted but popular road to
harass young couples who routine-

— ly parked there.

“As he realized who it was, that’s
when he took the gun, put it at

point-blank range an inch away
from her head and fired,” said Marc
Barta, the former Tarrant County
assistant district attorney who pros-

‘ecuted the case. “It’s very hard for

me to generate much sympathy.”

The case shocked the small town
not only for its violence, but also
because Mr. Behringer was well-
known and well-respected, said
Hondo Police Chief Marvin Ivy,
who headed the Mansfield depart-
ment when the murders happened
on Sept. 14, 1986..

“He led the closing prayer at the
largest church in town hours after
committing the murders,” Chief Ivy
said Wednesday.

“What set this one apart was the
lack of any motive — the senseless-
ness of it,” Chief Ivy said. “There
were several officers that we sent
for counseling. A lot of them had

. trouble dealing with the violence.”

Many of the officers had known
Mr. Behringer, who'd gone to
school with one of them and ridden
along with several others, he said.

Nevertheless, the evidence was
solid enough that police never
doubted they had the right man, he
said.

The chief said he knew the exe-
cution was pending, and would
have attended it if either victim’s
family had invited him.

“It’s important to remember the
victims’ families,” he said. “A lot of
times, when we get to this stage, we
spend a lot of time worrying about
the perpetrator and his family, and
don’t think about the victims and
their families.” |

42A kk

Houston Chronicie

iMursaay, JUIIG ic, ious

Texas’ 21st execution
this year sets record

Inmate killed couple in Tarrant County in °86

By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE — A man convicted
of killing a couple at a Tarrant County
lovers’ lane during a $15 robbery was

‘put to death Wednesday as Texas
surpassed a 62-year-old state record
for the most executions in a single
year.

Earl Behringer, 33, was pro-
nounced dead at 6:17 p.m., seven
minutes after a lethal dose of drugs
began flowing into his arms.

It was the 21st execution this year
in Texas, topping the previous mark
of 20 carried out in 1935, when the
state used the electric chair as its
method of capital punishment.

Behringer was
condemned for [,
the shooting |.
deaths of Daniel
Meyer Jr., 22, of |
Everman, and
Meyer’s fiance,
Janet Hancock,
21, of Mansfield,
on Sept. 14, 1986.

The con- |
demned man,
who had a Bible
on his chest,
spoke firmly and
quickly in a final statement.

“It’s a good day to die. I walked in
here like a man. I am leaving here a
man,” he said. Behringer thanked
family members and friends and said
he had “known the love of a good
woman, my wife.”

Then he turned to six members of
his victims’ families, watching
through a window a few feet away,
and referred to them by name.

“I am sorry for any pain I have
caused you,” he said. “If my death
gives you any peace, so be it.

“] want my friends to know it is not
the way to die, but I belong to Jesus
Christ. I confess my sins. I have been
baptized and I am going home to
him.”

He wrapped up his comments by
adding, “I am thankful to the Dallas
Cowboys for giving me a lot of enjoy-
ment these past years.”

Behringer

As the drugs took effect, Behringer
gasped twice and said, “I’m going
home,” before he stopped breathing.

Behringer’s victims were parked in
Meyer’s pickup truck in a remote
area of Mansfield, just southeast of
Fort Worth, when they were am-
bushed, gunned down and robbed of
all the money they were carrying.

Meyer was an Army lieutenant
who had been in the Corps of Cadets
at Texas A&M University. His fiance 4
was an education major at the Uni- /:
versity of Texas at Arlington. A

Behringer, an Army veteran who
also was attending the University of
Texas at Arlington, and a companion, ~
Scott Rouse, a high school senior,
were arrested within hours.

Rouse turned himself in to police
and implicated Behringer, who then
was picked up while trying to sell a
gun that was linked to the killings.

Rouse testified against Behringer
in exchange for a 40-year prison sen-
tence. In a taped statement to police,
Rouse said Behringer “did kind of
freak out,” firing a 9mm pistol at the
couple after he realized he and Han-
cock had been classmates at Mans-

N
ON
\N%
—~
N

a
SG

SS

field High School and that she recog- x
nized him.

“It was my gun, my pistol,” Be-
hringer said in a death row interview. ~N
And while acknowledging he was in
the area “playing war games,” he de- U
nied being at the murder scene. “i J.
wasn’t there. I didn’t do it” zg

Prosecutors said Behringer and
Rouse, carrying the loaded 9mm and Q

an assault rifle, went to the deserted
but popular road to harass the young
couples who routinely parked there.

“As he realized who it was, that’s
when he took the gun, put it at point-
blank range an inch away from her
head and fired,” said Marc Barta, the
former Tarrant County assistant dis-
trict attorney who prosecuted the
case. “It’s very hard for me to gener-
ate much sympathy.”

Behringer was drum major in high
school and Hancock was a member
of the drill team. She was shot twice
in the face. Meyer, who would have
been 33 this week, was shot nine
times.

NN
x
Nw)


Killer of two
in Mansfield
put to death

Execution in 1986 case
sets Texas record for year

From Staff and Wire Reports

HUNTSVILLE — Ear! Behringer,
convicted of killing a couple in Tar-
rant County during a 1986 robbery,
was executed Wednesday in Hunts-
ville.

His execution was the 21st this
year in Texas, topping the previous
high mark of 20 people executed in
1935S. —

With a Bible on his chest, he
spoke to the victims’ families, said
he was going home to Jesus, and
then thanked the Dallas Cowboys.

Mr. Behringer, 33, was con-
demned for the shooting deaths of
an engaged couple, Daniel Brennon
Meyer Jr., 22, of Everman, and 21-
year-old Janet Hancock of Mans-
field. He and an accomplice stole
$15 from them.

He was pronounced dead at 6:17
p.m., seven minutes after a lethal
dose of drugs began flowing into
his arms.

“It’s a good day to die. I walked in
here like a man. I am leaving here a
man,” he said. Mr. Behringer
thanked family members and
friends and said he had “known the
love of a good woman, my wife.”

Then he turned to six members
of his victims’ families, watching
through a window a few feet away,
and referred to them by name.

“Il am sorry for any pain I have
caused you,” he said. “If my death
gives you any peace, SO be it.”

He wrapped up his comments by
saying, “I am thankful to the Dallas
Cowboys for giving me a lot of en-
joyment these past years.”

As the drugs took effect, Mr. Beh-
ringer Bagne’ twice and said, “I'm
going hore,” before he stopped

Please see MAN on Page 37A.

Condemned wait with quiet resignation

By Martin Kasindorf
USA TODAY

RIVERSIDE, Texas — Sixteen miles
north of the death chamber where four
men he knew were executed this week,
convicted murderer Earl Russell Beh-
ringer waits on death row.

For Behringer, the state’s spurt of ex-
ecutions has brought a quiet resigna-
tion. “It’s weird,” he says, “but the way I
look at it, we’re here to die. I don’t have
to put it into words. I just deal with it.”

As he talks, playful shouts and the
whumps of a basketball resound from
the recreation yard of the state prison
system’s Ellis Unit I. A siren wails, once
for the start of a prisoner count, twice
when the count is completed.

Death row inmates designated as
“work-eligible” are doing their four dai-
ly hours in the prison garment factory,
making gray uniform pants for their
guards. With this spring’s increase in
Texas executions, some inmates have
quit the work program to spend more
time on their legal appeals.

Behringer, 33, says he hasn’t been al-
lowed to do his job as a food-cart order-
ly since April 28, when a Fort Worth
judge decreed an execution date of

June 11. Otherwise, there’s been no
change in his routine.

He’s up at 5 a.m. in the ninth cell,
third row, Wing G-1. He reads the Bible
for an hour. He takes his daily turn in

By Patty Wood for USA TODAY
Set to die June 11: ‘I just deal with it,’ Earl Behringer says in Riverside, Texas.

the rec yard for basketball, handball or
running on the concrete surface. Back
in his small, blue-barred cell, he can
pursue his hobby of model car building.
He can study the law books brought to

“If they kill me, that’s
fine. I’m a Christian. I
have.a better place to
go to than this.”

— Earl Russell Behringer

him. Or, like most of the guys, he can
watch TV.

“The NBA playoffs are big right
now,” Behringer says.

Behringer, the stocky, Philippines-
born son of an American father and a
Filipina mother, once had a much more
promising future. With dreams of Air
Force flying, he was a junior at the Uni-
versity of Texas-Arlington when he was
arrested in 1986. He was convicted of
killing another young man and his fian-
cee in a robbery.

“I’m tired,” he says. “If they kill me,
that’s fine. I’m a Christian. I have a bet-
ter place to go to than this. But I don’t
agree with how they’re changing the
laws. They’re setting the standard so
high for getting into court with appeals
now, it’s unattainable for many people.”

¥

USA TODAY - FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1997-3A

OSTON EFLOB

Texan execu

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A man
convicted of killing a couple at a
lovers’ lane during a $15 robbery be-
came the 21st person to be put to
death in Texas this year, surpassing
the state’s annual record, set in 1935.

_ Earl Behringer, 33, Was executed
yesterday for the 1986 shooting
deaths of Daniel Meyer Jr., 22 an
Army lieutenant, and Meyer’s fian-
cee, Janet Hancock, 21, a high school
and college classmate of Behringer.

'. The couple was parked in a re-
mote area of Mansfield, southeast of
Fort Worth, when they were am-
bushed, robbed and gunned down.
An accomplice who testified against
Behringer and received a life sen-
tence said Behringer shot the couple
after realizing that Hancock had ree-
ognized him.

Before his execution by injection,
Behringer said: “It’s a good day to
die. I walked in here like a man. I am

ted for lovers

Ee)

Jvae lA '997

EARL BEHRINGER
“It’s a good day to die”

nn ec

leaving here a man.”
Behringer, with a Bible at his
chest, thanked family members and
friends, then turned to the six mem-
bers of his victims’ families who

Jane killings

watched.

“T am sorry for any pain I have
caused you,” he said. “If my death
gives you any peace, so be it.”

He added that he was thankful to
the Dallas Cowboys football team
“for giving me a lot of enjoyment
these past years.”

Afterward, Meyer’s mother,
Catherine, said she was surprised
that Behringer directed comments
to her family, but noted that he did
not really acknowledge the killings,

“T’'m glad it’s over and we have
peace of mind knowing he won’t kil]
anyone again,” she said. “I doubt I
will feel better. I do know I don’t
have to worry about him.”

Texas leads the nation in execy-
tions and accounts for more than
one-third of all executions in the
United States since the Supreme
Court allowed the death penalty to
resume in 1976,

Three more executions are set
for next week,


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cen te amas neg ESSE Py ee
running mail stage lines out of austin in several dir--
f va
; P f. ; Z
ections. Col. Hall resiced at sustin for a nurber/of
/ ,
years, and was well’ known throughout the ccuntry. le
P) ' ~
died at the cap#%al city in January 1873. /
FA ‘
# |
Thirteenth Legislature.--The Thirteenth Legislature,
(elected in November, 1872) met at ‘thé capitol in Austin,
J x
~  danuary/14, 1873. The democrats were,in the majority
\ Pa yo \ :

%
\ 4
.

ve
\ rd f \
“The militia law was changed so as to take, from the
% f ~
J 7

¢
/ .
Kg j %

\. in the House, the republicans had a majority in the Senate.
ta J

5 } a 4 ip
yovernor the power to declare martial law; ‘the state
f ‘ f %

\ 3 4 \
police force was disbanded and the election laws were
. i f ‘
modified. *he democratic majority in. the House, refused

to pass appropriation bills, and thus compélled the

y Jf : y
Senate to grant what they wanted. “n act was passed
* / ra
% / a

¥ ° ° * e ral
April 24, making.a new apportionment, vroviding for a
7? % ra
general election totcke place on the first’ Tuesday in
% f
; J

° ‘ + e ? ‘ oO
December, following, for the election of a new vovernor

ff
f \ f
and other st:te officerss, The Legislature finally ad-
f \ vA
journed on the 24th of June, after’ a session of five

%

/
months and ten days.

Barnes and Kimball.--On February 28, 1€72,

George W. Barnes and ~awson Kimball were convicted in

the district court at austin, of the crime of murder.
They appealed to the “upreme court, and the judgment wax
effirmed. They were hanged at Austin, “pril 14, 1873.
They hed wantcnly robbed and murdered a man n:med Fhill-

pot in the north-western suburbs of town on a night late

in July, 171.

Old citizens will remember that these two
convicts robbed und murdered Philpot under the ‘ost
atr.cious circumstances. The victim was encamped at

night uncer some mesquite trees, at a point about

where Sighteenth Street and San Antonio street intersect,
near Little Shoal creek, in north-west Austin. At that
time, there were no houses in the neighborhood, and the
camp was in a quiet and secluded spot.

Fhillpot had treveled in company with a brother
from wise county to Austin in a two-horse wagon, end had
considersble morey with him, a a amounting fto about
vl.700, mostly coin. Barnes and Kimb21l had knowledge of
this fect. ‘They followed Phillrot to austin, at a @istance
awaiting an cpportunity to do the deed. Late in July,
1E71, cbout 12 ofcleck at night, Phillrot's brother,
who haf been in town, went to the cemp and found his
brother lying dead om the ground. Upon investigation,
he Giscovered the trunk gone; he made search, and found
it about one hundred yards from the camp, broken open, and
the $1700 taken from it. The money ek to the
murderec man cnd this brother. Deceased he been shot in

the brezst, under the left nipple, and must heve’ died

instently. He was shot with a pistol belonging tc

Kimball. The guilt of defendants wes 7ull established, |
&

mainly by circunisct: ntial evidence.

s

sa

Texan Executed For Killing Marshal in Houston

HUNTSVILLE, Tex., March 12 (AP)
— Aman convicted of murdering a city |
marshal in a Houston shootout was put
to death by injection early today after
telling his weeping mother, ‘‘Don’t feel
bad, Mama, I deserve this. _

“Tell everybody goodbye,’’ the con-
victed man, 29-year-old Charles Bass,
told his mother, Rose England, who
was among witnesses to the execution.

‘“‘God’s going to take care of you,”
she replied. ‘‘I love you, sweetheart.”’

The lethal solution was adminis-
tered. Mr. Bass took two deep breaths,
looked at his mother, then stared at the
ceiling. He was pronounced dead at
12:21 A.M., Attorney General Jim Mat-
tox, said.

The execution at the Texas Depart-
ment of Corrections’ Wall Unit was the
second in the United States this year

and the 52d since the Supreme Court al- ,

lowed states to resume capital punish-
ment in 1976.

Another condemned killer, Roger
DeGarmo, who had also been-sched-
uled for execution early today, won a

Thurs bog 3-

stay Tuesday from a Federal judge in
Houston.

Mr. Bass appealed to the Supreme
Court for a stay, but the court turned
the request down in a 7-2 vote late Tues-
day, rejecting the argument that his at-

torney had a conflict of interest, thus

preventing a fair trial.

Mr. Bass was convicted in 1980 of
slaying Charles Henry Baker, a mar-
shal in Houston, who with another offi-
cer investigating a $300 holdup stopped
Mr. Bass in August 1979 as he was
walking down a street. In a scuffle that
ensued, Mr. Bass and Mr. Baker
traded "gunfire.

Both were wounded, and Mr. Bass,
while fleeing, again shot Mr. Baker.
Mr. Bass was arrested four days later
in Kentucky after his relatives in-
formed the police.

Mr. Bass insisted he had shot Mr.
Baker in self-defense. —

Mr. Bass’s criminal record included
lengthy juvenile detention. He also
served a prison term for burglary. A.
counselor testified at his trial that Mr.

|3-86s NY Times u

py 15 y

Bass once told of stabbing his mother in

| the back.

In the case of Mr. DeGarmo, who re-
ceived a stay Tuesday, his attorneys
argued successfully that people op-
posed to the death penalty were ex-
cluded from the jury in his trial.

“T am unhappy for myself but am
happy for my people,’’ said Mr. DeGar-
mo, who had demanded to be put to

death but requested a stay because of.

his family.

Mr. DeGarmo auctioned off three of.

the five witness seats a convict is al-
lowed in the death chamber, and prom-
ised to give a detailed account of his
last minutes of life. Seven people bid
for the seats, and two offered $1,500
apiece, Mr. DeGarmo, who refused to
identify the bidders, said the money

would be divided between his menily.

and the victim’s.

He was sentenced to death for mur-
dering Kimberly Ann Strickler, a 20-
year-old Houston hematologist, in 1979.
She was shot to death as she lay in the
trunk of her car after ee kidnapped

i asl

Te

t

. shooting to death a city marshal after being stopped

; to death in the United States this year.

‘Bass in Texas’ first double Be

ple opposed to the death §
. penalty were excluded §
- from DeGarmo’s trial

jury

Sar Foose fier LY Nex

Texas execules .

peda hay 2-12-97

killer; another :

anted a stay
LA 9¢€ /0Ft
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A man convicted of

during a robbery investigation was executed by lethal
injection early today, becoming the second person put
Charles Bass, 29, who was denied a stay hours
earlier by the U.S. Supreme Court, was pronounced
dead at 12:21 a.m. (CST), said Attorney General Jim
Mattox.
Another condemned killer, Roger “Animal”
DeGarmo, had been sched- gags - .
uled to die shortly after :

execution in 35 years.
DeGarmo was granted a
reprieve by U.S. District
Judge James DeAnd after
attorneys argued that peo-

t LE
No demonstrators
appeared at the Walls Unit
of 8 Texas Department "a Bg.
of Corrections, possibly ;

due to the thunder, light- Charles Bass
ning and rain. During --- Appeal denied
recent executions, hand- :

\ fuls of demonstrators appeared, compared with hun- ;

dreds when executions resumed here in 1982. eee
Bass was convicted in the August 1979 slaying of .

Houston City Marshal Charles Henry Baker, who : :

stopped Bass as he was walking down the street. ;
Baker moved to pull Bass’ arms behind him, a scuffle «

ensued, and the two exchanged gunfire. ,
Both were wounded, and Bass again shot Baker °

- while fleeing. He was arrested four days later in
- Kentucky after police were tipped off by his relatives. -

Bass, who was convicted in 1980, insisted Baker -

- was shot in self-defense. ts
“> Lawyers for Bass, w ose case was rejected on a 7-2

existed for the lawyer representing him. A three-

judge panel of the. 5th U.S. Circuit Court rejected a .

. rq

~ similar request earlier in the day.

Bass, who came within seven hours of execution in

1989, became the 56th person executed in the United
States since the Supreme Court allowed states to

restore the death penalty in 1976.
In the other execution this year, James Terry .

Roach, 25, was electrocuted in South Carolina on Jan.
4 10 for murdering two teen-agers. :

er SG sr

~~ ee & F

nee ee OOH REDE HHS RH 8] Bw BM


Ar 1lons D «il Sf yc

3, 1986

Tucson, Thursday, March 1

ay

3 New
yysters. |
rtheast

‘tilis the
d hard-
yecause

w shell-
lorwalk
: Gulf of
ns from
 rvesting

' nunder-
ito shell-

t

‘Baker after Baker and a partner
| stopped him during an investigation

PrLSeg a

Charles Bass — £ oe

Aas

Killer executed: \

‘Don’t feel bad,
| deserve this’ =

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP)/—="A

career criminal acknowledged he |

was getting the punishment he de- ©
served when he was put to death by"

injection yesterday for killing.a city

marshal in 1979. 5

. “Don't feel bad, Mama.'I deserve
this,” Charles Bass, 29, told -his
mother, Rose England, who watched
him die. “Tell everybody "bye.” saat

“You'll never hurta n,” she ré-
plied. “‘God’s going to take care of
YOU eg tne 5

~ He took two deep breaths, looked ae

-at his mother and then stared at the

ceiling. He was pronounced dead ¢
12:2) a-meies Fi : at

"Bass was convicted in 1980 of kill ;
ing Houston city marshal Charles

ofa $300 robbery... . *
Bere: po tae TUS fe Rh J

A struggle ensued as the officers
were questioning Bass,,and Baker
was shot twice. He died of his
wounds. Bass was wounded in the
gunfight but fled and was arrested
four days later in Kentucky.

“J have no mercy for him whatso-
ever,” said Baker’s widow, Dorothy.
“J will never forgive him.”

Bass insisted the shooting was in
self-defense.

Bass, a juvenile delinquent wh
also served time for burglary, was
calm throughout the execution, said
state Attorney General Jim Mattox,
who watched from the executioner’s
room of the death chamber. The
procedure is “now about as smooth
and professional as we're about to
have it,” he said. ;

No demonstrators showed up out-
side the Texas Department of Cor-
rections Walls Unit, perhaps bé-
cause the area was hit by &
thunderstorm before the execution,

Bass spent his last day visiting
with friends and family. He ate noth-
ing until late in the evening when he
requested a cheese sandwich. An
hour before the execution, a prison
chaplain gave him communion. © ~

Convicted killer Roger Leroy De-
Garmo, who was scheduled to die in
Texas’ first double execution in 35
years, won a stay of execution Tues-
day from a federal judge in Hous-
ton. 54: Ce peas

Asked if he were happy, DeGarmo
replied: “No, because I’m still here,
in the same old cage and the same
old place.” SAN aoe

DeGarmo, convicted of abducting
and shooting to death a 20-year-old
Houston woman, gained publicity
for his plan to auction seats for wit-
nesses to his execution. He also said
he wanted to narrate the execution.


re 3-12-PCMY Times
bs 4 “me Ss
One Killer Loses Appeal;
;2d Wins Stay in Texas ‘-
; HUNTSVILLE, Tex., March 11 (AP
‘— The United States Supreme cat rte
day cleared the way for the execution
of @ man who killed a city marshal,
while another condemned killer had his
life spared by a Federal judge. |
Charles Bass, who was convicted in |

7 to 2 not to block his execution by injec--
tion, scheduled early Wednesday. ’ :
Attomeys for Mr. Bass had argued
he was denied a fair trial. Mr. Bass, 29
years old, was transferred todaytothe . .
cell near the death chamber here.
Roger DeGarmo, who had been
Texas’ first double execution in 38

Houston hematologists 3°...
\ ¢ Pe. wep * y
om Mh et.
Texas executes killer 3-/2- £6.
'-."} HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Charles Bass was put to death
~ by idjection early this morning for the 1979 slaying of a
’ Houston city marshal who stopped him for a misdemean-
. Optraffic warrant. : 4 ;
‘$A ‘second condemned killer, Roger “Animal” DeGar- :
:, Mo, who was to have been executed within minutes of _,:
_“ be Bass at the same prison, won a stay Tuesday, less than 10
outs before he was to have been put to death for the’

=“

;. Murder of a 20-year-old Houston woman.
bivch’ Bass was given lethal Injections of sodium thiopental,
i, :,Pavulon and finally potassium, chloride, and was de-.
: i clared dead early this morning at the Walls Unit of the
‘« Fexas Department of Corrections.

. | U.S. District Judge James DeAnda agreed to stop De-
- Garmo's death just 10 minutes after a request was reject-
‘hid by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. DeAnda
 \fuled that people opposed to the death penalty were sys-
:,, tematically excluded from the trial jury. + «

dict ®, Sacc7am ent: Fee — Bee News Services
Prem tro CC RST EICE

even

F.


pyacharies, wiite, lethal injection Pex.

4 eles : See E
along Silvercrest near Parkert'He fit, the ‘/-~ ‘During! the ‘gunbattle, the man slip
, description of a’man they were ing:’<into a ditch. Police said they recovered
Se ee ay it aca nee — Oe ; ce: cigarette} lighter bes some. of the $300,
Pere er ee 2 as =
Stopped. to’ serve. amisdemeanor: traffic and Baker and- McCammon, both in-unie’”. McCaftmon's deseription.of the killer.’ §
Sen ase em oat a tin SE ee
_ of two men wha had Just Yage man: ‘from where Baker was killed. The rob-: 5..aemm

“FY Jounge.. 7. a bone S:..“We saw he was. sweating alot, : ‘said
tt was uncertain if the kill as cee be marist subery occurred oo 2 ae earlier, ae
———man sought inthe warrants"=7" = Unree isenrses 4 pockets: were stuffed qr officers ‘sald Ate epee ta)
Mayor Jim McConn said today the slayeo with. and eens al nee pe engy bat ’ Robbery aietcctives sald ibe pene 2

* ing and. Houston’s spiraling: murder rate“y:be a robber.*<*-" - ~ money, wra ped with a bank stamp on it;

was: Roald tty by the lounge owner,‘

- indicate “human -life doesn’t seem. Baker.
_ .mean too much in this community.” :.....--=-ear on the side of the street-"~ ener ome oae Matthews, 49.70 ser re
“Charles Baker, 61, of Conroe, a: four.->/. McCammon walked back to the dtiver’s sy They said two men Pitts in the ©
fobbery and apparently lit the money -

* year employee of of the marshal’s office,’ : side:ard then heard sounds of a scuffle
was killed about 9:30 p.m. Thursday in:.+:followed by ‘several shots.” >. So teakensc es
the 10200 block of Silvercrest on the city’ 8 ~. Baker, shot in the chest and: right leg, (5° sThe: killer was’ described as ‘17 to 2
fell-to the ground and died at the scene. * hi old, about 5 feet 8 inches aa? pikes

lg “i set

Foraicide detectives oe nagecan: “i McCammon crouched behind the car and
‘Baker and his partner, R.A. McCam :;: exchanged several and his the man;

mon, 23, spotted a sang man: walking "who then fled. eral
:.He emes his wife and several children

" Bob Goss: elected: et = “The number of homicides is up so high

f huge oil: workers’ union: Seamtesmanree
O juge ol wor ers: un ion” On) today. “That a ses pais
a Ae ote aril aoe ” officer has been killed indicates no one is .

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — Bob Gos, ‘ Goss, a Callfornian, has been an organ-. eae Gc,
~~ @ self-styled “nuts and bolts type, was “Teer and vice president of the Internation-. = “Human life doesn’t seem to mean too

tants for the municipal courts... -

Baker is a former Conroe. Sica
and a park police lake patrol offt-
cer. - *

’ elected president today of the 175,000-.“.al Federation of Petroleum and Chemical . much anymore in this community.” , to LS : aes
: member Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workevs. Workers and was administrative.assist- .. The, city recorded 17 homicides last’ - esa
_ ers International Union. ef cb ed oie ant to the union pre nee for seven years. weekend, bringing the year's total to 383, ~ _Prote by Joba R. Ven Beckum. Chronicls

"... Mazzocchi, of Long Island, N.Y., was at ""* far aHead of last year at this time. oa: “kj s |
of ee aeeees ae since Fone time union Tegislative director in =”... MeConn said today that City Council ~ Di IC. Ing : Up t
margin of 83,618 30,485 in a roll call “Washington: |; . owl take unspecified steps to bolster the - Mees. re
- vot oe delegates at the union’s annual ."<*: Goss told the delegates that “We must - “Police Department. Council already has The towering oak tree
ie annual: expand our bargaining concept go that we,” authorized the addition of 10. homicide: Patty Imholz splintered
Ee aca “3% 5 )i'treat the bargaining situation on a conti: :* *: detectives. rots aes Aut
_.*He will replace AF. Grospiron, who is ‘ nental and international basis wherever _ . The mayor sald he does not feel thata © uring. a storm at 3:45 |
stepping ce after 14 years as the - practical. In 1955, oll workers merged -: salary dispute with police officers ig-4 .. limbs and wood_fragr
union’ s head. with gas, coke and chemicals workers. + deterrent to recruiting more officers. me yard. Imholz, who was it

°

ae

= SHOP DOWNTOWN aa BRANCHES TONIGHT TIL 9.088 8. Pes OE ue


, Z
ge 4-A_* EXPRESS-NEWS, San Antonio, Texas, Wednesday, March 12, 1986

ciated Press

JUNTSVILLE — A man con-
ted of shooting to death a city
rshal after being stopped during a
/bery investigation was executed
lethal injection early Wednesday,
Oming the second person put to
ith in the United States this year.

Charles Bass, 29, who was denied_
a stay hours earlier by the U.S. Su-

‘preme Court, was pronounced dead

at 12:21 a.m., said Attorney General
Jim Mattox.

“Don't feel bad, mama. I deserve
this,” Bass said in the execution
chamber, according to Mattox.

Bass’ mother, Rose England, was

among the witnesses separated by
jail bars from the death chamber.
“God’s going to take care of you. I
love you, sweetheart,” the weeping
woman said, according to Mattox.
Bass took two deep breaths and
stared at the ceiling. The last thing
he said was “tell everyone goodbye,”

No demonstrators appeared at the
Walls Unit of the Texas Department
of Corrections, possibly because a
thunderstorm was in progress. Dur-
ing recent executions, handfuls of
demonstrators appeared, compared
with hundreds when executions re-
sumed here in 1982.

Another condemned killer, Roger

‘I deserve this,’ killer says in death chamber

“Animal” DeGarmo, had been sched-

DeGarmo, 31, when told of his ré

uled to die shortly after Bass in prieve, said, “I am unhappy for m)
Texas’ first dguble execution in Ao pelf but am happy for my people.”

years. But DeGarmo was granted a
reprieve by U.S. District Judge
James DeAnd after attorneys argued
that people opposed to the death pen-
alty were excluded from DeGarmo's
trial jury.

Lawyers for Bass, whose case wa
rejected on a 7-2 vote by the hig:
court, unsuccessfully argued he wa
denied a fair trial because of a co:
flict of interest that existed for th
lawyer representing him.

ba

+
oe <n
co ee ee ee ee ee

=o aew

said Mattox.
1.

ee eeyy

|

Ce a ee wm

ours

|

As best I can remember, he was serving a warrant on some overdue traffic
offenses when he stopped a car believed to be the suspect he was looking for.

It was dark and in the commotion the suspect fleed on foot and fired at City
Marshall Baker, killing him.

Please understand this is from memory and I am not sure of my facts.

I hope this information has been of some help.

Sincerely,

fA

Denny G. Hair, Police Officer
Director, HPD Museum

17000 Aldine Westfield
Houston, Texas 77073

DGH/bd


CITY OF HOUSTON

Telephone 713/222-3011 * Teletype 1-713-571-1012
61 Riesner Street « Houston, Texas 77002

/ Kathryn J. Whitmire, Mayor

CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS: Larry McKaskle @ Ernest McGowen, Sr. © George Greanias © Anthony W. Hail, Jr. © Frank O. Mancuso ®@ John G. Goodner @ Christin Hortung
Dale M. Gorczynsi @ Ben T. Reyes © Jim Westmoreland © Eleanor Tinsley © Jim Greenwood © Rodney Ellis © Judson Robinson, J. © CITY CONTROLLER: Lance Lalor

Brey

September 9, 1985 HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT fo X
= Lee P. Brown, Chief of Police = \¢ \

‘ Ronald C. Van Raalte
P.O. Box 584
Arlington Heights, Illinois 60006 .

Dear Ronald Van Raalte:

In regards to your inquiry dated September 1, 1985, referring to a Chief of
Detective, Captain Mike Hennessy being killed in the line of duty on September
29, 1886. .

I show no record of him as a City Marshall or Police Officer. We did not have.
a Captain rank at that time and no detectives. I doubt that there was such an
e incident in Houston.

However, our records are very sketchy during that time and would you send me
any information you may have.

In regards to the City Marshall killed in 1979. First let me explain what City
Marshalls in Houston do.

They are assigned to the Municipal Courts and deal primarily in Class C Misde-
meanor City Warrants. They are not Houston Police Officers but do derive their
power from City of Houston Municipal authority and are Texas Peace Officers as
defined by "The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and
Education". As such, they wear uniforms, carry sidearms and have arrest
powers.

I have not researched the death of Charles Baker, City Marshall, Badge fi22,
who was killed in the line of duty on August 16, 1979, but I can recount part
of the incident from memory as I was riding radio patrol at the time.

NECeIVE

2
SEP I 4 ;
1985, Lae


against the fugitive lover. :

Beard, seemingly, had an overcuming
weakness for the fairer sex, and he,
a handsome and romantic type, held a
mutual appeal for the women.

It was this attraction that proved his
eventual undoing in Dallas. He had
met Elizabeth Cooley soon after his ar-
rival in Dallas, and she, jobless and

Clew of the Torn Dollar

the Preher home on the day of the
murder. We had the blood-stained
coat, and the report of the chemist
stating that the stains had been made
by human blood; we were able to find °
a witness who positively identified a
torn one-dollar bill as being the one
which she had handed to the murdered
woman the day before the murder.
But all this was circumstantial. We
lacked direct evidence.

When McMurray was placed on trial,
the attorney for the State presented
our case in a capable manner, but the
defense immediately proceeded to tear
it apart.

They proved conclusively that Mc-
Murray had assisted Alex Phillips in
slaughtering hogs, and they maintained

with no immediate, prospects for bet-
terment, had responded to his kind
treatment, pleasant manner and reck-
less, carefree mode of living. We are
certain that she was entirely innocent
of his criminal pursuits or of any
knowledge of them, and though she
does not suspect it she was the means
of bringing a dangerous menace to or-

it ‘was hog blood that had stained the
coat. The chemist who had made the
test, and reported that the stains were
human blood, was a conscientious wit-
ness and carefully refrained from mak-
ing any statements he could not prove.
He maintained that the test he had
made was reliable, but conceded that

‘nine other methods of making such

tests had been discarded by scientists,
although at one time or another they
too had been regarded as reliable. The
defense counsel was quick to maintain
that the test used in the present in-

stance was also of questionable value:

and likely to be regarded in the near
future as being just as unreliable as
the other methods had been ascer-
tained to be. This development pos-

ganized society to the justice he so
richly deserved.

Beard was tried and convicted in
Dallas. He made no effort to contest
his guilt for the murder of John Rob-
erts, pleading only, through his court-
appointed attorneys, that’ he was in-
sane. The jury deliberated two days
before filing solemnly back into Judge

Grover Adams’ crirninal district court-
room with the death penalty.

For the second time during 25 thrill-
packed years of his short life, Augus-
tus Dwight Beard, the he-man Casa-
nova who loved well but not wisely,
stands in the shadow of the electric

chair. This time there will be no

escape.

Bill (| Continued from Page 15)

sibly caused some of the jurors to
doubt the test. .

When the torn one-dollar bill was
presented as evidence, and positively
identified by the withess, who stated it
was the one she had given to Miss Pre-

her, Attorney Conger of the defense .

placed it on a piece of yellow paper of
the identical shape and size of the bill,
and carefully marked on the edges of
this paper the points at which the tear
began and ended. Then he went into
an adjoining room, taking the piece of
yellow paper with him, and tore four
other one-dollar bills. in exactly the
same manner, smudged the edges where
the bills had been torn, and mended
them with transparent tape exactly like
that used on the bill which had been

placed in evidence. Returning to the
courtroom, he picked up the original
torn one-dollar bill, shuffled it in with
the four he had prepared, and then
challenged the witness to say which of
the bills she had once owned.

“Oh—I—I can’t tell now,” the wit-
ness was forced to admit, before the
prosecutor realized what was going on
and rose to his feet to object. The dam-
age had been done, further doubt had
been born in the mind of one or an-
other of the jurymen.

Ts jury retired ... and in due time

returned with its verdict. Hoyt
McMurray escaped a death sentence,
but was given a life sentence, which
he is now serving.

Sterilization—Frank Flynn (Continued from Page 30)

squeezed into the shaft. thrust his head
above the roof of the lift and remained
in that position studying for a full
minute. When he drew back, his face
was as white as paper.

“My God, Mrs. Schlafer, it’s a dead
child, sure enough,” he muttered.
“She looks as if she’d been drowned.”

“Do you know who she is?” the
woman demanded.

“Yes, I do. She’s little Margaret
Parlato—they call her Margo. The
family lived on the second floor rear
in this building until a month ago.
They moved around the corner to.
Thirtieth Street.”

Nearly everybody in the block knew
the pretty Italian youngster, who was
only six years old. Mrs. Schlafer had
been particularly fond of her. She
promptly went into hysterics.

Wilhoffer did the sensible thing. He
phoned the Astoria Precinct station-
house and gave the facts in as few
words as possible. The sure, swift
action that followed is one of the
things to be proud of in’ modern police
methods. The call to all radio cars
went out:

“Body of small girl child discovered
in basement of No. 29-07 Thirty-First
Avenue. Murder suspected. Surround
the building. Guilty party may still
be on premises.” :

In exactly ten minutes after Wil-
hoffer had phoned, three radio cars
converging from different angles came
grinding to a halt just out of sight of
the apartment house. The idea was not
to scare off the quarry by making a
commotion at. the door. Uniformed
men and detectives raced to strategic
positions,

To detectives entered the basement
and began to question the superin-
tendent, Wilhoffer. They were joined
almost at once by John J. Gallagher,
Deputy Chief Inspector in charge of
Queens detectives. The officers looked
at the corpse, without disturbing its
position until the Medical Examiner:
should arrive. They saw enough to
convince them that here was foul mur-
der, probably committed by a pervert.
The water-soaked clothing puzzled
them, however. Had the child been
brought already dead from the sea-
shore or some pool?
Under questioning, Wilhoffer and
Mrs. Schlafer denied that they had
seen any suspicious-looking characters
lurking about the building that day.
The superintendent went over the
names of the tenants carefully. He
could not believe that any of them was
capable of this frightful deed. It was
true that Margo had been in the habit
of running in and out of the place and
was friendly with them all.
No screams had been heard, nor had
anyone noticed the dumbwaiter being

44

used. The body could have been
thrown down the shaft from any floor,
without the likelihood of attracting at-
tention. :

After persistent questioning the in-
terest of the detectives centered upon
Frank A. Flynn, whose apartment was
next to that of Mrs. Schlafer. Flynn
was described as a man separated from
his wife and sharing four rooms with
his sister, Miss Helen Flynn, and an
aunt, Mary Black. He had a job as
night superintendent of the garage of
the National Transportation Company-
Parmelee System, at No. 419 East 60th
Street, Manhattan.

“He works at night, eh? Then he’s
probably at home now.”

“He may be. He often is at this
hour,” answered Wilhoffer. “But I
don’t know for certain.”

“Are his sister and his aunt in?””’

't\ JO, THEY’RE not. I saw them go
. out about noon, and they haven’t
returned.”

A detective was sent upstairs to see
what he could learn, without knocking
at.the door. He reported that he had
heard heavy footsteps moving around
inside the flat. Undoubtedly Frank
Flynn was there. A guard was then
put on the Flynn landing, and the sus-
pect was placed under surveillance
within half an hour after the crime
was reported.

Doctor Howard W. Neall, Assistant
Medical Examiner for Queens, reached
the building presently and inspected
the body. His verdict was startling:
Death by drowning, none of the usual
signs of homicidal violence being pres-
ent. Poor little Margo Parlato, how-
ever, had been sexually abused, the
evidences of that horror being only too
apparent on-her undeveloped body. It
was impossible to tell whether the as-
sault had been made before or after
death, Doctor Neall stated.

Several officers went to Flynn’s
apartment and demanded admission.
After a brief delay the door was
cpened to them by a huge man weigh-
ing nearly 225 pounds. He was totally
nude. The police at first glance noticed

. that there were about a dozen surface

wounds on his right hand, though
blood was no longer flowing from
them.
“Are you Frank A. Flynn?” he was
asked.
“T am,” he admitted readily.
“What have you been doing?
don’t you have any clothes on?”
“T have been taking a bath.”
Detectives pushed by him and en-

Why

tered the bathroom. They found an.

unusual amount of water splashed on
the floor. But Flynn’s most recent
activity had been washing his under-
wear, which was in the tub, heavily.
soaped.

“What's the idea?” he was asked.

“I often do my own washing,” the
burly man replied coolly.

There were only a few drops of
blood spattered ‘about the apartment.
They could have come from Flynn’s
mysteriously cut hand. No clews what-
soever were found tq indicate that the
little girl had been there. The garage
superintendent, however, could not
give a satisfactory account of his
movements since midday, and he was
taken to the Astoria station for ques-
tioning.

MEANWHILE detectives contacted

the parents of the slain child.
They were Dominick Parlato, a ship-
yard worker, and _ his wife, Maria,
Italians. The mother already had be-
come alarmed at the absence of Mar-
go. Aided by some of the little girl’s
playmates, she was searching franti-
cally when the dreadful news was
broken to her.

Mrs. Parlato sobbed that Margo had
attended classes in the morning at a
near-by public school. She had come
home at noon for lunch, then had gone
out to play at 2 o’clock. The mother
had given her money to buy an ice
cream cone. That was the last that
had been seen of her by Mrs. Parlato,
but Buddy Smith, eight, had played
with her in the front yard of his home
at No. 29-11 Thirty-First Avenue,
only two doors from the scene of the
murder. Buddy thought that she had
left him about 3:30 p.m.

If this statement were correct, the
child had been enticed into the apart-
ment building, ravished, killed—by
drowning; that was the incomprehen-
sible detail—and tossed down the ele-
vator shaft within the half-hour before
her body was found.

Inspector Gallagher and District At-
torney Charles P. Sullivan concen-
trated upon Flynn, feeling morally
certain that he held the key to the
ghastly mystery. They soon found that
they were dealing with one of the most
morbid characters ever to fall into the
hands of the Queens police. Flynn
looked like a big, fat, harmless man.
He had a sixteen-year-old daughter,
Vera, and although he was separated
from his wife for nine years he had
continued to show a fatherly interest in
Vera. His general reputation was that
of kindliness, expressed in a hesitating,
shy way.

But in reality his mind was a cess-
pool. He gave proof of that as soon as
Gallagher and Sullivan brought pres-
sure to bear and forced him to talk,
Dual natures of this kind are far more
perilous to Society than is the obvious
pervert, because they wear a mask,

Flynn began by saying that he had
been on a drinking bout in Manhattan
the night before, with his old friend

Harry Brandt. They had toured the
bars in the Times Square section. The
stout monster recalled that he had seen
many women of the underworld and
homosexuals in these bars, and he
voiced his memories of them in obscene
language. He added that he had had a
number of beers after his return home
in the early hours of the morning.

“Then you claim that you were still
ea drunk today?” Gallagher asked

im.

“That's about it,” agreed Flynn, “I
have a hangover.”

The Inspector readily saw that Flynn
was speaking the truth, but he was not
sufficiently under the influence of the
liquor to be unaware of the conse-
quences of his actions.

The suspect went on to say that he
had known the Parlato family for sev-
eral years. Mrs. Parlato had taken
care of his wife when she was ill. He
had been noticing little Margo for
perhaps two and one-half years. He
wouldn’t have dreamed of harming her,
because he liked her. In fact he liked
all children.

“How did you get those cuts on your
hand?” Gallagher snapped at him.

“Why... with my razor... by acci-
dent,” Flynn floundered.

The officials decided to take strong
measures. Just what these were I do
not pretend to know, but they pounded
at Flynn with ceaseless demands for a
confession, He did not “break,” as the
saying goes. He laughed and said:

“All right. I don’t give a damn it I
do go to the electric chair.”

His attitude thereafter was that of a
gloating exhibitionist. The police said
his coolness was unique. And Dis-
trict Attorney Sullivan was moved to
state to reporters:

"| NEVER saw a, man so matter of
fact about any occurrence as this
man seems to be about this crime.”

In hearing the confession, Sullivan
introduced a novel feature which was
to be of importance at the trial. He
had phonograph records made of every
word uttered by the prisoner and his
inquisitors. :

Flynn asserted tha: after filling up on
beer he approached the doorway of his

apartment building scme time in the.

afternoon. He was not definite as to
the hour. He met Margaret Parlato
outside of the house. She followed him
into the house. He went to his apart-
ment. He opened the door and she
followed him in. He went into the
sitting room and Margo followed.
There was some candy on the table.
Margo was looking at the candy, per-
haps eating it, when he went into the
bathroom to. wash his hands.

In the bathroom he concluded that
she should be dead because she was
disfigured. Flynn declared that she

0


110

True Detective Mysteries

The Clue in “The Line-Up”

Armed to the teeth, they worked day
and night with the authorities in an effort
to find some trace of the slayer and bring
him to justice. They watched all roads
and highways, checked trucks and private
cars and searched all passenger and freight
trains, but the killer evaded their net.

Chief of Police J. P. Coffey, of Valdese,
conducted the investigation personally and
before long he was deep in a maze of leads
und clues. Through his fine work the
identity of the slayer bandit was estab-
lished. The man he named as the killer-
bandit’ was August Dwight Beard of
Lenow, North Carolina,

Spurred oon by this information the
police re-doubled their efforts in commu-
nities all over the South. But nothing hap-
pened. Finally several well-known police
officials in the South recalled the success
with which the Truk Detective Mysteries
Line-Up had led to the eapture of tao
dangerous eriminals in that section of the
United States. One of them, they recalled,
was John MeTague of Minneapolis, who
had been wanted in Hennepin County for
attempted murder of a policeman and ar-
son. He was captured in New Orleans on
September 25th, 19382, after his pieture ap-
peared in ‘Tite Line-Up, ‘Che other case
was that of Ed Glass, a dangerous killer,
who was captured in Alexandria, Louisiana,
ufter his photo appeared in Trun Derec-
TIVE.

“MRHOUSANDS of persons will sec

Beard’s picture in the magazine,” the
Officials agreed. “and his capture is bound
to be the result eventually.”

And so Chief Coffey sent Beard’s pie-
ture and description to the magazine. It
came out in the August, 1938, issue of
T.D. M. As usual I bought my copy the
first day it was on the news stand, — I
didn't, however, have an opportunity to
read it until August 30th, 1933.

Ever since I first saw Tue Line-Up, I
have considered it an invaluable aid) to
policemen and detectives. Lt is exception-
wlly helpful in my work as Assistant in the
Bureaus of Identification. And so one
of the first things IT read in the August
issue Was Tuk Line-Up. One of the first
pictures that attracted my attention was
that of Gordon Alcorn, wanted as a kid-
mapper.

Knowing the interest the St. Paul Police
Department had in Aleorn, because of the
kidnapping engineered in our city by him
and the Jate Verne Sankey, I took the
Inagazine to the office of Inspector Charles
J. Tierney of the detective squad.

Alcorn und Sankey were wanted in our
city for the abduction of Haskell Bohn,
son of a wealthy St. Paul manufacturer,
alhough thea picture in’ that issue of
VT. D. M. was published in connection
with the kidnapping of Charles Boettcher,
of Denver.

“I'd like to get my hands on that baby,”
Inspector Tierney remarked.

Both of us studied the picture and de-
scription and then went over the others
on the same page. Included in this group
was the picture of Beard. Something
ubout his face held my attention, and I
read the description under his photo.

It said that he was wanted for mur-
der, and his complete description was as
follows:

“August Dwight Beard. Murder.
Age 23, height, 5 feet, 11 inches;
weight, around 175 pounds; of ath-
letic build; fair complexion; light
and curly hair. Usually wears light
colored clothes.”

(Continued from page 62)

After reading the description, I removed
the page and placed it in a file where
I keep all Line-Up pages from Trun Dr-
tectiv’ Mysreries. Then I. glanced at
some of the titles of the stories and put
the magazine away.

On the day that that happened the
Minneapolis and St. Paul Police Depart-
ments were in a turmoil. A daring ban-
dit, who moved through the fashionable
residential districts like a phantom, was
loose. He raided home after home while
squad cars scoured the neighborhoods try-
ing to find some trace of him,

His ratds had been staged over a per-
lod of several weeks, and up until August
30th, 1933, his loot was estimated at be-
tween ten and fifteen thousand dollars.
His specialty was “crashing” dinner and
bridge parties. Instead of expensive en-
graved calling cards, which would have
heen appropriate ine the fine homes he
Visited. he carried a shiny, nickle-plated
revolver, Nonchalantly, he would. stroll
info richly furnished sun porches, lounges
and dining rooms, greet his intended vic-
tims with a mock bow, and then deprive
them of their cash and valuables, While
rifling his vielims pockets, he would carry
on a conversation with an imaginary “ac-
complice” who was supposed to be on
guard outside. This man was never seen,
however.

During the carly morning hours of
August 31st, 1933, the phantom bandit
changed his tacties and tried his skill at
house prowling. He got into the home of
Carl Weschcke at 2263 Riverwood Place.
Awakened by his stealthy footsteps, Mrs.
Weschcke got up to investigate,

“Who's there?” she called, somewhat
alarmed,

There was no answer, Then she reached
for a light switch. As she moved over to-
ward the wall, a man’s voice, soft and
threatening, came out of the darkness,

“Don’t move,” he said “or IL drill you.”

Ignoring the threat, she pushed the but-
ton, flooding the room with light.

Before her stood a. tall, husky, good-
looking young man with a revolver in his
hand. His eyes flashed with unger,

“Why,” he muttered, “I've 2 good no-
tion to...” :

He paused suddenly as he heard some-
ZL dbody moving across the floor in an ad-
Joining room. It was Mr. Weschcke,
armed with a revolver, A shooting fol-
lowed and one of the bullets pierced the
bandit’s body. He managed, however, to
run from the place and make his getaway.

The alarm went out over WPDS, the
St. Paul Police Department short wave
radio station, and several squad cars sped
to the scene. Inspector Tierney took por-
sonal charge of the investigation.

“Notify all hospitals,” he ordered, “and
then keep a regular check on them. I feel
confident this man will turn up before long
and seck treatment.”

I got on the case a few hours after the
shooting. In a_ telephone conversation
with Inspector Tierney, I was instructed
to go to the Weschcke home and get
finger-prints.

Shortly after 7 a. m. I left my home at
1915 St. Clair Street and started downtown
to get my equipment at.the St. Paul Pub-
lic Safety Building. On the way to the
Loop, I intercepted a police call sent out
over the Minneapolis Police Department
station. It ordered two squad cars to the
Fairview Hospital, in Minneapolis, where
a man was seeking treatment for a bullet
wound, i

I hurried to a telephone and called In-

spector Tierney immediately and was in-
structed to pick him up.

Upon our arrival at the hospital, we
found a young man on an operating table.
A bullet was lodged in his abdomen. He
resembled somebody we had seen, or knew,
but we couldn’t remember who it was. In-
spector Tierney questioned him about the
wound.

“Who shot you?” Inspector Tierney
asked.

“It was an accident. I was cleaning a
gun.”

“Where did it happen?”

The wounded man paused for a moment
and then spoke:

“It wasn’t an accident. I was shot while
I was driving a booze truck through Min-
neapolis.”

He refused to give any specific dctails
as to the time and scene of the shooting.
Meanwhile, I had been wondering if he
could be the house prowler who was shot
in St. Paul. I talked the matter over
With Inspector Tierney who questioned
the wounded man further.

“Been in St. Paul recently?” he asked
the youth.

“No, TP ohaven’t.”

Ii then decided to examine his

clothes. On « chair, behind a white
screen, we found an_ expensive, light-
colored tweed sport suit. There was no
label in the suit or anything that would
aid in identifying the man. But the style
and color of the suit gave us a lead. It
made us think of the description in Tur
Line-Ur of the murder fugitive from
North Carolina. It had said “he usually
wears light-colored clothes.” We went
back to the operating table and studied
the young man’s face carefully. He was
a dead ringer for the killer whose likeness
had been in Tue Line-Up.

Yet it didn’t sccm logical that the fugi-
tive would have traveled several hun-
dred miles from the South, only to become
involved in 2 house prowl.

“Ever been in the South?” Inspector
Tierney asked him,

His face went a shade whiter. He pre-
tended to be in pain. Then he spoke:

“Why yes, I’ve been in several parts
of the South. Do you have any special
city in mind?”

“No. Just wondered if you had ever
been in North Carolina.”

“No, L have not. But I’ve been near the
state line. I used to go to college in Vir-
ginia.”

Satisfied that he was not telling the
truth, Inspector Tierney arranged to have
the youth held after he was treated. Min-
neapolis Police were also at the hospital
and co-operated with us in every way.
Then with the consent of the physicians
and the Minneapolis Police, the young
man, who had given us the name of “Dan-
jel Haines,” was removed to Ancker Hos-
pital in St. Paul.

My superior, John J. Tierney, Superin-
iendent of the Bureau of Identification,
and niyself took finger-prints and photo-
graphs of him. These were forwarded im-
mediately to the Department of Justice,
in Washington. A report came back there
was no finger-print record of anybody
named “Daniel Haines.”

Meanwhile, Inspector Tierney and my-
self had again studied the picture of
Beard in Tue Line-Up. His hair was
combed a little differently from that of the
wounded man, but the faces looked ex-
actly alike. Inspector Tierney, in the
resence of Detectives Tom Grace, Jeff
Dittrich, and Thomas McMahon, and my-

he asked

self, ques
“Ever
“No ”

“Tsn’t it a
“Never h
“What's
Beard?”
The youn
Then I wu
picture from
to the wom
mediately t!
“That dar
“is worse th
world. Sine:
several nan
girls saw m\
asked me ul
Was my pie!
Beard den
insisting tha
On Septemh
all of the ho
Twin Cities.
Minnesota \

JOHN C
Martin, Me.
Feb. 734 Lis
Jan. 5, ’34,
to Weisner -
boro, Texas
ton. Our S!

FRANCI>
Sullivan, \
assault with
33 Line-Up
lando, Flori
him in
reward

JACK b
Barton. M
Lrye-Up by
formation
Puget Islan
iff Charles °

reward paid

BENJAX
eyed Benn:
Saratoga &;
tified Marc}
tives Andre
Fort Wort!
rested Don:
Our $100 :
Reams.

JOHN J.

tortion by |!


True Detective Mysteries

Edward J. Fitzgerald,

who has given the story

of LINE-UP Capture

Fifty-eight to our
readers

The CLUE in “The LINE-UP”

7 TICK ’em up!”

His blood almost chilled from fright, Augustus
Bounous, genial North Carolina merchant, stood
transfixed when these words were muttered to him by a

snarling bandit on February 18th, 1932.

During the long time he had operated stores in the sunny
South, the Valdese, North Carolina, merchant had come in
contact daily with many classes of people, but that fatal
Kebruary day marked his first—and last—experience witha
bandit.

As the bandit gave another command in a hoarse, guttural
whisper, the merchant stepped back and studied him carefully.

He noted that the hold-up man was young, tall and husky.

Tn his hand he held a revolver which he flourished menac-
ingly, as he waited for his startled victim to do his bidding.

Police

By EDWARD J.
FITZGERALD

Bureau of Identification
St. Paul, Minnesota
Department

As told to
JOSEPH A. FERRIS

(Right) August Dwight Beard as he appeared in the
LINE-UP. The picture on the left was taken by St.
Paul Police authorities after his capture

The odds were all against the merchant and he realized it.
He had no intention of resisting the bandit. He was all ready
to turn over everything he had when the unexpected happened.

The bandit, cool until that moment, lost his head.

There was a struggle.

His revolver barked.

And Bounous went down, fatally wounded, with two slugs
in his body.

Still carrying the pistol, the bandit fled from the scene. And
while the police, sheriffs, and indignant citizens formed posses
and began a manhunt for the slayer, Bounous breathed his last.

The merchant’s death shocked the peaceful southern com-
munity. Business men and private citizens called the cold-
blooded murder a challenge from gangland, and, in a fighting
spirit, they accepted it as such. (Continued on page 110)

WANT

(L. G. C.)
begin with,
your magazi:
keep publish
napping sto
them we ha
over in the n
ing twenty-t
all about. G
that are ne
(some that })
gotten) and
publish thos
you wait un’
“fresh.” An
time, not tw
“Nerts” to y

T. D. M.

F
(S. K. PL)
your magazi
areund., Tri
a good reput:
people who
accord virtu
if you want
you will ch
vertising pol
(1) You w
of the adject
is quite mod:
(2) You wil
at the end
each story
successive pa:
and give the
sary, all thro
will make
more definit
asking the 1
this man th
your * numbe:
a notice at th
it is to be c
reader questi
ment. That
to Newcastle
won’t need qi
ers’ interest.
tinctly a wet
I hke you
rangement 0:
in the first p

HOW T. D.

(J. B. K.)
May issue, *
and the Murc
to. This is n
TECTIVE. Yet
issue. I ign
looked unin
because I ha:

I wish I w:
of True Der
motions for
issues month!
lie by putti
(C) Raise t!
the sume).
that this ma
bachelor for
I receive it.

MORE "F
SALE:

(Mrs. L. J
Ava—I_ notic:
you say the
cluding inst


iv and was in-

hospital, we
»perating table.
abdomen. He

' seen, or knew,
who it was. In-

him about the
ector Tierney

vas Cleaning a

for a moment

vas shot while
through Min-

pecific details
the shooting.
idering if he
vho was shot
matter over
» questioned

2” he asked

exiunine — his
und a white
nsive, light-
here was no
« that would
jut the style
- lead. It
in THE

‘e from

--~ usually
We went
ind studied
‘ly. He was
ose likeness

vat the fugi-
everal hun-
’ to become

Inspector

2. He pre-
he spoke:
veral parts
seu special

i had ever

ehonear the
eve in Vir-

telling the
ced to have
ited, Min-
ue hospital
very way,
physicians
the young
ool “Dan-
uvker Tlos-

\. Superin-
nufication,
ind photo-
warded ime
of Justice,
back there
» unybody

v and my-

picture of

- hair was
that of the

looked ex-
yy, in the
, Jeff

| my-

self, questioned the youth .once more.

“Ever hear of a fellow named Beard?”
he asked him.

“No.”

“Isn’t it a fact that he’s a pal of yours?”

“Never heard of him.”

“What’s your real name? Isn't it
Beard?”

The young man nodded that it wasn't.

_Then I went to my files and got the
picture from THe Linr-Ur. We showed it
to the wounded youth. He admitted im-
mediately that he was the fugitive.
_“That damn magazine,” he complained,
‘Ss worse than all of the detectives in the
world. Since they ran my picture I’ve had
several narrow escapes. Two or three
girls saw my picture in that Ling-Up and
asked me about it. But I denied that it
was my picture.”
_ Beard denied the shooting in the South,
insisting that he “could never kill a man.”
On September 23rd, 1933, he confessed to
all of the house raids and robberies in the
Twin Cities. He said that he had come to
Minnesota May 15th, 1933, after traveling

True Detective Mysteries

all over the South. He intended to go on
to Canada but stayed when he met a girl.
Then he tried a hold-up and got away
with it so easily that he continued his
raids.

North Carolina authorities obtained ex-
tradition papers from Governor J. C. B.
Ehrinhgaus in that state and Beard was
taken back to the South. He left on No-
vember 27th, 1933.

While we captured Beard in St. Paul,
I feel that Chief Coffey and his men are
entitled to a great deal of credit, for the
work they did. I feel, too, that the other

men mentioned in this story did great-

work on the Beard ease as well as on the
recovery of part of the loot taken in the
robberies he staged.

But the real credit for the clue that
actually led to Beard’s identification and
capture must go to my favorite magazine
—True Derecrive Mysreries—and its
famous Linr-Up.

On May 4th, 1934, Beard was convicted
of first-degree murder and sentenced to
die in the electric chair July 6th, 1934,

Line-Up Captures

(Continued from page 66)

52

JOHN C. WEISNER, alias Mangold,
Martin, Meissner. Con. gume. Identified,
Feb. 34 Ling-Up by T. D. M. reader on
Jan. 5, 34, who gave information leading
to Weisner’s arrest, Jan. 8, ’34, at Hills-
boro, Texas, by City Marshal E. L. Kee-
ton. Our $100 reward paid.

53

FRANCIS P. SULLIVAN, alias John
Sullivan. Wanted in Boston, Mass., for
assault with intent to kill. Identified May
33 Line-Up by Detective S. D. Starr, Or-
lando, Florida, Police Dept., who arrested
him in that city on 12-4-33. Our $100
reward paid to Starr.

54

JACK BEARD, alias Anderson, Byrd,
Barton. Murder. Identified in Nov. ’33
Line-Up by T. D. M. reader who gave in-
formation leading to Beard’s arrest at
Puget Island, Washington, 1-6-34 by Sher-
i? Charles Dull of Cathlimet. Our $100
reward paid.

55

BENJAMIN DOMINICK, alias “Cock-
eyed Benny,” wanted by Chief of Police,
Saratoga Springs, N. Y., for murder. Iden-
tified March ’84 Line-Up by City Detec-
tives Andre Fournier and Jack Reams, of
Fort Worth, Texas, on 2-21-34. They ar-
rested Dominick the next day in that city.
Our $100 reward paid to Fournier and
Reams.

56

JOTIN J. TIGGINS. Wanted for Tex-
tortion by Edward J. Hickey, County De-

tective, Hartford, Conn. Sought for more
than five years. Higgins’ picture published
March 1934 Ling-Up T. D. M. recognized
March 11th, 1934, by Detective H. C.
Propst, Birmingham, Alabama, Police De-
partment. Higgins arrested following day
by Detectives Propst and McCoy Helton.
Our reward of $100 paid to Propst.

57

SEBRON EDWARD DAVIS. Wanted
for murder. Identified by reader in April
34 Line-Up on Feb. 27th. Reader notified
Detective-Lieutenants Ed Slope and Ches-
ter Welsh of Los Angeles Police Depart-
ment and they arrested Davis following
day for prosecution in California on
charges of kidnapping and robbery. Our
$100 reward paid.

58

AUGUST DWIGHT BEARD. Wanted
by Chief of Police J. P. Coffey of Valdese,
N. C., for murder. Edward J. Fitzgerald,
assistant Bertillon Expert of the Saint
Paul (Minnesota) Poliee Department
recognized Beard from: photograph in Au-
gust (1933) Line-Up of T. D. M. and
Beard’s arrest and return to North Caro-
lina followed. Our reward of $100 paid
Mr. Fitzgerald,

59

JAMES J. COYNE. Wanted for mur-
der by Superintendent of Police, Boston,
Massachusetts. Identified August (1933)
True Derective Mysteries’ Line-Up by
Captain Rosco Stephenson, Michigan City,
Indiana, Police Department on March 12,
1934, and captured same day in that. city.
Our reward of $100 paid to Captain Steph-
enson,

111

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he pleaded.

years of his
was paroled
342, he was
his time the
Penitentiary

‘ow. He had
His victims
zines which
by purchas-
sold them
vere stolen
vs, carefully
the schem-

:deral Judge
sruary, 1942,
ilty. He was
years on each
to run con-

; and Ronald

f the money
but I didn’t

ie of Dwight
ioir, a town
lese.”

Bevitt’s con-
Valdese. Ex-
‘eak he had
case, Coffey
ers and hur-
n the return
for more de-
cying, but to
‘tt refused to
itt in the jail
inty seat, he
man named

that Dwight
of one of the
fluential fam-
his an attempt
ne for his own
. person? To
everal people
e officer that
-e on the night
to look as if

er, was over-
He continued
on made some
at changed the
zh Beard came
ed family and
Lenoir High
iis record was
adsome, curly-
vears old with
he had em-
zrime_shortly
{orth Carolina
sh.
king on a series
ies, traced the
campus. They
Beard’s room
uggage, radios,
rought into
urt, he begged
i a suspended

ae

sentence. Expelled from college, he
had returned to his home town. ;

“He may be innocent,” Coffey said

*at Headquarters, “but it won't hurt to |
check on him.”

Chief Coffey soon learned that
Beard had not only been in the state
the night of the shootin; but had been
seen with Bevitt near ous’ mar-
ket about eight o’clock in the evening!
True, Beard had disappeared, but not
until ten days after the robbery! At
that time he had been tried for a
series of petty crimes in Lenoir and
ordered out of the state for five years!

The officers quickly started a na-
tion-wide search for Beard Flyers:
bearing his picture and description
were rushed across the country and a
reward of $500 was offered for his
capture.

Meanwhile, Bevitt repudiated his
confession, claiming that the Los
Angeles’ police had used force and
threats to obtain it. Nevertheless, he
was held‘ for the grand jury and on
August 13, 1932 went on trial in the
Burke County Superior Court. The
State’s case hinged on the confession
which Bevitt denied in court. The
trial lasted five days and Bevitt was
acquitted. :

Chief Coffey. still had an-ace in the
hole. He took Bevitt back into cus-
tody on the charge of being an acces-
sory after the fact and | receiving
stolen goods. (In-his confession, Bevitt
had stated that Beard gave him $400
of the robbery ‘money.) He was re-
turned to jail to await his second trial.

The sensational case moved to an-
other climax when in December,
Bevitt-and several of his pals escaped

. from jail and fled to the mountains.
For a time it looked as though Bevitt,
like Beard, was gone for good. How-
ever, Chief Coffey and Deputy Sher-

iff W. E. Harris quietly worked until
they picked up his trail. It led them
through dense: woods, across several
mountains high into the hills. Seven
-days after his escape, they captured ’
Bevitt in a cabin on top of the South

ulled a dozen holdups in Virginia.
n Richmond, he committed a series of
burglaries in the wealthy residential
section of the town. Traps were set
for him and one night he made the in-
evitable slip and walked into one.
Driving a new car, he parked in front
of a palatial home, where there were
no lights, and got out.

Two officers stepped out of the
shadows and covered him.

“What’s the meaning of this?”
Beard protested. |

“You fit the description of the man
we're looking for,” one of them told
him.

“There must be some mistake,” the
yo athlete smiled. “I’m calling on
fri s here. If I were going to rob
this place, I certainly wouldn’t drive
up to the front door.’ :

The officers agreed that- there was
logic in his statement. “Okay, we'll
take you up to the house and see if
these people can identify you.”

They never reached their destina-
tion. Beard darted into the shrub-
bery and disappeared over 2 back
fence! Bullets whistled over his head
but he didn’t stop.

Early in the summer of 1933 a well-
dressed, personable young athlete be-
gan to appear at the tennis courts and
golf courses around St. Paul, Minne-

|

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sota. The educated newcomer, with
a slight touch of Southern drawl, lost
no time in making a host of acquaint-
ances. He said’ that his name was
Donald Haines and claimed that he
was the son of a wealthy Southern
manufacturer.

“Soon he was visiting in the most
fashionable homes in town. He was
seen nightly at various social events
with some lovely debutante. His
ela increased as the days went

y.

However, down at Police Head-
quarters the officers had no time to get
around in the city’s*social circles and
meet the dashing Mr. Haines. They
were too busy with other problems.
A lone bandit was terrorizing the
town, striking with lightning sud-
denness and disappearing in the same
manner. The thief operated only in
the wealthiest homes of the city.

On June 15, he walked into one
home during a bridge party and
walked out five minutes later with
$3,000 worth of jewelry and $26 in
cash. The bandit was dressed in eve-
ning clothes and wore a mask. He
was described as young and soft-
spoken. :

On July 22, the same man broke up
a bridge party in another St. Paul
home. It was about midnight when
he calmly walked in and stripped the
guests of their jewelry and cash. He
got away with about $500 in valuables
and money. Newspapers headlined
the activities of the “Society Bandit.”
Outraged citizens demanded action.

The authorities were beginning to
believe that the ease with which the
gunman worked was no coincidence.

Obviously the man planned each job
carefully. That meant that he shad
access to the homes in which the rob-
beries were being pulled. Efforts were
redoubled to obtain some clue to his
identity. ae ;

About two o’clock in the morning
on August 8, the bandit struck again.
He interrupted a party in the home
of a wealthy citizen and collected
nearly $200 from those present. After
that he began to work nightly. .

Then, on the night of August 30,
the police got their first break.

A business man, returning to his
home unexpectedly, heard a prowler
upstairs. Picking up revolver, he
slipped quietly up the steps. The
bandit heard him, coming and leaped
from the window to the roof of the
house. The owner of the house got
quite a shock! The prowler was clad
only in his underwear!

“Stop,” he ordered, “or T’ll shoot!”

The thief laughed harshly and
swung from the roof to a tree in the
yard. There followed a splintering
crash as the limb broke, dropping him
headlong to the ground below. It was
a very bad fall and he was obviously
injured. Struggling to his feet, he
disappeared into the darkness.

A call went through to Headquar-
ters and a squad of officers raced to
the scene. They searched the neigh-
borhood quickly but their quarry had
escaped. Working on a hunch that he

would seek medical attention, all hos- -

pitals within a radius of 50 miles were
notified to watch for the bandit.
Later that same night, a man wear-
ing sport clothes limped into a Minne-
apolis hospital.

The doctors detained 57

34

than usual to cash his customers’
checks. Since the money was miss-
ing, it was assumed that robbery was
the motive for the crime.

The officers worked at top speed
the remainder of the night, ques-
tioning suspects, investigating tips

and seeking in general some clue to"

the identity of the murderer. But
when dawn came, the baffling mys-
tery was still unsolved.

Going back to the scene of the
crime, Coffey again searched the
surrounding area, hoping that he
might uncover some clue he’d missed
in the darkness of the previous night.
Two hours’ work netted him exactly
nothing. .

Back at headquarters, Coffey
checked over his reports and, found
nothing of interest. He was con-
fronted with the discouraging duty
of solving a case which had few
clues and no definite suspects. At
first, it had appeared as though the
bandit might have been passing
through town, seen Bounous check-
ing his receipts and pulled the job.

However, a thoughtful study of
the facts soon eliminated this theory.
The gunman had been waiting for
the market proprietor in the Boun-
ous yard. He had chosen. the night
when he would have a large sum
of cash on ‘hand. The crime had
been carefully planned. And Chief

Coffey was convinced that some-
body in Valdese was involved. in it.
Therefore, he worked quietly,
watching for something that would
reveal the identity of the wanted
man.

Two days later another matter
arose that - demanded Chief Coffey’s
immediate attention. He was called
to break up a race riot raging in the
Negro district of the town. After he
had established peace, he discovered
that a handful of white people, angry
because a group of Negro laborers
had been brought in to work on a
waterworks project, had started the
trouble. They had attempted to
drive all Negroes out of town.

Two men had brutally flogged the
janitor of the local school.

Chief Coffey immediately ar-
rested Peter Bevitt and Kurt Racine
and lodged them in jail. Besides
mistreating the Negro janitor, the
officer learned, Bevitt and Racine
had incited the riot.

Meanwhile, at the hospital Boun-
ous gamely hung on to a thin thread
of life. When questioned by Cof-
fey, he declared that he did not
recognize his assailant because he
was masked.

Citizens of the town, deciding that
the overworked police needed help,
employed R. L. Roscoe, a crack de-
tective, from Charlotte, North Caro-

lina. The detective reviewed the
facts in the case and: went to work
to see what he could dig up.

VBE all this was taking place,

Kurt Racine asked to see Chief
Coffey alone. .
_ “Chief, I’m in a tough spot,” he
said. “I’m sorry about that trouble
with the colored people and I want
you to help me get out of it. In
exchange, I’ll do a favor for you.”

Coffey said that he would think

the matter over but refused to make
any concessions. “What kind of
favor are you going to do for me?”
he asked, curious to know what the
man had trumped up to escape a

jail sentence.
’" “Last Thursday “night,” Racine

said, “I loaned my coat to Peter
Bevitt.”

“So what?”

“Bevitt said he wanted it for a
job he was going to pull.”

“What kind of job?”

Racine shook his head. “I don’t —

know. He wouldn’t tell me. Said
for me to watch the newspapers and
I would find out.” To

Coffey didn’t have to think twice
to recall that Gus Bounous was shot
on Thursday night! Was Racine
telling the truth? Or had he faked
the ‘story, hoping to obtain leniency
from the police. The chief remem-

bered that
of business
He decided
done in as}
tions.
Coffey he
office. He
slender, sai
‘comparativ:
having com
the past fal
soon after.
Bevitt was
When quest
of Bounous.
ing. I had
was with f1
I can prove
Returnin
went out
Several p
Bevitt nee
about nine
the crime.
thing that
case failec
was tried
charge. !
tained him
That sar
up his ve
With two
domen, he
death of t
dened the
a deluge «

2 ie lle Ale ile ie me


ecatacetete,

ite

. reviewed the
| went to work
dig up.

as taking place,
<ed to see Chief

tough spot,” he
out that trouble
ople and I want
© out of it. In
vor for you.”

he would think :

refused to make
“What kind of
* to do for me?”

, know what the.

up to escape a

“night,” Racine
, coat to Peter

wanted it for a
» pull.”
9"

head. “I don’t
’t tell me. Said
> newspapers and

ve to think twice
Bounous was shot
ht! Was Racine
Or had he faked
to obtain leniency
fhe chief remem-.

bered that Bevitt operated a place
of business near Bounous’ market.
He decided that no harm would be
done in asking Bevitt a few ques-
tions.

Coffey had Bevitt brought to his
office. He remembered “that the
slender, sandy-haired youth was a
‘comparative stranger in Valdese,
having come to live with his parents
the past fall and opening a business
soon after. About 23 years old,
Bevitt was quiet and soft-spoken.
When questioned about the shooting
of Bounous, he said: “Racine’s ly-
‘ing. I had nothing to do with it. I
was with friends all the evening and
I can prove it.” '

Returning Bevitt to jail, Coffey
went out and checked his alibi.
Several people admitted seeing
Bevitt near the Colonial Theatre
about nine o’clock on the night of
the crime.. But efforts to find any-
thing that would tie him in with the
ease failed. The next day, Bevitt
was tried and fined on the original
charge. However, the police ‘de-
tained him temporarily.

That same day Gus Bounous gave’

up his valiant fight to stay alive.
With two bullet holes in his ab-
domen, he never had a chance. .The
death of the popular merchant sad-
dened the community and brought
a deluge of requests to Chief Coffey

‘ ra @ “ fi
ALD f
ESE Fo :
HOPE
hand 4
4

for relentless action in the investi-
gation.

Finally, the police chief . was
forced to release Bevitt.

By the end of the week, the case

_ completely baffled the private detec-

tive and he withdrew from the in-
vestigation.

T Headquarters a few nights

later, Chief Coffey said to one

of hismen: “I’d like to talk to Peter

Bevitt just one more time. Somehow

that alibi of his is too good. Looks
like it might have been faked.”

“I’m afraid that’ll be impossible,
Chief. Bevitt has left town and
nobody knows where he’s gone.”

The fact that Bevitt had lost no
time in getting out of town deeply
interested Coffey. Why had the
youth disappeared so suddenly?
Was he afraid of something? Fast
growing suspicions turned in to con-
victions as Coffey pondered over the
case. Now that he was convinced
that Bevitt was guilty, how would he
prove it? And where would he find
the suspect? .

Suddenly he hit on an idea with
possibilities. Back in one of the cells
was a former associate of Peter
Bevitt. The man, Jim Hastings, was
being held on a minor charge. Hast-
ings was brought into his office and
given a chair. (Continued on page 56)

Ph

>,

J. P. COFFEY. former police chief of Valdese:
He worked unremittingly, finally piled up
enough evidence to convict the cagey killer.

35

ws

56

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sprouted, he heard himself sentenced
to serve 54 years, 11 months and 27
days behind the bars of the Ohio
State Penitentiary. (His two youth-
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In prison, the boy suddenly showed
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The kid had turned over a-new leaf, it
seemed. His earnings he turned over
to the warden to be used in paying
back the victims of his robberies. The
day came when every penny which he
had stolen at the point of a gun had
been repaid by him.

His money debt had been cancelled.
He had already served a long sentence,

NATIONAL

DETECTIVE

“Jim, where’s Bevitt?” asked Chief
Coffey.

Hastings shook his head. “I don’t
know, Chief. I hear he’s lammed out
of town.”

“Do you think you could find out
from his parents?”

“I might if I go to them and say that
I have a message for Peter,” he as-
serted. “But how am I to get out of
jail? If you let me out, they’ll sus-
pect something.”

“You’re not going to be released,”
Coffey told him. “You're going to
escape.”

So in a phony jailbreak, Jim Hast-
ings fled the town.

veral days passed by unevent-
fully. Then Hastings got in touch with
Coffey. “Your plan worked,” he ex-
claimed, “I know where you can find
Peter.”

It was learned that Bevitt, shortly
after his release from jail, had gone
to California. According to Hastings’
report he was operating a cafe in Los
Angeles. So Chief Coffey hurriedly
dispatched a wire to the Los Angeles
authorities, giving them Bevitt’s ad-
dress and asking that he be arrested
for the murder of Augustus Bounous.

N the morning of April 12, two

detectives walked into a cafe in
the heart of the movie capital and
looked around momentarily... They
recognized the neatly dressed young
man behind the counter from a ‘de-
scription they had just read.

“All right, Bevitt,” one of them told
him. “You’d better come with us.
You’re wanted back in Carolina for
murder.”

“You’ve got the wrong party,”
snapped the suspect. :

Protesting his innocence, he was
taken to Headquarters and questioned.
He stood up well under the persistent
grilling that followed, until he be-

-came annoyed at a pipe one of the

detectives was smoking.
“All right, I'll talk,” he finally
shouted, “if you’ll get rid of that rot-

he had learned his lesson, he pleaded.
re peewee for a parole.

ter serving fourteen years of his
sentence, Joseph Russell was paroled
in 1941. In February, 1942; he was
once again behind bars—this time the
steel bars of the Federal Penitentiary
of Atlanta. ;

Russell had gone highbrow. He had
tried robbery by mail. His victims
were the national magazines which
had once befriended him by purchas-
ing his stories. He still sold them

stories, but now they were stolen

stories, the work of others, carefully
copied and plagiarized by the schem-
ing. youth.

n the courtroom of Federal Judge
Harold P. Burke, on February, 1942,
he once again pleaded guilty. He was
sentenced to serve three years on each
of seven counts, sentence to run con-
currently.

The names Mike Tobats and Ronald
Jutkowski are fictitious.

RESERVED FOR THE

HOT SEAT

(Continued from page 35)

ten pipe. I got part of the mone
taken off Gus Bounous, but I didn't
kill him.” °

“Who did?”

“A fellow by the name of Dwight
Beard. He lives in Lenoir, a town
about 21 miles from Valdese.”

The startling news of Bevitt’s con-
fession was relayed to Valdese. Ex-
ultant over the first break he had
gotten in the baffling case, Coffey
obtained extradition eg and hur-
ried to Los Angeles. On the return
trip, he pressed Bevitt for more de-
tails concerning the slaying, but to
his disappointment Bevitt refused to
talk. . After locking Bevitt in the jail
at Morganton, the county seat, he
concentrated on. the. man named
Beard.

He quickly learned that Dwight
Beard was the scion of one of the
most prominent and influential fam-
ilies in the state! Was this an attempt
by Bevitt to cast the blame for his own
crime upon an innocent person? To
make matters worse, several people
hastened to assure the officer that
Beard was not in the state on the night
of the crime. It began to look as if

_ Bevitt had lied.

Chief Coffey, however, was over-
looking no possibilities. He continued
his investigation and soon made some
startling discoveries that changed the
entire picture. Although Beard came
from a highly respected family and
had graduated from Lenoir High
School with honors, his record was
none too good. A handsome, curly-
haired youth about 23 years old with
the build of an athlete, he had em-
barked on a career of crime shortly
after entering the North Carolina
State College at Raleigh.

Raleigh officers, checking on a series
of mysterious robberies, traced the
burglar to the college campus. They
were amazed to find Beard’s room
packed with stolen luggage, radios,
clothing and arog” rought into
the Wake County urt, he begged
leniency and received a suspended

sentence. Ex:
had returned
“He may b«
*at Headquarte
check on him.
Chief Coff
Beard had no
the night of tr
seen with Be\
ket about eig!
True, Beard bh
until ten day:
that time fF
series of pe’
ordered out o
The officer:
tion-wide se:
bearing his »
were rushed .
reward of $f
capture.
Meanwhile,
confession,
Angeles’ po!
threats to ob!
was held’ for
August 13, 1:
Burke Count:
State’s case h
which Bevitt
trial lasted fi
acquitted,
Chief Coffe,
hole. He too
tody on the cl
sory, after t!
stolen goods. |
had. stated th

of the robber)

turned to jail
The sensati:

’ other climax

Bevitt-and se\

- from jail and
For a time it |

like Beard, w:

ever, Chief C:

iff W. E. Har
they picked vu
through dens:
mountains hi;
‘days after hi
Bevitt in a ce
Mountains,

HILE al
Dwight

all over the c
ulled a doz
n Richmond,
burglaries in
section of the
for him and o
evitable slip
Driving a ne\
of a-palatial |
no lights, and

Two office
shadows and

“What's t!
Beard: protes

“You fit ith
we’re lookin;
him.

“There mu:
young athlete
friends here.
this place, I
up to the fro

The officer
logic in his :
take you up
these people

They neve)
tion. Beard
bery and di
fence! Bullet:
but he didn’t

Early in th:
dressed, persc
gan to appeal
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come: to the aid of our country. our
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“Does: it_'not make © your: hair):
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Inmate’s conviction reversed

Gang member had been found guilty of assisting prisoner’s murder

Associated Press

AUSTIN — The Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals on Wednesday re-
versed the conviction of a member
of the Texas Mafia prison gang who
was found guilty of helping murder
a fellow inmate for money in 1984.

The state’s highest criminal
appeals court also reversed the

death sentences of Juan Lopez Her- -

nandez of Corpus Christi and Jackie
Wayne Upton of Paris. The court up-
held six other death row convic-
tions.

Mark Fronckiewicz, 34, an ac-
knowledged member of the Texas
Mafia, a white prison gang, was con-
victed of assisting in the Dec. 16,
1984, murder of inmate David Robi-
doux, 24, in the Eastham Unit at Lo-
velady.

At the center of the case was the
State’s contention that Mr. Fronck-
iewicz helped kill Mr. Robidoux for
payment from the Texas Mafia.

State prosecutors argued that Mr.
Fronckiewicz would be paid be-
cause the Texas Mafia had a stand-
ing promise to pay every gang mem-
ber who committed a murder.

But the Court of Criminal
Appeals ruled that prosecutors
failed to show that Mr. Froncks
iewicz would actually be paid for
the killing. The court threw out his
conviction and sent the case back to
the trial court with an order for ac-
quittal..

“We find no support in the
record for the state’s assertion that
the Texas Mafia had a’ standing

a

@ PALLAS MORNING

promise to all of its members to pay
for murder,” the court’s opinion
said. “The foregoing evidence
proves only that the Texas Mafia
might commit murder for remun-
eration under some circumstances,
if it was profitable.”

The Texas Mafia has long been
suspected by authorities of traffick-

ing drugs and committing crimes

stich as income tax fraud. Prosecu-
tors said gang members improved
their rank by performing grisly
crimes such as murder.

Mr. Fronckiewicz, who had been
sentenced in 1983 to serve 10 years
for aggravated assault on a police
officer, was convicted of helping
several Texas Mafia gang members
stab Mr. Robidoux 28 times with a
sharpened piece of brass.

Witnesses in the case said Mr.
Robidoux, who was also a Texas
Mafia member, was killed because
he was leaking information to au-
thorities.

In the other two reversals, the
Court of Criminal Appeals deter-
mined that errors made by the trial
court jeopardized the capital mur-
der convictions of Mr. Hernandez
and Mr. Upton. . oe

Mr. Upton was convicted of the
June 1985 robbery and murder of
Paris car dealer Floyd Cummings.

The Court of Criminal Appeals
determined that two statements
given by Mr. Upton to police should
not have been allowed as evidence
during the trial.

The appeals court ordered a new
trial.

Mr. Hernandez was sentenced to
die for robbing and stabbing Santos
Briones on March 29, 1988, in
Corpus Christi.

The Court of Criminal Appeals
reversed the conviction, ruling that
an experiment used by the trial
court — allowing jurors to ask ques-
tions of witnesses — was improper.

“Juror questioning should be

‘completely banned absent a show-

ing of clear benefits or a legislative
mandate,” the court's opinion said.

The Court of Criminal Appeals
affirmed the convictions of the fol-
lowing death row inmates:

@ Daniel Joe Hittle, who was sen-
tenced to die for the Nov. 15, 1989,
Shooting of Garland police Officer
Gerald Walker.

@ Jessie Gutierrez, who was sen-
tenced to die for robbing and shoot-
ing Dorothy McNew, a College Sta-
tion jewelry store employee, on
Sept. 5, 1989.

@ Richard Lee Beavers, who was
sentenced to die for robbing and

Hf age
GUT eA
(SEAVE
More
Ezz
Zi Mseé Ai

shooting Douglas Odle in Harris

County, Aug. 18, 1986.

™ Jose Angel Moreno, who was
sentenced to die for kidnapping and
shooting John Cruz in Bexar
County in January 1986.

@ Anthony Quinn Cook, who was
sentenced to die for kidnapping and

shooting David Dirck VanTassel,

Jr., in Milam County, June 9, 1988.

m Kevin Lee Zimmerman, who
was sentenced to die for robbing
and stabbing Leslie Gilbert Hooks,
Jr., in Jefferson County, Oct. 23,
1987.

NEWS

THIRS. APRIL § 1993

pF Je

: , ot y
: Odie wee
tl ah BES gr
“A220 ‘ Wri SEARO
: i: i

ES

“F
~ we
aL

«scheduled execution. © -:

Justice Antonin. Scalia: issued the ae

“stay at ithe ‘request of lawyers -for:. .
. Beavers; 38, who-was: scheduled to:

‘ die by lethal-injection early Wednes-

%

- Houston restaurant manager,

a

e:

; attempt to pursue
- spokesman Ron Dusek said.

-- Beavers’s execution date was set

an.

last month at the request of the Vir-

; day for the abduction and slaying of a®:

- The. ‘Texas« attorney: gerieral’s te AC ( Ca:
. Office did not oppose the request for’ vers'abducted: Douglas Odle and his.
. 4 Stay,. which: was Beavers’s first’

appeal,

_ ginia native, who told'State Court
. Judge: Woody Densen in a July 9
~ letter that he was “ready to go
home” and “ready to
. (body ,to satisfy justice.” ae
. «.» But. Beavers: changed his n ind
_ Court today just 11 hours before his, and asked his lawyer Friday to seek |.
«Jy. @ Stay, said Suzanne Donovan of the
Texas Resource Center, a federally.
funded ‘group that handles appeals
for.-death .row inmates. Donovan
. Said Beavers told his lawyer that he
«chad been :depressed when he decid-
“ed not to pursue an appeal. |

» According to trial testimony, Bea-

- wife, Jenny, both. 24, at gunpoint
from their apartment; on: Aug. 18, ,
-1986,"and forced them to drive to:
several banks and withdraw money -
from automated teller machines. Bea-'

give up this”

~~ THe WASHINGTON Post

Before Texas Execution

_vers then took the couple to a Two

Pesos restaurant managed by Doug-
las Odle, who was forced to remove
$6,200 from the restaurant’s safe. _

.. The Odles were forced to drive to

a remote location in Galveston Coun-
ty, southeast of Houston, where

- Douglas Odles was shot to death af-

ter being ordered to kneel down.

Beavers drove away with Jenny Odle, :

raped her, shot her in the head and
left her for dead, trial records said.
She survived but suffered brain

| damage and lost an eye, and went
on to testify against Beavers after
- his November 1986 arrest in Char-

lottesville, Va.

Texas has executed 14 inmates
this. year and 68 since resuming
executions in 1982, more than
_ twice the total of any other state.


A20 Wepnespay, SEPTEMBER 8, 1993

THE WASHINGTON Post

Stay Granted Hours Before Texas Execution

Reuter

HOUSTON, Sept. 7—Richard
Lee Beavers, who had a late change
of heart about wanting to be put to
death for a 1986 murder, received a
reprieve from the U.S. Supreme
Court today just 11 hours before his
scheduled execution.

Justice Antonin Scalia issued the
stay at the request of lawyers for
Beavers, 38, who was scheduled to
die by lethal injection early Wednes-
day for the abduction and slaying of a
Houston restaurant manager.

The Texas attorney general’s
office did not oppose the request for
a stay, which was Beavers’s first

. attempt to pursue an appeal,

spokesman Ron Dusek said.
Beavers’s execution date was set
last month at the request of the Vir-

ginia native, who told State Court
Judge Woody Densen in‘a July 9
letter that he was “ready to go
home” and “ready to give up this
body to satisfy justice.”

But Beavers changed his mind
and asked his lawyer Friday to seek
a stay, said Suzanne Donovan of the
Texas Resource Center, a federally
funded group that handles appeals
for death row inmates. Donovan
said Beavers told his lawyer that h
had been depressed when he decid-
ed not to pursue an appeal.

According to trial testimony, Bea-
vers abducted Douglas Odle .and his
wife, Jenny, both 24, at gunpoint

from. their apartment on Aug. 18, °

1986, arid forced them to drive: to
several banks and withdraw money

from automated teller machines. Bea-.

vers then took the couple to a Two
Pesos restaurant managed by Doug-
las Odle, who was forced to remove
$6,200 from the restaurant’s safe.
The Odles were forced to drive to
a remote location in Galveston Coun-
ty, southeast of Houston, where
Douglas Odles was shot to death af-
ter being ordered to kneel down.
Beavers drove away with Jenny Odle,
raped her, shot her in the head and
left her for dead, trial records said.
She survived but suffered brain
damage and lost an eye, and went
on to. testify against Beavers after

his November 1986 arrest in Char-
- Jottesville, Va.

.. Texas has executed 14 inmates
-this year and 68 since resuming
-executions in’ 1982, more than
~ twice the total of any other state.

' TEXAS

ITSVILLE — The US. Su-
ny Court halted the execution
of Richard Beavers, 35, after he

| is mi ting to
| changed his mind about wan |
| die fer the ’86 slaying of Houston = 5 ~~

| Odie. -
taurant manager, Doug |
. Beavers, who was to receive a le-

thal injection before dawn today,

i

had asked that no stays be granted.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1993 : USA TODAY


DALLAS MORNING WEWS>
wED, A-B-FS

Supreme Court halts
Texas execution

@ HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The
U.S. Supreme Court halted the
execution Tuesday of Richard
Lee Beavers, who had volun-
teered to be put to death but

RS NES =

later ordered the state to post-
pone the punishment until the full
Supreme Court can consider a
formal appeal. No date was set.


Execution Capital, U.S.A.

Old-timers in Huntsville, Texas, like to tell tales of public hangings and
lynchings at the turn of the century and to reminisce about how, on exe-
cution nights at The Walls state prison, the lights would often flicker and
dim across town, a signal that the electric chair on the hill was doing its
work yet again. Whether these stories are apocryphal or not, the sentiment
in favor of the death pendlty remains overwhelming in Huntsville, even
though many townspeople are uncomfortable with their community's dis-
tinction as the execution capital of the U.S. Last year the state of Texas put 17 murder-
ers to death here—nearly half the number executed nationwide and the most since Texas
resumed executions in 1982,

The quickening pace and mounting numbers have reduced what often used to be
a spectacle into an almost humdrum event. Today few people in town other than Jack
King, the local mortician, even know that an execution has occurred until they read
about it the next day, buried on an inside page of the Huntsville Item. When a chubby
killer named Richard Beavers got his lethal injection of sodium thiopental last week,
the only noteworthy aspect of the event was its timing: late on the night of Easter Sun-
day. That might have provoked an outcry a few years ago, but a vigil for Beavers out-
side the penitentiary’s tall
brick walls drew only four
candle-carrying participants.
At the local Dairy Queen one
block away, oblivious teen-
agers slurped sodas as the hour
approached. “People don’t give
executions a second thought
anymore,’ said manager Irene
Cassidy. “They’ve become the
norm.”

Of course, lethal injection,
in use here since 1982, is an an-
tiseptic procedure. It lacks the drama of electrocuting someone. One of the region’s
biggest tourist draws is Old Sparky, the original death chair, which sits behind glass at
the Texas Prison Museum four blocks from the Big House. Visitors from around the
world come to gawk and marvel at the gleaming oak contraption where 361 killers met
their fate from 1924 to 1964.

In the death house, Beavers, who had waived his appeals and insisted that he wanted
to die for the 1986 abduction and shooting of a Houston restaurant manager and the
wounding of his wife, devoured a final meal of French toast, sausage, eggs, French fries
and six brownies. Then he was led into the baby-blue death chamber and spread-eagled
on a gray gurney. He was tied down with white leather straps and ace bandages. As a dozen
state officials and reporters watched, Wayne Scott, the prison system's deputy operations
chief, appeared in a doorway and intoned, “Warden, you may proceed.” A microphone was
lowered and the condemned man offered a brief prayer as his last statement. Then the ex-
ecutioner, hidden behind a one-way mirror, released the deadly chemicals through two
plastic tubes into the convict’s forearms. In 30 seconds, Beavers grunted, coughed and lost
consciousness. Six minutes later, Dr. Darryl Wells, a local emergency-room physician,
stepped forward to pronounce him dead. As the witnesses were whisked off, morticians
loaded the body into a black Astro van and carted it away into the night for cremation. =

{.
A tiny vigil for a killer put to death this past Easter

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TIME, APRIL 18, 1994

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lished daily.
N.Y., and at

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606,

; 6 Mos.
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} 102.96

' 90.22

‘ork edition
80.
1d local tax.

s Times is
> from the
‘e right not
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of spon-
blication

‘ba ee AR

In addit.
that interest
gage and the ta.
a year. The estat. suey
to tax lawyers and accoumants as
well as $200,000 in court costs from
the murder trial.

Killer Who Asked
To Be Executed Is,

ByInjection in Texas

HUNTSVILLE, Tex., April 4 (AP)
— A convicted killer who said he
would rather be put to death than
have lawyers telling lies in court on
his behalf was executed early today
after saying a brief prayer.

“IT thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving
me the courage, for giving one the
way,” the killer, Richard Beavers,
said as he was injected with lethal
drugs at the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice. Mr. Beavers, 38,
had asked a month ago that all ap-
peals on his behalf be halted and that
he be executed.

“T just: don’t want lawyers. going in

there lying on my behalf,” he had vee

a judge in Houston.

Mr. Beavers was executed for kill-
ing a man and shooting his wife in the
head after they let him into their
apartment on Aug. 18,1986, to use the
telephone. The victims were Douglas
Odle, 24, and his wife, Jenny.

After forcing them to withdraw
money from an automatic teller ma-
chine and from a safe at the restau-
rant where Mr. Odle worked, Mr.
Beavers took the couple to a remote
area and shot both. in the head.

Jenny Odle survived but suffered
brain damage and the loss of one eye.
She testified against Mr. Beavers,
who was arrested in Charlottesville,
Va., a few months after the shootings.

“It's -been a tough seven-plus
years,’’ Mr. Odle’s' mother, Sharron
Odle, said Monday. “Mainly, with
some of God’s help and prayers, we
have survived. We know that Doug
has been watching over us each day.”’

Mr. Beavers, who had a criminal
record dating to age 10, had served
eight years in prison after being con-
victed of armed robbery,: burglary
and abduction. While in prison, he
was convicted of drug palseer and
escaped.

More national news
appears on page B6.


| AT
Thurs by Soot 2, 1/773 Vi __ THe WASHINGTON Post

Ginsburg Votes to Delay Texas Execution |

Newest Justice Is in Minority in Her First Action on Death Penalty

By Joan Biskupic
Washington Post Staff Writer

In her first action on a death pen-
alty: case since joining the Supreme
Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
yesterday voted to delay a Texas
murderer’s execution.

‘She was in the minority, with Jus-
tices Harry A. Blackmun and John
Paul Stevens, to allow Johnny James
to make his case. James, 39, is sched-
uled, to die by lethal injection early
Fyiday morning, just after midnight.

‘A majority of the justices voted
not to postpone the execution or to
otherwise review the case that has
been in the courts since James was
convicted in 1986 for killing a wo-
man he had abducted from a tavern
about 30 miles east of Houston.

“Whether Ginsburg believes that
the death penalty is constitutional is
still not publicly known. During her
confirmation hearings in July she

a Sng ee a 1a
said her mind was' open: to the ‘ar-

gument that capital punishment
might conflict with the Eighth
Amendment guarantee against cru-
el and unusual punishment.

Brent Newton, a lawyer with the
Texas Resource Center, which de-
fends indigent death row prisoners,
said, “What her. vote says, at the
very minimum, is’ that she shares
the views of Blackmun and Stevens.
. . . While they do not.per se oppose
the death penalty on Eighth Amend-
ment grounds, like [Thurgood]
Marshall and [William J.] Brennan
did, they have been solicitous to
some claims” from prisoners who
allege they were wrongly convicted
or sentenced.

The court in 1976 ruled the
death penalty constitutional and
every member of the current court,
save Ginsburg, has voted to invoke
capital punishment.

(The first order issued by the

3 court in the James case yesterday did
not list Ginsburg as voting to stay the

execution. For a few hours, it ap-
peared Ginsburg had endorsed the
death penalty, and some defendants’
lawyers were outraged. But a cor-
rected order was issued and spokes-
woman Toni House said the first had
been typed incorrectly.)

Until yesterday, Ginsburg had
not taken part in any death row
case. Since she was sworn in on:
Aug. 10, close to 20 requests from,
prisoners had been made. In all un-
til yesterday, she had declined to
participate, most likely because she
had not had time to review the files.

James had argued in his petition
to the high court that his sentencing
jury did not fully consider that he
was drunk when he committed the
crime or the effects of his troubled
childhood, both of which, he said,
should have mitigated against his
being condemned to die.

A20 Wepnespay, SePreMBER 8, 1993

THE WASHINGTON Post

Stay Granted Hours Before Texas Execution

Reuter

HOUSTON, Sept. 7—Richard
Lee Beavers, who had a late change
of heart about wanting to be put to
death for a 1986 murder, received a
reprieve from the U.S. Supreme
Court today just 11 hours before his
scheduled execution.

Justice Antonin Scalia issued the
Stay at the request of lawyers for
Beavers, 38, who was scheduled to
die by lethal injection early Wednes-
day for the abduction and slaying of a
Houston restaurant manager.

The Texas attorney general’s
office did not oppose the request for
a Stay, which was Beavers’s first

. attempt to pursue an appeal,
spokesman Ron Dusek said.

Beavers’s execution date was set
last month at the request of the Vir-

ginia native, who told State Court
Judge Woody Densen in‘a July 9
letter that he was “ready to go
home” and “ready to give up this
body to satisfy justice.”

But Beavers changed his mind
and asked his lawyer Friday to seek
a Stay, said Suzanne Donovan of the
Texas Resource Center, a federally
funded group that handles appeals
for death row inmates. Donovan
said Beavers told his lawyer that he
had been depressed when he decid-
ed not to pursue an appeal.

According to trial testimony, Bea-
vers abducted Douglas Odle and his
wife, Jenny, both 24, at gunpoint

from their apartment on Aug. 18, »

1986, and forced them to drive to
several banks and withdraw money

from automated teller machines. Bea-. -

vers then took the couple to a Two
Pesos restaurant managed by Doug-
las Odle, who was forced to remove
$6,200 from the restaurant’s safe.

The Odles were forced to drive to
a remote location in Galveston Coun-
ty, southeast of Houston, where
Douglas Odles was shot to death af-
ter being ordered to kneel down.
Beavers drove away with Jenny Odle,
raped her, shot her in the head and
left her for dead, trial records said.

She survived but suffered brain
damage and lost an eye, and went
on to testify against Beavers after
his November 1986 arrest in Char-
lottesville, Va.

-. Texas has executed 14 inmates
this year and 68 since resuming
-executions in’ 1982, more than

twice the total of any other state.


TEXAS
PRESS CLIPPING BUREAU
DALLAS
Established 1910

Houston, TX |
Houston Chronicle
(Cir. D. 470,414)

SFP - 8 1903

aad

ye ERAN RNS

te
caine

.

ote

halts killer’

By —_ GnAcem
Associated Press a A q
rms om 5 = a

HUNTSVILLE — -The US. Sia-.
~ preme Court: “Tuesday: halted: the
scheduled ‘execution of. “Ridhard.

Lee’ ‘Beavets, -who had volunteered

to be put: ‘to
' death but then
changed ‘his
mind. /.
Beavers,"35,
faced lethal
injection be-
fore.dawn to-
day for the
Aug. 19, 1986,
slaying of a
Houston res- |
taurant man-
ager, Doug Beavers
Odle, during an abduction and:
robbery. Odle’s wife, Jenny, ‘also —
‘was: shot but she survived and
testified against Beavers.

A request for a stay of execution =
or a change of his execution date
:. had been denied earlier Tuesday

“4 by state District Judge Woody
‘+ Densen.
But Justice. Antonin Scalia,

Beavers
Continued from Page 13A. a
draw money so he could. buy. heroin:

ore

Then he demanded they’go'to the |

restaurant Odle managed and forced
Odle to open the safe and give: ‘him ©
$6,200 incash.- wen

-'The three drove to.a. racmote spot :

southeast of Houston. where Beavers .
made Odle, 24, get down on his }

and shot. him’ in“the head. He’ Wve
the man’s: wifé-to saree ‘and.
shot her as well: The buillet destroyed:

her eye-and caused some-brain dam-...
age: but she Tived. to testify against”

te}

U.S. Supreme Court

: «whose son was killed, said Tuesday. -

/

S execution

about nine hours before the execu-
‘* tion could occur, ordered the state
* to postpone the punishment until
he full Supreme Court can con-.
sider a formal appeal filed in his
behalf. The earliest that will be is
when the court begins its 1993-94 |
term next month. - |

Beavers told Densen last month
- he wanted to be put to death as.
soon as possible and_ wrote: the’
‘judge a letter. waiving further
appeals. Last week the Supreme.
Court rejected an emergency re-
quest to put off the. execution,
saying the court had been asked to-
bar all filings on his behalf. |

But attorneys with the Texas
Resource Center, a_public-fi-
nanced ‘ence that handles many
death row appeals, convinced Bea-
_vers on Friday to sign documents
allowing appeals to be filed on his
behalf, said Bill Zapalac, an assis-
tant attorney general. - a

Testimony showed Beavers, a
former neighbor, accosted Odle
and his wife at their Houston
apartment and took them to an
automated teller machine to with- |

See BEAVERS on Page 17A,

D5500K GEDA SEE OOS

“You don’t have any ‘control over.

- things like this,” Sharron Odle,

a
“If I had:some control, this wvouldn't
have happened to my son in the first .
place, but things happen.” fy,
~ Odle was her aly ¢ child’ and his a
murder occurred on ‘his father’s 2
birthday, a

- Beavers, a Virginia‘ native’ ‘was :
‘arrested there in 1986 by: the FBIHe i
-has.a-history of crime. there;: sh
» ning | with juvenile offenses at age 10: =

"Ini 1975, he received a 10-yéar: ‘prison?
‘term:for armed robbery,. burglary:

‘rand: abduction. While in prison,: hes,
was convicted of drug possess and us
“escape. He was: paroled 4 in. 1983,-«: sce

#

4

4


TEXAS
PRESS CLIPPING BUREAU
DALLAS |
Established 1910

San Antonio, TX
Express-News
(Cir. D. 183,814)

=:

a

a | diene

judge Tuesday seta: Sept: 8:
execution date for’ ‘death:row :
inmate. Richard. reeegs ay 4

.. granting’ the “killér’s”
for a’speedy death: “2
: Beavers; ‘ttecardting his fale;

-_tornéy s’-opinions, »Monday »
asked’. State. District. Judge
Woody: ’Densen. to..suspend ,all:

V/ appe - proceedings and set: a

date fot him: to die PM cae

: aba ‘years ‘ago. for. |
> ‘they Aug: ‘16,..1986,... slaying 2of,.
Sted au ee Fy pone:,

Odk:

TEXAS
PRESS CLIPPING BUREAU
DALLAS
Established 1910

Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Star Telegram

Ayes © pase)

“Inmate wants speedy death —

ffag q ‘The Associated Press

<..i%s HOUSTON — A state judge. -
“has set a Sept. 8 execution date.
e3for Death Row inmate Richard:

Octeée Beavers, granting the killer’s
*yequest for a speedy death.

. . Beavers, discarding . his at- -

‘‘torneys’ opinions, on Monday

asked state District Judge

28Woody Densen to suspend all ap-

peal proceedings and set a date
‘yor him to die by lethal injection.

. Beavers was sentenced to die

“ectiearly five years ago for the Aug. °

16, 1986, slaying of restaurant

manager Doug Odle during | an
abduction and robbery.

Odle’s wife, Jenny, also was
shot and left for dead, but she
survived and testified against ,
Beavers.

Attorney Brian Wise, who. rep-

~ resented Beavers, said his client _

refused to discuss the decision to
ask foran expedited execution. ;
“Gauging from his demeanor

in court, there was nothing any-
body could have said or done at
_ this point to alter his thinking,” ;

Wise said.

"4
>

4

eR


8a 3

Agsociated Press

‘HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A convicted killer
who said he’d rather be put to death than have
lawyers telling lies in court on his behalf was
executed early Monday after saying a brief
pbayer.

*I thank you Lord Jesus for giving me the
courage, for giving one the way,” Richard

Beavers said in a brief statement as he was in-
jected with lethal drugs at the Texas Depart-
ment of Criminal Justice.

Beavers, 38, had asked a month ago that all
appeals on his behalf be halted and he be exe-
cuted.

Beavers was executed for robbing and kill-
ing 24-year-old Douglas Odle and shooting

Odle’s wife, Jenny. The couple had let.

QACr arn exfo

Texas executes convicted killer who pleaded fot

Beavers, a fc
ment on Aug.

Jenny Odl
damage and t

Beavers, who had a Crimuiias rcwiu udausug
to age 10, had served eight years in prison af-
ter being convicted of armed robbery, burglary _
and abduction. While in prison, he was con- }
victed of drug possession andescape.

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TEXAS
PRESS CLIPPING BUREAU

DALLAS

Lstablished 1910

Houston, TX

“4999

Houston Chronicle
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AUB 4

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By JOHN MAKEIG
Houston Chronicle

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Richard Lee Beavers
is scheduled to die

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before the Texas Court of
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Sept. 8 for mur

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Richard .Lee Beavers’ go

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The Houston Post/Wednesday, August 4, 1993/ A-15

Ciller seeks to die as ‘ultimate expression of remorse’

’ BARBARA LINKIN
THE HOUSTON POST STAFF

Most death row inmates fight
ecution until the bitter end.
xt so with Richard Lee Bea-
rs.

Beavers asked for and re-
ived an execution date Tues-
iy for the September 1986 slay-
g of a Houston restaurant
anager. In a letter to state Dis-

ict. Judge Woody Densen, the
-isyear-old drifter wrote that he

|
|
|

as guilty and ready to die.
-“T see no need to drag this on,”

: said. “I’m ready to give up
is body to satisfy justice. Also,
n ready to go home.”

Beavers will be put to death by
injection on Sept. 8 unless he
changes his mind. Most death
row inmates wait twice as long
before they are executed.

“If he wants to die, we ought to
be able to respect that personal
decision,” Beavers’ appellate
lawyer, Brian Wice, said- after
the brief morning proceeding.

Wice said he believes Beavers,
who has refused to talk to him,
asked that the appellate process
be stopped because he truly re-
grets his crime.

“T think it’s the ultimate ex-
pression of remorse,” he said.

Beavers was arrested in Vir-
ginia just days after Douglas

LOCAL & STATE

G6 | see no need to drag this on. I'm ready to
give up this body to satisfy justice. Also, I’m

ready to go home.”

Odle Jr. and his wife, Jenny,
were kidnapped from their south-
west Houston apartment. Bea-
vers forced the couple, who knew
him as a former neighbor, to
withdraw money from an auto-
matic teller machine because he
needed money for heroin. He also
made them go to the Two Pesos
restaurant that Odle managed so

Salas

— Richard Lee Beavers

the 27-year-old man could give
Beavers more cash.

Beavers then forced them to
drive to a field in southeast Hous-

.ton, where he shot Douglas Odle.

He later drove to another neigh-
borhood and shot Odle’s wife in
the head. Jenny Odle survived
the shooting and testified against
Beavers during his trial in 1988.

Ts

Her uncle, who was in court
Tuesday, said there never has
been any question of Beavers’
guilt. Beavers confessed after his
arrest, claiming he had been out
of control the day of the killing.
The Virginia native has a history
of serious drug and alcoho]
abuse.

Steve Schifani said the execu-
tion will allow his niece to start
putting her life together. Douglas
Odle was killed just two weeks
after his first wedding anniversa-

ry.
“T don’t think any of the family
is seeking revenge,”’ Schifani.
said. “This was a heinous crime.”


4

ARM EER
Sere

spe

Teer?

we

Pea Vers €Xecuted (bu -y

BEAVERS v. STATE

% BEAVERS, Richard Lee, wh, LI TX@ (Harris)

April 4, 1994

Tex. 429

Cite as 856 S.W.2d 429 (Tex.Cr.App. 1993)

Richard Lee BEAVERS, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
No. 70712.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,
En Banc.

April 7, 1993.
Rehearing Denied May 12, 1993.

Defendant was convicted in the 248th
Judicial District Court, Harris County,
Woody Denson, J., of capital murder, and
was sentenced to death. Defendant ap-
pealed. The Court of Criminal Appeals,
McCormick, P.J., held that: (1) evidence
regarding defendant’s drug abuse and ad-
diction and his voluntary intoxication at
time of offense did not require separate
Penry instruction; (2) jury could not ab-
stain from answering special issues during
penalty phase; and (3) defendant was not
entitled to retrospectively exercise unused
peremptory strike after juror was exposed
to pretrial publicity.

Affirmed.

Overstreet, J., concurred in result.

Baird, J., filed concurring opinion.

Clinton, J., dissented.

Maloney, J., concurred in part and oth-
erwise joined.

1. Criminal Law <1208.1(5)

State cannot preclude jury from con-
sidering relevant mitigating evidence of-
fered by defendant as basis for sentence

less than death. Vernon’s Ann.Texas
C.C.P. art. 37.071.

2. Homicide 311

Evidence regarding defendant’s drug
abuse and addiction and his voluntary in-
toxication at time of offense did not require
separate Penry instruction during sentenc-

ing phase of capital murder trial. Vernon’s
Ann.Texas C.C.P. art. 37.071.

3. Homicide <311
Evidence of defendant’s immaturity

and his inability to make “good decisions”
due to his drug abuse did not require sepa-

rate Penry instruction during sentencing
phase of capital murder trial. Vernon’s
Ann.Texas C.C.P. art. 37.071.

4. Homicide <=311

Evidence that defendant was possible
victim of child abuse and possibly came
from dysfunctional family did not require
separate Penry instruction during sentenc-
ing phase of capital murder trial. Vernon’s
Ann.Texas C.C.P. art. 37.071.

5. Homicide 311

Evidence regarding defendant’s reli-
gious conversion and good behavior in jail
did not require separate Penry instruction
during sentencing phase of capital murder
trial, where jury could have given full miti-
gating effect in answering another special
issue. Vernon’s Ann.Texas C.C.P. art. 37.-
071.

6. Homicide 311, 358(1)

Jury could not abstain from answering
special issues during sentencing phase of
capital murder trial, and was properly re-
quired to answer each special issue either
“yes” or “no.” Vernon’s Ann.Texas C.C.P.
art. 37.071(d, e, g).

7. Jury <137(1)

Defendant was not entitled to retro-
spectively exercise unused peremptory
strike after juror was exposed to pretrial
publicity in capital murder prosecution; al-
though juror admitted that, after reading
newspaper article about case, she would
feel uncomfortable if she were in defen-
dant’s place, she also stated she could be
fair and impartial. Vernon’s Ann.Texas
C.C.P. arts. 35.18, 35.16(a), par. 10; Rules
App.Proc., Rule 74(f).

Richard Frankoff, Houston, for appel-
lant.

John B. Holmes, Jr., Dist. Atty., and
Alan Curry and Danise Crawford, Asst.
Dist. Attys., Houston, Robert Huttash,
State’s Atty., Austin, for the State.

Before the court en banc.

,huntsvi fe

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apc edOg ERAGE EEO FETED GE AGES AR RB E
ss

BEAVERS v. STATE Tex. 431
Cite as 856 S.W.2d 429 (Tex.Cr.App. 1993)

lant was very young. The PSI further
indicated appellant “was known” as an ha-
bitual liar. Based on appellant’s drug
problem and his tendencies toward vio-
lence, the PSI indicated appellant was a
serious threat to his community without
intensive treatment in a controlled environ-
ment.

Appellant also presented a January 12,
1976, letter from a Dr. Molchon who treat-
ed appellant at a psychiatric hospital in
Virginia in the fall of 1975. Dr. Molchon’s
letter discussed appellant’s long history of
antisocial behavior “manifested by drug
use, poor school adjustment, multiple be-
havioral problems plus repeated legal of-
fenses.” This letter indicated that while
hospitalized, appellant’s mental status rap-
idly improved, and when discharged, appel-
lant “showed no further evidence of
thought disorder or organic brain syn-
drome.” Appellant was discharged from
the hospital “with a diagnosis of psychosis
with drug intoxication, resolved, and anti-
social personality.” Dr. Molchon’s letter
concluded that appellant’s prognosis for im-
provement with treatment was poor, and,
to be successful, any treatment would have
to occur in a highly structured setting over
a long time.

Appellant also presented the testimony
of Donna Broussard ‘“‘an intervention spe-
cialist in a field dedicated to substance
abuse.” She interviewed appellant several
times while he was in jail on the present
charges. She testified appellant’s upbring-
ing and his drug abuse explained most of
his criminal behavior. Based on her con-
versations with appellant, she testified it
became obvious to her that appellant’s fam-
ily was a typical chemically dependent, dys-
functional family. Broussard further tes-
tified to a “great deal of abuse” in appel-
lant’s home:

“Q. Now, regarding still the family unit
that we are describing, can you tell
us whether or not in your inter-
views of either spousal abuse or
child abuse?

3. On cross-examination, Broussard testified she
did not interview any of appellant's family
members. The 1975 PSI report indicated appel-
lant has four brothers. Three of the brothers

“A. From the information I received
there was a great deal of abuse
both toward the wife and toward
the children. Whether that was
physical or emotional is unclear,
but it was related as being both.”

She also testified appellant’s aggressive-
ness increased with his continuous use of
drugs at increased levels. She testified the
probability of appellant continuing to use
drugs was 100%.

Broussard also testified drug abuse re-
tards a person’s ability to make “good deci-
sions.” She said appellant’s emotional de-
velopment had been impaired by his drug
abuse; appellant was a “13 year-old child in
a 33 year-old body.” Broussard also testi-
fied that someone with appellant’s history
of drug abuse could suffer “blackouts”
from ingesting too many drugs and alcohol
meaning that person would not remember
his behavior during the blackout. She tes-
tified appellant probably had suffered
blackouts many times. She also testified
to appellant’s religious conversion in jail.
On cross-examination, she testified appel-
lant was not mentally retarded and he
knew the difference between right and
wrong.

Appellant also presented the testimony
of Dr. Degner, a medical doctor specializ-
ing in the area of drug abuse. He testified
appellant had a severe drug abuse problem.
He also testified that someone who continu-
ously used drugs from the age of 10 would
have the maturity level of a 10 year-old
even when that person reached 30 years of
age.

Dr. Degner testified to his opinion, based
on his interviews with appellant and other
factors, that appellant had blackouts on
many occasions including the day of the
offense.

“Q. In your interviews and your studies
of the PSI and with [appellant] did
you form an opinion as to whether
or not [appellant] had blackouts?

had no history of legal or substance abuse prob-
lems. One of the brothers smoked marijuana,
but had no arrest record.

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Supreme Court halts
Texas execution

M@ HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The
U.S. Supreme Court halted the
execution Tuesday of Richard
Lee Beavers, who had volun-
teered to be put to death but

changed his mind: Mr. Beavers,

-_———-

35, ‘faced lethal injection before
dawn Wednesday for the Aug.

19, 1986, slaying of a Houston
restaurant manager, Doug Odle.
A request for a stay of execution

_or a change of his execution date

had been denied earlier Tuesday
by state District Judge Woody
Densen. Justice Antonin Scalia
later ordered the state to post-
pone the punishment until the full
Supreme Court can consider a
formal appeal. No date was set.

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‘WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1993 - USA TODAY


MRI

430 Tex.

OPINION
McCORMICK, Presiding Judge.

In this automatic, direct appeal from ap-
pellant’s capital murder conviction and
death sentence, appellant’s counsel raises
three points of error. V.T.C.A., Penal
Code, Section 19.03(a)(2); Article 37.071(b),
V.A.C.C.P. Appellant also raises four pro
se points of error. We will affirm.

Appellant does not challenge the suffi-
ciency of the evidence to support his convic-
tion or the jury’s affirmative answers to
the special issues. Briefly stated, the evi-
dence from the guilt-innocence stage,
viewed in the light most favorable to the
verdict, supports findings beyond a reason-
able doubt that at 9:00 p.m. on August 18,
1986, appellant pulled a firearm on a hus-
band and wife in their apartment after they
let him in to use the telephone.! Appellant
said he needed money for drugs. After
taking some money and other property
from the apartment, appellant forced the
husband and wife to drive him in their car
to several automated teller bank machines
where he emptied their bank accounts. He
then forced them to drive to a restaurant,
where the husband worked as an assistant
manager, and persuaded the husband to
get the money from the safe while appel-
lant waited in the car with a gun pointed at
the wife.

Throughout the entire ordeal appellant
told the husband and wife he would not
hurt them. He eventually took them out to
a field and made them kneel down. He
suddenly and fatally shot the husband
while the wife watched. Appellant then
took the wife to several different locations
and sexually assaulted her at least once.
He eventually shot the wife and left her in
a field. She recovered from her physical
injuries and testified against appellant at
his trial.?

Appellant’s first point of error asserts
his death sentence violates the Eighth and
Fourteenth Amendments to the United

1. The husband and wife and appellant were
casually acquainted; appellant either lived or
recently had lived in the same apartment com-
plex as the husband and wife.

Phe, r
Yohe, 7
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“the,

Ata,

856 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

States Constitution as applied to him be-
cause the special issues at the punishment
phase prevented the jury from considering
and applying appellant’s mitigating evi-
dence. Appellant bases this claim on Pen-
ry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct.
2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989). The record
reflects the trial court refused to submit
the following charge that appellant re-
quested:
“Under the Constitution of the State of
Texas and the United States Constitu-
tion, you are instructed that you must
consider all the evidence in the case, in-
cluding any aggravating factors and evi-
dence that mitigates against the imposi-
tion of the death penalty. That is, you
must consider all evidence which has any
bearing on the two special issues before
you, but you must also consider any miti-
gating evidence or extenuating circum-
stances that might lead you to believe
that the death penalty would not be ap-
propriate.
“Therefore, if you find beyond a reason-
able doubt that the answer to each spe-
cial issue is “yes,” but believe from all
the evidence, including both aggravating
and mitigating factors, that the death
penalty is not appropriate in this case,
you are instructed not to answer the
special issues.”

At the punishment phase, the State reof-
fered the evidence it introduced at the
guilt-innocence stage, and_ presented,
among other things, evidence of appellant’s
extensive criminal history dating back to
when he was a juvenile. Appellant pre-
sented a 1975 presentence investigative re-
port (PSI) that was prepared in Virginia in
connection with an offense he committed
there as a juvenile. This report indicated
appellant had a long-term substance abuse
problem. Appellant began using drugs and
alcohol at about age 10. The PSI indicated
appellant blamed most of his substance
abuse problem on his alcoholic father, who
began to give appellant alcohol when appel-

2. The record reflects that appellant’s counsel,
pursuant to appellant's instructions, did not
cross-examine the wife at trial.

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By JIM SIMMO
Post Reporter

. Charles William Bass, who was scheduled
to be executed/in Huntsville Wednesday, has
been given ah automatic 30-day stay of
execution whil¢ his attorneys and the state of

. Texas engage ‘in what could be a protracted

legal battle over his life.

Bass, convicted of killing a Houston city
marshal in 1979, came as close to a state-
sanctioned death as any Texas prison inmate
has since the the state’s last execution in
1964. ;

A stay, granted by a three-judge panel of
the the Sth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
postponed 3ass' death-by-injection less than
seven hours before his scheduled execution.

Under Texas law, an automatic 30-day
stay of execution is granted if an execution is
not carried out as scheduled.

After a series of hasty legal actions that
went late into Tuesday night, Bass’ fate now
rests with two federal courts.

- In temporarily stopping the execution, the

Sth Circuit judges gave the state until next
Tuesday to respond to Bass’ writ of habeas
corpus and request for a permanent stay.

Bass’ attorney has alleged, among other
things, that Bass was provided ineffective
legal counsel during his 1980 trial and was
not allowed to retain the attorneys of his
choice.

The office of Attorney General Mark White
lg now preparing a response to those claims,
a spokeswoman for the attorney general said
Wednesday.

The Supreme Court has refused to grant
Bass a new trial on a 1981 appeal of state
court rulings. .

Meanwhile, the state’s application to a Su-
preme Court justice to vacate the 5th Cir-
cuit’s stay rests with the full high court.

Mary Hardesty, spokeswoman for White's
office, said the Supreme Court has indicated
that action on the state’s request will be
forthcoming in the next two weeks.

White’s application to vacate the stay was
referred by Justice William Rehnquist for ac-
tion by the full court after Justice Byron
White refused to vacate the stay.

White’s decision triggered a frantic scram-
\ ble by the attorney general’s office to locate

om ates not expecting

ia.

< aly A aa thd A eeone st Picts

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a justice who would be willing to allow the
execution to go on.

Initially, the state was required to file its
application with White, the justice designated
to handle appeals from the Sth Circuit.

Following White’s denial of the applica-
tion, the state then had the option of reapply-
ing to any of the other eight justices. Rehn-

.quist was chosen.

. Under normal court procedures, Rehnquist
had three choices: He could have denied the
application, granted it or refused to act and
referred the application to the full court for
review, as he did.

Rehnquist, by refusing to act on the appli-
cation, blocked the state from applying to yet
another justice.

If Rehnquist had followed White and
denied the application, the state then could
have contacted any or all of the remaining
justices in hopes of finding one who would va-
cate the stay. But that course of action would
have been highly impractical at 10 p.m., a
court spokeswoman said. .

If Rehnquist had vacated the stay, Bass’
attorney would then have had no choice but
to petition the full court to convene by tele-
phone to overturn his decision.

The possibility that Bass’ execution would
proceed apparently surprised attorneys for
both sides, since stays-of-execution issued by
federal judges have become accepted routine
in death penalty cases.

But U.S. District Judge George Cire of
Houston refused to stop the execution Tues-
day afternoon, forcing Bass’ attorney, Antho-
ny Griffin, to go to the 5th Circuit.

Now, the 5th Circuit panel can rule on

Basg’ writ or send it back to Cire for further .

proceedings.

The Supreme Court, using its summer-re-
cess procedures, can do the same with the
state’s application.

Since the court has adjourned for the.sum-
mer, each justice probably will reach his or
ber decision individually and communica-
tions will be handled by memorandum, the
court’s spokeswoman said.

If either court decides to let the execution
proceed, the attorney general’s office has
promised to immediately return to the state
district judge who set Bass’ original execu-

ee

We¢

luv f

Poi

begins;
courts

tlon date and ask that the axesution be
rescheduled.

But all parties involved sald Wednesday
that the matter probably will be tied up in
the courts for months, if not years.

Last week, a similar chain of events veltie a

different ending led to the electrocution of a
Virginia man, one week before Bass was to
die. .
. In that case; a last-minute decision by a a
majority of seven justices overturned a stay
issued by an appellate judge and paved the
way for the execution of Frank J. Coppola, a
former policeman convicted of beating a
woman to death. \

Coppola, unlike Bass, acted to die, and
lawyers for the state of Virginia delivered his
hand-written plea for death ta Chief Justice
Warren Burger, who convened the other jus-
tices by telephone.

Five men have been executed in the
United States since the Supreme Court rein-
stated the death penalty: im 1976, and four of
them have chosen not to pursue further
appeals. : :

Two other Inmates are set to be executed
In Texas In the near future — on — 21 and
Oct. 4.

Assistant Attorney General Doug Becker,
who handled the state’s flurry of motions.
Tuesday night, said Wednesday it is unlikely
either of those inmates will be the first per-
son executed in Texas in 18 years.

But Becker said It ls probable an execu-
tion will occur in Texas before the year is
out. And Charles Rumbaugh, accused of kill-
ing an Amarillo jeweler, is a prime candidate
to receive the first lethal Injection, Becker

ra
Rumbaugh, like Coppola, is what Becker

termed a ‘‘volunteer,'’ meaning he has
chosen not to continue his appeais after the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals aftirmed Ais
death sentence. :

Ironically, it was Cire who granted a stay
of execution sought by Rumbaugh’s parents
last month. The case is now back before a
judge in Amarillo to determine if Rumbaugh
ig mentally competent to waive further
appeals.

“When you volunteer,
whether you’re mentally competent,”
Becker.

the only issue is
Said

an

Lief


Career Criminal
Executed for —

| wen yp Vi

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A
career criminal acknowledged he
was getting the punishment he de-
served when he was put to death by
injection Wednesday for killing a city
marshal.in 1979.

“Don’t feel bad, Mama. I deserve
this,” Charles Bass, 29, told his moth-
er, Rose England, who watched him
die. “Tell everybody ’bye.”

“You'll never hurt again,” she re-

plied. “God’s going to take care of
you.”
He took two deep breaths, looked
at his mother and then Stared at the
ceiling. He was pronounced dead at
12:21 a.m.

Bass was convicted in 1980 of kill-
ing Houston city marshal Charles
Baker after Baker and a partner
stopped him during an investigation
ofa $300 robbery.

“A struggle ensued as the officers

. Were questioning Bass, and Baker
vas shot twice and died of his
wounds. Bass was wounded in the
gunfight but fled and was arrested
four days later in Kentucky.

“I have no mercy for him what-
soever,” said Baker’s widow, Doro-
thy. “I will never forgive him.” ’

Bass insisted the shooting ‘was in
self-defense. ,

Bass was calm throughout the exe-
cution, according to state Attorney

General Jim Mattox.
ential


19 “f g, chaise: ia Fi haa Si abet We Dor dy ses ai ay 3.5 Ne yy is auisg Se
a ‘San Francine: Examir a

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ts { ny * Tew a 43% CTP T TT eS Ping ba ee m4
ia a J : 4 tine Be & |
Mother at son 'S execution — aa
nthe ras Tae Ss ; eS 7
Murderer dies i in Texas for shooting down | Houston t marshal | Charios {
oy Ke bE hanes . el 7, be
Per AN * scheduled for execution today, but. $i “trict. attorney who prosecuted Bae . "Don't feel. Ce '
ASSOCIATED PRESS = RB WOE stay from a federal judge in— » said the execution was “a matter of bad, Mama. v] AF
— “=! Houston.” > -"" 4b *" Sself defense for society.” : deserve
«HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A man* _ Bass: ‘appealed ‘to the Supreme My Bass’ criminal record included - this.’ ck :
convicted of murdering a city mar ~ Court for a stay, but the court turn-. lengthy juvenile detention. He also — “6
Shalin a Houston shootout was put. | ed’ the request down in a 7-2 yote: ® served a prison term for burglary. ~ . been the: first ‘double created 3
to death today after |telling’his / Jast night, rejecting arguments that _ A counselor testified at his trial that,. ‘since: 1976 and. ie first in Texasy |
~Nveeping mother, “Don't fee] bad, ». he didn’t get a fair trial because his’ Bass once told of stabbing his moth; Since 1951,'5§ i Sa aE
ete: ] deserve this.” - ~~ attorney allegedly had a conflict of er in the back. a, ~~ DeGarmo sainéd notoriety when
“Tell everybody — goodbye,” interest. |. is dni, TEXAS “Attorney. General Jim he auctioned off three of the fiv
Charles Bass, 29, told his mother,” —_—- He was convicted in 1980 in the “Mattox said he was surprised by the _ witness seats a convict is allowed ins.
‘Rosé England, who was among wit- _ August’1979 slaying of Houston City “execution because many inmates the death Chamber, and promised’
nesses to the execution. Marshal Charles Henry Baker, who. have: obtained stays. “But, as he to givea play by play account of his |
‘As a poison injection was admin- along with another officer was in- said, he ‘felt like he was getting | last minutes of life. Seven. people |
istered, Bass took two deep breaths, _ vestigating a $300 holdup. The offi- something he deserved.” +. bid for the seats, and two offered ~
looked at England, then stared at cers stopped Bass as he was walking DeGarmo’s. attorneys argued $1,500 apiece. DeGarmo, who re-* |
the’ ceiling. He was pronounced down a street, and, in the ensuing . successfully yesterday that people. fused to identify the bidders, said’ |
‘lead a few minutes later. scuffle, Bass and Baket traded gun- opposed to the death penalty, were = the money would be divided. rb
‘fhe execution at the Texas De-. fire. _ excluded from the jury in his trial, tween his family and the victim's.

partment of Corrections’ Wall Unit — - Both were wounded, and: Bass “. “T‘am unhappy’ for myself. but» He was sentenced to death: for
« was.the second in the United States . again shot Baker while fleeing. He ‘am happy for my people,” said De- ‘the 1979 slaying of Kimberly Ann? =
: this year and the 52nd since the was arrested four days later in Ken- -“Garmo, who had demanded to be.~. Strickler, a 20-year-old Houston he-*
- Supreme Court allowed states to re-. tucky after police were tipped off put to death, but requested a Stay ~ Iatologist who was shot to death in |
, Sume capital punishment in 1976. by his relatives. Bass had insisted ” because of.his family. : “the trunk of her car after she was —
o ape condemned killer, Rog: Baker was shot in self defense. _.Had Bass and DeGarmo both kidnapped from a shopping centers
“Animal” DeGarmo, had beens .  Bert'\Graham, the assistant dis-'» been put to death, it: would have. pre lot, ia 8

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Backs Stay of Execution

| the stay. The judges, in

:

“HOUSTON, Aug. 17 (AP) — Three
) Federal appeals cour fidiges today
stayed the execution of a murderer in-

| definitely, less than seven haurs befor
| h€ was to die by lethal injections
‘ Aticrney
ua rt
: St SAGE bs LMS Bed Ali eC

Austin, Houston
and Jackson, Miss., gave state officials
seven days to respond. "

~ The execution of Charies W. Bass, 26
-years old,_would have been-the first in
Texas in 18 years and the first in the na-
convicted of killing a Houston city mar-
shal on Aug. 1@, 1979. es

Washington State Loses

Radioactive Waste Case
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 17 (AP) —

The United States Court of Appeals for

the Ninth Circuit ruled today that the
State of W. could not close its.

low-level radioactive wastes.
It upheld a Federal District Court

wastes.
is one of only

gets 40 percent of

_. |guch wastes in the nation, barring out-

on tag would *‘significantly
| national problem of low-

ble exercise’’ of state police powers.

Florida Wins Ruling
On Spraying Marijuana

i

' vy PINGTON mie. 7 TABS A
F ey rict
ait ine gro

an order forcing officials to comply
with. the Nationa] ~ Environmental!
Policy Act. An environmental impact
study would have been required. _

Private Club Issue Stirs
Illinois Governor Race

CHICAGO, Aug. 17 (AP) — The issue
of private clubs that bar women has be-
come the latest skirmish in the guber-
natorial race between the Republican
candidate, Gov. Jamés R. Thompson,
and his Democratic challenger, former
Senator Adiai E, Stevenson.

Mr. Stevenson, whose running mate

for Lieutenant Governor is a woman,
recently disclosed that he was a mem-
ber of and did not plan to resign from
the Cliff Dwellers Club, a private down-
ton eating and meeting place that bars

serene) rere = RNB Oe

' clause that is based on an “tmpermtsst- meted

“posing as a friend’ of the proposed
equal rights amendment. But Joseph
Novak, Mr. Stevenson’s campaign


SASS SPACE oo “CeaA yes)
Ye have 2 Eh to reach claims that

were not presented to the state courts or to
the court below. Certain claims that trial
counsel was ineffective were exhausted in
state courts and advanced in the court be-
low, however, and therefore require our
attention. These are, as presented, trial
counsel’s claimed ineffectiveness stemming
from:
(1) Counsel’s failure to investigate the
offense in question;
(2) Counsel’s failure to challenge, legal
proffer, the initial stop, search and subse-
quent arrest of the defendant;
(3) Counsel’s failure to challenge the
identification procedure of said defend-
ant, legal proffer, and to show that said
proceeding was tainted by an illegal con-
fession herein and;
(4) Counsel’s failure to exercise the fun-
damental right of cross-examination in
regards to Witherspoon jurors.

In addition to these, Bass presented and
exhausted the claim that counsel was inef-
fective for failing to object to the dismissal
of Mrs. Hall, the matter discussed above in
the initial division of our opinion.

{12} No hearing has ever been held in
any court on these exhausted claims.
Though some are sufficiently vague that it
is difficult to view them as factual allega-
tions, one at least—that regarding the fail-
ure to object to the discharge of Mrs. Hall
from the venire—is clear and factual.
Whether that failure may have resulted
from a tactical decision or other justifiable
circumstance cannot be determined from
this record, and the court below made no
factual findings in support of its order of
dismissal. We remand the cause to the
district court for a hearing on these ex-
hausted claims. No others need be con-
sidered. In all other respects the decision
below is affirmed. It is so

ORDERED.

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge, specially con-
curring: °

I concur in the result in this case, but
write with a regretful pen because I do not

pologia juxt aposed 0
manding words. I cannot and do not en-
dorse the concept suggested by the majority
in its footnote two that no difference exists
between a case in which a man’s life is at
issue and a case in which a fifty dollar fine
is the maximum sanction. To the contrary,
I submit that capital cases demand special
consideration, both at trial and on appellate
review, because of the exceptional and ir-
revocable nature of the penalty involved.
In pronouncing the ultimate sentence, our
enunciation must be positive, definite, un-
conditional, and without prefix, for once the
words are pronounced there is no suffix.
Surely, when a life hangs in the balance,
extraordinary care and rigorous scrutiny
are not too much to ask.

I] wholeheartedly agree with Judge Gee's
assessment that this cause must be remand-
ed to the district court. Although judges’
lights emanate at times from different judi-
cial spectra, in this instance they focus upon
the necessity for a plenary hearing on
Bass’s exhausted claims of ineffective as-
sistance of trial counsel. As the Supreme
Court observed in Townsend v. Sain, 872
U.S. 293, 312, 83 S.Ct. 745, 756, 9 L.Ed.2d
770 (1963), unconstitutional detention is so
insupportable that “the opportunity to be
heard, to argue and present evidence, must
never be totally foreclosed.” In Townsend
the Court emphasized the plenary nature of
the federal courts’ power of inquiry in ha-
beas cases, substantially increasing the
availability of evidentiary hearings in such
proceedings. Outlining the situations in
which hearings would be required, the
Court made mandatory much that previous-
ly had been discretionary with the district
courts. See Smith v. Yeager, 393 U.S. 122,
125, 89 S.Ct. 277, 279, 21 L.Ed.2d 246 (1968).
The Court decreed:

Where the facts are in dispute, the feder-
al court in habeas corpus must hold an
evidentiary hearing if the habeas appli-
cant did not receive a full and fair evi-
dentiary hearing in a state court, either
at the time of the trial or in a collateral
proceeding. In other words a federal evi-
dentiary hearing is required unless the

Stak court qrier of ies a


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1162 696 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES

charge should be elevated, in order to en-.
“gure that the fundamental constitutional
rights of an accused are asserted and pro-
tected. See Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S.
712, 118, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 2522, 53 L.Ed.2d 594
(1977). (Brennan, J., dissenting) (suggest-
ing that limitations on scope of habeas jur-
isdiction may force reconsideration of stan-
dards for adequacy of counsel). Only the
most unyielding criteria for representation
and review can guarantee that the death
penalty is imposed only where appropriate.!

In recent years, postconviction relief
from unconstitutional detentions has been
hedged about by a plethora of statutory and
judicial procedural barriers that have ob-
structed the view of habeas corpus afforded
by Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 83 S.Ct. 822, 9
L.Ed.2d 837 (1963). The majority opinion
highlights the most perilous of these obsta-
cles—the contemporaneous objection rule

and the “cause and prejudice” standard of

Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 97 S.Ct.
2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977). Judge Gee
intimates strongly that if he were a free
agent he would hold that venireman Hall
should not have been excused. Yet, as he
conclusively convinces me, Supreme Court
treatment of the contemporaneous objec-
tion rule forecloses our consideration of this
constitutional claim. In response, I can
only say that while I agree with Judge
Gee’s interpretation of the law enunciated
by my superiors, I find it profoundly regret-
table. Only the sweeping synoptic lan-
guage of the majority opinion in Engle v.
Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 102 S.Ct. 1558, 71
L.Ed.2d 783 (1983), compels me to concur
with the majority’s analysis. Engle is the
law, and Judge Gee has read it according to
the King’s English, but its holding is myopic

and not subject to my approbation. It sad-

dens me to admit that there is rarely any

escape Trom the execu pe from the executioner’s activities un-
der the le ined upon the Great

ae FE

the years pass. Were I musician rather
than judge, I would compose a dirge; in-
stead, I sorrowfully file this special concur-
rence. ] am not ready to put Fay v. Noia in
the hangman’s noose; | pray that, for all its
recent modifications and exceptions, it shall
never die.

To justify its refusal to address certain of
Bass’s claims, the majority invokes the im-
portance of finality in criminal cases.
There is a natural collision of consciences in
rendering justice when a human life has
been taken by the individual ‘who must ap-
proach the gallows. I share the majority’s
respect for finalit , for concluding the
lengthy process of criminal appeals._Eyen_
those incarcerated on death row, those who
live beneath the sword of Damocles, must in
some ways long for a sense of closure. Yes,
There must be an end to criminal litigation.
Our duty as judges, a duty we may not
shirk, is to ensure that the ending is a_

Writ, which seems to become less great as

1. The majority states that in this case ‘there
can be no doubt of Bass’s guilt,” ante at 1159,
suggesting somewhat obliquely that the cer-
tainty with which an appellate court views the
determination of an accused’s guilt should af-

fect the resolution of the accused's collateral

constitutional one. Some things go beyond
time. nine

W
° § KEYNUMBER SYSTEM

UNITED STATES of America,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Anthony PICCOLO, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 81-1238.

United States Court of Appeals,
Sixth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 3, 1981.
Decided Jan. 4, 1983.

Rehearing Granted April 7, 1983.

Defendant was convicted in the United
States District Court for the Eastern Dis-
trict of Michigan, Southern Division, Julian

Abele Cook, Jr., J., of conspiracy to distrib-

claims. This rationale conflates the issues of
culpability and constitutionality. To resolve
that an accused is guilty is one thing; to de-
clare that he has constitutionally been sen-
tenced to die is quite another.

| Lift
» Vv
“a r 5¥ ((f3)

Nathaniel R. f:o0 0.5
that: (1) defend. -
under conspiracy «: - ’
lacked specificity
ment and objectiy
that jury was giv.
law of conspiracy ©
related to the fa
defendant could r
possession with in
and distribution 0.
Reversed in 5
sentencing. ‘s
Bailey Browi
filed dissenting of

Opinion on the
En Ban:

1. Indictment ar
71.2(2, 4)
Three major f
in determining w
sufficient: first, i.
ed in light of its ..
indictment must kK’.
to protect defend:
and finally, indic
check on grand ju
grand jury’s consi:
case at trial. U
2. Indictment ani
Defendant co
der conspiracy co
lacked specificity
ment and objectiy
that jury was give
law of conspiracy
related to the fact

3. Criminal Law :

Admission of
conspirators requi
by preponderance
spiracy existed,
whom the hearsay
of that conspirac,
statement was mé
conspiracy. Fe
801(dX2)(E), 28 L


eS SAUNT iid a Ral ata tan cotangent conansace «

refused these requests. Bass asserts that
by so doing the court denied him effective
assistance of counsel. We disagree, finding
a complete answer to the contention in the
language and authorities cited in United
States v. Silva, 611 F.2d 78, 79 (5th Cir.
1980):
On the day before trial defendant made
an oral motion for continuance, informing
the district court he wished to substitute
retained counsel for court-appointed
counsel. Denial of defendant's motion
did not deny defendant his Sixth Amend-
ment right to counsel, since there is no
absolute and unqualified right to counsel
of choice, even where counsel is retained.
United States vy. Brown, 591 F.2d 307, 310
(5th Cir.), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 913, 99
S.Ct. 2831, 61 L.Ed.2d 280 (1979). The
freedom to have counsel of one’s own
choosing may not be used for purposes of
delay. United States y. Uptain, 531 F.2d
1281, 1290 (5th Cir.1976). Last minute
requests are disfavored. United States v.

Sexton, 473 F.2d 512 (5th Cir.1973). De-

nial of a continuance is within the discre-
tion of the trial judge and will not be
reversed absent a clear abuse of discre-
tion. United States y. Harbin, 601 F.2d
773, 778 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S.
954, 100 S.Ct. 438, 62 L.Ed.2d 327 (1979),
There was no abuse of discretion here.

Nor was there any here.
The Motion to Dismiss without Prejudice

Rightly or wrongly, at present the review
of cases in which capital sentences have
been imposed customarily incorporates
three full-dress Proceedings: (1) direct ap-
Peal, with resort to the Supreme Court in
the event of an affirmance; (2) habeas cor-
Pus proceedings through the state system,
pursued both with a view to obtaining relief
and the requisite exhaustion as well, with
like attempted resort to the Supreme Court;
and (3) statutory habeas proceedings
through our hierarchy of federal courts.
Understandably, most convicted defendants
Sentenced to death covet delay, if nothing
better can be had; and the nine to eleven
Court proceedings permissible according to
plesat Arrangements Provide it in yener~

‘ = oe --: 4, . sf
ww WADI WS WO DULL,
Cite as 696 F.2d 1154 (1983)

eieeld pirat > oe
we all ye che ai " WS Ae,
bathe tis. SOIT

° 2 Wer J
- astuee “yh oe Le

1159

ous measure—it is now well over three
years since Bass murdered Officer Baker
and we are only at the next-to-last stage of
the third general proceeding.

Among the claims before us, one dis-
cussed below is that trial counsel was inef-
fective. Substituted appellate counsel now
Suggest that their predecessor appellate
counsel was ineffective as well, ineffective
in failing properly to present to the state
courts (and so exhaust) all possible claims of
trial counsel's ineffectiveness. So suggest-
ing, Bass moves us to cause the present
federal proceedings to be dismissed at their
penultimate stage so that he may once more
commence the second general stage of the
proceedings. In support of his motion, he
advances to us new claims for relief not
presented to the state courts or our lower
federal court, appends ex parte exhibits,
advances hearsay declarations that a con-
fession given by Bass (but not introduced at
the trial) was coerced, and so on. Thus

entire and novel vistas of delay come in

prospect, dela to those al-_
ready noted.

(11] It will not do. Much is due Bags,

.Standin sentence of
death, but something is due as well to jus-

tice and the. judicial system, one that stands

between us and anarchy and self defense.

We decline to permit Bass to tie both con.

cerns in knots by such last-minute maneu-
vers, maneuvers that would, if counte.
nanced, entail commencing again and from
the outset the entire panoply of state and
federal habeas proceedings, perhaps only to
face new contentions at some later stage in
them that present appellate counsel failed
in their obligations to him in some manner.
Somewhere, even in a capital case, there
must be an end—especially, perhaps, in one
such as this, where there can be no doubt of
Bass’s guilt. Since these contentions were
not presented to the trial court, but only to
us and for the first time on appeal, in
accordance with our long-established prece-
dent we decline to reach them. Spivey v.

Zant 66) F 2d 464 (5th Cir 198}° OAK. Ae
cited at 477. We deny Fhe mohen,


. hearing reliably found the relevant facts,

Townsend, 372 US. at 312-18, 83 S.Ct. at
756-57 (footnote omitted).

No court, state or federal, has ever held a
hearing to ventilate Bass’s claims that his
legal assistance at trial was ineffective.
Townsend requires the federal court to ad-
dress the merits of these factual claims in a
full and fair evidentiary hearing. Undenia-
bly, a remand for such a hearing is the
appropriate resolution of this matter, and
with this resolution I concur.

Perhaps in underscoring the necessity for
granting a hearing in Bass’s case I belabor
the point. I do so, however, because I fear
that the ultimate result in this case—a re-
mand for an evidentiary hearing—is over-
shadowed by other language in the majority
opinion. I do not wish to see a habeas
applicant’s right to an evidentiary hearing
denigrated by the apologetic fashion in
which the majority grants a remand.

My concern for Bass’s right to a hearing
is magnified by the overriding fact that this
is a death penalty case. As the Supreme
Court has recognized and reiterated, “there
is a significant constitutional difference be-
tween the death penalty and lesser punish-
ments.” Beck y, Alabama, 447 U.S. 625,
£37, 100 S.Ct. 2382, 2389, 65 L.Ed.2d 392
(1980). “[D]eath is a punishment different
from all other sanctions in kind rather than
degree.” Woodson v. North Carolina, 428
U.S. 280, 303-04, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 2990-91, 49
L.Ed.2d 944 (1976). See Furman v. Geor-
gia, 408 U.S. 238, 286-91, 92 S.Ct. 2726,
2750-58, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972) (Brennan, J.,
Concurring); id. at 306, 92 S.Ct. at 2760
(Stewart, J., concurring). Because “death
a8 a punishment is unique in its severity
and irrevocability,” Gregg v. Georgia, 428
U.S. 153, 187, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2931, 49 L.Ed.2d
859 (1976), the Supreme Court has been
especially sensitive to ensure that every
Possible safeguard is observed in capital
Cases. Id. Death cases truly and deserved-
ly are in a class by themselves, see Furman,
408 U.S. at 287-88 & n. 34, 92 S.Ct. at 2751
& n. 34 (Brennan, J., concurring), for death
has a uniqueness that no philosopher's stone

crushed.

I view these pronunciamento as more
homiletical than precatory. To me, the
teachings of the Supreme Court admonish
that fastidious trial procedures and meticu-
lous scrutiny on posttrial review are man-
dated before the death penalty may be im-
posed. We do not demean the criminal law
by suggesting a different treatment for
capital cases; rather, we elevate life over
death.

The majority opinion implies that the
procedures, the penology, and the attitudes
of the decisionmaker should be the same,
whether the defendant is charged with
speeding or subject to a capital offense.
But all cases are not alike. The law is
replete with discrepant standards for the
application of many of its maxims and apo-
thegms. For example, the proper scope of
appellate review depends upon whether the
factfinder was judge or jury; a recidivist
may be punished more harshly for a partic-
ular crime than a first-time offender.
These too are “double standards” in the
law, but they shock neither the conscience
nor the intelligence.

When the criminal justice system exacts
the ultimate penalty, and an individual is
executed, no constitutional wrong can ever
be rectified. The penalty is irrevocable and
inexorable. Therefore we must be certain,
and I would underscore deadly certain, that
no germ of constitutional error has infected”
the prosecutorial treatment. Two things
must be indisputable: that the accused is in
fact guilty, and that no facts or factors
militate against putting the accused to
death. There are no writs of habeas corpus
from a casket.

That capital cases create an extraordina-
ry situation for the accused, the decision-
maker, and the appellate judges on review
cannot fairly be denied. Such an extraordi-
nary situation demands extraordinary
treatment: exacting procedural protections
at trial and close scrutiny on appellate re-
view. I am even emboldened to suggest
that _the standard for effectiveness of trial
counsel defending an accused on a capital

his /

ice vine tigen’


gone. In place of the pleasant—
andit can be considered pleasant
ningly amateurish gunman who
»ntered, here was a_ hardened,

| criminal—the killer, we were .

t certain, who three days later
town John Roberts.
third robbery occurred the very
night of the Roberts murder, just
autes earlier. It was at the Park-
Cleaning shop, No. 3613 Parry
ie, where R. L. and W. W. Van-
ff, brothers, were robbed of $35.
Jandergriff boys were certain in
descriptions, and they tallied per-
with the others except in one
The big man who entered the
ng and pressing shop wore a
‘elt hat; the killer had on a tweed

had the victims and witnesses
through the rogue’s gallery of
yle suspects, but it was useless.
rely confirmed our belief that the
om marauder, who struck and
ned into thin air, was a new-
:, someone with whom we had
o previous contact. It meant that
ustomary methods of detection,
ld drag-net and roundup idea,
1 be useless; neither could infor-
n from the underworld be de-
.d upon.

JORDINGLY we sent form letters
ving the murderer’s unusual de-
ion to police in more than 100
in the rather vague hope that
yne, somewhere might recognize

>new year came with no develop-
3. Not a single lead had turned
it what proved. groundless, and we
fearful our quarry, as is some-

the case, had become panic-
-en when he learned he had com-
d murder—a former policeman, at
~and had rushed to put as much
ace as possible between himself
‘he crime.

Lae as Came oe ia
af SE lye th 72) this prwapieye La it a ‘sh « : °
, Gry 1870
me ‘Wiki sie C
i # : Phone No. S ickpt No.
7 13 No. | Cust. Hi No.
e “Mileage

Date Promised

[Ee te a ¢

Amount

ow we underestimated our quarry.
were to learn only too soon that
sought a demon to whom murder-
an innocent man in cold blood was
ling new. 4 :

n January 4 Henry Schlinger,
ier of a grocery at No. 2534 Forest
nue, reported that he had been
sed by the same large man in the
wn suede jacket and armed with
small gun with the nickel peeling
n the barrel. :

his holdup brought home an un-
al circumstance we had previously
rlooked. All of the robberies had
urred on Forest Avenue, a broad
th Dallas thoroughfare, or in the
nediate vicinity. The A. & P. gro-
y was on Forest. The filling sta-

tion was also on Forest. The clean-
ing shop, on Parry, was just off the
east end of Forest, and the street runs
west directly into Oak Cliff and the
site of the Roberts murder. Thus, it
was a simple matter for one man to
have robbed the cleaning shop and sped
across Forest to the garage in the 45
minutes that elapsed between the first
holdup and the murder.

re natural conclusion was that the
elusive ‘bandit probably lived on

Forest or somewhere in the south Dal-’

las proximity. I called in the detectives
of the robbery and homicide division
and placed pairs to watch each outlet
from Forest. All other officers were
advised to be on the lookout for a big

f Cust. Notified To Calf
Recharge Deliver
New Battery Date Delivered :
Service Call. at poe ee a
Repairs 7s 5 Deposit Received by
eS ? Paid '
BY a Lf

This battery-re-
pair card was in-

strumental in
identifying the

murderer

John Roberts, be-
low: He died

rather than sub-
mit to a holdup

Another of the snapshots that
helped investigating . officials,
showing Beard, Elizabeth Cooley
at his left, and Mrs. Pennington

\

man dressed in a suede jacket, possibly
driving a Chrysler or Plymouth sedan.
He usually struck between 6 and ’7 p.m.

The’ bandit seemed. to master-mind
our strategy. He shifted his operations
and two days later swaggered into
Buford’s Man’s shop, No. 307 Ervay
Street, in the business district. He
asked J. Edwin Buford, manager, to
show him a shirt, tie and hose. Bu-
ford obliged and the man made his se-
léctions. As Buford started around the
end of the counter, the customer put a
gun on him and ordered him to “hold
your hands down to your side and if
any customers come in, go ahead and
wait on them as if nothing was hap-
pening.” He then made Buford face
the wall, searched him and took $65.

We continued, nevertheless, to watch
Forest Avenue, believing itsto be the
key to the solution of the mystery. The
eo night and day without
result.

7 we learned why. The bandit

_ had transferred his activities to the
neighboring city of Fort Worth, thirty
miles from Dallas.

We conferred with Fort Worth de-
tectives and traded information. There
could be no doubt that the man who
had engaged in a series of robberies in
Fort Worth in the short period previous
was repeating the procedure he initiat-
ed in Dallas,

Would it lead to murder there also?
Would this slippery, dauntless, one-
man crime wave return to Dallas,
bringing more robberies, more mur-
ders of innocent persons?

The thought spurred both us and the
Fort Worth officers to feverish efforts.
Almost daily, Fort Worth detectives
were in Dallas, and our investigators

(Continued on Page 42)

23

“

The Killer with Too Many Dames (Continued from Page 23)

went there. This close cooperation
brought our first break.

Detectives J. T. Luther and L. G.
Delk returned from one of the pil-
grimages to Fort Worth with surprising
information concerning a-holdup at
Arlington, located about half way be-
tween Dallas and Fort Worth but in
Tarrant County. The large man in the
suede jacket, surely our man, had
driven into a filling station in a Ply-
mouth sedan and had robbed the oper-
ator of ten dollars.

But here was the important news:

“A man witnessed the robbery,”
Luther and Delk’s report showed, “and
he told the investigating officers that
he believed he had seen the bandit

just the night before in a Fort Worth |

night club.”
MWY, I danced with his gal,” this

witness boasted, basking in the °

reflected spotlight of notoriety.

It was a slim lead, to be sure, a cold
trail based on second-hand information
several days old, but it was something
and that made it worth fcllowing. The
Officers investigated at the night club,
the Oasis, a roadhouse just outside
town, and learned from the manager
that the man and woman described by
the robbery witness had been there that

night in company with a Fort Worth -
girl. Luckily, this girl was a frequent °

visitor at the roadhouse and was well
known to the manager. go

She was located without difficulty.

“Sure,” she said. “I remember the
guy. He was-a big man. I don’t re-
member his name, but he was brought
over by a girl I know from Dallas.
Her name’s Elizabeth Cooley.”

Elizabeth Cooley! - We searched

through the city and.telephone direc-
tories but no such person was listed,
We personally sought out every family
named Cooley we could locate. There
was no young woman named Elizabeth
among them. ;

It was disappointing progress. Here,
we believed, was a girl who held the
solution to the whole problem, and we
could no more find her than we could
the killer himself.

Detective Luther appeared pre-
occupied through all our painstaking
examination. At last his face lighted

up.
“Cooley,” he repeated. “I ‘knew I

had heard that name before but I

couldn’t place it. Now I remember. I

used to go to school with some Coo-

ed They lived out near White
ock.”

“Do you think they’re still ‘living
there?” I asked.

a | DON’T know,” he said, “but it
shouldn’t be hard to find out.”

It wasn’t. White Rock is a lake
northeast of town and we drove there
and began inquiring among the resi-
dents. We learned there was a family
named Cooley that lived near Fisher
stop, just north of the lake.

We did not go directly to the house
for fear of causing an alarm and pos-
sibly frightening away our object. We
decided to proceed cautiously, so we
approached neighbors. Was there a
girl named Elizabeth in the Cooley
family? There was. Our exuberance
was short-lived, however. The girl,
we were told, had not been at home
for more than a year.

We continued our inquiry among
the neighbors and at last we found a
young woman acquaintance of Eliza-
beth who had seen the girl in the Dal-
las downtown district several weeks
previously. In their conversation,
Elizabeth had told her former chum
that she was living in an apartment
house in the vicinity of Forest and
Second Avenues,

Forest and Second! We listened in-
credulously. It fitted perfectly our
jigsaw puzzle. Right in the very heart
of the robbery district.

It was then nightfall, byt we has-

tened to the section. It was like find-
ing a needle.in a haystack. That vicin-
ity is thick with apartment houses and
we visited more than twenty before we
found an elderly keeper of one in
whom the name of Elizabeth Cooley
struck some chord of recognition.

“There used to be a girl here by that
name,” she said.

“Does she still live here?” we asked,
almost breathlessly.

“No,” the old lady replied.

“Well, do you know where she
moved?”

“No, she didn’t say.”

We turned in despair to go. Our
high hopes plummeted.

The name meant nothing. It might
be an alias.

“What does he look like?” I asked.

We could hardly believe our ears at
the word picture they unfolded. It
fitted to a T our vision of the hijacker
and murderer of John Roberts. A big
man who usually wore a suede jacket.

The more they taiked — and they
were more than willing to discuss the
latest addition to their family — the
closer we felt we were to our objective.

He was in and out frequently, they
said, making his candy routes all over
the state. He was nearly always
“flush” with cash, which he was more
than willing to spend. He frequently

Augustus Dwight Beard, the killer with too many women, is shown
in court as he was being tried for murder. He is talking with the
one woman whose advice he should have heeded—his mother

“But,” the old woman added, “she
has a sister who lives over on Osborne
street. Mrs. Pennington, Mrs. Clarence
Pennington.”

Osborne is a dead-end street run-
ning off Second Avenue just one block
north of Forest. We rushed there. It
is only two blocks long and we had
little difficulty locating the Pennington
house. An elderly woman answered
our knock,

“Are you Mrs. Pennington?” I asked.
She nodded affirmatively.

‘ a you have a sister named Eliza-
eC ? ”

She shook her head in an expression .

that meant more than just “no” to us.
It foretold another dead end, another
blind alley in our unyielding search.

We tried once more. ;

“Is your husband named Clarence?”

“Nope,” she answered. “Husband’s
been dead many a year, but I’ve got
a son named Clarence. He’s here now.”

She pointed to a man and woman
who, attracted by the commotion, had
come out of another room.

“That’s Bessie, his wife,” she said.

T= younger Mrs. Pennington verified

the information given us by the
apartment house landlady. She had a
sister named Elizabeth Cooley who had
lived with her, she said.

“Where is she now?” we asked.

“Oh, she and her husband were
living in -Fort Worth, but I think
they’ve moved to Houston now.”

“Husband?” I muttered querously,.

“Yeah,” cut in Pennington, her hus-
band. “He’s a candy salesman. A fine
fellow. Makes good money. Drives a
fine car, a Plymouth sedan. Yes, sir,
just like I was telling Bessie here only
a little while ago, Bob sure was a good
match for Lizzie.”

“Bob?” I queried. “Bob who?”

“Bob Hegan,” Pennington answered.

took the whole family out to picture
shows, bought them refreshments, gave
them money for household expenses,

. Only recently, Pennington disclosed, he

had shown up with a new hat, shirt,
tie and other furnishings. We thought
immediately of the Buford Man’s shop
holdup.

PENNINGTON then told us Hegan’s
car had South Carolina license
plates on it.

“Do you know the numbers?” I
asked.

“No,” he replied.

“Well, do you know if he had the
car fixed lately?” I figured I might get
the license numbers off the garage
records,

“A couple of weeks ago we were out
riding and the battery went dead,”
Pennington said. “He had the battery
recharged and used a rental battery.
That was at a place at Harwood and
Ross Avenues,”

We were about to leave when Pen-
nington pulled some kodak pictures
from his shirt pocket.

“Here’s some pictures we took the
per day if you’d like to see em,” he
said.

This was too good to be true. We
almost tore the pictures as we grabbed
them out of Pennington’s hands.

There was a picture of a heavy-set,
large, muscular man with a round face,
wearing a suede jacket. He was with
two women, one we could identify as
Mrs. Pennington and the other a dark-
haired, pretty brunet pointed out to
us as Elizabeth Cooley. The other pic-
ture was of Hegan and Pennington.

Here was our chance to learn defi-
nitely, once and for all, if we were on
the right track.

Instructing Detectives John Daniel,
C. O. Buchanan and Jack Archer to
remain at the house, I drove straight to

the filling station on Forest Avenue
and showed the photographs to Jack-
son, victim of the first holdup. He
pointed out the larger man without
hesitation,

“That’s him,” he said. “That’s the
guy who held me up.”

Now to make sure the hijacker of
Jackson was the same man who killed
Roberts. We burned rubber across the
Forest Avenue bridge into Oak Cliff
and to the North Loop garage.

He was!

Scott, witness to the murder, needed
only a glance.

“That’s the man,” he said. “Find
that man and you'll have the murderer
of John Roberts.”

WE REALIZED only too well that

was easier to say than to do. Bob
Hegan was our man, but who was Bob
Hegan, and where was he now? Our
job had only begun.

We cautioned Scott and Jackson not
to mention to anyone that they had
seen the pictures. Then we returned
to the Pennington home and informed
them that we wanted Hegan for ques-
tioning on some thefts. We decided not
to reveal the full extent of our sus-
picions for fear it might cause the
Penningtons to warn our quarry in an
effort to protect Elizabeth. After all,
blood is thicker than water.

We .convinced them, however, that
Hegan was no fit company for the girl
and they promised to cooperate in
every way possible to get him.

Mrs. Pennington said she was sure
her sister would return shortly. Eliza-
beth and Hegan, she said, always came
in to see them when they were in Dal-

‘las, which was usually at least once a
_ week. It had been two days since they

were by last, she said. As soon as she
heard from them, or if they came to
the house, she would inform us, Mrs,
Pennington promised faithfully.

We were not taking any chances,

' however. Early the next morning, un-

beknownst to the Penningtons, I
placed officers to watch the house. De-
tectives Archer, Tom Bedell and Daniel
took up a vigil in a garage to the rear
and east of the Pennington home. De-
tectives Luther, Delk and Buchanan
took up a station in another garage
west of the house. From these vantage
points, hidden from view, the officers
commanded the ingress and egress to
the house. Any persons or cars ap-
proaching, entering or leaving would
pass under their watchful scrutiny.

They were fully armed and ready for
any emergency. This might be a false
alarm and, then again, it might not. If
not, we knew we were dealing with a
dangerous criminal who would not stop
at murder. The Roberts treatment
proved that. I gave the men orders
to take the suspect quietly and alive, if
possible; if not, well...

“Remember John Roberts,” I told
them.

A day passed. A night. Another
day, another night. Minutes grew into
hours. The watchful wait seemed in-
terminable. A _ third day and night
passed uneventfully. The officers grew
fidgety, impatient, nervous. A fourth
day and night finally came and went,
and still there was no trace of the Ply-
mouth car and its occupants.

On the morning of the fifth day I
was in my office when Detectives Haire
and Grant came over from Fort Worth
to inquire about our investigations, I
was just leaving to join the officers on
watch and asked the visiting detectives
if they cared to accompany me.

WE DROVE past the scene. Leaving
Haire and Grant in the car, I
walked back. It was apparent as I came
near that something was amiss.
Usually Pennington was seen leaving
for work. Mrs. Pennington was always
in and out, sweeping the porch, visit-
ing neighbors. Neither Pennington, his
wife or the old lady had been seen
that morning. The doors were closed,

January 15 Issue of OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES—Out Wednesday, December 30

42

“ 0

eee

This snapshot of Beard (in the jacket) and Pennington,
unwittingly turned over to police, proved invaluable as

aclew. At the right is the office of the garage where

available members of the robbery and
homicide squad to the scene.

Roberts was rushed to the Methodist
Hospital. One of the bandit’s bullets
had pierced his right arm. Another
had entered his stomach just above the
navel, and it was this one that caused
his death four hours later.

Knowing the old detective, it was
easy to deduce what had happened. At
headquarters Roberts was recognized
as an officer who had “never seen a
booger,” which was the crude but ef-
fective way policemen have of saying
that he knew no mortal fear. After
more than twenty years spent catching
criminals and putting them where:
they belong, behind bars, he was not
the man to submit to a hijacker. Al-
ways he had been cool, clear-headed,
quick to think under. stress and. not
easily excitable. He had never been
known to raise his voice. ~

Probably he had waited patiently for
a chance to reach for his gun. It did
not come. As the robber advanced to
search him he realized the: gun would
be found. He took a desperate chance,
but the bandit, with a gun ready in
his hand, had too great an advantage.
Roberts managed to shoot once. We
found one cartridge in his gun explod-

22

Powers was killed

ed _and the bullet lodged in a door
casing.

It was a brave but futile gesture.
Peace officers from all over this sec-
tion of the country came to pay him
homage. Real, honest tears came to
the eyes of men who thought them-
selves tough and immune to sentiment.
We resolved that the wanton murder
of this brave officer should not go un-
challenged. It was a harder task than
even we realized at the time.

a ted were few tangible clews upon

which to base any hope for an early
solution. Finger-prints, bullets for
comparison, strands of hair, clothing,
scraps of paper, cards and other media
which sometimes prove valuable in
identification of suspects were all
strangely missing. We had only a de-
scription of the robber, but it, little as

‘we suspected, proved invaluable.

A mechanic named C. A. Boliver was
in the rear of the garage, working on
a car, when the robbery took place. He
was startled by the shots and ran to
the front when a heavy person. brushed
past him in the semi-darkness,

A small boy in a cafe near by said he
saw a large man rush out of the ga-
rage, get into a sedan, either a Ply-

mouth or Chrysler, and drive away
rapidly,

Neither was able to describe the
fully, however. Scott and Casor!
seen the robber for several min
under the lights and were able to give
a minute appraisal.

The robber and murderer, they said,
was more than six feet tall, weighed
around 200 pounds and was from 25 to
30 years old. He had a round, full
face, a fair complexion, although he
had been unshaven, and he wore a
tweed cap, grayish work pants and a
brown suede jacket. He used a small,
nickel-plated, break-back .48 caliber
pistol of cheap make and the plating
was peeling off the barrel.

des description confirmed our first
suspicion. The killer of John Rob-
erts, we felt sure, was the same phan-
tom bandit who, suddenly and myste-
riously appearing a week before, had
staged three brazen robberies without
leaving a trace, ;

In each case he had been a big man,
wearing the same brown suede jacket
and using the same little pistol with the
peeling barrel.

The first was on December 18, an
A. & P. grocery store at No. 1624 For-
est Avenue. James Hall, clerk, was
waiting on Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery,
customers, when the robber entered,
flashed a gun and took ten dollars from
the cash register. Two nights later he
appeared again at a filling station a
block away, at No. 1516 Forest Avenue.
He was all politeness as he greeted H.
C, Jackson and M. O. Rush.

“How do you do, gentlemen?” he
said. “Stick ‘em up. No, put ’em
down and step to one side.”

As the two men hastened to obey, P.

F. Reynolds, operator of a rival station

across the street, sauntered in. The

gunman whirled like a flash.

“God damn you, get inside here,” he
snapped, all his suavity and noncha-

f

f


”

the windows locked and barred,

We all had the same dread thought,
Had the Penningtons become suspi-
cious? Had they, under cover of dark=
ness, slipped out to warn Elizabeth
and her boy friend?

Taking a brief-case so as to appear
like a salesman and not arouse suspi-

. cions, I walked down the block and to

the Pennington house. I knocked on
the front door. There was no answer.
I went to the back, knocked loudly.
Still there was no answer,

I rejoined the others.

“No use,” I said. “They must have
flown the coop.”

“Maybe they’ve gone out to the old
lady’s house near White Rock,” one of
the officers suggested.

Telling Detectives Archer, Bedell,
Daniel and Buchanan to follow in an-
other car, I rejoined the Fort Worth
detectives.

“Keep at a distance,” I told the
officers, “and bring all your equipment.
There’s no telling what we might run
into, and we might have to cover both
places,”

TH Cooley farm is located just across
a bridge and around a bend on
a dirt road. The house came into view
as we turned the bend. The sight that
greeted our eyes sent the blood pound-
ing to our heads.

There, behind the little white house,
was a car. It was a Plymouth sedan.

And crouched behind the car was a
man, a big man, and he had on a suede
jacket!

He was on his knees, changing a li-
cense plate. As we drew nearer, I
could see it was not the familiar yellow
and black colors of Texas. It was an
out-of-state license. ‘

The man, engrossed in his task, paid
no attention to our approach. I drove
on so that the house was between him
and us and then I stopped the car and
leaped out.

He saw me as I rounded the corner
of the house and was only a few feet
from him. I had my gun drawn and
ready for instant use. ,

Desperately he tried to jump up and
run, but his leg, cramped no doubt by
his long crouch, crumpled, and he
tripped. I grabbed him by the tell-tale
jacket just as the other officers
swarmed around us and covered him
with a battery of guns.

Just inside the door of the house—
his apparent objective when he saw
us coming—was a loaded shotgun. On
a bed a few feet away was a pistol.

There was no doubt we had the
man we sought. We recognized him
easily from the snapshots and descrip-
tions. And to cinch matters, in the
house with her mother we found Eliza-
beth Cooley, the brunet beauty who
had, unwittingly, led us to the capture
of her sweetheart. :

The girl was mystified by the entire
proceedings and a little terrified. She
knew the man only as Bob Hegan, a
candy salesman who made good money
and spent it freely making her happy
and comfortable. They were to be
married, she said.

We questioned her closely as to their
whereabouts for the previous several
weeks and it was then that we made
an important discovery.

On the night of December 23, she
said, they were living in the Texas
Avenue apartment in Fort Worth. He-
gan had been gone during the after-
noon and did not come in until about
8 p.m. He told her he had been de-
tained waiting on a customer.

“I noticed,” the girl related, “that
Bob was unusually quiet during sup-
per. He seemed to be worried about
something.

“After supper he went into the bath-
room and a little later he called me.
He had his foot in the tub and was
washing something dark from his right
leg. Then I saw it was blood.

“There was a bullet hole in the
thigh of his right leg.” :

The girl said she asked him what
had happened and he told her he had
been shot by a dope-head in a Dallas
beer hall.

The brave resistance of John Rob-
erts, the ex-detective who knew no
fear, had not, then, been entirely un-

0

. readily did the trick, and the tell-tale

Hvaliie, Tle hed worded ened oath oat
for identification his cowardly assail-
ant.

To make certain, witnesses to the
murder and to the various robberies
were called to headquarters and iden-
tified the prisoner beyond any shadow
of doubt. Then, and only then, were
we satisfied that our long chase was
ended.

The next step was to determine who
Hegan really was. Finger-prints

ridges which no human can cheat re-
vealed something even more startling.

The cold-blooded killing of Roberts
was not the first of this arch-criminal.

Slowly, then, the scattered segments

fell into place, and the result was as
weird and fantastic a picture of crime
as has ever been concocted by the
wildest imagination of fiction writers.
._ Hegan_ was in reality Augustus
Dwight Beard. He was the son.of a
respectable contractor in Lenoir, North
Carolina. He attended the University
of North Carolina, where he starred on
the football team and was champion
wrestler of the: Southern Conference.
A handsome. figure, he captivated the
heart of the pretty daughter of one of
the mountain’s finest families. They
were married and the town’s gossips
predicted a rosy and successful future
for the young couple. A perfect love
match, they said.

Suddenly the youth disappeared.
There was not a word to his anxious
wife, his fearful parents, his wonder-
ing associates,

Then, like a thunderbolt, the awful
truth became known. Beard was want-
ed in Valdese, a small town a short
distance away, for the murder of Au-
gustus Bounous, a storekeeper, who
was shot down in a robbery on Feb-
ruary 18, 1932,

Still there was no trace of Beard
for more than a year.

In August, 1933, police of Minne-
apolis, Minnesota, arrested the athletic
director of a large boys’ camp in that,
city. He was turned over to St. Paul’
authorities, who identified him as the
mysterious prowler who had entered
and robbed more than fifty fashionable
homes in one of. St. Paul’s most ex-
clusive residential districts.

While being held in St. Paul for the
burglaries, the suspect was identified
as the fugitive Beard, and St. Paul
officers readily released him to stand
trial on the capital charge in North
Carolina,

Beard was speedily tried, and a jury
of incensed citizens of Burke County
returned a verdict of guilty. He was
sentenced to die in the electric chair.

The youth, then only 23, entered the
state prison at Raleigh on May 6, 1934.
As the hour for his death drew near
relatives and friends made a valiant
fight to have his life spared, and on
March 29, 1935, the governor signed a
commutation of sentence.

Bur. a criminal with the cunning and

resource of Beard was not destined
to’spend the remainder of his life be-
hind bars.

On August 27, five months later,
Beard, who had been made a trusty,
and a companion slipped into a truck
which had entered the prison grounds
with a crew of painters. They put on
coveralls, grabbed buckets and brush-
es, and walked nonchalantly past the
guards to freedom.

There followed vague reports that he
was seen in Columbus and Greensboro,
South Carolina, and in Orlando, Flori-
da, but nothing definite until police in
Atlanta, Georgia, set a trap for a
brazen gunman who had committed a
wave of fourteen bold robberies, de-
fying their every previous effort to ap-
prehend him. Beard was identified as
the cool and calculating desperado who
calmly shot his way out, seriously
wounding two officers and terrorizing
an entire neighborhood in the process.

Atlanta police, investigating further
into the amazing activities of this man,
learned he had, in the brief dura-
tion of his stay in the Georgia city, in-
duced three different women to marry
him, only to leave them shortly after-
ward.

These women filed bigamy charges

Re

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LUE darkness draped the thriv-

ing mill town of Valdese, .

North Carolina,-on that chill,
wintry night of February 18. Resi-
dents of the picturesque town,
nestled in the rolling foothills. of the
Blue Ridge Mountains, hurried
along the wind-swept streets, anx-
ious to get their shopping done so
that they might reach the warmth
of their homes.

- In his market on Main Street,
genial, good-natured Augustus

Bounous chatted with his customers .

as he waited on them. “Gus,” as he
was affectionately known through-
out the community, had started with
asmall shop. But his courtesy and
consideration towards his patrons
had soon turned his business into a
very prosperous one.

After his last customer had de-
parted, he took off his apron and
hung it up. He opened the cash
register, counted the receipts and
placed them in a bag. Turning out

‘the lights, he closed the front door .

and locked it. Then he got into his
delivery truck and headed towards

his home about three quarters of a ©

mile from the market, on the McGal-
liard Falls road. He turned at his
driveway, parked the car in. the
backyard and got out.

Inside the house, Mrs. Bounous
was preparing supper. Now that she
had heard Gus drive in the yard, she

began to set the food on the table.
Suddenly she heard harsh, angry
voices outside. Then the sound of
two gunshots rang out! Panic-
stricken, she dashed into the yard.

She found her husband on the
ground, seriously wounded and try-
ing to get to his feet. Already his
assailants had vanished in the dark-
ness. Recovering her composure
quickly, she managed to'’drag Bou-
nous into the family car. One look
at the crimson spurting from her
husband’s wounds and she made an
instant decision. She raced over the
winding, curving mountain roads to
the nearest hospital at Morganton,
eight miles away.

The white-clad doctors took one
look at the wounded man and
realized that he was doomed. Gus
Bounous might live for five min-
utes or he might live for five days.
But death would eventually claim
him. Rushing him to surgery, they
did everything humanly possible to
prolong his life. :

EANWHILE, the Valdese Police

Department had~been notified.

Hurrying to the scene of the crime,

Chief J. P. Coffey began a careful

search for clues. Using a flashlight,

he went over every foot of the yard.

He found three sets of footprints, all
very blurred.

Since one set of the tracks be-

.‘longed to Bounous, the

others were obviously

° those of the assailant.

. Coffey picked up the trail

AUGUSTUS "GUS" BOUNOUS, popular mer-
chant, was slain on his own doorstep—a
crime - that “was ‘never directly expiated,;

32

/ ) ‘ a
7 al SL’

and followed it across a field to the
main road a short distance away.
A few minutes later he found the
place where the gunman originally
left the road and entered the
Bounous’ yard. Close inspection
proved that the prints were too.
faint to be of value in identifying the -
shoes of the killer. ana
Next, Chief Coffey dispatched men .
to. watch the local bus- station.
Others were sent to guard the out-
going highways. He hoped that he
might apprehend the criminal if an
attempt was made to -leave the
county. Then-he briefly questioned
the local residents. Perhaps some-
one had seen the gunman lurking

~

‘near the Bounous home. However,

nearly every one had been in their.
homes near the fire. A few had
ventured out to the local theatre but
had not returned home until after
the shooting, which had occurred at
nine o’clock.

Returning to his office, Chief Cof-
fey began a hurried check on the
questionable characters in the com-
munity. - :

He found the townspeople seeth-
ing with indignation, for Valdese
had never. experienced bloodshed
before. In fact, for over 40 years it
had been known as the “town with- ~
out a jail.” Until ten years before
that fateful night, there Had not

_ even been a police department! -

Back in 1893, three hundred im-
migrants from high in the Alps, near. _
the French-Italian border, had ar-

rived in Burke County. Seeking a ~':

A few nic
he pullec
ing priso:

land
religi¢
' buildin;
ing the
a slow, !
-them, b
Thes
sians,”’
living
mounta
been p
their
been fe
mon stc
their la
they be;
sive spi
tion an:
located
“ share tl
'.. Then
a cruel,
the. str:
the tow
+sRallyin;
very e
urged }
_ tracing
Gus Boi
Quest
ket ow
Bounou:
on his
shot. I
the loc:

. Bounou
( /


“May I ask the song ‘Trouble in Para-
dise,’ popular in the summer of 1938?” he
wrote. “And ‘Thanks,’ also a 1983 song.
I learned these songs in Minnesota where
I was physical and nature study director
at the St. Paul-St. Croix Y. M. C. A.
camp for boys. Please sing them if pos-
sible before June 4th.” :

Because on June 4th Beard was to die.

That was one side of Beard’s nature.
But even as he wrote the letter he was
using his long fingernails to carve out a
gun from a bar of soap. That very day,
after his lawyer had informed him Gov-
ernor James V Allred would not grant a
reprieve and the State Board of Pardons
and Paroles would not recommend either
a reprieve or commutation, Beard made
his break

Death House Guard T. W. Arnold
granted Beard’s request to be allowed out
of his cell to take a bath. Hardly had the
door opened before Beard, his eyes cold
as ice, his voice like fine blue steel, ram-
med the gun into Arnold’s stomach.

‘Ga. in that cell and take off those
clothes, and be quick!” he com-
manded. Arnold, believing Beard had a
real gun, complied. He was forced to don
Beard’s clothes, while Beard put on the
drab uniform of the guard. He took Ar-
nold’s keys, locked him in. Only one door
stood between the condemned man and
freedom. He marched down the long death
house corridor, looking to neither right
nor left. He did not invite other inmates
to join him in his escape.

But Arnold, although confined in a cell,
had outwitted the killer. He had secreted
one of the two keys necessary to open the
outer door.

Beard came back, deflated.

“T can’t make it,” be moaned.

He unlocked the cell, got his own clothes;
crumpled the soap gun and flushed it down
the toilet.

Penitentiary officials said that if he had
managed to open the door he probably
would have escaped, although it would
have been necessary for him to cross the
courtyard inside the walls, enter the main
building, get three steel gates unlocked
and pass out the front door within two
feet of the Warden’s office.

They explained this by saying that many
new guards had been added and none of
the trusties had ever seen Beard—and
dressed in the garb of the guard he prob-
ably could have got through.

That frustrated escape attempt left only
suicide for Beard. And even as he or-
dered his last supper his plans raced
through his mind. He wrote out his re-
quests, and then added:

Please do not put this on a tin
plate. And don’t send me any fish.
(Signed) A. D. Beard, last meal.

And again wary penitentiary officials out-
guessed the smart boy. A china plate could
be broken and transformed into a dan-
gerous weapon The razor-edged fragments
could slash a throat or wrist and sever life-
holding veins. ,

The last meal came on a tin plate.

The Warden and I walked through the
prison barber shop. and past the, refresh-
ment stand, on by the guards into the
courtyard, across to death row, and then
to Beard’s cell.

There he stood, white-faced, nervous,
his mouth jerky, his eyes darting like those
of a cornered animal. Nervously he puffed
ata cigar stub Rambling, he denied his
guilt.

Just as he said he would, he refused, four
hours before the end, to admit he had
ever killed a man, had ever done anything
more than reb houses of gems and cash.

“Tt was a man named Bob,” he con-
fided to me. “He borrowed my car that

True Detective Mysteries

night, and he got my gun. He’s the one
who killed Roberts—he’s the one, not me
—another man killed the fellow in North
Carolina—not me—I didn’t kill any-
body—” ‘

It was. like that, jerky. Grasping at
straws, his was the confused cry of a
living thing to stave off death,

I and other newspaper men and_ the
Warden left together for the execution
scene.

A Catholic priest, Father Hugh Finne-
gan, and a Protestant chaplain, Reverend
C. E. Garrett, had tried to turn Beard into
religious channels for days. But he re-
fused their advances until the last minute.
He didn’t want religion while he was liv-
ing, and told them so. But as the clock
moved on and death crept nearer, he
bowed to the Catholic faith.

Slowly we filed into the stuffy chamber.
We stood there, waiting. There stood War-
den W. W. Waid, his face drawn, his coal-
black hair streaked with gray. There stood
Jack Elingson, prison manager, his nor-
mally red face drained of blood, the white-
ness accentuating a livid scar that extends
from forehead to jawbone. There stood
the newspaper men, the official witnesses,
the curious, the doctors, the guards.

There was the stroke of midnight. The
prison was restless, for felons usually don’t
sleep on the night one of their ilk is
marching on down.

A chain rattled, the little door came
open, slowly. In came the Protestant
chaplain, then Father Finnegan, his vest-
ments trailing. Then Beard, wild-eyed,
his muscles jerking. That beautiful body
of his—that body of a Greek athlete—
seemed to have shrunk.

He kissed the cross, sat down in the
chair. His mass of curly black hair had
been marred by a circle as big as a coffce
cup where it had been shaved away.

UICKLY the straps were adjusted. The

wad of cotton was stuffed into his
mouth. The leather mask was drawn across
his face. Nervously his hands opened and
closed—fingers that knew the feel of a
gun trigger dug into palms that had held
stolen gems.

Sepulchral silence now.

The motor whined, the bolt threw Beard
forward, his hands became clenched fists,
his head jerked such a little bit, his brow
became red, then a dead purple.

Three. times that switch was thrown,
and then’ the prison physician stepped for-
ward, bared Beard’s breast, applied his
stethoscope and intoned: ;

“T pronounce this man legally dead.”

It had taken only cleven minutes for
this drama of the dying to be enacted.
Eleven minutes to wipe out the criminal
stains of an infamous career. Eleven min-
utes to prove that those who live beyond
the pale can ‘beat the law for years, per-
haps, but not forever.

Wind rustled through the pine trees of
East Texas. Witnesses filed out, saying
nothing. An undertaker took charge of
what was left of Dwight Beard.

It was all over for the man who started
out stealing a pig and ended up killing a
cop. All over but burial in Dallas while
his relatives held private services in Lenoir,
North Carolina, hundreds of miles away.

“T never killed anybody . ..”

It seemed to echo down death row and
out into the yard.

But nobody believed him.

He didn’t expect them to for he was
just rambling on, terror-stricken, fearfully
trying to forget Death, who was close at
his clbow.

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Dallas. It is easier, porhups, lo put it this
way: A bandit with a fine physique, a
husky chap who wore a leather jacket,
sometimes a hat and other times a cap,
and carried a cheap, nickel-plated pistol
that was pecling around the barrel, was
striking and striking fast in Dallas, Fort
Worth and occasionally Arlington and es-
caping in a Plymouth sedan. All the twin-
city robberies were charged to this “phan-
tom.” I think it is enough to skip details
and get around to the night of Decem-
ber 23rd.

On that night the Parkway Cleaning
Shop on Parry Avenue in Dallas was rob-
bed of $35 ‘as employees were backed
against the wall. Forty-five minutes later,
while every prowl car in town was hunt-
Ing the elusive holdup man, death struck
in all its crimson fury.

The North Loop garage, in Oak Cliff,
part of Dallas, was the setting. A young
man entered. His voice barked the dreaded
command even as his hand brought into
view a nickel-plated pistol with a pecling
barrel. The proprictor, a liquor salesman
and an ex-cop were in the place.

VV BEN the smoke had cleared—literally

—the sixty-year-old former detective,
a man by the name of John Roberts, lay
sprawled dead on the floor, blood from
is wound mixing with the grease and
grime of the ‘garage. Black and red, a
color scheme of death. His smoking .45
caliber pistol was hanging useless from
one finger. Fight dollars was gone from
the cash register. The hijacker had es-
caped in a Plymouth sedan, had been en-
gulfed by traffic. -

That night Janet and I did not. go
dancing. At my Fort Worth apartment,
I dressed a bullet wound in my leg. I
told Janet, a hophead had shot me in a
Dallas beer joint. | could, of course, still
say that.

I have no way of knowing what the
Fort Worth and Dallas cops were doing
preceding that day when the climax came.

But this I do know: The Police De-
partment at Dallas has a detective, an
inspector, I believe he is, named Will Fritz,
and he’s hell on killers. And Fritz was
handling my case, I learned from the news-
papers. This also I know: It was one
of those rare days in January when a
Texas sun beats down as if to snub wintry
winds. Janet Hughes and I were at the
Hughes farm near White Rock Lake,
Dallas play spot. I was in the rear of
the yard changing my automobile license
plates—the ones from’ South Carolina were
being removed. Suddenly, I heard a man
running toward me, and I turned quickly,
but not quickly enough. He carried a pis-
tol in his hand and a bark in his throat.
I twisted, slipped .as my knee buckled,
looked up into the barrels of ‘a - dozen
guns and the faces of as many men.

Here is my death warrant: I was wear-
ing a leather jacket. Inside the house was
a loaded shotgun; on the bed a cheap

pistol, siehel pared with a peeling barrel.

I sensed it before I knew it. The man
whose gun covered me first was Will
Fritz. He’s a blue-steel spitter. I attest
even as I repeat—he’s hell on killers, I
don’t like the guy.

I remember now how the lake looked
as they rushed me by on the road to
the familiar stench of a doubly-barred cell,
It looked so placid, and yet so desolate;
so charming in all that nature provides
in winter; so weary of its incessant lap-
ping at staunch shores,

There isn’t much more to tell.

At first I tried to copper out by ad-
mitting some of the Dallas and Fort
Worth hijackings in the hope that the
fingerprints would go by the board. In
other words, I admitted I was guilty
of some of the robberies, banking that

Lrue Detective M ysteries

Fate would smile and Chance would be

with me. Fate didn’t; Chance wasn’t,
hen one’s fingerprints are on file it

doesn’t help to lie. It only delays things.

y prints were rushed to the Federal Bu-
reau_ of Identification at Washington, D.
C. There was nothing to do but admit I
was the fugitive from the North Carolina
pen.

Before night I was in the strongest tier
of the Dallas County jail.

was tried on first degree murder
charges for the. death of the former detec-
tive. I pleaded insanity, was found sane.
I pleaded not guilly, was found guilty.
Things weren’t breaking right for me.

My penalty, the price I must pay so-
ciety, was death. Death in a roaring elec-
tric furnace, death in a chair wired for
keeps, death down at Huntsville Peniten-
tiary where the wind brings the fragrance
of pine trees to those of humanity who
are condemned,

My mother-—she had come all the way
from North Carolina—sobbed. The Judge’s
words seemed to hit me below the belt.
I was whisked from the ‘courtroom, shoved
into an elevator, and placed in death row
of the modern Dallas jail.

“Tt won’t hold me,” I told the deputies.
“It won’t hold me,” I told the other pris-
oners.

“T’'ll beat this can and Dll beat this rap,”

boasted.

But it held me. I didn’t beat the can.
It looks as if I won’t bent the rap.

The other day the highest criminal bu-
reau in Texas closed my last legal door,
Already they had affirmed the sentence of
the trial court. I had one loop left, and
my lawyer flung it. I asked the judges of
the Court of Criminal Appeals for a re-
hearing. They turned me down.

Down in Texas they don’t fiddle around.
Fifteen minutes after it was learned in
Dallas that the Court had acted, I was
notified to pack my things. I was hand-
cuffed and shackled, brought before Dis-
trict Judge Grover Adams. You know
the words that go to make the oration that
precedes the grave. It ends— “until you
are dead, dead, dead; and may God have
mercy on your soul!”

Luke May says the two extra deads are
put in there just in case they don’t get
you the first time.

HAT night—as I say they don’t waste
much time down in Texas—I was in the
Texas penitentiary death row. It’s no dif-
ferent from the North Carolina stretch.
All death rows must be alike. We enter,
we hope, and some of us win but most of
us lose—and when you lose in death row
they carry you out with a white sheet
over you.
I have one hope left—Governor James
V. Allred. He can grant me a commuta-

tion. But the records show that he is the .

toughest Governor Texas ever had when
it comes to condemned killers. A rye-
prieve, maybe; a commutation? Well. as
I said, we all hope, but 1 guess it’s good-by
oys for me, this time.

Remember what I thought as I saunt-
ered through the gates of North Carolina
pen?—“You're Class C, now.” I could be
freed from the Texas penitentiary tomor-
row, and what would I have? That
stretch, regardless, and it’s no pardon, no
ple You’re in; you stay in until you

ie,

Some _ psychologist probably can ex-
plain this: Should I die in the electric
chair—and I told the boys back in Dallas
that I would beat this rap—I will go with
these statements ullered in the: death
chamber:

“T did not kill the North Carolina store-
keeper.

“T did not kill the Dallas detective.

“I did not even steal the farmer’s pig.”

Am I lying? What difference?
ut Iam not lying when I say I have
walked hand-in-hand with crime since
that. ill-fated “five years out of the state”
verdict. I have ended up in a death ccll,
snatching for cigarette butts, friendless,
penniless and soon, perhaps, lifeless,

Has crime paid me? Can you get away
with it?) Can you ignore the frayed adage
that he who lives by the sword must die
by the sword? :

The answers, I believe, are already writ-
ten.

There’s only the whir of a& powerful
motor left to lull me to sleep.

So, if I don’t beat the rap this time,
then so long, gentle reader—and watch
your step.

—o—

By Craft Campbell

HIE last mile. is long, and it is. tire-
some, and the condemned who travel
it move in different ways. It is such a
short distance from death row to death
itself—a few steps and one is there; there
in front of a wired chair that is death’s in-
strument,
Some shuftle down the stretch, and some
stagger, and some stumble, and some tread

lightly, smiling as if death is a welcome

out. .
* But Augustus Dwight Beard neither
shuffled nor staggered, neither stumbled
nor moved lightly,
nly two feet separated me from Beard
as he came through the little door that
leads from the row of the condemned to
the spot where society exacts its toll.
His step was halting. It was the walk
of a man confused, the pace of a man frus-

saw Raymond Hamilton, diminutive

West Dallas thug, go that way. And I
saw Joe Palmer, dissolute son of an illus-
trious father, die, And I saw a negro
wife’ killer take his turn in the chair. But
none of them went like Beard went.

And Beard, by his own indictment, was
“tougher than hell.”

Here is the difference, Hamilton and

almer and the negro did not refuse to
admit defeat. Beard, up to the time the old
penitentiary clock started sounding off
the midnight hour of death, insisted that
“Vl never take this ra o

Escape. ESCAPE! Suicide, SUICIDE!
Cheat the chair! CHEAT THE CHAIR!
Beat ’em. BEAT "EM!

hose were the thoughts that rushed

through this ruthless killer’s mind as the
minutes slipped by, and as each clicked
off Beard was brought that much nearer
to_his inglorious end.

I know because he told me so.

And I know because he tried everything.

He told me he would try to escape
the walls after they transferred him to the
penitentiary. He did—and he almost made
it. He told me he would kill himself rather
than let the State have the satisfaction
of carrying out the mandate of the law. He
did his best. But as clever as he was,
as well endowed with brains and cunning
as this North Carolina man proved, he
wasn’t quite smart enough, not. quite subtle
enough’ to outwit those persons whose
duty it is to see that society is bigger than
all the criminals,

On June Ist, Beard wrote a letter to
Miss Dale Evans, singer on Radio Sta-
tion WFAA, Dallas.


+ * soap

*

Id to the
fe away.
yund the
vriginally
‘red the
ispection
vere too
fying the

czhed men
- station.
the out-
i that he
inal if an
eave the
uestioned
ips some-
a lurking
However,
1 in their
few had
veatre but
ntil after
-curred at

Shief Cof-
:k on the,
the com-

ple seeth-
r Valdese
bloodshed
40 years it
own with-
ars before
» Rad not
nent!

ndred im-
Alps, near
c, had ar-
Seeking a

’

A few nights before the date of his execution,

he pulled his phony gun on the unsuspect-

ing prison guard «od forced him to disrobe.
(Specially posed)

land where they would be free from
religious persecution, they started
building their new homes and clear-
ing the rugged, wooded land. It was
a slow, heartbreaking task that faced

them, but they grimly stuck to it.

These people, known as “Walden-
sians,” had worked hard to wrest a
living from the rocky soil of the
mountain country. At first they had
been poor, terribly poor. Pooling
their crops each year, they had all
been fed and clothed from a com-
mon storeroom. But as time passed,
their labor was not to be denied and
they began to prosper. The progres-
sive spirit of the town drew atten-
tion and soon many industries were
located there. People flocked in to
share the prosperity.

Then on that chill February night, ©

a cruel, ruthless gunman had stalked
the streets, shooting down. one of
the town’s most respected citizens.
‘Rallying to the support of their
very efficient police chief, they
urged him to spare no expense in

_ tracing the man who had shot down

Gus Bounous.

Questioning the wife of the mar-
ket owner, Coffey learned that
Bounous had been carrying $1,400
on his person at the time he was
shot. It had been payday at one of
the local mills. As was his custom,
Bounous had had more cash on hand

=a

~™

~,

king, /P

DWIGHT LOVETT
County Judge
A. J. FORD

Comniissioner, Pre. 1

 , J. KIKER
Commissioner, Pre. 2

EKULA MAE HULL
District Clerk

JOHN W. ASHLEY
County Clerk

EVELYN CARTER
County Auditor

amas COUNTY OF FISHER * dt on
Commissioner, Pre. 3 County Service Officer

THURMAN TERRY

Commissioner, Pre. 4 ROBY, TEXAS

A. Ik. ROLLANS
Sheriff

RUDY HAMRIC
ty Att
sone February 19, 1975

Tax Assessor & Collector

INEZ PULLIG
County Treasurer

Mr. Watt Espy, Jr.
Box 247
Headland, Ala.36345

Dear Sir,

Jie EF SIMMONS
Justice of Peace, Pre. 1
ERNEST ROBERTS
Justice of Peace, Pre. 2
RICHARD SPENCER
County Agent

ALICE BALLENGER
Home Demonstration Agent

I am the District Clerk in and for Fisher County, the case
you have written about was transferred to Fisher County from

Taylor County, Abilene, Texas. Judgment

was rendered here on

June 5, 1942. Rex Beard was found guilty of Murder with Malice
a forethought, by a jury and his punishment was assessed at

Death. On June 16, 1942 a Judgment was
for New Trial which was Overruled. You
News Paper in Abilene, Abilene Reporter
they did a coverage on this case. That
I have no this man.

Very

entered on a Motion
might write to the
News, I am sure that
is all the information

truly yours,

an 7704 a H/

Eula Mae Hull
District Clerk

Fisher County
Roby, Texas 79543


>

had come
ight from

the state.
ad taken
and had
ty in his

slared at

the early

iswering

s readily.

l Was

se dark

ly a few
lips and
ity fur-
rder as
densely

pleaded
ury, to
rst as-
ited for
\arned
Struct-

ireats,”

it I do

ener,
cs to
t ook
-ssed
ince,

had
vhen

| the
‘hey
he

ner
had
by

her
nce
ries

ile
‘at
not

ald
5

ble

disappointed. Beard merely tapped his
knee with a ruler,

G. Thompson was the man Dwight
¢ Beard had known in the Asheville
Prison as “Jack /lart.”

Underneath that outward display of
calmness, what wild, hopeless, frustrated
thoughts must have surged through the
handsome young athlete’s brain:

“Jack Hart! What the hell’s he doing
here? A State witness ! What did I tell
him ?—Oh my God—double-crossed !”

Thompson testified he had been a police
detective for sixtcen years before becoming
Superintendent of Public Works in Win-
ston-Salem. At the request of his friend,
Chief J. P Cotfey of Valdese, he had,
without pay, allowed himself to be locked
up in the Asheville prison where he had
posed as a hardened criminal in order to
make friends with and draw a confession
from Dwight Beard.

“Do you know Beard?” he was asked.

“Yes,” .

“Point him out,”

Thompson did so.

“Tell of your conversation with Beard
in the Asheville prison.”

“He told me he was in there for mur-
der,” Thompson said. “Beard said the man
killed was a Wop and that a rod was used
in bumping him off. . . . He drew a map
of this courtroom and told me how he
planned to escape during this trial by
swinging out of the window and making
a beeline for a car that would be parked
by the hotel... . He said what he was
afraid of were the charges against him in
Minnesota, where they had the goods on
him. ... Beard told me he was as guilty
as hell of this murder, but they couldn't
Prove a thing on him.”

“[Homrson’s TESTIMONY struck the court-

room like a thunderbolt. Taken com-
pletely by surprise, defense lawyers found
their client securely caught in a clever trap
fashioned by the Valdese Chief of Police.
They fought desperately to establish an
alibi for Beard on the night of the murder.
Friends of Beard in Valdese, testified he
had joined them at nine o’clock that fatal
night, immediately after the first perform-

LONE WOLF OF THE

was out the door and melting into the
crowd before the startled clerk realized
he had been robbed. But when he finally
found voice and took up the pursuit, Market
Street rang to his outraged cries,

A block distant, where Ellis Street joins
Market at a sharp angle, Detective Ser-
geant George McLaughlin, who was stand-
ing on the corner waiting for a streetcar
to take him home, heard the clerk shrilling :
“Robber! Thief!”

HE SWUNG AROUND, spotted Gardner
scuttling and squirming through the
crowd like a halfback looking for a hole.
He reached. for his gun but he dared not
shoot; the sidewalk was jammed with
shoppers. Gardner was gaining ground
when McLaughlin saw a dark blue uniform
on the far corner of the intersection and
recognized Traffic Officer Frank Fella.

“Frank! Frank!" he shouted. “Stop that
man.”

And Fella did, with a neat flying tackle
that brought Gardner down hard against
the sidewalk and made the stolen diamonds
pop from his pocket like a shower of
liquid light.

McLaughlin caught up with the pro-
cession at that point, plumped his big body

ance at the Colonial Theater.

sut Chief Coffey knew that performance
had not ended until 9 :09, giving Beard time
to have committed the murder shortly be-
fore nine o'clock and still walk the seven-
tenth of a mile between Main Street and
Bounous’ home,

hold no prejudices against anyone,”
Beard, still calm and unshaken, said after
receiving a death sentence. He patted his
white-haired mother on the shoulder, as she
broke into convulsive sobs. Loyal to their
son to the last, Beard’s respected and
Prominent parents had been at his side
throughout the trial.

Beard’s execution date was set for July
fifth, but an appeal to the State Supreme
Court automatically delayed the hand of
retribution. Beard appealed as a pauper,
his attorney said.

BY AN IRONIC TwIsT of fate, Dwight

Beard and Alvin Eller rode side by side
on the automobile trip of several hours as
Beard was being taken to “Death Row” at
the North Carolina State Prison and Eller
back to his convict camp. Nota word was
spoken between them until Eller was taken
from the car at Troy, when he said:

“Goodbye, Dwight, they’ve convicted an
innocent man,”

Dwight Beard made no reply for a mo-
ment, then—smirking—

“They'll never get me into that ‘hot
seat’ !”

Beard, in view of subsequent develop-
ments, was 100 per cent correct in his pre-
diction that he would never sit in that par-
ticular hot seat ! Eventually, a kind-heart-
ed Governor listened to the pleas of his
socially-prominent family, and his lawyers,
and commuted his sentence to life impris-
onment.

He was transferred from “Death Row”
and put to work.

A short time afterwards, he escaped with
several other prisoners, All were re-cap-
tured almost immediately—except Beard.

Then, finis was written to his career of
crime in the manner related in the begin-
ning of this REAL narrative,

So, while his Prophecy came true: he did
not die in North Carolina’s hot seat. HE
DIED IN ANOTHER!

From page 25

MAILS

over the panting, twisting amateur thief,
and snapped handcuffs around his threshing
wrists. Officer Fella pawed around on the
sidewalk for the spilled diamonds, some of
which had rolled considerable distance. In
fact, some of them were picked up by the
spectators who handed them to him, and it
is interesting to record that there was not a
single gem missing when a count was made
later at the store.

Honesty triumphed in more ways than
one that night.

As Roy Gardner recently looked back
through the years, the jewelry store episode
must have seemed a comedy of errors and
irony,

At least, it is almost inconceivable that
the brash youth who so thoroughly bungled
his first crime, would one day be considered
one of the most ingenious, most slippery
lawbreakers of the post-War so-called
“jazz age.”

It must be said that Roy Gardner was
certainly shown the futility of crime at an
early age. That foolish grandstand play
on Market Street—for it was a grandstand
play—brought him a five-year sentence
from Superior Judge Lawlor, and he was
Promptly sent to San Quentin Prison,

The Rogues’ Gallery pictures taken of
Roy Gardner at that tine show him as

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85


6

ARTIE MARPLE

Mere is a prison farm of the Seneral type from which James

Pe nak . vakagr
Hiatt ny Le, * el, vis! oe Be

McLemore, Leonard “Peg” Stockton, Eugene Padgett and Walter
M. Johnson “took a powder.” Whey had usual tuck—all bad!

OR years, criminals and criminologists have been in”
agreement on one point: crime does not pay. Re-
gardless of this, however, we have crime and more
crime.

Perhaps the point that should have been ..empha-
sized is that no crook can make his professional debut
without sooner or later being “knocked off.”. What I
mean to say is, that if the cops don’t get him, Lady Luck
must! Note what happened when a quartet of convicts
killed a guard and broke from Wynne Farm, Huntsville,
Texas, on June 20, 1944:

They fled in the Captain’s car, northward. But the old
Chevvy wouldn’t take it and broke an oil-line and blew
a tire. Two of the convicts, Leonard (Peg) Stockton
and James McLemore, kidnapped a farmer living on
Highway 75 and made him carry them toward north
east Texas. The other two, Eugene Padgett and Walter
M. Johnson, split with the first pair and took to the brush.

State Highway Patrolmen, prison guards and local
officers set up blockades all over the eastern part of the
State that night but the game had vanished. The blood-
hounds wouldn’t follow Padgett arid Johnson because
they were using a deodorant. Stockton and McLemore
hid out a hundred miles away. ;

As Padgett and Johnson lay in the brush they figured
this way: “By-nightfall, these goons will figure we're
far gone from here. We'll get out and steal a car and
we’re okay.”

They were practically correct. Most of the blockades
had been broken up by nightfall. They started for the
highway, heading toward Madisonville. However, just
before starting to a picture-show in Huntsville, a long-
distance phone-call caught State Highway Patrolman
Elmer Nichols. Headquarters of the Department of
Public Safety asked Nichols to convey a message to
Captain Hardy Purvis in Madisonville.

It was just a 28 mile run and Nichols figured to he

back before the second show. So he asked a couple of
prison employees—Albert Moore and C. C. Springfield—
if they wanted to go for the ride. They did. :

It was just dusky dark when Nichols’ headlights
picked up a couple of figures trudging along the roadside.

“That's them,” hollered Moore. ag ae

Nichols hit the brakes. “Get your blankety-blank
hands up and hit the dirt—”

The two convicts promptly hit the sod. Springfield
disarmed them. They grovelled like whipped puppies.
“Stockholm and McLemore kidnapped us,” they whined.
And that is all to their story, except that Nichols is still
put out that he missed seeing the picture show.

As for Stockton and McLemore, they left their East
Texas hideout at dark and sped south, toward the state
line at Orange. They planned to cross the Neches River

into Louisiana and to then head for Florida. Just.out of

Beaumont, hard luck took over. A headlight went out.
“Let’s stop and get something to eat,” said Stockton.

“We don’t want some cop stopping us account of this

bum headlight.” . i ;

So they stopped in front of a grocery in Beaumont.
As they were eating, McLemore said; “You know, this
is a dead-end street.” :

Lady Luck pitched the dice another roll: A car struck
a pedestrian several blocks away. A few minutes later,
an ambulance, siren wide open was on the way. Stock-
ton heard it and dropped his sandwich.

“The cops! Let’s split. . Leave the car and you pick
me _up at the bridge going to Louisiana at daybreak.”

Stockton hobbled off, fell into a creek (he is peg-
legged) and lost his rifle. Later, he fell into an irriga-
tion ditch and lost one of his two Pistols. Doggedly, he

limped on through the night, heading for the bridge -
tr

leading out of the state. .
McLemore, breathless, knocked on ¢ door. A house-
wife answered and he blurted (Continued on page 62)

Men Buck More Than Cops by Turning Crooks—They Buck Luck! —


Hy

| island

| A general view of the MeNeil
| many iIneoerrigibles whe crewd
in Puget Sound, and is considered by

Island Penttentiary in Washingten. This is where the
their luck eventually wind up. This prisem is em an
many as inescapable. It’s a2 mew jail.

REAL
DETECTIVE

out a request that she drive him to
a hospital where his wife lay dying,
his own car having broken down. She
was amenable and, with her three
children forming an escort, they.
started. Minutes later, she and the
children were ejected at gun’s point.

McLemore breezed along. Luck was
with him and he was happy. The
1 woman reached a_ telephone and
| called the police. The Police De-
| partment broadcast her story.

A car-load of officers, hot on another
call, looked ahead and saw the car
McLemore had taken from the woman.
They showered it with lead but
McLemore went ten miles before pil-
ing into a tree. By now, officers and
citizens were forming blockades.
About 2 A.M., Stockton stumbled
into their waiting arms. The escape
was over. Out of it, Stockton and
McLemore got 99 years.

«Padgett and Johnson have yet to
be tried. But this is only one instance

' of crooked fortune. Consider the

| case of Dwight

Lady Luck, after favoring him for

; | many years, finally turned her head

and it was taps for him. Beard got

into trouble in Lenoir, N. C., iy

| hog-stealing. Once in trouble, he

proceeded rapidly to dig a really deep
grave. He killed a man in a holdup!

Given a death sentence, he was

not satisfied when it was commuted

to life, so he and another prisoner,
dressed in civilian clothes, and walked

out of the front door of the peni- -

tentiary. Next heard of him was
when he hit Texas. He murdered a
filling-station employee in Fort
Worth. Captured shortly after, he
was given death and brought to the
Texas Prison System and lodged in
Death Row.

To understand what next ha ed,
you should know that the Death Row
of the prison is simply a 60-foot cor-
ridor with a brick wall on one side
and individual cells on the other.
The entrance is protected by a
and doubly padlocked door. At the
ie ad end, a door leads into the death
cell.

Two days before his execution and

satisfied that he would not get a

commutation, Beard decided to put a
daring plan into operation. Some say
that a Forth Worth lawyer visited him
and smuggled a pistol into his cell;
others say that he had a soap gun.
Whatever it was, it looked plenty
convincing to Guard Arnold when
Beard thrust it into his face. Arnold
almost dropped the tray of food he
was bringing Beard.

“Open this cell door and get in
here,” said Beard.

When the guard and the Negro
porter accompanying him were in the
cell, Beard made Arnold take off his

No Chancee for Crime
(Continued from page 6)

clothes. He donned them. Then he
hurried to the entrance to Death Row,
already seeing himself a free man.

But... the door to the entrance
was padlocked! None of the keys he
had taken off Arnold would fit it! He
rushed back to the cell where Arnold
was. :

“Where’s the key to that door?”

“Out in the front-office by now,”

said Arnold. “Carried there by the.

guard. who came down here and let
me in.” ;

For the next five minutes a_ wild
man stormed up and down Death

barred - Row. When he subsided, Arnold con-

vinced him that he was whipped and
Beard freed him and got back in his

cell. According to the story, he then -

broke up his soap gun and flushed it
down the commode.

With Beard safely out of harm’s

way, Guard Arnold pushed a button
that brought other guards i
Another key to the entrance was
secured. Now, Arnold walked up to
Beard’s cell. . .

“Look under your mattress,” he told
Beard. :

The convict did so and began
cursing.

“That’s right,” said Arold. - “That’s.

the key to the entrance. You locked
it up in here when you put me and
the porter in your cell. You cooked

your own goose!” .

running. '

,

there -
Whittle, knc

‘ stabbed Mexica

on the Easthz
Weldon in 1943
earned the di
being the pe
ecuted for kill
both were in
System.
Whittle was 1
death, althougt
if this were ar
where no one -
being termed a
as a result.
The routine
came to a dead
dummied up. ]
talked to but
fact. Ankles co
ness as cook ar
At dinnertin
ever, a convi:
murder came {
tle. He though
looked dange
would have p
leaned over |
beans and said
“I hear that
me at that inv
“IT never tol:
“Okay, but
still one of the
Whittle picl
the table. Ag
proached the
said nothing, ;
a threatening :
Unable to s
a knife in his
to become a 1


‘ted i,

, “
\
ots

eS G2

_ News & Features
Wisk i | granted for ex

A ay ge CA rons ek |

ecution date

- m teady to go home,’ inmate Says 1n waiving his appeals _

ey JOHN} MAKEIG. =
* Houston. Chronicied: as

gganie iss iat i row. ‘inmate
Richard: Lee Beavers got his wish

_ Sept, 8; for murdering a. restaurant
the head...’

_ State District Judge Woody Densen

oY eae

7 “ted Beavers, 35, through a series of
_*} questions. to: ensure the inmate fully
—. ; understood. what. had to happen if he

drops.the appeals pen ding since 1990
before. the Texas Court of Criminal

-_ Appeals...
 Neeas He will die by injection’

“You: want’ me to set an execution

: date?” the:judge asked.
~ worker and shooting the man’s vie Lae. st

“AS soon as possible,” Beavers said.

ox “If there: manything else you'd like to
jst

“It’s all Said in the letter. .
Densen read aloud Beavers’ July 9

letter that waives further appeals .
and asks that a date be scheduled. for

him to‘die on a. gurney at the prison

system’ s Walls Unit in Huntsville.

“T see no need to drag this on. I’m

Teady to give up this body to satisfy

justice: Also, I’m. ready to go home,”
the letter says. “I’m guilty as charged
and t no longer ove to dying. ”

ae RS)

* Before he was: Ted away, Beavers —
listened: as Densen went through the |

sentencing procedure that ended with
an order-that he die between Mmid-

_ night’and'dawn on Sept.8. —
“Anything further, Mr. Beavers?”

Densen continued.
“Thank you.” °
~. The letter and. Beavers’ insistence

See BEAVERS on Page 24A.


ocean ie

' Beavers.

Continued trom Page 17A.

that he wanted to die came as a
Surprise to relatives of Jenny Odle,

who was 21 when he told her to flee

and thén fired a shot that put out one

| of her eyes.

C86.” said her uncle, Steve Schifani

aa

“It makes you wonder if he’s sin-\

df. Friéridswood. “There wil] always
be that little doubt until it really

happens.”
Appeals prosecutor Shirley Corne-

. lius also had doubts about Beavers’
Sincérity. “We've had a lot of prcrie

Start out as volunteers an
decide they want lawyers.”

then

BY dropping his appeals, Beavers

-eliminated the possibility that attor-

neys can intervene on his behalf, but

“it’s still possible for his relatives to

appear and say he’s not competent to
make such a choice. To forestall that

_ happening, Beavers is to undergo a

competency exam here next week.

‘+ But to. Fort Bend County prosecu-
itor Sid Crowley, the former Harris

_ County? assistant district attorney
-’ Who: prosecuted Beavers, the pros-

‘2; pect’of an execution seemed “a just
ts a result.”

F

>

..Attorneys Brian Wice and Richard

Frankoff .indicated they still. had -
hopes thé Court of Criminal Appeals
“Might have overturned Beavers’

...conviction on grounds jurors weren’

'- thade fully aware their client had

been beaten as a child and had gone

, through prolonged drug use in the

~  BUEWice. ddimitted-he His wine: ne
..t0 witl Appeal. by SoHnedting ‘Chile

Withdraw ttiokey.

=) The

years before the crimne. <"

hood abuse, and dope ingestion tc
what happened to the Odles.

RET See Testimony at
Beavers’ 1988
trial. showed

- how hé accogted
- Doug and Jenny
uQdle. at’ their
-cOndéminium
“on: West Forum
Drive on ‘Aug.
18,1986, and
then took them
oS on’a tour of au-
‘“Wice-.: ..tomated teller

Wice.., machines to
_Hé also took them toa Two Pesos
restdtiratit Where Doug Odle worked.

- Beavers forced Odle to open the safe

"and give him $6,200 in cash,

Then hé took them to 4 remote spot
off FM :1764-in Galveston County,
made ° 24: éar-old Odle get on his-
knees. and. shot him inthe head.

“ Beavers ‘then drove Mrs: Odle to,
"the 9900 block of Windinill Lakes.

- “I told:her..to get. out ‘atid run,”

', Beavers’ said inthe: written state-_
* ment ‘he ‘gave officers. “For some -

Wet He Ae

t
i

,

reason I got out of the car and chased ~,-

her and ‘shot her.”
* When Beavers’ was arrested in

. November . 1986 in Charlottesville,

“Va., hé.told police the shootings left

him highly depressed. v

“I almost®' shot myself then. |
wanted t6 bad,” he said. “But I didn’t
have the herve myself.” .

bag eet oo aga
Sf vl
3 ua! eyo Qs rede

NS 2 I

P-4-93
Ho US fen Chre nee k e.

ae hel lt

Sen WPS Was

Richard Lee Beavers
is scheduled to die
by injection Sept. 8.

FO ae ett) LN Sr


Murderer who rejected
appeals is put to death

Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE — A convicted
killer who asked that no appeals
be filed in his behalf was execut-
ed early Monday by lethal injec-

' tion for the slaying of a Houston

restaurant manager.

Richard Lee Beavers, 38, had
said Easter would be great as the
final day of his life.

Mr. Beavers was executed for
the August 1986 abduction and
killing of Douglas Odle, a 24-year-
old Houston restaurant manager.
He was the second death row in-
mate in Texas to be put to death
in a week.

He was pronounced dead at
12:29 am., eight minutes after the
drugs began flowing into his
veins.

Mr. Beavers had a brief final
statement that was a prayer.

“Jesus Christ, the way of truth
and light. I thank you Lord Jesus
for giving me the courage, for
giving one the way,” he said.

Mr. Beavers earlier told a
Houston judge that he wanted go
ahead with his execution and
asked attorneys opposed to the
death penalty to stay away.

“J just don’t want lawyers go-
ing in there lying on my behalf,”
he said. “That’s why I made my
own motions to make myself
known what my wishes are.”

The Texas Resource Center,
which arranges legal help for
condemned inmates, asked the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
to halt Mr. Beavers’ execution
last week. The court refused.

The U.S. Supreme Court re-
fused to halt the execution, deny-
ing a stay request by the center
and dismissing an accompanying
petition Sunday night.

Center lawyers won a reprieve
for Mr. Beavers just hours before
he was scheduled to die in Sep-
tember, when he was persuaded
to change his mind about drop-
ping appeals.

At least seven of the 73 Texas
inmates executed since the state
resumed the death penalty in
1982 have ordered appeals
stopped and have volunteered to
die.

Sharron Odle, the mother of
Mr. Beavers’ murder victim, said
last week that the execution was
“not really closing anything for
me.” ;

“I think it’s awful somebody
has to be put to death, but they
sure didn’t think about what they
were doing, shattering other
lives,” Mrs. Odle said.

Mr. Odle and his wife let Mr.
Beavers, a sixth-grade dropout
from Alexandria, Va., into their
Houston apartment on Aug. 18,

‘1986, to use the telephone.

He abducted the two and took
them at gunpoint to a bank ma-
chine and to the restaurant Mr.
Odle managed to get money. Lat-
er, at a remote spot southeast of
Houston, Mr. Beavers shot Mr.
Odle in the head. He then took
Mr. Odle’s wife to another spot,
sexually assaulted her and shot
her as well; she lived to testify
against him.

DALLAS MORNING NEWS
MonpAy, APRIC 4, 94

(over)

| .| HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A

2/11} rather’be put to death than have
cia lawyers - telling lies in court on

| the Texas Department of Crimi-
| | nal Justice.

| Texas Killer j is executed »

ish

fafter dropping appeals -

convicted killer who said. he’d

his’ behalf ,was executed. early
yesterday ‘after saying a brief
prayer. |

“I thank you Lord Jesus for
giving me the courage, for giving
one the way,” Richard Beavers.
said in a brief statement as he
was injected with lethal drugs at

Beavers, 38, had asked a
| | month ago that all appeals on his
behalf be halted and he be exe-
cuted.

Beavers was executed for rob-
bing and killing 24-year-old :
Douglas Odle and _ shooting \
Odle’s wife, Jenny.