First hand account of an African American man’s double murder conviction after attempting to break up a fight as security in a juke joint turned gambling hall outside of Richmond VA. 

A lengthy account of men and women running afoul of the law, the owners of the establishment with so many prohibition charges that they had their ‘bartenders’ keep the bottles of whiskey on their person so as to accept criminal liability as part of their job and the victims of the knife fight themselves run out of Georgia on armed assault and burglary charges. 

What might have been otherwise declared self defense resulted in a 40 year jail sentence for a man who (from the account) seems to have been both the business owner’s patsy and a victim of Jim Crow America justice. 

Two years after a trial in which he recounts criminal and missing witnesses and an identification line up in which he was the only participant - he gambles to clear his own name and escapes jail using hacksaws hidden in a fruit box delivered to the prison. 

He does not flee to freedom, but rather hides in the woods near the crime scene attempting to collect the witness accounts that would clear his name. He is apprehended after 12 days and this 1937 confession retells the original 1935 crime and trial. 

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Rare first hand account of black treatment inside a Jim Crow era criminal justice system. Type written copy (8.5 x 14”, 39 pgs) w/ original file clip - has seen use, soiling and dog ears. Soft fold across center.