Murder Scene Photographs- #15

Murder Scene Photographs-#15

Triple murders are newsworthy in 2006 even in say, New York City or Los Angeles. This was a small-town city in 1956 yet there were two epic, tragic triples that year. This is the first*. Look at this small, wonderful room: a piano, dining room table proudly augmented with floral centerpiece, three chairs arranged for visiting and conversation. Look at the coffee table and the family pictures under the glass top. This was a promising, prosperous middle-class family. It was the prosperous, middle-class home of an African-American family in 1956 with high-hopes for the future. The daughter of this family had married a courageous young man who was a military veteran. Something went wrong, the young woman broke it off with the veteran and he couldn't take it. She moved back in with her parents in this protective space. He went over to get her back. When she refused he killed her and then her parents. You can see the blood spots on the carpet. This family had come so far, overcoming the legacy of slavery and the reality of American apartheid. They had Made It, but in the time it took to discharge a rifle three times, it all ended.

The actors in this tragedy are forgotten and a small, promising branch of the Afro-American tree died and fell to the ground with them. This is Public Occurrences.

*The other was The Saddest Case That Ever Was, the Christmas Day triple murder of the O'Malley family, the account of which was last published here on December 13, 2004.