Murder Case Photographs- #22

(1954)

There was some trouble here at this homey-looking bar back in 1954. Big trouble, a murder. This photograph was actually marked by a witness at the trial. The X right in the middle of the picture is the witness's. (S)he is identifying someone with that mark, maybe the killer, maybe him/herself. And then there's the "LS", "LR" marks appended to a female.

As other photographs in this series have shown, there was a vibrant African-American community in this city during segregation. This looks like a respectable bar, not a dive.

One unexpected thing about having all of these photos from all of these different murders, the vast majority are African-American. Black on black killings too, then as now. I was under the impression that Black crime really took off in the 1960's. Maybe it did but not from the evidence of these 1950 murder files.

-I am Benjamin Harris.


PUBLIC OCCURRENCES