U.S. Supreme Court Denies Guam Servicemen New Trial

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NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
107 WEST 43 STREET *© NEW YORK 36, N. Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

ARTHUR B. SPINGARN THURGOOD MARSHALL 
President Director and Counsel 

WALTER WHITE ROBERT L. CARTER 
Secretary Assistant Counsel 

ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS ARNOLD DE MILLE 
Treasurer Press Relations 

FOR RELEASE: JUNE 19, 1953 

U. S. SUPREME COURT DENIES 
GUAM SERVICEMEN NEW TRIAL 

June 19, 1953 

WASHINGTON, D. C. ~~ The United States Supreme Court today 

denied a new trial for the two Negro Air Force servicemen who were 

sentenced to death by a military court in 1949 for the alleged 

*rape-murder" of a white civilian worker in Guam, 

In denying the request of the two convicted men, Staff Sergeant 

Robert W. Burns and Private Herman-Dennie, Chief Justice Vinson in 

an opinion in which Justices Clark, Burton and Reed joined said 

that constitutional questions raised in these cases had been given 

careful and detailed consideration by the military courts. For 

this reason the court ruled that these questions should not be cone 

sidered de nova by civil courts, Justice Jackson concurred in the 

result reached, and Justice hinton wrote a separate concurring 

opinion, Justice Douglas and Black dissented, and Justice 

Frankfurter said the case should be set down for reargument., 

The appeal, argued by NAACP Lawyers Robert Le Carter, assistant 

special counsel of New York City and Frank Reeves of Washington 

on February 4, asked the high court to order the military courts 

to reopen the case of Burns and Dennis and to give them a new 

trial on the grounds that their constitutional rights had been 

violated, 

The two convicted men, now being held by the military in Japan, 

were attached to the 12th Air Ammunition Squardron on Guam, a Us. Se 

possession, where on December 14, 1948, Miss Ruth Farnsworth, a 

civilian worker, died after being found unconacious the previous 

day in a secluded spot near where she worked, It was concluded 

by the authorities that she had been ‘raped and beaten", Several 

Negro servicemen were picked up and questioned at length in connec~ 

tion with the alleged crime, 



* ,UBGAL DEFENSE @gp Qh ME Fen Press 6 @- June 19, 1953 
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Sergeant Burns, Private Dennis and another Negro serviceman, 

Calvin Dennis, were held and turned over to the civilian authorities 

on January 7, 1949, They were subjected to continuous questicning, 

were beaten and denied food. Almost a month later they were re~ 

turned to the military and held in custody 21 days more before 

being officially charged with "rape and murder." 

The men were put in death cells and were not permitted to 

consult with anyone until one day before they faced court~martial 

in May,1949, Burns! attorney had just one day in which to prepare 

his case, The three men were convicted and sentenced to death in 

three separate trials. 

An appeal to the miiitary reviewing authorities for a hearing 

Was made by the NAACP lavyers Bat denied. Later, a motion for 

a new trial was submitted to the Judge Advocate General, which, 

too, was denied, 

NAACP attorneys then filed a writ of habeas corpus in the 

U. S. Ds trict Court on the grounds that the conviction of the 

men were in complete violation of their constitional rights. They 

pointed out that important evidence was suppressed and that the 

"whole atmosphere of the trials was one of hysteria and violence," 

The writ of habeas cerpus was denied and an appeal was made 

to the Court of Appeais in the District of Columbia, which affirmed 

the District Court's decision, The U, S$, Supreme Court was asked 

to review the case, which took place on February 4th, past, 

NAACP attorneys indicated that a petition for rehearing would 

be filed, 

CASH DAMAGES AWARDED STUDENTS 
JAILED BY BIAS THEATRE 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. -- Last week the manager of an Oxford, Pa., 

motion picture theatre was ordered by the U. S. District Court for 

the Fastern District of Pa. to pay a total of $500.00 damages and 

two police officers were ordered to pay $50.00 damages each to 

three Negroes they arrested for refusing to bow to the theatre's 

discriminatory practicess 

Receiving the damage awards were Luther Manning, Archibald 

Seales and Vernell Dieudonne who in 1950, while students at Linw1n 

University, attempted to sit in a section of the Oxford Theatre 



“LEGAL DEFENSE QQ§PUQBBPNAL FUND PRESS RELQHEPPune 19, 1953 
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reserved for white patrons. The manager had them arrested by two 

policemen for refusing to sit in a section set aside for Negroess 

In ordering the manager and the two police officers to pay 

damages to the students, the court ordered the theatre to refrain 

from interfering with their right under the Pennsylvania Civil Rights 

Law to sit in any portion of the theatre open to the public, 

At the conclusion of its opinion, the court states: 

"Let us hope that a larger measure of toleration all 
around, permitting the working out of the law of affinity 
which generally associates persons together as individuals 
and groups will produce a better understanding and greater 
goodwill than compulsion based merely on the pigment under 
the skin or on the creed or nationality." 

This case was instituted in Federal Court by the Lincoln 

University College Chapter of the National Association for the 

Advancement of Colored People and was tried on November 3, 1952 

by NAACP attorney Janes K, Baker of Philadelphia. 

NAACP WILL CONTINUE FIGHT 
ON RACE RESTRICTIVE CLAUSES 

NEW YORK -- Until Negroes are entirely free to live wherever 

they have the money to buy or rent, the NAACP Legal Defense and 

Educational Fund will continue its fight to defeat the efforts 

of those who try to deprive members of the Negro race and other 

minority groups of a decent place to live and force them into ghettos, 

Thurgood Marshall, counsel and director of the NAACP Legal Defense 

and Educational Fund said following the Supreme Court's ruling 

last Monday in the restrictive covenant case, 

“We are certain that the die-hard white supremists will come 

up with some ingenious scheme," Marshall said, "but we will have 

to meet them the same as the otherg," 

Marshall asserted that the Supreme Court's ruling is "a 

natural sequence to the other restrictive covenant cases" which 

outlawed the "white only" clauses in real estate contractse 

In 1948 the high court ruled that real estate clauses designed 

to prevent Negroes and other minorities from buying and renting 

homes wherever they can afford are legal but that the courts do 

not have the power to enforce them, 

The question involved was whether a person had the right to 

go into court and sue to recover money damages from another for 

not living up to the race restrictive agreement. 



LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND PRESS RELESSE 5 June 19, 1953 
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"This last decision is actually an extension of the 1948 

ruling," Marshall injected. 

The case developed out of a suit brought against Mrs. Leola 

Jackson, a white resident of Los Angeles who in 1950 sold her 

property and permitted Negroes to move on and occupy the premises 

without incorporating the clause which restricted the property to 

whites only. She was sued for $11,600 by three of the signers of 

the agreement, 

The California courts dismissed the case on the grounds that 

the high tribunal had aiready ruled such action illegal, The case 

was appealed to the Supreme Court, 

In a 6-1 decision Monday, the high court upheld the California 

court's finding, Justices Hugo L, Black, William 0. Douglas, 

Felix Frankfurter, Harold Hs Burton and Tom C. Clark joined 

Justice Sherman Minton in the majority opinion, Chief Justice 

Fred M. Vinson dissented, Justices Stanley F. Reed and Robert H. 

Jackson did not take part. 

Justice Minton, who wrote the majority opinion stated that if 

the court permitted Mrs, Jackson to be sued for money damages it 

would be solely for the purpose of punishing her "for not continuing 

to discriminate against non-Caucasians in the use of her property." 

Hesstated: "This court will not permit or require California 

to coerce respondent to pay damages for failure to observe a 

restricted covenant that this court would deny California the 

right to enforce in equity}tor that this court would deny California 

the right to incorporate in a statute, or that could not be enforced 

in a Federal jurisdiction because such a covenant would be contrary 

to public policy.” 

<= Marshall acknowledged that the high tribunal's decision will 

eveten reaching effect since race restrictive clauses are in 

effect in many parts of the country, but stated that the NAACP Legal 

Defense staff will always be ready to meet the issue wherever it 

‘comes up. 

"We are certain that we can satisfactorily meet any other 

efforts to circumvent these Supreme Court's decisions," he said. 

Mrs, Jackson's case was argued before the Supreme Court by 

Attorney Loren Miller of Los Angeles, who had successfully argued 

several other restrictive covenant cases, and was assisted by 

Mr, Marshall and Franklin H. Williams, West Coast regional director, 



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COURT OF APPEALS AFFIRMS THE RIGHT OF NEGROES 
TO USE KANS‘S CITY, MISSOURI SWIMMING POOL 

ST. LOUIS -- Last week the United States Court of Appeals for 

the 8th Circuit in an unanimous opinion affirmed the lower court 

judgment entitling Negroes in Kansas City, Missouri to use the 

Swope Park Swimming Pool, a municipally owned and operated swimming 

pool, which had been reserved exclusively for white people. The 

lower court's judgment was entered in January of 1952, This appeal 

was argued in St. Louis on November 15, 1952 before the U, S. Court 

of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. 

In announcing its opinion, the court laid emphasis on the 

fact that Negroes were admitted to Swope Park and that having been 

admitted they could not be required to go to some far distance to 

use the segregated swimming pool while white people were permitted 

to use the swimming pool at Swope Park. The city announced that 

it would take the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, 

The case was instituted in 1950 by Esther Williams, Lena R. 

Smith and Joseph Moore, members of the NAACP Branch in Km sas City. 

The NAACP attorneys handling the case are Carl Johnson, Km sas City, 

Missouri, and Thurgood Marshall and Robert L. Carter of the National 

Office. 

After the decision of the trial court, the city closed the 

pool last summer pending decision by the Court of Appeals. Since 

an appeal will be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, 

it is probable that the pool will remain closed during this summer, 

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