LDF Suit Asks North Carolina Sheriff to Pay $300,000 for Unjust Assault on Negro Woman

Press Release
December 22, 1966

Cite this item

LDF Suit Asks North Carolina Sheriff to Pay $300,000 for Unjust Assault on Negro Woman preview

Document text

The following text has been generated automatically during the document scanning process. It may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect formatting. Please refer to the PDF document if this text is not usable.

Download

By downloading, publishing, or reusing the Materials outside of the Website, you hereby confirm and attest that you have read and agree to the LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use linked below. We draw your attention to the following:

For those Materials owned by LDF, your use of the Material outside the Site is solely for one or more of the following (the “Permitted Purposes”):

Non-commercial research and private study;
Teaching, scholarship and instruction (including distance learning);
Non-commercial print and non-commercial online use;
Criticism, comment or news reporting; or
For people with visual disabilities (See Section 121 of the Copyright Act).
For those Materials not owned by LDF you understand that:
- It is your responsibility to determine whether the way you plan to use the materials falls within the copyright exception of Fair Use.
- For any use outside of Fair Use, it is your responsibility to seek and obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders.

LDF hereby grants you the right to use LDF owned Materials for the Permitted Purposes without seeking further permission from LDF.

If you publish or redistribute any Materials (including excerpts and quotes), you must include a credit line and/or proper citation to the source of the Material. However, you may not use the name of LDF in any manner which creates any false association between you and LDF or that incorrectly implies any sponsorship or endorsement of you by LDF.

NOTICE: Uses that do not comply with these Terms or that do not fall under Fair Use (or another exception) may make you liable for copyright infringement.

Read the full LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use Here.

I agree to the terms and conditions for use of this content.

If you would like to use this content in other ways, contact us at

Collection
- Press Releases
Creator
- LDF
Taxonomy
Identifier
- 2d178269-b792-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

Cite this item

Press Releases, Volume 4. LDF Suit Asks North Carolina Sheriff to Pay $300,000 for Unjust Assault on Negro Woman, 1966. 2d178269-b792-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/5e74e1e6-dc45-4970-b145-c6572e4a4acf/ldf-suit-asks-north-carolina-sheriff-to-pay-300-000-for-unjust-assault-on-negro-woman. Accessed June 13, 2025.

Copied!

    5 = 

President 
Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

Director-Counsel 
Jack Greenberg 

ANA PRESS RELEAS 
egal efense und 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. w Jeuts DeVere ie, 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 ee NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR RELEASE 
THURSDAY 
December 22, 1966 

LDF SUIT ASKS NORTH CAROLINA SHSRIFF TO PAY 
$300,000 FOR UNJUST ASSAULT ON NEGRO WOMAN 

NEW BERN---The Legal Defense Fund filed a $300,000.00 damage suit this 
week against a former sheriff of Pamlico, North Carolina and two of 
his deputies in behalf of Madeline Pearsall. 

Madeline Pearsall is suing the sheriff and his two deputies for 
severely assaulting and wrongfully detaining her without any justifi- 
cation. 

The suit, filed in the U.S, District Court of North Carolina 
(New Bern Division), states that on Nevember 29, 1966, Robert Whorton, 
who was then the sheriff of Pamlico County, North Carolina, entered 
the home of Bertha Wright to see her husband. Unable to find her hus- 
band, the sheriff threatened to arrest her but left the house. 

The sheriff allegedly returned shortly thereafter with his two 
deputies and began to beat and strike Bertha Wright and her women 
guests including Madeline Pearsall. 

According to the complaint, the sheriff and his deputies "severely 
and savagely injured the plaintiff" with “blackjacks, pistols and 
rifles," 

After assaulting the women, the sheriff and his men left the home 
without making any attempt to secure medical aid for the injured but 
returned several days later and arrested them on the grounds of breach 
of the peace. 

According to the LDF attorneys, these above acts were committed 
“unlawfully, willfully, intentionally and with malice" and were "cal- 
culated to deprive the plaintiff" of her rights against unwarranted 
and arbitrary arrest and assault. 

The LDF suit is attempting to recover damages from the defendants 
for violating the plaintiff's constitutional rights by subjecting her 
to false arrests, assault and battery. 

The suit is asking for the sum of $100,000.00 for special and 
general damages, and the sum of $200,000.00 for punitive damages. 

The attorneys handling the case for LDF are Conrad 0. Pearson of 
Durham, N.C; Reginald L, Frazier of New Bern, N.C; Julius L. Chambers 
of Charlotte, N.C; and Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg and Michael 
Meltsner of the New York office. 

=30=

Copyright notice

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.

Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

LDF Suit Asks North Carolina Sheriff to Pay $300,000 for Unjust Assault on Negro Woman

Collection

Creator

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in