Wallace v. Kern Brief of Appellant

    N.ALA.C.P. 1@0 Derense ann Enucarion® Funn, INc. 

107 West 43rd Street, New York 36, N. Y. 

JUDSON 6-8397 

MEMORANDUM 

TO : Editors November 12, 195) 

FROM: Arnold de Mille 

RE: Edward Brown Extradition Case 

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has joined in an 
effort to prevent the extradition of Edward Brown from Philadelphia 
to Georgia as requested by Governor Herman Talmadge. 

Brown was sentenced in 1937 to life imprisonment on the 
Georgia chain-gang for an accidental death of a man, He escaped 
from the Georgia chain gang to Philadelphia in 1950 and was 
arrested at the request of Governor Talmadge in 1952. He is now 
confined in the County Jail of Philadelphia, 

His case has created a great deal of interest in the city, 
particularly in the press and among a large number of clergymen, 
both Negro and white, some of whom are Dr, Edward B. Pollanick, 
Assistant Director of the Church of the Holy Trinity; The Rev. Noah 
Moore, Pastor of Tindley Temple; Rabbi Theodore H. Gordon of the 
Main Line Reform Temple; Rev. Dr. Marshall Shepard, Pastor of Mt. 
Olivet Baptist Church and Recorder of Deeds of the City of 
Philadelphia, and Dr, Benjamin P. Glasco, Moderator of the Presby- 
tery of Philadelphia, 

The crime for which Brown was convicted was termed "uninten- 
tional and an accident." 

On April 2, 1937, at Macon, Ga., Brown, having a severely 
cut finger, hailed a taxicab to take him to the hospital, A woman, 
under the influence of liquor, hailed the same cab and insisted 
that she wanted it, Her husband, Julius Kemp, drew a switch-blade 
knife and attempted to cut Brown. Brown pushed Kemp away, but as 
he did so, Kemp was cut in the neck while still holding thé knife, 

The cab driver then droved both men to the hospital, but 
they were ignored by the attendants for two hours. While waiting, 
Kemp bled profusely and evidently died from the loss of blood, 

Contributions are deductible for U. S. Income Tax Purposes 



Memo to Editors -2- November 12, 195) 

The authorities arrested Brown and charged him with murder 
despite his plea of innocence and self-defense in the accident. 

A lawyer was obtained and received from Brown's family 
between $150.00 to 200,00. He complained that this sum was not 
enough and advised Brown to change his plea of not guilty to 
guilty with the assurance that he would get off with a light sen- 
tence. Brown followed his lawyer's advice and was convicted and 
sentenced to life imprisonment on the chain gang. 

Shortly after his imprisonment, Brown testified that dou- 
ble shackles were placed on his feet, his legs were chained 
together with a twenty foot chain and a fifteen pound ball at the 
end of it. Also, picks were placed on his legs which impeded his 
walking and which would hit him on the buttocks whenever he 
walked. He was beaten constantly with blackjacks and rubber hose; 
liniment was poured into his rectum, and he was placed in a sweat 
box, a small structure too small for anyone to stand or lie down 
in and which was exposed to the heat of the sun with no ventila- 
tion, except a two-inch opening leading to the tin roof. 

His job was to dig ditches which were waist-high in water 
and in swamps infested with poisonous snakes without any protec- 
tion. 

Brown escaped on Yecember 19, 1937, but was captured June 
21, 1940. He did not contest the extradition then because he was 
assured by the authorities that the entire Georgia penal system 
had been modernized. But the moment he was taken back to Georgia 
he was mercilessly beaten, shackled again and placed in a sweat 
box with picks, ball and chain. 

This time, when Brown was not in a sweat box, he had to 
carry 14 feet long stringers weighing 175 to 200 pounds and was 
beaten constantly by guards when he did not walk fast enough. 
While carrying a stringer, he broke his leg and was denied medical 
treatment for two days. As a reprisal for telling the doctor how 
his leg was broken, he was ordered back to work immediately. The 
guards, as further reprisal, rubbed the soles of his feet with 
corn cobs and then dipped them into a strong liniment solution, 

On September 22, 190, Brown again escaped and remained at 
Liberty until 191.7, when he was recaptured, Although the Georgia 
prison authorities swore that such treatments did not exist any 
more as the chain gang had been abolished and a new system installed, 
Brown received the same treatment as before. One time he was hung 
up to a tree by the wrists and beaten until blood dripped from his 
body. Another time he was staked to the ground and molasses poured 



Memo to Editors -3- November 12, 195) 

over him to attract insects and animals, On this occasion the 
warden's son urinated in his face. Still again he was stretched 
in a device resembling the medieval "rack", His back was injured 
and he spat blood for a week thereafter, 

Brown escaped again in 1950, This time he made his way to 
Philadelphia, He was arrested on March 31, 1952, upon the request 
of the authorities of Georgia. On April 23, upon requisition of 
Gov. Talmadge, a warrant for Brown's arrest and extradition to 
Georgia was issued by Gov. John S, Fine of Pennsylvania, 

Acting for Brown, Philadelphia attorneys David Levinson and 
Theodore 0, Spaulding (Spaulding is now judge of Municipal Court 
of Philadelphia), without fee, applied for a writ of habeas corpus 
and hearings were held in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia 
before Judge Louis E, Levinthal, 

At the conclusion of the hearings Judge Levinthal made the 
following findings: "... this relator, while confined in the 
work-camps at Cochran and Blackshear, Georgia, was subjected to 
cruel and unusual punishment and when returned to the custody of 
Georgia he is likely again to be subjected to such punishment," 

But, despite his findings and feelings, Judge Levinthal was 
obliged to order the return of Brown to Georgia in view of an ear~ 
lier United States Supreme Court decision, 

Attorneys Levinson and Spaulding then appealed the order to 
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania which, in a majority opinion 
handed down on June , 195), affirmed the lower court's decision 
ordering Brown's return to the Georgia prison authorities. How- 
ever, Associate Judge Musmanno filed a twenty-four page dissenting 
opinion in which he held that under the facts of the case Brown was 
clearly entitled to his freedom and should be released from prison, 

During the interim, Attorney Spaulding was appointed by the 
Governor as a judge of the Municipal Court of Philadelphia, 

At the hearings it was revealed that during the periods 
when he was free, Brown obtained legitimate and gainful employment 
and conducted himself as a law abiding citizen, Employers for whom 
he worked during these periods testified to his industry, sobriety 
and loyalty. Employers outside of Philadelphia submitted letters 
of recommendation as to Brown's good work and good reputation as 
being a law abiding citizen, 

Following the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision, attorney 
Levinson petitioned Governor John S, Fine of Pennsylvania to recall 



Memo to Editors -he November 12, 195) 

the warrant of arrest and extradition. Attorney Levinson, in his 
petition, pointed out that the attitude of Gov, Talmadge and of 
his incoming successor, was in contemptuous and flagrant defiance 
of the Supreme Court of the United States! opinion regarding 
desegregation in public schools, is a direct encouragement to the 
wardens and guards at the camps to vent their white supremacy 
prejudices upon the defenseless Negro prisoners in their charge, 
and that this must continue at least until the expiration of gov- 
ernor-elect Griffin's term in January 1959, 

The petition read, "The Negro citizens of this state of 
Pennsylvania are particularly interested because their safety and 
dignity are directly involved and to a man (and woman, too) they 
are looking to you. . . to prove to them you respect their rights 
and mean publicly to uphold them, by declining the request of 
Georgia . . « to undoubtedly further torture and sure deathat the 
hands of those sadistic morons in charge of the chain gang camps 
there, 

NAACP Legal Defense attorneys will pick up the case from 
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and carry it to the United States 
Supreme Court. A petition will be filed with the high Court within 
the next few weeks, 

Legal Defense attorneys will be Thurgood Marshall and Jack 
Greenberg. Mr. Levinson will continue to represent Brown in 
Philadelphia,