North Carolina Supreme Court 'Frees' Mack Ingram

    Fras NAACP LEG. DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL INC. 

107 West™43 Street New York, N. Y. 

Thurgood Marshall, Director and Counsel 

FOR RELEASE: February 27, 1953 

NORTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT 

'FREES' MACK INGRAM February 27, 1953 

RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 27,-- Mack Ingram, the share. cropper convicted 

of "assault by leering" at a white farm girl, was "freed" by the North 

Carolina Supreme Court Feb, 25 on the grounds that he could not be con- 

victed "for what may have been in his mind" when he was supposed to 

have committed the alleged "crime." 

In setting aside the 6-month suspended sentence conviction imposed 

on Ingram by a lower court, Chief Justice Devin stated: 

"It cannot be said that a pedestrian may be assaulted by a look, 

however frightening, from a person riding in an automobile some distance 

away.” 

The high court also indicated that the statute under which Ingram 

was convicted was too vague to be valid. 

Ingram, 44, and the father of nine children, was arrested in June, 

1951, for "assault by leering" at the young woman some 75 feet away. 

He was first found guilty by a Recorder's Court and sentenced to two 

years on a road gang. After an appeal to the Superior Court, a grand 

jury indicted him on charge of "assault to commit rape." That charge 

was later reduced to "assault by leering.” 

Following a mistrial in 1951, Ingram was tried again last November 

and given a six-month sentence. While the sentence was suspended, he 

was put on probation for five years and was ordered to report to the 

court each November and bring with him three character witnesses to 

"substantiate his good behavior." 

Following the conviction, NAACP lawyers filed an appeal with the 

State Supreme Court asking that the conviction be set aside on the 

grounds that it violated both the state and federal constitutions. 

The systematic exclusion of Negroes from the jury and the vagueness 

of the statute under which Mack Ingram was convicted were also attacked 

by the NAACP attorneys. 

The State Attorney General's office filed a joint brief with the 

NAACP on January 28 asking that the Supreme Court scrutinize the case. 

It admitted that Ingram was denied his constitutional rights in that 

Negroes were excluded from the jury and that the jury had been selected 

from the registration books of qualified voters, a violation of the 



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3 North Carolina laws. Good character, payment of taxes and sufficient 

intelligence are the requirements for jury duty. 

At the hearing of the appeal on February 3, the prosecuting 

attorney did not argue too strongly against the points raised by the 

NAACP attorneys. 

In voiding the lower court's conviction of Ingram, the state's 

high court ruled that there wasn't sufficient evidence for a conviction 

in the first place, 

The ruling of the Supreme Court gives Ingram his complete freedom. 

It also sets aside the 5-year probation and makes it impossible for him 

to be tried again on the same charge, 

NAACP attorneys for Ingram were Martin A, Martin of Richmond, Va., 

and E, F, Upchurch of High Point, N. C. 

PHILA. TRUST FUND CONTRIBUTES 
TO GROVELAND CASE February 27, 1953 

NEW YORK, Feb, 27.-- A check for $99.53 was recently received by 

the "Committee of 100" to apply to the case of Walter Lee Irvin, 

surviving defendant in the famous Groveland (Florida) "rape" case, 

whose conviction is being fought by the NAACP, 

The contribution was the 1952 earnings from an annuity of the 

Hugh Roberts estate left in trust for the benefit of Negroes. 

In making the contribution, Alfred G, Scattergood, treasurer of 

the trustee corporation, The Overseers of the Public School Founded by 

Charter in the Town and County of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, stated 

that the estate has been under their care since 1786. The provision 

which made it possible for the money to be given to the Committee for 

the Groveland case reads: 

"I do give and bequeath unto the Overseers...the sum of Five 

Hundred Pounds to be by them applied in purchasing an annuity, which 

annuity shall be used in protecting and defending such Negroes as may be 

entitled to freedom and yet are often deprived thereof through mal- 

administration. And in case there should be no present occasion for 

applying this annuity as aforesaid, then the Overseers shall or may 

apply the same towards the school education of the children of Black 

People or Negroes." 

In a letter accompanying the check, Mr, Scattergood stated: 

"We should like this money applied towards the expenses in the case 

of Walter Irvin, /unless we are wrong in thinking that he is one of the 

Groveland boys./ We understand, further, that he is still in prison." 



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Irvin was originally convicted in 1949 along with Samuel Shepherd 

and Charles Greenlee for allegedly raping a white farmwife. Irvin and 

Shepherd were given death sentences and Greenlee, then 16, given life 

imprisonment. Shepherd was shot to death and Irvin seriously injured 

by the Sheriff on November 6, 1951 enroute to a new trial ordered by 

the U. S. Supreme Court. 

At the second trial Irvin was again sentenced to death, NAACP 

lawyers appealed the conviction to the Florida Supreme Court, which 

hearing was scheduled for January 17 but postponed because of an injury 

suffered by Alex Akerman, one of the NAACP lawyers, while on his way to 

the courthouse. The new hearing is set for March. 

Other lawyers who will argue the appeal for Irvin are Thurgood 

Marshall, NAACP special counsel, Jack Greenberg of New York and Paul 

Perkins of Orlando, Fla. 

U. S. COURT OF APPEALS 
UPHOLDS LOUISVILLE PARK 
EXCLUSION OF NEGROES February 23, 1953 

CINCINNATI, Ohio, Feb. 23.-- The United States Court of Appeals 

today upheld a lower court's ruling which bars the admission of Negroes 

to the Louisville, Ky., city park's amphitheatre. 

The decision was handed down in the case of James W, Muir of 

Louisville, who instituted the suit against the Louisville Park 

Theatrical Association in 1949 for refusing him admission to the amphi- 

theatre to see the theatrical production of "Blossom Time." 

Muir's complaint was based on the fact that the Louisville Park 

Association, while nominally a private corporation, in reality acted as 

"an arm of the State of Kentucky." Therefore, the refusal of the 

Association to admit him to the amphitheatre constituted the denial of 

his constitutional rights. 

The action by Muir was first instituted in the U. S. District Court 

in Western kentucky. It was dismissed in 1951 on the grounds that the 

Association was not acting for the state but as a private corporation. 

February 18, 1952, attorneys for the NAACP filed an appeal with the 

U.S. Court of Appeals in behalf of Muir, basing its argument on the fact 

that the amphitheatre was built with public funds, with the exception of 

$5,000 which was contributed by the Association, and was situated on 

public property. Therefore, "refusal to admit him to the amphitheatre 

violated his right to equal protection of the laws as secured under the 

14th Amendment to the Constitution." 

In rendering its decision, the Court of Appeals stated it found 



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that the amphitheatre is "a privately operated enterprise which leases 

from the city." The City of Louisville does "not participate either 

directly or indirectly in operation of the private enterprise." There- 

fore, the city "was guilty of no unlawful discrimination, in violation 

of the 14th Amendment, in refusing admission to colored persons to its 

operatic performance during the Summertime.” 

NAACP lawyers who argued the case, Robert L, Carter, assistant 

counsel of New York, and Benjamin F. Shobe of Louisville, have not 

announced what further action, if any, will be taken by them. 

MARSHALL, BURRELL HOLD 

TRENTON SIX INNOCENT February 27, 1953 

NEW YORK, Feb. 27.-- The unexpected plea of "no defense” by Ralph 

Cooper, the last of the Trenton Six defendants, and his confession 

incriminating himself and all of his former co-defendants was a stunning 

blow to his lawyers and sympathizers, Thurgood Marshall, special counsel 

of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said 

in a statement released today. 

Previously, J. Mercer Burrell, NAACP attorney of Newark, to- 

gether with George Pellettieri and Arthur Garfield Hayes, represented 

Cooper and Collis #nglish in their second appeal to the New Jersey 

State Supreme Court. 

"Cooper for reasons known only to himself decided to buy his 

freedom at any cost to himself or anyone else," Mr. Marshall said. "We 

are still convinced of the innocence of all the defendants, not only 

the four who were freed by the jury in the second trial but also the 

two whose convictions were reversed a second time by the Supreme Court 

of New Jersey. If we knew of the extent of the pressures exerted on 

Cooper we might have an idea of the basis for this unfortunate develop- 

ment." 

Mr. Burrell, not only participated in the first and second appeals, 

but also was one of the attorneys who, on behalf of the NAACP, partici- 

pated in the 15-week second trial and defended two of the four who were 

acquitted in that trial. 

In his statement, he pointed out that "Cooper was alone in jail" 

after the death of English. "He was in the custody of Mercer County 

authorities. He was faced with the opportunity of receiving a sentence 

resulting in almost immediate release after five years of continuous 

confinement. He had nothing to lose, as he had no family and was 

almost functionally illiterate...It is not surprising that Cooper...on 



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the spur of the moment and independent of counsel, made a decision to 

insure his early freedom. 

"Regardless of any statement attributed to Cooper, it is my person- 

al belief, after being associated with some phase of the Trenton Six 

case since November 1950, that all of the defendants were and are 

actually and legally not guilty of the crime charged. 

"Personally, I had a better opportunity than any of the six defense 

counsel in the second trial to talk with and observe all six of the de- 

fendants, particularly during interviews with each of them just prior 

to their several appearances as defense witnesses. 

"Never by direct statement or by inference did I as defense counsel 

for a period of nearly two and a half years, receive the least inkling 

of an admission of guilt by anyone of the Trenton Six. I was the first 

defense lawyer to be selected by the New Jersey State Conference of 

NAACP Branches, and handled the retaining of Raymond Pace Alexander, 

Esq. of Philadelphia to succeed Thurgood Marshall, NAACP General Counsel, 

when he retired from the case for military trials in Korea, 

"I do not believe that a single one of the six counsel in the 

second Trenton Six trial would have fought through the long months of 

preliminary motions, hearings, jury selection and actual trial if each 

had not believed honestly and implicitly in the innocence of all six of 

the defendants who were tried and defended jointly. 

"No statement made by Cooper or any other person at this time can 
affect the decision of the jury after the second trial when four of the 
defendants were adjudged ‘not guilty.* The Constitutional prohibition 
against double jeopardy and the legal principle of 'autrefois acquit' 
effectively prohibit any reopening, rehearing or retrial of murder 
indictments. 

"Any further discussion of the factual aspects of Cooper's alleged 
statements will be purely academic and productive of no legal results. 
Since nothing can be changed, I see no point in recriminations against 
the unfortunate and naturally desperate Ralph Cooper, to whom life and 
freedom seemed sweeter than truth and abstract principle. His decision 
was purely a personal one, not made upon advice of counsel. 

"The NAACP and the Princeton Committee were considering ways and 
means for his defense when this unexpected, unwelcome and momentous 
decision was made without notice to either of these organizations or 
to the interested public. 

"Cooper's action is only a minor set-back, but not a defeat for 
the cause of Justice and fair play. The disclosures of the two trials, 
the ruling of the Court barring confessions in the second trial, and the 
strong criticism in the two Supreme Court opinions will remain undis- 
turbed despite the thin coat of white-wash now applied to the Mercer 
County Prosecutor's Office and the Trenton police. The struggle for 
real democracy and against second-class citizenship in America must 
and shall go on unabated."