The Miami times. [volume], March 15, 1952, Image 1

About The Miami times. [volume] (Miami, Fla.) 1923-current

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CROWNED GIRL OF THE YEAR
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Miss Maureen Stafford, the
glamorous and talented daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Stafford
and a senior at Booker T. Wash
ington High School, was crown
ed “Girl of the Year” by the Kap
pa Alpha Psi Fraternity in an im
pressive coronation ceremony be
fore a large and appreciative
audience on Wednesday everting
March 5 in the Booker T. Wash
ington auditorium.
Miss Stafford was really a
dream girl in her beautiful go\£n
BILLING’S CASE
POSTPONED;
WITNESS
STRICKENED
The long awaited second degree
murder trial of William B. Bill
ings, 23, of 1814 NW 74th st., in
connection with the death of Mrs.
Delores Perry, 27 was continued
Thursday afternoon by Judge
Ben C. Willard to the next term
of the Criminal Court. The judge
ordered the case continued after
it was announced that Deputy
Sheriff John P. Berdeaux of the
County Homicide Bureau, was
suddenly Wednesday
night with an internal ailment.
The key witness lapsed into a
coma and up to Thursday after
noon was still unconscious in the
Jackson Memorial hospital. As
sistant Solicitor Michael Zarony,
in charge of the prosecution, an
nounced that the state could not
adequately try the Billing case
without the vital testimony, which
only Deputy Berdeaux can offer.
Trial dates for cases for the
and v/hen the crown was placed
on her head, she received a tu
multous ovation.
Miss Stafford plans to use the
first prize Kappa Award of $250
to help further her education at
West Virginia State College this
fall. The second prize award of
$l5O was won by Miss Mercedes
Pendar of Dorsey, while the third
prize award of $75 was won by
Miss Eva Jones of BTW. Congrat
ulations girls!
Omegas - Kappas To
Meet In Tanna
Something j;ew t in joint meet
ings will be pract
iced when
A 1 Phft |Hp*ffliftrnities hold theii
regional meeting at the same time
All public meetings and social
affairs will be held jointly in, the
cigar city. Only business meet
ings of the two groups will be
separate.
Dates for the meetings are
March 27-29. A large delegation
from Miami is expected to motor
over to Tampa.
next term of the Criminal Court
will be set sometime during the
mon h of April. According to As
sistant County Solicitor Herbert
Shapiro, Billing’s trial will prob
ably be called either late in April
or early in May of this year.
Mrs. Perry died in the Jackson
Memorial hospital on August 23,
1951, following severe blows on
her head and face allegedly in
flicted by Billing on August 15.
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VOL. XXVIII, NO. 27
PRICE TEN CENTS
WRONG MAN ON TRIAL;
STATE CALLS CASE OFF
A battery of lawyers from the
stale attorney’s office were made
to look like clowns in court
Thursday when a first degree
murder trial was called off.
The reason? They were merely
about to try the wrong man.
A full panel of jurors sat wait
ing the start of the trial in Cir
cuit court when Assistant State
Attorneys A. W. Carlsen and F. X.
Knuck sheepishly admitted to
Judge Marshall Wiseheart that
“we may have the wrong man.”
So the murder indictment
against 28-year-old Ira Hardiqg
was nolle prossed.
Harding was indicted for the
bludgeon slaying last July 17 of
Isaac Denson, a neighboring
roomer in a house at 2179 NW 6th
ave.
He has been held in jail with
out bond for the past four months
despite his plea that he was out
of town at the time Denson was
killed.
This strange climax came about
after two court appointed attor-
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Rev. Edward T. Graham, pas
tor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church,
will be the* main speaker at the
dedicatory services Sunday of the
new Bunche Park Elementary
School in Opa Locka.
neys made a private investigation
into the case. The pair proved
that Harding was out of town
when Denson was killed. Hard
ing had insisted on this fact to no
avail during his four month im-
Tri-High Career Week
To Feature National
Figures March 24
The three high schools in the
Dade County area will feature
many outstanding figures, along
with many local ones, during the
county-wide Tri-Hi Career Week
which will begin on Monday,
March 24. The Goulds high school
will also be included in the group
of participating areas.
All of the fields of interest will
be covered where the need is
found and the interest is certain.
All of the local clubs and fra
ternities in the Greater Miami
area are cooperating. In addition
o the Dade County Guidance
Council, Mrs. McAdams, director
and the three DCT programs, who
are spearheading the move, the
Greater Miami Urban League, the
Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Della
Kappa, Zeta Phi Beta and Alpha
Kappa Alpha sororities and the
Phi Beta Sigma, Kappa Alpha Psi,
Omega Psi Phi and Alpha Phi
Alpha fraternities are co-spon
sors.
The Miami Negro Jaycees will
assise with making these out-of
town visitors welcome. They are
planning a social affair to assist.
The assistance of all of Miami
will be needed to make this ef
fort a success. All of the parents
of the many school children who
will be benefitted by this effort
are asked to be in attendance at
the final meeting which will take
the form of an evening public
meeting at Booker T. Washing
MIAMI, FLORIDA, SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1952
Tempora Mutanur Et Nos Mutamur In Ellis
pnsonment.
Harding, arrested in Fort Lau
derdale on a drunk charge four
mon:hs after the murder, was in
dicted by the grand jury on Jan.
ton high school on Friday, March
28, 1952.
Some of the consultants who
have consented to appear are W.
B. Stewart, Pres. Edward Waters
College; Richard Moore, Pres.
Bethune Cookman College; Mrs.
Thomasina W. Norford, minority
group consultant, U. S. Dept, of
Labor; W. E. Combs, supervisor of
Negro secondary schools; James
C. Evans, civilian assistant, of
fice of Secretary of Defense; Hu
bert M. Jackson, facial relations
officer, Public Housing Adminis
tration; Dr. M. O. Alston, direc
tor of education, FA&M College
and numerous others in all fields.
A complete program of the
meetings will be published in the
next issue of this paper.
Globetrotters Here
Wednesday
The Harlem Globetrotters, ex
pert basketball players as well as
comedians, will fill two local en
gagements next week. The
world’s top cage team will play
he Chicago Brown Bombers
Wednesday night at the Coliseum
and then move on to Miami Beach
Auditorium Thursday night.
This is the 25th year the team
has been organized. A prelimin
ary pro game precedes the main
attraction.
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Eunice Elizabeth Harmon, 1949
graduate of Dorsey high school,
whose ambition is to play her
role in carrying on the ideas and
ideals of Florence Nightingale, the
! great English philantropist and
; the reformer of hospital nursing.
, This young lady, the eldest
of six children, is well thought of
! in the community and has made
‘ every effort to realize her ambi
tion. She worked as an aide at
the Christian Hospital, Miami and'
later at Variety Children Hospital.
She managed to save enough
money for her first year’s school
ing, but an unfortunate incident
of robbery occurred and left her
and her family almost destitute.
By some means provisions were
made for her to enter nursing
school the second year, but at this
time she contracted polio. Cer
tainly, this was enough to dis
courage the young lady and she
folt she was probably not des
tined or it was not decreed that
she should go forth. Mrs. Dorothy
ANGEL OF MERCY
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Edwards. Girl’s Counsellor at
Dorsey High School strenously
disagreed with the young lady’s
feeling and encouraged her to
keep trying and not give up the
idea. To this end, Mrs. Edwards
came to her rescue and made a
loan of one hundred dollars. At
this time she was working at Va
riety Children’s Hospital where
her glowing personality, her co
operative spirit, her initiative and
charm had won for her a warm
spot in the hearts of the children
and the administrative staff. The
children broke into tears at her
departure.
Possessed of undaunted and de
termined courage Elizabeth en
tered nursing school without the
required tuition but was accept
ed at Dixie Hospital, Hampton
Institute, Hampton, Va.
Mrs. Edwards discussed this
situation with the Supt. of Chris
tian Hospital and word was cir
culated among the nurses there
and friends, of this “Angel in
WOMAN GETS 3
YRS. FOR KILLING
COMMON-LAW
HUSBAND
Fannie Mae Cooks. 30, of
Goulds charged with second de
gree murder in the fatal stabbing
of her common-law husband, Abe
Philpot, also of Goulds, was
found guilty of manslaughter by
a six man jury, including one
Negro and five white men in
Judge Ben C. Willard's Criminal
Court Thursday afternoon. The
jury which Charley Brown, Ne
gro farmer, served as foreman,
recommended mercy. Judge Wil
lard immediately sentenced Miss
Cooks to three years in the State
Peni.entiary at Raiford.
Miss Cooks, who was calm and
unemotional as the judge pro
nounced sentence, was defended
by Atty. Henry Carr, assisted by
Atty. Walter E. Gwinn. The pro
secution was handled by Asst.
County Solicitor Michael Zarony.
The stabbing followed an ar
gument between Philpot and Miss
Cooks, on last October 13, in the
rear of a beer garden and pool
room which the couple ran to
*eth r in Goulds. Testimony dur
ing the trial disclosed that the
couple had been living together
since 1944. They have one child,
5 years-old who is deformed.
The defense based its case upon
a plea of self defense. This con
tention was supported by testi
mony by the young woman that
Philpot had beaten and abused
her on nummerous occasion*, to
the extent that she was afraid of
him.
On the night of the incident,
she explained, she put the knife,
which Was the property of Phil
pot, in her pocket, because she
feared tha; he would harm her.
During the argument, she added,
Philpot grabbed her, started
beating her again, and she pulled
out the knife and stabbed him to
protect herself. Philpot died en
route to the Dade County hos
pital.
The state contended that the
woman was rational, but acted on
the spur of the moment in the
stabbing, and therefore, should be
punished for the crime charged
or a lesser crime.
Further testimony in the case
revealed that trouble arose be
tween the couple because Miss
Cooks became angered and mov
ed over Philpot's alleged secret
attention to other women. Seven
witnesses, including a brother of
the victim testified during the
trial.
Distress.” A meeting was called
and after much discussion and
deliberation it was decided that
Mrs. Edwards be reimbursed
from a scholarship fund that had
been set up in the Colored Grad
uate Nurses Association which is
now dissolved. It was further de
cided that Miss Harmon’s school
ing be taken as a project. A grouw
of Christian Hospital nurses,
headed by Mrs. T. Bayles Hous
ton, Supt., and a public health
(continued on page 13)