Greater Astoria Historial Society 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor | L.I.C., NY 11106 718.278.0700 | www.astorialic.org Gallery Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 2-5 PM Saturdays 12-5 PM Exhibits ~ Lectures ~ Documentaries ~ Books Walking Tours ~ Historical Research Unique & Creative Content For more information visit us on the web at www.astorialic.org This image adapted from an invitation to the Long Island City Athletics 33rd Annual Masque Ball, 1909. 32 february 2015 i LIC COURIER i www.queenscourier.com ■LEGENDS February is Black History Month. For those of us old enough, the struggles of African-Americans were played out in the 1950s and 1960s on our television sets in places like Selma, Little Rock, and Montgomery. But this 1937 story shows that even LIC could reflect the worst pages from our nation’s past. As defendant Major Green was led from the Queens County Court to the County Jail across the street, a waiting mob erupted. The Star-Journal reported what happened: “Lynch him! – a cry, which strikes terror to the heart of the Southern Negro, started a near-riotous demonstration by more than 200 women in Court Square last evening. Swinging umbrellas, pocketbooks, and other improvised weapons and screaming curses, the women milled and surged in an effort to get at Major Green. Quick action by detectives, however, saved their charge from possible serious harm. “Never before, in the memory of veterans attached to the courthouse, has such a demonstration been held. ‘If this was the South you wouldn’t hold him long!’ came from one woman. ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself, protecting him!’ hollered another.” On Jan. 11, 1937, a white woman, Mary Harriet Case of Jackson Heights, was murdered in her apartment. Clothing was stolen, and when the detectives questioned people that worked in the building, a porter, Major Green was wearing a shirt that seemed a bit large for him. Harriet’s husband’s name was found inside the collar, evidence enough to justify Green’s arrest. Judge Charles Colden appointed Henry Lipscomb, who earned the distinction as being the first black attorney in a Queens murder case. Despite Green’s council entering a plea that his client’s mental state prevented him from assisting in his own defense, the trial went ahead. It began on Feb. 8, less than a month after Mrs. Case’s murder. The judge admonished jurors that they must deliberate the case on its own merits with no consideration of the defendant’s race. On Feb. 11, the Star-Journal reported on a surprise witness called by the prosecution, a much decorated African-American detective John Roberts of the Harlem precinct. Roberts testified that, on an undercover assignment, he had been Green’s cellmate and that Green had confessed of the killing. Roberts testified that Green claimed that ‘a dispute came up between me and her. She wanted me to put vinegar in the water to wash the windows to keep them from freezing.’ However, Roberts also testified that he thought the quarrel was unpremeditated. Despite this inconsistency in his testimony, the defense was unable to break Roberts down in cross-examination. In his summary, Henry Lipscomb pleaded with the jury to save his client from the electric chair. “Green did kill Mrs. Mary Harriet Case,” the defense attorney shouted. “But he never killed her with premeditation and deliberation, and he is not guilty of first-degree murder. Here is a poor, wretched individual, thrown under the chariot of race prejudice with some of the people of this county asking for his blood without benefit of trial. Some say there is no race distinction. There is still a distinction!” Despite his lawyer’s eloquent pleas, Major Green was convicted exactly one month after the bludgeoned and strangled body of Mary Harriet Case was found in her Jackson Heights apartment. It was the speediest murder trial in Queens history. Although the jury was out for three hours, the Star has learned that only one ballot sealed the defendant’s doom. The jurors discussed the case for an hour and a half then had dinner. The vote took 15 minutes. After he heard their decision and the judge’s ruling, a distressed Green waved off a sheriff who tried to cheer him with the reminder that he might win on appeal. “No,” croaked Green “you’ll never see me again. It’s the hot seat for me.” Major Green died in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in August 1937. LEGENDS OF LIC BY GREATER ASTORIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY LEGENDS OF LIC
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