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confessions that they were parties to robbing old man Horner in his shop, and to beating him to death with a pop bottle. During the 55-day trial the prosecution refused to say whose fingerprints were found on the murder bottle (apparently the evidence would have helped the defense), and was upheld by the trial court. The six were found guilty, sentenced to die in the electric chair. The
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supreme court decided that they had been denied their due rights under law (e.g., the jury was improperly charged). After a mistrial, four of the defendants were finally acquitted, two were sent to prison for life. Last week, the New Jersey supreme court ruled that the lower court had erred again, ordered a fourth trial for the last two defendants. ..."
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1948 All were convicted at trial in August and sentenced to death. All six had provided alibis for the time of the crime and repudiated their confessions. The defense raised serious doubts about the legality of the confessions. An appeal was filed with the State
Supreme Court and an automatic stay of
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The civil rights groups appealed again to the big State
Supreme Court, which found fault with the court, and remanded the case to the lower court for retrial of the two defendants who were sentenced to life. One was convicted in 1952 and the other pleaded guilty; both were sentenced to life. Collis
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After a mistrial, four of the men were acquitted in a third trial. Collis
English was convicted. Ralph Cooper pleaded guilty, implicating the other five in the crime. The jury recommended mercy for these two men, with prison sentences rather than capital punishment. These two convictions were also
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On the morning of
January 27, 1948, William Horner (1875–1948) opened his second-hand furniture store as usual, at 213 North Broad Street in Trenton. His common-law wife worked with him there. A while later, several young African-American men entered the store. One or more killed Horner by hitting
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had legal teams that represented three men each in appeals to the State
Supreme Court. It found fault with the court's instruction to the jury, and remanded the case to a lower court for retrial, which took place in 1951. That resulted in a mistrial, requiring a third trial. Four of the defendants
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Because of legal abuses in the treatment of suspects after the arrests, the case attracted considerable attention. The Civil Rights
Congress and the NAACP generated publicity to highlight the racial inequities in the railroading of the suspects, their lack of access to counsel, the chief witness'
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8 December 1952; Quote: "More than four years after the murder of
William Horner, an elderly Trenton junkman, the case of the "Trenton Six" (TIME, July 11, 1949) was still dragging through New Jersey courts. The six Negroes convicted of the crime got a new trial in February 1951, after the state
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case." Non-Communist liberal groups joined in, and the case was carried to New Jersey's highest court. Last week Jersey justice redeemed itself. The New Jersey
Supreme Court found that the Trenton Six had been convicted without getting their due rights under the law, set aside their sentence and
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The
Trenton police, pressured to solve the case, arrested: Ralph Cooper, 24; Collis English, 23; McKinley Forrest, 35; John McKenzie, 24; James Thorpe, 24; and Horace Wilson, 37, on February 11, 1948. All were arrested without warrants, were held without being given access to attorneys, and were
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In 1949 the State
Supreme Court remanded the case to the lower court for retrial, ruling that the jury had been improperly charged in the first case. In the course of the trial, the defense teams revealed that evidence had been manufactured. The medical examiner in Trenton was found guilty of
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11 July 1949; "The Trenton Six." Quote: "The State of New Jersey had no reason to feel proud of its solution of the murder of aged William Hormer, Trenton junkman. For five days in February 1948, the Trenton police turned the heat on six young Negro suspects, finally got all but one to sign
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The trial began on June 7, 1948, when the State of New Jersey opened its case against the six based on the five signed confessions obtained by the Trenton police. There was no other forensic evidence, and Horner's widow could not identify the men as the ones in her store.
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Emanuel "Manny" Bloch, along with his father Alexander, was the defense attorney for the Rosenbergs. He was known in the legal community as a defender of leftist sympathizers, most recently having defended the leader of the Communist party of Pittsburgh and the Trenton
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1948 William Horner, a seventy-two-year-old junk shop dealer, was killed and his common-law wife beaten in Trenton, New Jersey on January 27. Although police alleged the motive was robbery, they recovered more than $ 1,500 from Horner's
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English suffered a heart attack (myocardial infarction) soon after the trial and died in December 1952 in prison. Cooper served a portion of his prison sentence and was released on parole in 1954 for good behavior.
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were acquitted. Ralph Cooper pleaded guilty, implicating the other five in the crime. Collis English was convicted of murder, but the jury recommended mercy – life in prison rather than execution.
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1948 The Trenton police arrested six African-American men, questioning them without access to attorneys. Five of the six men charged with the murder signed confessions on February 11.
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him in the head with a soda bottle; some also assaulted his wife. She could not say for sure how many men were involved with the attack, saying two to four light-skinned
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230:(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) defended the other three men, seeking to get their convictions overturned. Among the NAACP attorneys were
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questioned for as long as four days before being brought before a judge. Five of the six men charged with the murder signed confessions written by the police.
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1948 The State of New Jersey opened its case against the six based on the five signed confessions. The defendants were assigned four attorneys on June 7.
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to serve as defense for three of the men, seeking to overturn the convictions. The NAACP represented the other three men, seeking the same goal.
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Ralph Cooper (1924-?), pleaded guilty in the 4th trial and was sentenced to life. After being paroled in 1954, he disappeared from records.
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One of four defendants acquitted in the case of the "Trenton Six" died at St. Francis Hospital here last night of injuries suffered in ...
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1951 Four of the defendants were acquitted. Collis English and Ralph Cooper found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on June 14
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appealed; the State Supreme Court said the court had erred again. It remanded the case to the lower court for a fourth trial in 1952.
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Their case was taken up as a major civil rights case, because of injustices after their arrests and questions about the trial. The
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Collis English (1925–1952). Shortly after the fourth trial, he died in prison on December 31, 1952, of a heart attack.
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English died in late December that year in prison. Ralph Cooper was paroled in 1954 and disappeared from the records.
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McKinley Forrest (1913–1982). He was the brother-in-law of Collis English. Acquitted in the third trial in 1951.
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1948 Bessie Mitchell, sister of Collis English, started a public speaking campaign questioning the trial. The
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1951 A second appeal was made to the State Supreme Court for the two remaining defendants on September 11.
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1951 Prosecutor Mario Volpe's attack of appendicitis causes delay in the second trial on February 5.
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James Henry Thorpe Jr. (1913–1955), acquitted in 1951. He died in a car crash on March 25, 1955.
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supported the appeal. The State Supreme Court remanded the case to the lower court for retrial.
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also protested the injustice. Commentary and protests were issued from many nations.
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Peter Salwen, "A 'Northern Lynching', 1949: Remembering the "Trenton Six" Case
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defendants tried for murder of an elderly white shopkeeper in January 1948 in
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1955 Former defendant James Henry Thorpe Jr. died in a car crash on March 25.
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552:"Trenton Six Man Dies. Auto Accident Injuries Fatal to Acquitted Defendant"
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1952 In November, the court ordered a new trial for English and Cooper.
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appointed to such a position since post-Civil War Reconstruction; and
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went to their rescue with rallies, demonstrations and screaming
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inability to identify them, and other issues. Figures such as
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1953 Ralph Cooper pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison.
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The defendants were assigned four attorneys, one of whom was
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for that day and had repudiated their confessions, signed
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took on the legal defense of half the defendants, with
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46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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348:, the legal arm of the communist party, hired
320:Horace Wilson (1911–2000), acquitted in 1951.
646:Jersey Justice: The Story of the Trenton Six
393:1952 English died in prison on December 31.
242:, later appointed as U.S. Commissioner for
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399:1954 Cooper was paroled for good behavior.
314:John McKenzie (1925-?), acquitted in 1951.
170:males in their teens had assaulted them.
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
695:History of African-American civil rights
591:Jon Blackwell, "1948: A cry for justice"
118:Group of six African American defendants
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710:African-American history of New Jersey
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141:of the murder and sentenced to death.
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381:1951 Second trial resumed on March 5.
616:, University of Missouri Kansas City
44:adding citations to reliable sources
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601:"Six Minus Four: Trenton's Way Out"
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442:University of Missouri-Kansas City
236:Supreme Court of the United States
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597:hosted at Capital Century website
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493:headlines calling it "a northern
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705:Quantified groups of defendants
31:needs additional citations for
700:History of Trenton, New Jersey
614:Correspondence from Irv Feiner
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369:American Civil Liberties Union
341:execution granted on August 6.
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215:In the process of appeal, the
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444:School of Law. Archived from
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715:20th-century American trials
638:The Story of the Trenton Six
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223:acting as their attorney.
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125:is the group name for six
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620:Images of the Trenton Six
530:"1948: A cry for justice"
498:ordered a new trial. ..."
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240:Clifford Roscoe Moore Sr.
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438:"Emanuel Hirsch Bloch"
252:Raymond Pace Alexander
193:Raymond Pace Alexander
671:40.22307°N 74.76465°W
485:Civil Rights Congress
346:Civil Rights Congress
146:Civil Rights Congress
720:Trials in New Jersey
221:Emanuel Hirsch Bloch
40:improve this article
676:40.22307; -74.76465
667: /
510:"The Trenton Six,"
483:and the party-line
365:Communist Party USA
244:Trenton, New Jersey
217:Communist Party USA
644:Cathy D. Knepper,
528:Blackwell, John.
354:William Patterson
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674: /
536:24 December
300:The accused
290:Pete Seeger
123:Trenton Six
689:Categories
662:74°45′53″W
659:40°13′23″N
626:newspaper]
606:The Nation
564:2008-07-07
495:Scottsboro
452:2008-07-08
424:References
135:New Jersey
66:newspapers
418:Jena Six
407:See also
325:Timeline
148:and the
266:Outcome
260:perjury
174:Arrests
131:Trenton
80:scholar
371:, and
279:Legacy
211:Appeal
201:alibis
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373:NAACP
363:1949
331:body.
228:NAACP
195:, an
183:Trial
161:Crime
150:NAACP
87:JSTOR
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538:2017
458:Six.
356:and
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