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Page 2... The Portland Observer...July 8, 1992
Horrible Torture And Murder Of Black Woman Video*Taped In Gadsten, Alabama Police Station
BY PROF. MCKINLEY BURT
I f you saw that bizarre scene from
today’ s Dark Ages on a Cable News
Network special two weeks age, then I
am sure your stomach is s till turning
over like mine. The tapes o f the Rodney
King beating and o f that black teenager
being deliberately held by Los Angeles
police w hile a police dog (the other
animal) was literally eating him alive
were bad enough, but this new exercise
in e vil, depravity and barbarism goes
beyond previous human experience.
The fo llo w in g transcript o f that
documentary, furnished by Journal
Graphics (copyright 1992), should give
an indication why Amnesty Interna­
tional is now pursuing its investigations
o f inhuman outrages right here in the
United States-N otjust in Europe, Asia,
south A frica or Central Am erica, but
right there in America where even “ le­
gal” violence approaches that o f form er
Nazi Germany. T his transcript tells the
story better than I.
Crime Stories -
Woman’s Mysterious
Death Probed
From Journal Graphics,
Inc.
Susan Rook, Anchor: Welcome
back, In our next crime story w e’ re
going to take you into the Deep South
and fo llo w the trail o f a poor black
woman who was running from fear.
Edie Howsell, w ho ’s fa m ily was in
a New Y o rk witness protection pro­
gram came home again to Gaston, A la ­
bama, to hide from a gang o f killers.
Back home, she wound up dying in the
county ja il. O fficia ls called it an acci­
dent, but A rt Harris found witnesses
who contradict the o ffic ia ls ’ story and
lots o f questions that w on’ t go away.
Announcer: It was a murder that
outraged the country. On February 26,
Edward Bum [sp?], a New Y ork C ity
police rookie was gunned down while
protecting a drug case withness-a cold­
blooded cop k illin g ordered by a king ­
pin o f crack.
Pres. George Bush: This badge
was worn by Eddie Burn [crosstalk].
H a rris : Bum became a drug war
martyr, his badge a symbol in George
Bush’ s last law and order campaign for
president, Police arrested four h it men.
There was only one eye witness - a 22-
year-old prostitute and crack addict,
Rachel M osley. Police prosecutor Kirke
Bartley convinced her to testify.
A. K irk e B a rtley, J r., Queen's
Assistant D .A. Rachel was, in fact, the
sole eye withness to this murder. She
really was the case.
Rachel M osley : [ from a tape o f the
trial] They a ll came out w ith guns and
they started shooting and I h it the ground,
you know, up under the car.
H a rris : D uring the trial, Rachel
received death threats. The judge barred
pictures o f her face. But she wasn’ t the
only one threatened.
M r. B a rtley: A threat was made to
Rachel’s mother, a threat indicating
that i f Rachel testified, that Rachel’ s
mother would be kille d and that her
fam ily would be killed.
H a rris : This is a story about what
happened to Rachel’ s mother after her
daughter agreed to te s tify -a mystery
that takes us from the k illin g streets o f
New York C ity to the Deep South where
Rachel’ s mother ran into cops w ith an
attitude, and fin a lly, death in an A la ­
bama ja il.
Rachel’s mother, Edie Howsell,
was 45 years old, a poor black woman
who once juggled work as a maid w ith
the burdens o f raising children and
grandchildren in the violent inner city.
M r. B a rtley: She essentially was
the mainstay o f this fam ily. She kept
everybody together.
H a rris : A fte r the death threats,
New Y ork police put the whole fam ily
under witness protection and relocated
them toa secretcity down south. W hile
her daughter was back in New York
testifying against the gunman, Edie
panicked. She thought she saw a hit
man from the old neighborhood so she
packed up and ran hcre-Gadsden, A la ­
bama, her home town.
Along w ith her husband, Shorty
[sp?],Edie moved in w ith acousin. But
the next day, she thought she saw the hit
man again. She begged neighbors for
help.
B a rn a rd Vann, N eighbor: She
said call the police. I called the police.
Three to five minutes, they were out
here.
H a rris : When a squad car pulled
up, Edie told officers she wanted pro­
tection. Instead, she was arrested.
M r. Vann: She tried to get in the
police car, which she couldn’ t, and then
the police put handcuffs on her and put
her in the back o f the car and drove o ff.
H a rris : Gadsden police charged
her w ith being drunk and disorderly,
[interview ing] D id she seem drunk to
you?
M r . Vann: No.
H a rris : W hy not?
M r. Vann: Her reaction. To me,
she was scared to death.
H a rris : Police also arrested E die’s
husband, Shorty, when he tried to b ut­
ton up her housecoat. That’ s Shorty on
police videotape at the city ja il. He’ s
trying to explain despite a speech de­
fect. That’ s Edie crying out. Now you
see Edie, practically naked, shoved
through the ja il.
A t first, police w ithheld the tape.
Even now Gadsden’ s police chief de­
nies she was mistreated, [interview ing]
Can’ t you tell us why Edie Howsell was
stripped and marched naked through
the booking area?
John M o rris , C h ie f Gadsden Po­
lice: I don’ t know that she was.
H a rris : The ch ie f instructed his
officers not to discuss Edie Howsell.
But the sergeant on duty that day says
he argued for her release. And another
o fficer told us it was a mistake to arrest
her at all. He spoke w ith us on the
condition that we protect his identity.
Gadsden Police O ffic e r: I have
serious question o f why she was put in
ja il. I have serious questions o f why she
was nude.
H a rris : According to their own
records, Gadsden police counted S1,397,
in her purse-far more than she needed to
make bail. But police say she d id n ’ t
want to be released. A trial date was set
for a week later. A lso in her purse,
names and phone numbers o f New York
detectives and the Queens D.A.-people
who could vouch fo r Edie H ow sell i f
anyone had called them.
M r. B a rtle y: no one in my office
that I ’ m aware o f received any call. And
certainly we would have been rather
concerned had we learned that she was
arrested.
H a rris : The nextday Edie Howsell
was moved across town to the Etowah
County ja il. On her first day here, doc­
tors treated her for a stab wound in the
neck. Jailers say she stabbed herself
w ith a ballpoint pen.
On the second day a police o ffice r
hit Edie Howsell several times w ith a
nightstick. Jailers say she was violent,
acting crazy. But we talked to inmates
who tell a different story.
Greg Patterson, a convicted bur­
glar, was one ce ll away. On Edie
H ow scll’ s third day in ja il, he was
awakened by screams.
Greg Patterson: I heard someone
strike Ms. Howsell and tell her to shut
her mouth. And she responded by say­
ing 1 know who you are and pleasedon’ t
hurt me. W ell, after they said-after she
said that, then I heard several more
strikes like somebody was hitting her
and she was screaming to the top o f her
lungs. And all o f a sudden everything
just went silent.
H a rris : Later that morning another
inmate, Gary Lancaster, walked by her
cell and saw her choking. He says she
was trying desperately toclear her throat,
then she slipped and fe ll hard.
G ary Lancaster: 1 found her and
tried to get help three times and they
w ou ldn ’ t--nobody w ould help, you
know. I m ight as well been talking to
the w all, you know.
H a rris : Lancaster says paramed­
ics weren’t called for at least on hour
after his first warning. By then it was
too late, Edie Howsell was dead.
On the same day her daughter look
the stand in New York to put away the
last o f the Burn gunmen, Edie Howsell
choked to death on a bar o f soap. A n ­
other bar o f ja il soap, s till in its wrapper,
was later found in her stomach, [in ter­
view ing] How did Edie Howsell die?
C hie f M o rris : Edie Howsell died
in the county ja il. O f course I con’ t
speak much on this subject because this
is under litigation.
H a r r is : Y o u ’ re understanding
though as to how she died?
C h ie f M o rris : W ell, 1 understand
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and research.
This certainly seems to be an “ edu­
cation update” in the experience o f our
legislators and, probably, holds true fo r
most o f us self-centered males. Last
week’ s revelations concerning the SA T
pointed to another area o f serious ne-
gléct in the preparation o f young women
for fu ll participation in our society.
These failures are doubly reprehen­
sible, considering that, as mothers,
women also have the role o f the earliest
nurturers o f all. How can we be so crass
and uncaring? “ Early Childhood Edu-
cation/Guidance” is the key.
Most callers told me that they re­
ally liked the form o f analysis presented
in my quotes (College Entrance E xam i­
nation Board). “ Instead o f just reams o f
statistics, we were given a number o f
salient and key poinLs that are going o
prove extremely useful in examining
the situation in our local schools.” Sev­
eral readers zeroed in on the observa­
tion, "m in o rity females are even less
lik e ly t o ... pursue the more challenging
college-preparatory courses.’ Here, it
should be emphasized they were ta lk­
ing about the solid stuff, math and
PER YEAR.
Chuck Washington
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beginnings. And, obviously, not too
soon as, ashamedly, a congressional
committee hears the testimony o f fe­
males that they have been grossly ne­
glected in the nation’ s health funding
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M i MM M i iM
M i MB M l MB
said-
R obert T a y lo r: Oh, God.
H a rris : We found Robert Taylor at
home in Gadsden a week before his
recent arrest-onee again, charged w ith
stealing tractors, [interview ing] Did you
k ill her?
M r . T a y lo r: No, no. I ’ m not that
way.
H a rris : You did n ’ t push her soap
(unintelligible].
M r . T a y lo r: I like black people. I
mean, I had one practically raise me.
H a rris : Did somebody get away
w ith murder in this case?
M r . T a y lo r: The county.
H a rris : And they’re afraid to have
a [crosstalk],
M r. T a y lo r; A fraid they’re going
to have to pay out their rear end is what
it amounts to.
M r. T a y lo r: Letting a lady die in
their ja il fo r negligence.
James Hayes, S h e riff, E tow ah
C ounty: Let me tell you I talked w ith my
attorney-
H a rris : The man in charge o f the
county ja il, S heriff James Hays. We
caught up w ith him outside his office,
[interview ing] Was there a cover-up in
this case?
S h e riff Hayes: No, absolutely not.
H a rris : Some o f your trustees have
said, though, that they were told to keep
their mouths shut as to what they have
learned about it, what they observed.
S h e riff Hayes: I ’ m not aware o f
that.
H a rris : Tw o bars o f soap found in
her stomach-soap that was your jai 1 soap.
How do you think it got there?
S h e riff Hayes: Oh, she swallowed
it.
H a rris : A ll theexperts w e’ ve talked
to, none o f them have ever heard o f such
a suicide.
S h e riff Hayes: W ho said it was
suicide?
H arris: Soyou’ re saying thatthere’ s
a possibility she could have been m ur­
dered.
S h e riff Hayes: Accidental death’ s
what the autopsy showed.
H a rris : Also, her body was shown
to have tapc-Shcriff Hayes: T hat’ s all
I ’ m going to say. You need to talk to the-
Ila rris : A slate police reportclcarcd
the city and county o f any wrong doing,
but never challenged the o ffic ia l story.
M r . A v e ry : I feel like that case was
really botched. I think there was a cover
up there. I wish we could we could gel
someone from the outside to really come
in and investigate that case.
H a r r is : B usine ssm a n James
Slcclcy, a local c iv il rights activist, did
ask the Justice Department to look into
Edie H ow sell’ s death.
James Steeley: 1 felt that, you know,
that her c iv il rights had be violated.
H a rris : Months later, Justice wrote
back saying its FBI investigation found
no prosecutive merit-case closed, [in ­
terviewing] Did the FBI investigate your
charges?
M r. Steeley: I f they did, they did n ’t
talk to me.
H a rris : In fact, no one we talked to
-fam ily, neighbors, inmates-had every
been questioned by the FBI. The FBI
didn’ t even know about the police vid ­
eotape o f her arrest when they closed the
case. We tried to ask the local FBI agent
about that.
Paul R oberts, F B I Special A g e n t
I have-when we spoke on the phone I
told you about contacting our agent in
Birmingham.
Harris: Yes.
M r Roberts: That’ s what you need
to do.
H a rris : But Justice Department o f­
ficials from Alabama to Washington
refused to talk to us about Edie H ow sell’s
death.
Edie H ow sw ell is buried in an
unmarked grave in this black cemetery
outsidcGadsden.Nooneever called her
a hero. She was just a grandmother
struggling to protect her fa m ily in the
crossfires o f Am erica’ s drug war. She
just happened to be the mother o f the star
witness who put away the killers o f a
rookie cop. His badge now hangs in the
W hite House.
M r. B a rtley: The K illers o f Eddie
Burn were convicted as a result o f
Rachel’ s testimony, no question what­
soever w ith respect to that. The irony is
that the mother o f the woman who made
that possible is dead. There is a big, big
question here. There is a big question
here. And that question ought to be
answered.
Rook: A rt Harris join s us now. A rt,
is this a case o f the New Y o rk drug
dealers making good on their threat-
reaching out and k illin g this woman?
H a rris (Live): W easkedthe sheriff
that, Susan, and he says absolutely not.
But that’ s one o f the questions that some
people feel have not been fu lly explored.
Rook: So why w on’ t the Justice
Department reopen the case?
H a rris : They say they’ ve done their
investigation. Even though there are
some contradictions in the Alabama
police report that they reviewed, they
say the case is closed-even though we
asked the prosecutor who would like it
to be reopened. I f you ask him , he would
say he would like it to be looked at again.
R ook: W hat happened to Edie
H ow sell’ s daughter, Rachel, who gave
the testimony?
H a rris : She’ s still in hiding in the
city where she was relocated to w ith her
fam ily. She’ s distraught about her
mother, and she’s livin g in fear.
Rook: A rt Harris, thank you.
Copyright (c) 1992 Cable News
Network, Inc.
The preceding text has been profes- (
sionally transcribed. However, althouth
the text has been checked against an
audio track, in order to meet rig id distri­
bution and transmission deadlines, it has
not yet been proofread against video­
tape.
99
BY PROF. MCKINNLEY BURT
I T he P ortland O bserver
I
C ity Councilman.
M r. Avery: There was just loo many
things that happened or too many things
that d id n ’ t happen to say that she com ­
mitted suicide at this point.
H a rris : Who could have kille d
her?
M r . A ve ry: Any num berof people.
I would think, had access to the cell at
that point in time.
H a rris : Among those w ith access-
jailers, deputies and on especial in ­
mate, Robert Taylor. He inspired fear
in the other inmates.
Gadsden police O ffic e r: He was
the enforcer. When somebody cam in
that was unruly, Robert Taylor-you can
check w ith those inmates, they’ ll tell
you, Robert Taylor was the one that
took care o f it. He enjoyed hurting
people.
Harris: Taylor, serving time for
stealing tractors, was the head trustee.
He had access to ja il keys. He also
handed out the ja il house soap.
Gary Lancaster: W ell, I ’ ve heard
that Robert Tay lor was going to shut her
up because she was making to much
racket. And he was going to shut her up.
Harris: W e’ re just doing a little
story on the Howsell case and I said, I
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that she was eating soap over there.
H a rris : The m edical exam iner
ruled it a self-inflicte d accident. Police
called it suicide.
Mr. B a rtley: When I heard the
word suicide, to say that 1 was-found
that suspect would be an understate­
ment.
Harris: A fte r she died, Gadsden
police dropped all charges against her
husband Shorty. They handed Shorty
h alf Edie’ s money and put him on a bus
out o f town. The department later bor­
rowed some o f her money to buy coffee
and doughnuts.
In this amateur videotape, the fu ­
neral home director documented what
he found to be a surprising number o f
cuts and bruises. The tape isexpectcd to
be used in a $ 2 0 m illio n la w s u itfilc d b y
Edie H ow scll’ s fa m ily against both the
city o f Gadsden and Etowah County.
Dr. Micheál Baden: This is not suicide.
Harris: We showed the tape and
autopsy report to forensic expert doctor
Michael Baden. H e’ s reviewed a ll in ­
mate deaths in New Y o rk for the last 19
years [interview ing] Have you ever
heard o f an inmate com m itting suicide
that way?
D r. Baden: No. I t ’s hard to choke
yourself on any kind o f gag-like sub­
stance such as soap because you’ ll just
cough it out.
,
Harris: You don’ t buy it?
Dr. Baden: No, I don’ t think so. I
think that i t ’s more lik e ly that some­
body else put the soap in the mouth.
R o b e rt A v e ry , Gadsden C ity
C ouncilm an: I f you ask my opinion, I
think she was murdered.
Harris: Murdered?
M r . A ve ry: I think she was m ur­
dered.
Harris: Robert Avery is a Gadsden
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was only a few years ago that these
people were almost universally ada­
mant that their tests were in no way
biased or skewed against any cultural
group. Outside pressures and assess­
ments by competent groups have led to
a number o f evaluations and correc­
tions.
One o f the key figures in securing
such reassessments o f the SA T has
been Dr. Curtis W . Banks, an A frican
American professor at Howard U n i­
versity. He is a nationally respected
authority on test va lid ity, consistency
and standardization. However, this is
not to suggest that m inority parents can
afford to give their children any slack
in preparing for tcsts-anticipating that,
perhaps, there can be come interven­
tion or m itigation based on some kind
o f “ fairness doctrine” . L ife ain’ t fair
either.
Any “ intervention” should occur
early on when the parent discovers by
questioning the child or by visiting the
school where the child is not enrolled in
those necessary “ preparatory "courses-
-or is not being challenged and encour­
aged in every day curriculum , and o f
course there is the parent’ s duty to
provide that tutoring and help o f which
they arc capable. I f there arc d isa b ili­
ties here in terms o f background or
w orking hours, then there arc some
excellent com m unity programs that
prov idc educational assistance. T ry the
Urban League’s “ W hitney Young Pro­
gram ’ : Basic skills. Math, Reading and
Language, weekday s, 9 A. M . to 3 P.M,
until July 24. When school resumes,
the classes w ill return to the regular
after school format. Help is provided
for grades 6 through high school.
One reader says that she has on her
daughter’ s bedroom w all a copy o f my
July 25, 1990 article concerning the
Oregon Legislature’ s “ M in o rity Teach­
ers Task Force’ intent to scrap a Basic
Skills Test For Teachers (not students).
Centered in the article is a picture o f a
young black female designing a sophis­
ticated piece o f technical equipment.
And underneath is the legend, “ General
Electric Co. engineering apprentice: Do
you think a skills test failure taught
her?”
This turned out to be a career the
daughter enthusiastically prepared her­
self for, honing those “ basic skills” and
far more. Even more im portantly, as I
alluded to earlier, she changed her
courses the ju n io r year to include those
“ S olid" college preparatory math and
science courses cited by the College
Entrance Examination Board (SAT).
As a result she has fu ll scholarship to a
top engineering school this fa ll term. It
goes w ithoul saying that we need to give
a good deal o f credit to her mother.
Now, for those Oregon “ Basic Skills
Tests” again; actually the famous C ali­
fornia Basic Education Skills Test. You
can understand the anger and chagrin I
expressed in that article when reading
the follow ing statistics-understanding
that M in ority Teachers were to be al­
lowed to o m it the examination. During
the 1988-89 school year in Oregon, 11
o f 25 black lest lakers passed; 19 o f 47
Hispanics passed-but 2,413, or 80 per­
cent o f 3,027 white lest takers passed.
As I testified before the Oregon State
Legislature, it was crim inal to advance
and certify m inority teachers who would
pass on these disabilities, to the next
generation. Continued next week.