Killing of Earley Bird Hamilton in Arkansas in 1937
Incident
Earley Bird Hamilton (1904 - 1937), a cook, was killed by police officers in Prairie County, Arkansas. According to newspaper reports, deputy sheriff Joe Harper and four deputized men J. J. “Jerry” Screeton, C. S. Proctor, Joe Crowley, George Burkhart, arrested Hamilton allegedly on a charge of raping a white woman. Harper claimed that Hamilton attempted to grab a gun from him, prompting the other officers to fatally shoot Hamilton. Hamilton’s wife described the incident in different terms. She stated that a mob, including the above officers, came to the Hamilton home in the middle of the night to arrest him. Her husband did not resist when the mob took him out of the house and began shooting at him. A coroner’s jury cleared the perpetrators.
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