Killing of Willie Earle in South Carolina in 1947

Incident

Case summary

Willie Earle, 24, a laborer, was killed in 1947 by a mob led by R. Carlos Herd, a taxi cab dispatcher, in Greenville County, South Carolina. The mob kidnapped Earle from jail, then beat and shot him. Earle was a suspect in an earlier stabbing and robbing of taxi driver T. W. Brown. Thirty-one people were arrested. A jury acquitted the defendants.

Victim(s):

Alleged perpetrators/other named individuals:
Perpetrator group type: police, mob

Date of incident: 1947-02-17
Location: Greenville, Greenville County, South Carolina
Location type: public space - urban
Allegation against victim: assaulting, robbing, and murdering a white taxi driver

Coroner process
Coroner/inquest: yes
Finding of no legal responsibility: yes

Criminal process
Arrest: yes
Charge/indictment/information: no
Grand jury: yes
Trial: yes
Conviction: no
Sentence: [ ]

FBI case ID:

Charlotte 44-73

DOJ case ID:

144-68-21


Document(s):
advocacy group resources
death certificates - closed
federal agency records
news articles - closed
Data Fields
To learn more about data fields, refer to the data dictionary.
Cite this Page
Refer to how to cite.