Willie McGee

 

I have about three passions in life, true crime, genealogy and history. I admit that I am not an expert in any of these fields and I also admit that when it comes to history I am least interested in the World War II era. I do not know why, maybe it is the whole Hitler aspect, but I am least interested in that era. But, when it comes to civil rights and things like that I at least thought I knew quite a bit. I of course know about the cases such as Emmett Till, Medgar Evers and such. Apparently I had heard about Willie McGee or his name would not have made it to my list but I am unsure how much I knew. In my list it simply says “Willie McGee-Executed 1951.” I admit that even when I go through the list I do not go through every one of them each time so today was the first time I had really dug into the case. It is possible that previously when going through the list I just simply was not in the mood to do a case that involved execution. This makes me a bit sad because while yes, this is a case about an execution, it is also about so very much more.

This became one of those rare cases where I started putting together the story and when I went back to check some research to clarify some things that I ended up not only doing more research, but that research drastically changed the way that I felt about the case and I ended up erasing all that I had put together. It is a case that it appears that there are strong feelings on both sides of this case. Some believe an innocent man was executed; some believe sadly that he got what he deserved. Was Willie McGee innocent of the charges of rape? I cannot say for sure but I do believe two things. While I cannot say necessarily that I do not believe anyone should be execute for the charge of rape, I think it should be one of extreme violence that causes, again, extreme, injuries. And, as with all cases that involve execution I think there needs to be absolute proof and certainty that the person executed was guilty. So, while I cannot tell you if Willie McGee was innocent, I can tell you that I believe he was executed unjustly. And, that belief is based solely on the evidence of the crime. That being said, I also believe that a large reason as to why he was executed had to do with his race.

I do not know how many of you believe in “signs” so to speak. I am one of those people who believe that things happen for a reason, even if we do not know the reason. It felt a little eerie when I went through to do my second round of research on this case. I had come across a story written by an author who had been doing research on this case. He spoke to many people who knew the characters in this story and a few who had actually witnessed things. I like the approach that he took. Like myself, he was simply gathering information and then trying to put it together the best he could and make some sense out of it. He spoke about the age of some of the participants that he spoke to and admitted that at some points he would be on the fence about whether their recollections were accurate, but then in many areas found things to collaborate their stories. I will get more into that later, but while I was reading this story two things jumped out to me. First, while this case took place in Mississippi in 1945, one of the daughters of the alleged victim in the case has spoken and mentioned that in the early 1940's during World War II the family had lived in Evansville Indiana, the town I currently live in. She mentioned that she could not recall exactly when the family moved back to Mississippi but she did know that her youngest sister had been born here..... on February 24, 1944. I too was born here, although I spent most of my life out of the area, on February 24, 1972. For me I guess the sign was that I was supposed to find this story because in the end it did kind of change my perspective on things. But, let us get into the story and let you decide what you think.

In the early morning hours of November 2, 1945 married mother of three, Willette Hawkins reported that she had been inside her home with her family, asleep next to her youngest child when a black man broke into her home and attacked and raped her in her bed in Laurel Mississippi. The following day a man named Willie McGee was arrested, not for rape but on charges of grand larceny. He worked for a grocery company and apparently he had taken the money from at least one of the jobs, bought some alcohol and gambled and lost the rest of it. He had also taken the employee truck with him.

It was alleged that two of McGee's friends had told authorities that he had been in the area of the Hawkins home around the time of the reported rape. It was also said that shortly after his arrest that McGee made some sort of confession. Apparently it seems that in his first talk with police and a theme that was carried on throughout the case was said that McGee had stated that he and Hawkins had a consensual affair. This thought and theme went down into history as being at least possibly true, and part of the reason for that is that it made it into the newspapers. It was never brought up in court because his attorney's stated that being in the south, in front of all white juries, they never thought it would be believed. This is quite possibly true. There were people then, and people today, who believe/d that at that time a white woman would never have sex with a black man willingly.

From things that I have read, it seems that Willette Hawkins could not fully identify the man she says raped her. I will get into what she said occurred, where others in her home were located and what neighbors would say later, but again, from my understanding she was not specific as to who the man was and there were indications that she never positively identified Willie McGee. So, beyond a strange confession that was allegedly heard by the county attorney and “other members of the local political power structure” I am completely uncertain what evidence there was against him.

It appears that he was charged on November 9, 1945 for the rape charges. On December 3, 1945 it was said he was indicted on the grand larceny as well as the rape charges. It also says that he entered a plea of not guilty. This is where things get crazy, or more crazy I should say, in my opinion. It appears that within DAYS of the indictment McGee's first, of what would ultimately be three trials began. From all indications it was a one day trial and it took the jury two and a half minutes to deliberate before finding him guilty and he was sentenced to death. The odd thing is that in my research I found no information discussed about the rape in the first trial. It was as if it focused on the grand larceny charges. National Guard troops had to escort him to and from the jail and court because there were many rumors of lynch mobs consisting of white supremacists. The case was appealed and the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the conviction saying that the court had failed to consider a change of venue out of Laurel.

McGee's second trial took place in November of 1946. This one was moved to Hattiesburg. As was the case with the first trial this jury too was full of white jurors. This time the jury took eleven minutes to come to a verdict of guilty. Once again McGee was sentenced to death. But again, the verdict was overturned when the court ruled that people of color had purposely been excluded from serving on the jury.

A third trial began in February of 1948. It was said that “for the first time in Jones County history, African Americans were registered” to be jurors. But still none actually served on the jury. Decades later it would be reported that “one of the prosecutors allegedly boasted that they had changed the roll of grand jurors to falsely include two black doctors whom they knew would remain silent.” So, if true, while it looked like they were not excluded on paper, people of color were still excluded. But, that would not be revealed until it was all too late.

Let's start and examine the prosecution and what they presented. The prosecution put both Willette Hawkins and her husband Troy on the stand. As I mentioned earlier it was said that Willette claimed that the man had come through a window in the house and had attacked her. She claimed that she believed the man had a knife and that he had threatened to kill her and her family if she made a noise. Troy testified that he and Willette had been up until well past four in the morning because their youngest daughter, who was less than two year old, was six. When he went to bed he testified he went to a bedroom in the back of the house. The media reported as if the room was simply right next to the room in which Willette was attacked but the article I mentioned earlier went into more detail after one of Willette and Troy's daughters had spoken out. The room that Troy slept in was not right next to the room she was in and added to the fact that she stated the attacker threatened her if she made noise it gave some more credence to her story than the media had allowed. Aside from that and evidence of his alleged confession I cannot say that anything else was presented, and keep in mind that I mentioned earlier that it seemed apparent that she was unable to positively identify her attacker, let alone that it was Willie McGee.

As far as the defense goes from my understanding in my research they did not present any witnesses and did very little cross examining of the state witnesses. However, with that being said there was a bit of a twist. A woman who stated her name was Rosalee McGee. She had given a sworn statement to the court stating she was Willie's wife and the mother of his children. She would say that she knew of the affair between Willie and Willette. While this was allegedly given to the court, it does not seem that it was presented in court considering my information stated the defense offered basically nothing and there were specific references that the idea of there being an affair between the two was not presented as it would not be believed. Rosalee was not Willie's wife, in fact her name was not even Rosalee. It was discovered later that her name was actually Rossetta Saffold. It is unclear what connection she may have had to Willie prior to the case or if she was simply sympathetic of his situation.

When he was arrested Willie was legally married and had four children with his wife, Eliza Jane. But, they had separated in 1942 and after his arrest Eliza Jane filed for divorce. Eliza Jane first moved the children away from the area but apparently still in Mississippi and then eventually moved them to the Las Vegas area where people of color were treated much better. Although life for Eliza Jane and her children remained in turmoil. In 1958 their twenty-two year old daughter Gracie died from a gunshot wound when she was injured trying to break up a fight. Eliza Jane remarried in 1959 and sometime in 1963 or 1964 she was murdered by her second husband.

Willie McGee's third trial would never be overturned. No one really expected that it would be. The Governor of the state, Feilding White was a known white supremacist and segregationist so no one ever expect when the courts stopped being supportive that White would step in and change things. On May 8, 1951 what was called “the traveling execution chair” was brought to the courthouse in Laurel Mississippi, where he had first been convicted, and constructed. In front of a crowd, thirty-five year old Willie McGee was executed for the crime of rape by the state of Mississippi.

Now, as I stated early on, I came across some late information that changed the tone of how I was feeling about this case. Let me be clear in the fact that I do not believe that Willie McGee, guilty, or innocent of rape, should have been executed for that crime. First, I do not think the crime warranted an execution. Secondly, I fully believe that his execution had to do with his race. I did find evidence that the prosecutor had sought the death penalty for at least one white man accused of rape around the same time period. The man, Laverne Yarbrough was convicted of raping a young black girl. But, the all white jury that he had chose to give him a life sentence. Thirdly, as a reader you have heard me often say that I am neither necessarily for or against the death penalty but I believe it should only be used for the “worse of the worse” and when there are absolutely no questions as to who was involved. From everything I have gotten that was not the case here. There were no reports about any sort of forensics like fingerprints or anything else, and remember, Willette could not say for certain Willie was her attacker.

In the same respect, it appears that the newspapers at the time began a campaign against Willette. She was harassed and taunted, as was her husband. One of the biggest problems is that many inaccuracies about the situation made it into the newspapers and then they made it into legend. Legend was that Troy Hawkins was in the room right next to his wife when she was allegedly attacked and he heard nothing. Reality is that he was much further than simply right next door. The newspapers were reporting it was a consensual relationship and that when Willette got “caught” she “cried rape.” But article I found late in my research put a new light on things. The interviewer had talked to Willette and Troy's children. The oldest daughter recalled being about eight years old at the time and stated she still remembered when her mother had began screaming and running through the house. In her account her father was closely following her but her account seemed to end there, at least about the night.

A man who was a teenager in 1946 says that he had gotten up early to go to work before school when he heard Willette screaming and crossing the street, completely naked. He says she came to their back door asking for his mother. His mother placed her in his bed, since he was already up, to comfort her and by his account it was indicated that it was his mother who took Willette to the hospital to be examined. The neighbor did not mention Troy in his account.

The newspaper claimed that Troy was a “traveling salesman” but according to the daughters at the time of the attack Troy worked second shift at the post office and was home when the attack happened. Allegedly they were sleeping in separate rooms that night after being up until “sometime after four in the morning” when their youngest child was sick. The daughters also went through the family history. I have spoke about the rumors of this being a consensual sexual relationship. While apparently it was not in the courts someone, somewhere, whether it was the fictional (unknown to be at the time) wife or Willie himself had allegedly spoke of specific incidents. Two things stuck out. One was the time period in which the alleged affair had taken place. The family had left Mississippi during World War II and moved to Evansville Indiana where Troy worked at a factory and their youngest daughter was born. The daughter was not certain when they for sure had moved back to Mississippi but one thing she was certain about, and the interviewer was able to talk to others and confirm, was that their mother had never learned to drive or had a driver's license. This also goes against the stories told about the affair because apparently at least one involved Willette allegedly driving.

It is said that if you go to Laurel Mississippi today and speak to those who know about this case you will hear that a majority of white people believe that Willie McGee was guilty of rape. Whether they believe he deserved to be executed is a different question that I am unsure how people feel. But, most of the black people in Laurel believe that there was a consensual affair between the two.

But, the article I read come up with a third option. Willette's daughters did speak about how after the attack their mother fell into a deep depression and her personality severely changed. It was even said that she became dependent on alcohol. I had found my way to this article after being curious about the fact that Willette had died on March 25, 1967 at the age of fifty-three and her husband Troy died a few days later on April 2^nd. It is not uncommon for couple to die fairly close together but they were both still in their fifties which did make it unusual. At first the article indicated that the daughters said that Willette was a sickly woman and had medical issues but it was not there that I learned the cause of her death. It was later when the interviewer talked to a older lady in the community.

The interviewer admitted that while talking to the elderly lady, who was in her 80's or 90's, he wondered how much of her recollection was true. She had claimed to know both Willette Hawkins and Willie McGee around the time of the attack and the trials. The interviewer knew that her recollection of how Willette looked physically was off which added to his skepticism. But, the woman had a theory. She thought Willie McGee was innocent. She claims that on the night of the alleged attack and into the early morning McGee was out gambling (his employers money) with her brother. She completely discounted the consensual relationship theory too. In fact, while she does not believe technically that Willette was raped at all, she does believe that Willette believed she had. According to the woman prior to the alleged attack Willette suffered from violent, realistic nightmares and it is her belief that this occurred on that night. As I said the interviewer was a bit skeptical even about how much the woman knew the family and then after visiting with Willette's daughters again he came across a picture that showed this woman with the children and it had her name on it. The woman had also mentioned the topic that had brought me to the article to begin with. Apparently the reason Willette and Troy died so close together, and at a relatively young age was that they had been involved in a car accident.

For me, I think I also have to discount the consensual relationship theory. That is not to say that I believe Willie McGee raped Willette Hawkins, or had any relationship with her at all. So that would bring the question as to why Willie would say this at all. I believe that it had to do with the times. First and foremost we need to remember that this was the deep south in the Jim Crow era. Interrogations were done differently than they are today anyways, regardless of who the person was. Investigators could literally do or say whatever they wanted to get a confession from someone. There was never an idea in that era that someone would give a false confession. To add to this people of color were literally considered less than. I was going to say “second class citizens” because that is what you hear but I do not think that adequately describes how they were treated at that time, especially in the deep south. Lets be fair here, we all know the “back of the bus” and separate water fountains and bathroom things but a person of color was to look at the other drivers at an intersection and if there was a white person at one of them they automatically got the right-a-way. Couples were not allowed to express PDA in public because it “made white people uncomfortable.” People of color were easily, easily, blamed and “framed” more or less for things. It is more than likely that the investigators physically assaulted Willie through his interrogation or at the very least there was the threat of physical abuse. In his mind he may have thought, regardless of his guilt or innocence, that if he admitted being with her he would avoid a beating and maybe have his best chance at a defense. It would also mean that he was not admitting to committing a violent rape. That being said, as I have mentioned, this was not brought up at the trial because the defense did not believe that the jurors would believe it. As I mentioned earlier, I think this is a valid point. The thoughts of the day was that basically no “self respecting” white woman (of which Willette seemed to be) would have willingly had sex with a man of color. So had that been said at the trial there was the possibility they could have angered the jury more because they would have thought he was lying, on top of being a rapist. It is likely that the defense relied on the lack of evidence and identification and hoped beyond hope the jury would see things differently than they evidently did. They likely knew if they saw him also as a liar who they also believed he was guilty that he would have absolutely been given the death penalty. Without the added ire they at least had a chance that the death penalty would not be imposed.

It was said that of all the people who were chastised throughout these proceedings and after, it was Willette Hawkins who received the most backlash. Her daughters spoke of how not only was she traumatized by the events of that night, real or imagined, they were real to her, but also by the media and the perception made of her that somehow made it into legend. She was portrayed as a liar who was responsible for the death of an innocent man. According to her daughter Willette's personality completely changed after the attack. She had issues with sleeping and doctors gave her medications that apparently did not work and then suggested that beer at night would help her. It was alleged that this led her to become an alcoholic near the end of her life. In fact the day after Willie's execution a newspaper published a front page article that said, “Willie McGee was murdered because the white woman who had forced an illicit affair upon him for more than four years suddenly shouted “rape” after the whole town discovered the story.” It was said that Willette sued over this but it is not clear what happened in that case. I have not been able to discover where the newspaper got that information.

It seems unreal that if the “whole town” knew about the affair that no one else, or someone credible, came forward with this information to the court. I get that it was “Jim Crow South” with their backwards rules and thinking but surely not everyone in that town felt that way. Then again, it was also a time of “minding your own business” and maybe someone did not want to get involved or feared the backlash of supporting Willie McGee. I suppose some could argue this is why despite the conviction Willette was chastised. For me though, and maybe it is just wishful thinking and hoping for the good out of people, if the whole town knew about this alleged affair why did it still take the jury only two and a half minutes to decide he was guilty and sentence him to death? Despite how any of those on the jury felt about people of color I question if they knew about the affair that they would have sentenced him to death. I do not think they would have had qualms about giving him a life sentence, but I would think at least a few of them would have feared the wrath of God if they condemned a man to death for a crime they personally knew he was not guilty of committing. So no, I do not think the “whole town” knew anything.

Doing this case has given me a whole new perspective on this era. I did not and do not consider myself to be an ignorant person by any means but this case showed me that there is so much more to learn about the history of our fellow citizens. In my personal opinion while there are those in this country that seem to think we should not teach this sort of history to our children, I disagree. I think we all need to know and understand this history. I think white children need to know how less than people of color were treated and understand why the 1960's was full of civil right movements; I think children of color should know, understand and respect how their ancestors were treated and how they fought for them to have a better life when they could.