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On October 1905, the schooner Harry A. Berwind, a wooden commercial vessel bound for Philadelphia from Alabama, was turned into a slaughterhouse when a gun was turned on its crew.
The story begins when officers from a neighboring ship climb aboard to investigate a cargo ship’s distress signal. They find bloodied decks, one crew member tied up, one crew member dead, and reports that all four of the ship’s officers had been murdered and tossed overboard.The three men still alive were Black. The four dead officers were white.Would it be possible for the accused to get a fair trial in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1905?
Also in Literary Notes, closer to home: a new book from Bobby Raye Huntley of Virginia Beach, a tale of a 1905 mutiny, and children's author Oge Mora is planning a visit for March 12.
Determining what happened would be the focus of two of the highest-profile trials ever held in Wilmington.