Monday, March 9, 2020

County Home Inmate Sues Keeper of Home for Beating Him, March 9, 1920

From The Monroe Journal, March 9, 1920. The last name was spelled Buchanon in the headline and Buchannon in the article; I don’t know which is correct.

Inmate of County Home Is Suing the Keeper. . . Winfield Buchanon, Colored, Is Trying to Collect $500 Damages from Mr. Rosser Wolfe

Winfield Buchannon, colored, an aged inmate to the county home, has instituted suit against Mr. Rosser Wolfe, keeper of the home, to collect $500 for alleged damages he sustained when he was struck by Mr. Wolfe. In his complaint, which was recently filed, he alleges:

“That on or about the 7th day of January, 1920, the defendant, Rosser Wolfe, did maliciously, tortuously, willfully and wrongfully assault and beat and wound the plaintiff to his great pain, shame and disgrace. That in said assault and battery the defendant struck the plaintiff and knocked him to the ground, got on top of him, and beat him in the face, eye, on the forehead, on top of the head, and on the back of the head, and seriously bruised and injured the plaintiff.”

In his answer, which has also been filed, Mr. Wolfe says:

“The plaintiff is a stubborn and high-tempered man, is hard to please, and hard to get along with. That on or about the day specified in the complaint, the plaintiff was complaining of the manner in which some of the white women were cooking, and preparing his food and was disputing the word of the white woman—the plaintiff being a negro—when the defendant, as keeper of the county home, directed the plaintiff to no longer dispute the word of the white woman and go about his business, and that a little later, while the defendant was attending to his own affairs, the plaintiff attempted to assault him with a deadly weapon; to-wit: a stick—and the defendant in order to protect himself, threw the plaintiff down and took the stick away from him and did nothing to plaintiff to injure or bruise him except what happened when he was disarming him.”

Buchannon is represented by Mr. R.B. Redwine, while Mr. John C. Sikes is appearing for Mr. Wolfe. The plaintiff in the action still remains at the county home.


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