Tuesday, June 22, 2021

While Deputy Helps Couple Divide Property, Husband Kills Wife, June 22, 1921

Police Still on Hunt for Negro. . . Cureton, Who Shot Wife to Death Tuesday, Can’t be Located

The police were still searching for Hazel Cureton, wife slayer, Wednesday afternoon. A search carried on throughout Tuesday afternoon and night failed to locate the negro who made a getaway after shooting to death is wife Tuesday shortly after noon while constable Joe Emory was engaged in dividing out their personal belongings, preliminary to a separation.

Negroes of Brooklyn joined with policemen Tuesday afternoon in searching for the slayer. The fact that Cureton dashed from the rear of his home at 432 East Stonewall street after shooting his wife, getting a lead of several blocks on Constable Emory, who is said to have started in pursuit when he learned what had happened, is given as the reason for his escape.

A jury summoned by Coroner Frank Hovis held, following an inquest Wednesday, Cureton was responsible for the death of his wife.

An hour before the shooting occurred the woman appeared before Magistrate F.B. Alexander and secured the assistance of Constable Emory in making a division of personal belongings so that she and her husband might separate. The constable said he was on the front porch superintending the division of belongings when Cureton and his wife went into the back-room of the four-roomed house. Three shots rang out, and when the constable went to investigate he found the woman dead and her husband missing.

He saw the negro running some yards from his home, having escaped through the rear-yard, and he set out in pursuit. The lead obtained by the slayer made capture by the constable impossible.

Cureton has a mother and other relatives living here, the police said, but no trace of him could be fund at their homes and they denied any knowledge of his whereabouts. The belief was expressed that he has gotten out of the city. Police in other cities have been notified and a search for him will be carried on elsewhere.

Police said the killing was cold-blooded. Cureton is a negro of reasonable build while his wife as a small woman. The cause of the quarrel in the back-room which resulted in the firing of the gun is unknown.

From The Charlotte News, Wednesday, June 22, 1921

No comments:

Post a Comment