- Summary
- On a hot August night in 1944, a soldier's body was discovered hanging by a rope from a cable spanning an obstacle course at Seattle's Fort Lawton. The body was identified as Private Guglielmo Olivotto, one of the thousands of Italian prisoners of war captured and brought to America. The murder stunned the nation and the international community. Under pressure to respond quickly, the War Department convened a criminal trial at the fort, charging three African American soldiers with the lynching and first-degree murder of Private Olivotto. Forty other soldiers were charged with rioting, accused of storming the Italian barracks on the night of the murder. All forty-three soldiers were black. There was no evidence implicating any of these men. Leon Jaworski, later the lead prosecuter at the Watergate trial, was appointed to prosecute the case and seek the death penalty for three men who were most assuredly innocent. Through his access to previously classified documents and the information gained from extensive interviews, journalist Jack Hamann tells the whole story behind World War II's largest army court-martial - a story that raises important questions about how justice is carried out when a country is at war. --Publisher.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Hamann, Jack, 1954-
- Published
- Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005
- Locale
- Washington (State)
Seattle
Italy
Fort Lawton (Seattle, Wash.)
- Edition
- First edition
- Contents
-
Prologue : August 15, 1944
Camp Florence, May 1944
Fort Lawton, June 1944
Mollycoddling, July 1944
The life of Reilly, early August 1944
Riot, August 14, 1944
Bad press, late August 1944
Cookie, September 1944
Jaworski, October 1944
Beeks, early November 1944
Prosecution, late November 1944
Defense, early December 1944
Verdict, late December 1944.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-340).
Prologue : August 15, 1944 -- Camp Florence, May 1944 -- Fort Lawton, June 1944 -- Mollycoddling, July 1944 -- The life of Reilly, early August 1944 -- Riot, August 14, 1944 -- Bad press, late August 1944 -- Cookie, September 1944 -- Jaworski, October 1944 -- Beeks, early November 1944 -- Prosecution, late November 1944 -- Defense, early December 1944 -- Verdict, late December 1944.
