The news article, therefore, provides a means of gauging the
accuracy of the books and measuring Carter's willingness to distort
the truth:
Hirsch's so-called reporting is equally biased. Does Hirsch
not know how to use microfilm, or does he think it's good reporting
to take a confessed criminal at his word over a newspaper report?
He writes:
Although this incident was an important event in Carter's
life and resulted in a lengthy prison term, Hirsch minimizes
it by calling it a "brief, reckless crime spree."
Also examined here is Carter's account of the crime spree
as it appeared in Sports Illustrated in 1963 and the pro-Carter
book, "Lazarus and the Hurricane."
CARTER'S
BOOK, P. 158-9 |
PATERSON
NEWS
July 2, 1957
(with comments) |
| "Life was
beautiful to me, and never mind if I had to go to work tonight,
I still felt good. Then out of the clear blue sky, without rhyme
or reason, I snatched a woman's pocketbook — right there
in broad daylight." |
The crime spree
actually started at 10:40 p.m. |
| "I don't
know why I did it. With my pockets loaded down, jam-packed full
of my own money, it was the most dastardly thing I'd ever done,
I simply snatched that poor lady's purse and ran like hell —
laughing, no less...." |
In typical fashion, Carter minimizes his crime by saying he
was laughing.
The 37-year-old woman's purse contained $2.60
|
| "Little A
ran with me ... and no questions were asked. That was his mistake.
Because down the street farther, still giddy with my folly, I
hit a man." |
"Hit a man" is putting it mildly!! His "folly!"
And — oops — he fails to mention the stolen wallet!
News Report: "Ray Harrison, 30, ... was accosted ...
by the thugs, punched and kicked. His wallet containing $10 was
stolen. He suffered severe cuts of the head and hands in the
mugging which required 10 sutures to close."
|
| "Still on
the run from the first shameful deed, now compounded by
this second, I went hog-wild and did it again." |
Minimizing again: "shameful deed," "hog-wild."
News Report: "Police said that while running away from
the Harrison robbery, the muggers met Edward Simon, 61....
They punched him in the face and would have robbed him but he
began to scream. Instead, they continued their flight."
Note that this was two 20-year-olds beating a 61-year-old
man — and the 61-year-old scared them off!
|
| "Finally
we stopped running and parted company for the night. ... I was
sure glad when [Little A] dropped me off at work. He was too,
I suppose." |
Ah, he's relieved that their youthful indiscretion is over.
But that's not even close to how it really ended....
News Report: "Simon [the 61-year-old victim] followed
them and when he saw Sgt. White at Broadway and Straight St.
called to him to stop the fugitives. White grabbed Harris by
the belt while [Carter] fled."
|
| The detectives
arrest Carter at work. Carter writes: "The only thing that
really puzzled me was why it had taken them so long to get there.
Paterson was full of stool pigeons, and everybody in the neighborhood
had witnessed the stupid shit that I did." |
He can't bear to tell you that his pal 'Little A" Harris
turned him in!
News Report: "At police headquarters, Harris identified
his companion [Carter] and admitted the crimes, police said."
Carter says "everybody in the neighborhood" witnessed
what he did. In reality, he was blocks away from his street and
committing these crimes at 11 p.m., according to the news report.
How many witnesses could there be?
|
| Carter makes no
mention of denying the crime and writes: "Two weeks later,
Little A and I copped out to the charges." |
News Report: "Carter
was arrested at the Plastics Horizons Co.... Police said he admitted
knowing Harris but denied the crimes." |
SPORTS
ILLUSTRATED
1963 |
COMMENTS |
| "'When I
came out [of Annandale Reformatory] I had nothing. I started
hurting people in the street.' |
Let's see ...
in his book (see above), Carter says he has everything —
lots of money in his pockets, a good job. But here we have him
justifying his spree by saying he has nothing. |
| "On July
1, 1957, Carter and a buddy went on a two-man crime wave. The
record reads: Robbery Victim: Mary E. Deary; Robbery Victim:
Ray Harrison Assault with intent to rob Victim: Edward Simon" |
|
| "Yet at this
late date Carter pleads innocent, sort of. 'Look, I’ve done
all kinds of things,' he says. 'I broke into parking meters,
broke bus windows, anything. But I never robbed those people.” |
"Never robbed
those people" he tells Sports Illustrated! No ... he simply
used violence to relieve those people of their valuables. |
| "It was,
Carter insists, merely booze and naked aggression. All
they did was snatch a woman’s purse ('It had no money in
it,' he says), beat up a pedestrian, smack another in the jaw
and laugh all the way." |
"All they did" was rob and beat people — and
they thought it was funny!
He blames it on booze. Interesting, because if it happened
during the day, as he claims, he was getting drunk awfully early.
His book and the news report indicate that he went to work
right after the 11 p.m. spree. He tells Sports Illustrated he
was arrested at 2 a.m. Does that mean he got drunk before going
to work?
As noted earlier, Carter and his pal got Mrs. Deary's purse
with her $2.60.
|
| “It was right
on the street where I lived,” Carter says...." |
He apparently wants you to think his youthful romp was done
in broad daylight in front of his neighbors. Not true.
First, it started under the cover of darkness at 10:40 p.m.,
according to the news report.
Second, the purse snatching was about five city blocks from
his house (two blocks east and three blocks south). The other
incidents were six and nine blocks from his house and on the
other side of Broadway.
|
| “' We
were having fun. After I grabbed the lady’s pocketbook she
fell down. We were both laughing so much my friend ran into
a wall. It was broad daylight. If anybody was chasing us they
coulda caught us easy. Then this fella came walking along, and
we beat him pretty good. We started running and ran into
this other fella and we hit him, too. He didn’t fall
down. He leaned against a tree.'" |
Knocking 37-year-old women to the ground is Carter's idea
of fun!
In his book, he says "hit a man." Here, at least,
he admits he "beat him pretty good."
Again he repeats that they were "laughing" and doing
all this in "broad daylight," as if daytime crime is
OK.
Apparently they hit the 61-year-old man so hard they expected
him to fall!
|
| ”The wounded
man pointed out his attackers to a policeman, who approached
the pair from behind, grabbed the friend with one hand and reached
for his revolver with the other. Carter seized the opportunity
to escape. He could have been shot down, but there was no need
to shoot. The policeman recognized him easily." |
This seems to
be Carter pumping up his own importance by claiming they cop
recognized him and pulled a gun. But how recognizeable was Carter?
From 1951 until the night of this crime spree in 1957, he
spent all but three months in reformatories or in the Army. |
| "It did not
occur to Carter to become a fugitive. 'They came at 2 o’clock
in the morning to arrest me,' he said. |
This makes it
sound as though the cops rousted him from a peaceful slumber,
but the news report and his book say he was arrested at work. |
| "A sharp
lawyer might have had the charges reduced to three counts of
simple assault. But Carter pleaded guilty to the more serious
charges. 'My father got a colored lawyer,' Carter says with bitterness.
'He was for real estate. He didn’t know anything about it.'" |
Blaming others for his woes is a Carter specialty. Here he's
saying that he went to prison because his father hired a "colored"
real estate lawyer.
In his book, he makes no mention of the lawyer and brags about
copping a plea.
|
| "Not that
Carter was helping himself much. The first thing he did in county
jail was get into a fight with a cellmate. 'He got pretty well
hurt,' Carter says, as though the man had been hit accidentally
by a car. 'So no bail for me.'" |
More violence.
More bragging. More Carter. |
"LAZARUS
&
THE HURRICANE," P. 51-52 |
COMMENTS |
| "It wasn't
long before, mechanically and without knowing why, he snatched
a woman's handbag and knocked down two men in the process. He
called it 'the most humiliating moment of my life.' He felt relieved
when he was arrested. Pleading guilty to the charges, he was
sentenced to serve three to nine years." |
The authors have Carter feeling humiliated, as though he was
sorry for what he did, and "relieved" when he was arrested.
They fail to mention the beating of Mr. Harrison and the theft
of his wallet. They also fail to mention the attack on the 61-year-old
man. In short, they're not interested in giving you an accurate
picture of what happened.
|
|
TO READ THE COMPLETE
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE: CLICK HERE |
