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Authors: Martha A. Sandweiss

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86
James A. Burns and Grace M. King, Certificate and Record of Marriage, 3 Sept. 1913, certificate no. 21886, New York City Department of Records and Information Services, Municipal Archives.
87
Information courtesy of Grace’s granddaughter, Patricia Chacon, personal communication with author, Wilmington, NC, June 20, 2006.
88
Ada Hite said in 1929 that her husband was also a soldier stationed at Fort Totten when she married him in 1913. Either Hite misrepresented his profession and his address on his marriage certificate, or he joined the military soon thereafter. See “Man Shot in Car Mystifies Police,”
New York Evening Post,
Nov. 14, 1929, 4; “Widow Keeps Hope Burning,”
Amsterdam News,
Nov. 29, 1933, 1, 3.
89
“Bills Against Intermarriage Being Introduced in Various Legislatures,”
New York Age,
Jan. 23, 1913, 1.
90
This information on Clarence Burns comes from his application for a Social Security number on Nov. 25, 1936. He identifies his father as James Burns and his mother as Mildred Bergan. He gives his date of birth as June 8, 1910, and identifies his “color” as “white.” See “U. S. Social Security Act, Application for Account Number,” 056-10-1871.
91
Grace Burns, Certificate of Birth, State of NY, no. 5134, filed July 21, 1915.
92
State of New York, Department of Health of the City of New York, Bureau of Records, Standard Certificate of Death for Grace Margaret Burns, record no. 113, 5 Jan. 1916, and Standard Certificate of Death for Grace Margaret Burns, record no. 156, 7 Jan. 1916, New York City Department of Records and Information Services, Municipal Archives. Grace King Burns is buried in plot 532-R in Flushing Cemetery.
93
Information on James Burns’s profession comes from his granddaughter, Patricia Chacon, personal communication with author, June 20, 2006. On the makeup of Ada’s household in 1910 (Todd) and 1920 (King, where Clarence and Thelma Burns are listed as her grandchildren and members of her household), see the U.S. federal census records for Queens. The census records for 1920 and 1930 variously list the children’s father as born in Michigan and Tennessee.
94
“Man Shot in Auto Dies,”
New York Times,
Nov. 15, 1929, 22; “Man Shot in Car Mystifies Police,”
New York Evening Post,
Nov. 14, 1929, 4 (these accounts of a shooting to which the younger Ada King was a witness make reference to her early marriage and divorce). Ada is back living with her mother and using her maiden name by 1920; see Ada King, 1920 U.S. Federal Census, Flushing, Queens, NY, SD 4, ED 216, sheet 1B,
http://content.ancestrylibrary.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6
0 61 & path=New+York.Queens .Queens+Assembly+District+ 4.216.2 & fn =Ada& ln = King& st=r& pid = 48685357& rc= & zp =50 (accessed Aug. 18, 2007).
95
Patricia Chacon, personal communication with author, June 20, 2006.
96
World War I draft registration card, Virgil Hite.
97
Quoted in Gerald Astor,
The Right to Fight: A History of African Americans in the Military
(Novato, CA: Presidio, 1998), 110.
98
For Sidney King’s military records, see Sidney C. King Military Service Record, New York State Archives, and World War I draft registration card, Sidney King,
http://content.ancestrylibrary.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6482&path=New
+York.Queens+City.185.K.215&rc=&zp=100 (accessed Aug. 19, 2007). For James Weldon Johnson’s view of the Fifteenth Regiment, see Johnson,
Black Manhattan,
231-38. On the terms of Sidney King’s discharge, see
Regulations for the Army of the United States 1913
(New York: Military Publishing, [1918]), 37-38. On the Fifteenth Regiment, see also Emmett J. Scott,
Scott’s Official History of the Negro in the World War
(n.p., 1919), 197-213. Also accessible on
Ancestry.com
is a copy of the blank form introduced for World War I draft registrations on June 5, 1917, which includes the directions to the draft board registrars about race.
99
World War I draft registration card, Wallace Archer King,
http://content.ancestrylibrary.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6482&path=New
+York.Queens+City.185.K.216&rc=&zp=100 (accessed Aug. 9, 2007).
100
Astor,
The Right to Fight,
110.
101
Wallace A. King, Abstract of World War I Military Service, New York State Archives.
102
W. E. B. DuBois, “Our Special Grievances” and “The Reward” [editorials],
The Crisis
16 (Sept. 1918), 217, cited in Ulysses Lee,
The Employment of Negro Troops
(Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, 1966), 4-5.
103
“Will Rule at West Point,”
Washington Post,
Aug. 21, 1912, 6 ; “Promotions in Army,”
Washington Post,
July 4, 1916, [1]; “Army Orders,”
Washington Post,
Sept. 7, 1917, 6.
104
Ida Clyde Clarke,
American Women and the World War
(New York: D. Appleton, 1918), chap. 30,
http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/comment/Clarke/Clarke30.htm
(accessed Aug. 19, 2007).
105
King family, 1920 U.S. Federal Census.
106
Complaint,
King v. Peabody et al.;
Sidney King, Incompetent, case 12586-1921, Kings County Clerk’s Office; New York State Department of Health Certificate of Death, 42437, for Sidney C. King (d. 10 July 1942), New York State Department of Health, Vital Records Section, Albany. The death certificate notes that he had suffered from “dementia praecox,” another term for schizophrenia, since approximately 1918. For his profession as a laborer, see the 1920 census records. For the designation of mental patients as “inmates,” see 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Kings Park State Hospital, Smith Town, Village of Kings Park, Suffolk County, NY, ED 109, SD 36, sheet 14A
http://content.ancestrylibrary.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=5542&dbid=6224&iid=NYT626_1652-0112&fn=Sydney&ln=King&st=r&ssrc=&pid=46459090
(accessed Aug. 19, 2007).
107
“Queens Contractor Shot,”
New York Times,
Nov. 14, 1929, 34; “Man, Shot in Auto, Dies,”
New York Times,
Nov. 15, 1929, 22; “Sought in Queens Killing,”
New York Times,
Nov. 16, 1929, 10; “Woman Held in Queens Murder,”
New York Times,
Nov. 17, 1929, 20; “Man Shot in Car Mystifies Police,”
New York Evening Post,
Nov. 14, 1929, 4; “In Mystery Shooting” [photo],
New York Daily News,
Nov. 15, 1929, front page, pink ed.
108
“Widow Keeps Hope Burning,”
Amsterdam News,
Nov. 29, 1933, 1-2.
109
See the entry for the King family, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Flushing, Queens, NY, SD 34, ED 40-1090, sheet 2A,
http://content.ancestrylibrary.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6224&path=New
+York.Queens.Queens+(Districts+1001-1250).1095.3 (accessed Aug. 9, 2007).
110
Ibid.; Goldberg,
Racial Subjects,
35-36.
111
Kings Park State Hospital, 1930 U.S. Federal Census.
112
Patricia Chacon, personal communication with author, June 20, 2006, and e-mail communication to author, June 27, 2006.
113
Patricia Chacon, personal communication with author, June 20, 2006, and phone call to author, Sept. 21, 2005.
114
“National Affairs,”
Time,
Apr. 6, 1925,
http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/printout/0,23657,720125,00.html
; Napoleon Hill,
The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons
(Meriden, CT: Ralston University Press, 1928), 64.
115
“M. W. Littleton Sr. Lawyer, Dies at 62,”
New York Times,
Dec. 20, 1934, 1, 23.
116
“Many Candidates Admitted to Bar,”
New York Times,
Apr. 13, 1924, E22; “Raid Nassau Speakeasies,”
New York Times,
Sept. 14, 1929, 37. The only reference to Littleton serving as Ada King’s attorney is in Wynne Response,
King v. Peabody et al.
117
Plaintiff’s Trial Memorandum, Brief No. 2, 24.
 
CHAPTER 10: THE TRIAL
1
“The Weather,”
New York Times,
Nov. 21, 1933, 41.
2
“Negro Woman Sues,” 2; “White Scientist’s Love Letters,” sec. 1, 5.
3
“Widow Tells of Ceremony and Children,” 1-2.
4
“Old Negress Suing Estate, Reveals Love,”
New York Daily Mirror,
Nov. 21, 1933, 3, 8.
5
“ ‘Bloods’ Hid Scion’s Love,” 3.
6
“Widow Keeps Hope Burning,” 1.
7
“Colored Woman Sues as Widow of Society Man,”
New York Daily News,
Nov. 20, 1933, Manhattan ed., 3; “Mammy Bares Life,” 3; “Old Negress,” 3.
8
“ ‘Bloods’ Hid Scion’s Love,” 3.
9
“Widow Tells of Ceremony and Children,” 1-2; “New York Woman in Court Fight to Recover $80,000,”
Chicago Defender,
Nov. 25, 1933, national ed., 1.
10
“Court Hears Suit for $80,000 against White Man’s Estate,”
New York Age,
Nov. 25, 1933, 1.
11
“New Capitol Bronzes,”
Washington Post,
May 3, 1908, R2.
12
Robert Dudley French,
The Memorial Quadrangle: A Book about Yale
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1929), 389. Thanks to Adam Sandweiss Horowitz and to Judith Schiff, chief research archivist, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
13
“Court Hears Suit for $80,000,” 1; “Widow Tells of Ceremony and Children,” 1; “Colored Woman Sues,” 3.
14
Otto D. Tolischus, “Marriage Rate Up, Delighting Nazis,”
New York Times,
Nov. 20, 1933, 7.
15
“Roosevelt Is Asked to Intervene to Protect Scottsboro Negroes,”
New York Times,
Nov. 20, 1933, 1.
16
“Court Hears Suit for $80,000,” 1.
17
The long and complicated paper trail for the proceedings is found in
Ada King et al. v. George Foster Peabody et al.
(file no. 26821-1931, Records of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County Clerk’s Office). All legal citations in this chapter are to
King v. Peabody et al.
unless otherwise noted.
18
See entry for Morris Bell, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Bronx, NY, SD 25, ED 3-224, sheet 7A,
http://content.ancestrylibrary.com/iexec/?htx=
View&r=5542&dbid=6224&iid=NYT 626_1470-0270&fn=Morris&ln=Bell&st=r&ssrc=&pid=31248902(accessed Aug. 9, 2007).
19
“Plaintiff’s Complaint” (19 Nov. 1931).
20
Ibid., 3.
21
William G. Winne, Amended Answer to Complaint (19 Nov. 1931).
22
The heirs named in the complaint were Florence Gardiner Hall, Margaret D. Fayerweather, Doane Gardiner, Elizabeth G. Gardiner, Anne G. Pier, Benjamin W. Frazier, and the Philadelphia Trust Company (executors of the will of Mary S. Frazier). Neither Florence Gardiner Hall nor Doane Gardiner employed Henry W. Jessup as counsel. William Pier, Gardiner’s grandson, recalled for King biographer James Gregory Moore his mother’s “irritation” with Ada King’s lawsuit. James Gregory Moore, e-mail communication to author, May 30, 2006.
23
See the entry for Henry W. Jessup, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, New York, NY, SD 22, ED 31-54a, sheet 21B,
http://content.ancestrylibrary.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=5542&dbid=6224&iid=NYT626_1566-0616&fn=Henry
+W&ln=Jessup&st=r&ssrc=&pid= 42626296 (accessed Aug. 19, 2007); Henry Harris Jessup Papers,
http://history.pcusa.org/finding/phs%20183.xml
(accessed Aug. 19, 2007). Jessup’s many publications include three novels (several of which hinge on legal themes) and at least six nonfiction titles, including
Professional Ideals of the Lawyer, Law for Wives and Daughters, The Bill of Rights and Its Destruction,
and
History of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.
See also “Club Members Pay Tribute to Hallman,”
New York Times,
Mar. 20, 1934, 24, and “H. W. Jessup Dead; Noted as Lawyer,”
New York Times,
Dec. 10, 1934, 21.
24
Morris Bell, 1930 U.S. Federal Census. On Bell’s work agreement with the Kings, see Morris Pottish Deposition to the Court, 8 Feb. 1934.
25
“John S. Melcher: Lawyer Headed Society to Aid Ruptured and Crippled,”
New York Times,
July 29, 1945, 39; “Miss Gardiner Married,”
New York Times,
Aug. 25, 1901, 3.
26
“Seth S. Terry Dead; Long Lawyer Here,”
New York Times,
Dec. 19, 1932, 15.
27
“Secret ‘Union’ of Pair Unearthed by Struggle in Court,”
Amsterdam News,
Dec. 30, 1932, 1.
28
David O’Donald Cullen, “George Foster Peabody,”
American National Biography Online,
http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-00539.html
(accessed Aug. 19, 2007); Louise Ware, “George Foster Peabody,”
Dictionary of American Biography
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958), 23:520- 21; “Roosevelt Drives Own Car at Warm Springs; Takes Two Trips as He Begins His Holiday,”
New York Times,
Nov. 20, 1933, 2.
29
Winne, Amended Answer to Complaint.
30
Bell filed a petition for financial redress by requesting a lien on Ada King’s house on 30 Jan. 1934. See Morris Pottish Deposition to the Court, 8 Feb. 1934: “Both Mr. Bell and I advised against bringing this action for just that reason that the result of the action might probably be the very result which has been attained. It was only under constant and determined pressure from the plaintiffs and against the advice of Mr. Bell that this action was commenced.”
31
See the entry for Herman Schwartz, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Brooklyn, NY, ED 24-765, SD 30, sheet 10A,
http://content.ancestrylibrary.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6224&path=New
+ York.Kings.Brooklyn+(Districts+751-1000).765.19 (accessed Aug. 18, 2007).

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