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ScrApper Blackwell death????? Info???

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Prof Scratchy:
That's it BH!

MTJ3:
BH, Thanks for the "shout out" to an undeserving apostate from the parish.  I don't have a lot to add, except a few details, which raise a lot of questions or doubts. 

Robert Beam (75) and one Frank Williams (70) called the police at 9:22 a.m. and reported that they found Scrapper at the rear of Beam's house bleeding from a chest wound.  (On Scrapper?s death certificate, his brother Herschel made a statement that implied that Beam was a friend of Scrapper?s.) Beam initially told police he didn't know what happened to Scrapper.  The police found Scrapper, who was unconscious, at 9:26 a.m. on a Saturday.  Based on a tip from an unidentified source that Beam was the perpetrator, the police searched Beam's house and found what turned out to be the murder weapon in a shoe box at the foot of Beam's bed and arrested Beam.  Beam told a reporter that (1) he and Scrapper had been in Beam's backyard drinking home brew and were high, (2) Beam had been loading a bullet in an empty chamber of a .22 revolver, pulled the hammer back so the cylinder would turn, and his thumb slipped off the hammer and shot Scrapper who fell to the ground at first but appeared not to be injured, Beam saw no blood and Scrapper seemed alright, and (3) Beam didn't come clean about this to the police initially because he didn't know what they would think. 

As noted elsewhere, Scrapper died about 24 hours later from two bullets in his chest.

Beam was initially held without bail. There was a hearing a couple of weeks later at which he may have been able to post bond.  He was scheduled for indictment in December 1962.  I haven't followed up on Beam as I should have done, so beyond that, I don't know what happened to Beam (though I would assume that he was convicted of at least involuntary manslaughter if he made it to trial). 


 

jostber:
More information on Mr.Blackwell here with some interesting links at the end:

https://sundayblues.org/?p=11393

mtzionmemorialfund:

--- Quote from: MTJ3 on November 10, 2018, 12:36:44 PM --- I haven't followed up on Beam as I should have done, so beyond that, I don't know what happened to Beam (though I would assume that he was convicted of at least involuntary manslaughter if he made it to trial).

--- End quote ---

He was sentenced to ten years and got a pardon in 1964.  (See The Indianapolis News, May 12, 1964) He lived a quiet four years until he died of smoke inhalation in 1968.  He has a military headstone.

MTJ3:
Mt. Zion Memorial Fund does fantastic work.  Thank you for all you do.

Robert Beam was born in 1894, so a lot of the reports of his age that you might read are incorrect.  He was indicted on a charge of murder but convicted of (actually, he pled to) assault and battery with intent to commit a felony.  He was sentenced to 1-10 years in accordance with the statutory sentencing guideline for that offense in 1963.  He was paroled with a good conduct discharge after serving the minimum sentence.  Beam was a WW I veteran (803rd Pioneer Infantry Regiment, Company G), hence the military headstone.  He served in France, but his unit did not see combat.

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