ree, Continued from page 1 - Pathologist states Clemens _ died ‘unnatural death,’ result . » 1959 vs tia he has of injury to spinal cord his death, and whether this was a, natural or an unnatural death.” : After a long parade of doctors and internes from Vancouver _ xeneral Hospital had given evidence -concerning treatment of Clemens at the hospital, city pathologist Dr, T. R. Harmon, who Performed the autopsy, settled the “natural or ufnatural death” _ Question by testifying: i “I believe that this man died an unnatural death, the result Of an injury to the cervical spinal cord between. the third! and fourth vertebrae.” Circumstances surrounding the arrest of Clemens by Con- stables Dan Brown and Robert Wintrip on July 19 were described y the arresting officers and by Counts varied. Was Clemens beaten, mauled and _ kicked by the two cops? Was he handcuffed at the time? Did the Policemen “throw him’ or “assist him” into the police wagon? Con- flicting testimony was produced on these vital points. _ Rose Chinn, apparently the clos- €st eyewitness to the’ struggle, de- Clared emphatically that Clemens was handcuffed and had been kick- ed and beaten. “Twas coming home from work round 2.80 a.m. and stopped at the Corner for a light to change,” said Mrs. Chinn. “I heard a scream, ‘Help? and saw two policemen beat- mg this man up.” “What man?” inquired Nathan emetz, QC, who was representing ete attorney-general at the inquest. _this colored man,” said Mrs. Chinn, : (pia you know the officers?” ‘ One was Dan Brown ‘and the Other was named Bob. I don’t know i last name.” i 4n you point out these officers n this court room?” Mrs. Chinn turned and without hesitation identified Town and Wintrip. ‘._- Was about 10 feet away from © call box,” continued the wit- Ress. “I saw the colored man | ae la: ‘€ pavement on his back, ‘| << ding his handcuffed hands -up ay his face to protect himself, and : ‘ites two officers were hitting = "he with a club and kicking him. then threw He ‘shes came and they. i “Dia you asked th “Noy” | Were. him.» ; _ Nemetz showed the witness a 8 «ment. she had ‘signed on August Rae” in which four policemen “oy mentioned, ‘ ow did you come to sign this Statement 2” inquired John , representing Tribune Pub- Company, Ltd. see a policeman fall?” € jury foreman. Said Mrs. Chinn. ‘They Standing over him, beating tanto lishin, hing ie ct) etecti my ‘eae tives asked for it at si3t¢ 2 nid You write it out?” ty, they did.” u have been asked embarass- oe oe Mrs Chinn,” said Oreg Di aitland, counsel for Dol- Cle ueman, common-law wife of ‘Has this affected your yt ho Ets. Ch _not ashamed,” ‘answered inn, “and what I saw: I told h about.” ‘ Sai a Constable Dan Brown ever in the ything to you about being Haro] ey of Negroes?” asked “Ness, | €an, counsel for the wit- S.A couple of times,” C Ts. Chinn ai Onstable R ; rferen ver: ns whe obert Wintrip gave a : aa of the arrest of Rtlien = n he took the stand. Constape the evening his partner, aN Dan Brown, had pointed an» "8 to him as “a dangerous i . een Said he went into the Station cafe and: a - Chinese Constables | 4 In. several’ eyewitnesses, but the ac- waiter pointed Clemens -out to him. “He was passed out on the counter, and I shook ‘him, identified myself as a police officer, asked him where he lived and told him to go home. “He got up and walked toward the door, then turned to me and said, ‘This is a free country, I don’t have to listen to any cop,’ and hit me in the face. I fought back to protect myself and to subdue him. “T got him outside, and two of- ficers in a prowler car asked if I wanted the wagon. I said I did, then forced Clemens to walk along to the call box, and was joined there by Constable Brown in a min- ute. Clemens went berserk when he saw Brown approaching. Brown grabbed! him by the right arm, then Brown fell or was knocked down, and Clemens fell on top of him and I was pulled down: too. “Constable Donald Grant from the prowler car came to assist us and took Clemens by the left arm. I stood on one of Clemens’ legs and held the other leg to prevent him kicking. The wagon came and we had to pull Clemens into it as he wouldn’t walk. He began to strug- gle in the wagon and we had to use force to subdue him.” Wintrip testified that at the police station Clemens “slumped to the floor” when being booked He added that during the fight he, Wintrip, had injured his left hand and was off work for five days. “Where did you hit Clemens?” asked Coroner Whitbread. “T don’t know.” : . “Did you think you hit him hard enough to injure him?” ‘“T don’t think so.” Wintrip denied that Clemens was handcuffed at any time. ‘Constable Dan Brown testified that when he saw Wintrip “having, near the trouble” with Clemens patrol box he hurried over. “I took hold of the prisoner's right arm and the man seemed to go berserk,’”’ he said. ‘We were wrestling around and I slipped and pulled Clemens on top of me and Wintrip on top of Clemens. Grant came and we held Clemens till the wagon arriv- ed. -He was still struggling. We put him in the wagon. I got in first, and had to struggle to hold him. Clemens broke away again and started to fight in the wagon, and I told him to cut it out. We grabbed his arms and held him till we got to the station.” “What type of cafe is the New Station?” asked Coroner Whitbread. “T would say it is a place for undesirables,” said Brown. “Can you suggest why Clemens fought so hard when you came up?” asked John Stanton. ‘ “He’s the type that would fight. He has no love for the police.” “Do you know why he folded up in jail?” .“No. I thought it might be over- indulgence in liquor.” At this point .a middle-aged Negro. woman rose in the court room and in'a clear voice ex- _ claimed, “I can’t stand any more of this. It’s terrible!” and walk- ed out of the room. “Put her out-” exclaimed Coroner Whitbread, but the woman had al- ready left. Constable Donald Grant gave a version of the affair similar to the stories told by Brown and Wintrip, and under questioning by Robert Maitland, stated that'no handcuffs were used on ‘Clemens. Constable Frank Lines, driver of the police wagon, said he saw no fighting, either outside or inside the police wagon. He said that when he arrived he saw two police- men holding a Negro down on the pavement, and one plainlothesman standing nearby. ‘Did you see if the man was handcuffed?” asked Maitland. “No. I don’t remember.” “Do you know if you made a statement with regard to this mat- ter? Do you remember saying in that statement that you saw a Negro lying on the sidewalk, handcuffed?” “TJ don’t remember.” Maitland asked Coroner. Whit- bread to have the statement pro- duced. “The record office closes at 5 p.m. We can’t get it tonight,” said the coroner. “It makes no difference whether he was hand- cuffed or not.” “J would like it to be produced,” said Maitland. “This is a little bit different from an ordinary /in- quest.” ; “Not much,” snapped Whitbread. “Then why is the Attorney-Gen- eral represented here?” “Maitland demanded. At this point Nathan’ Nemetz suggested an adjournment for sup- per. As the evening session began, Nemetz produced a copy of the statement which Constable Lines had signed on July 28, 1952, in which Lines said that when he drove up he saw four officers with* a Negro who was hand- cuffed. / Nemetz: “Do you want to say anything?” Lines: “I had similar. calls that night. I may have been confused. I don‘t know if they had him hand- cuffed or not.” “Ts it possible that you are con- fused now, five months later?” ask- ed Harold Dean. Several witnesses who were in the New Station cafe gave brief testimony, but said they saw no scuffle in the cafe. Two Chinese, one a waiter and one a part own- er, could recall no disturbance in the cafe that night. Neither had asked police to eject Clemens, they said. Medical evidence given by more than a dozen doctors and internes from Vancouver General Hospital described Clemens’ condition when he was first examined on July 19. His reflexes were normal, they said, and he was discharged in police custody that same afternoon. Dr. Boynton said he saw Clemens at 1.30 p.m. that day and he ap- peared to be “emotionally disturb- ed.” When his reflexes were tested “he drew his legs up more slowly than normal, his left leg came up: more quickly than the right, not an uncommon: picture in one who might be hysterical or malingering.” Dr. Boynton said he had not seen the X-ray reports, but had been informed they were negative. His opinion was that Clemens was “malingering.” John Stanton: “Why would you conclude he was in good condition, when he couldn’t walk?” EVE UESCES BUBB IEE * truth.” RUBLE NEL Defen your paper S a fighting journal whose interests and policies are those of the working people who make its publication possible, the Pacific Tribune believes that its readers will support its fight around the case of Clarence Clemens. On this and, other pages are presented the text of the writ for libel issued against the Pacific Tribune by a Vancouver. city policeman and the evidence presented at the inquest into Clem- ens’ death this week. We know our readers will draw their own conclusions as to the vital principles involved. The libel action threatens the continued existence of the Pacific Tribune by involving it in heavy legal costs—the official record of the evidence presented at the inquest will cost $300 and this is only part of the cost. That is why we appeal to our readers to help us carry forward the fight for justice in the Clemens case by contributing, to the defense fund already start- ed by readers in the past few days, In these times the real freedom of the press—the freedom to publish information vital to the public interest, to present it in the public interest and not to suppress it as the daily papers suppressed the Clemens story until the Pacific Tribune forced the issue—must be fought for and that our readers will not fail us. guarded. We are confident To the Pacific Tribune, Room 6, 426 Main St., Vancouver 4, B.C. as a contribution to your defense fund Please send me a collection sheet 0 How many 0 Dr. Boynton: “Well, hysterical patients sometimes act that. way.” Stanton: “What happens when you let them go? Do they just fall down and crawl around until they snap out of it, or what?” Dr. Boynton: “I felt he was -mal- ingering.” Dr. Robert W. Boyd, radiologist at VGH, said X-ray plates taken of Clemens’ neck, skull, hip and wrist showed no signs of any frac- ture or dislocation, but said exam- ination of the plates was made dif- ‘ficult because of some bone deform- ities or degenerations which “I at- tributed to old age.” Clemens was 52. : Dr. Ormond Lyons,ewho attended Clemens at his home after he was released from hospital and from jail on July 19, said that when he examined Clemens he found a scratch on the left side of his nose, lacerations three inches long across each thigh above the kneecap, and a small piece of skin missing from the base of the spine. : “He was crying with pain,” said Dr. Lyons, “and complained _ bit- terly that he felt sore all over his body. I couldn't identify black and | blue marks because of the color of | his skin.” _ Dr. Lyons said that Clemens told him that he had been beaten by two policemen while his hands were tied. “I believed his story,” he said. “I think he told me the Dr. Lyons attended Clemens again the next day, and again on July: 24. On the evening of July 27 Clemens went into a coma and was rushed to Vancouver General Hos- pital. When his temperature was taken it read 109. He never re- covered full consciousness, and re- mained in a semi-paralysed state for nearly five months until his death on Christnias’ Eve. A few hours after Dr. Lyons had given his evidence the Vancouver Province final edition hit the streets carrying a banner headline: ‘BEAT- ING’ STORY BACKED BY PHY- SICIAN. Thomas A. Dehm, representing the Police. Federal Labor Union. took exception to this Province headline. “I want to draw to the attention of the jury,” he said. “this headline in the Prowince. I strong- ly object to that type of reporting.” Coroner Whitebread instructed the jury to pay no attention to newspaper stories about the inquest. On June 23, while Clemens was still able to talk, he told Dolores Dingman and Ray Allen Johnson, CPR porter and friend of long standing. his story of the cireum- stances of his arrest. (The Pacific Tribune. as a public service, will publish this evidence, as told under oath at the inquest, ‘in future is- sues.) . Last witness on the long list was Detective. Earl Tabbutt, who -has been working on the Clemens case since the last week in July. He testified that he had learned from the Workmen’s Compensation Board that Clemens had been on ¢ompen- sation three times some years:ago. | }An official at B.C. penitentiary had told him. over the phone that Clem- :ens, while in that institution, had ! complained of pains in his back and down the hold of a ship. “Did the Compensation Board mention Clemens having faller — down the hold of a ship?” asked” John Stanton. “It is just as I have stated,” re- plied Tabbutt. “There was no evi- ;dence in the Compensation- Board that he had ever fallen down the hold of a ship.” oe Members of the coroner's jury were W. J. Barbour, retired, 955 Thurlow; W. C. Southwick, vice- president and manager, 2970 | ver; Arnold Webster, school prin- cipal, 3578 Chaffey, Burnaby; J. _ F. Buckham, underwriter, 3819 _ Nugent, sales representative, 1792 Raleya. : = LANGLEY PLUMBING AND HEATING LTD. = PROPANE GAS & SHEET METAL WORK = Langley Prairie, B.C. - Phone Langley 354 PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 9, 1953 — PAGE 7 — had, said that he had once fallen _ Mathers Crescent, West Vancou- _—