IT WAS MURDER NOT AN ACCIDENT

 Norristown, Pennsylvania was a quiet little town, nothing bad

ever seemed to happen. Except way back, when 6 boys were found

hanging from a tree. They named the woods, "6 boys woods".

     We lived on Noble Street, at the corner was Marberger's Meat

Market. Across the street was a neighborhood bar, Ladies entrance

on the side of Noble Street. It was a warm spring night in 1940.

It was late,too late for little girls to be out.  We were outside

waiting for Mom, sitting on the front steps. Gerry, 8 years old,

a neighbor girl, suggested that we play jump rope.  She was waiting

for her Mom to get off work. My younger sister, Mary, 7 years old,

got the rope.  We started playing under the street light at the

corner of Airy and Noble Streets.

     Mary and Gerry were the first to notice that someone was sitting

in a car watching us.  The car was parked behind the Ladies entrance
 
sign. The other side of the street, halfway down to Main Street. 

He was facing us, all we could actually see was his cigarette.  It

lit up when he took a puff. Gerry was scared, but I said, "He was

probably waiting for someone in the bar."

     We went back to playing, but we were watching him. He just sat
 
there and sat there. After some time had passed the bar closed up

early. The people came out and went home. He still sat in the car

and watched. Mary and Gerry were concerned at that time, because

no one got in his car. He was still parked there. Soon a bus stopped

on Main Street a woman got off and the bus drove away. We could see

that he turned his head and watched. After a while, he started up

the car, and moved to our side of the street below Marberger's.

Still facing us. It was darker on this side of the street, because

of the trees.

    We could see the bus stop on Main Street, with the traffic light,

and street lights.  The bus stopped but no one got off.  We kept

playing, and watching.  He was still smoking.  Time passed, another
 
bus on Main Street, a man got off and started walking up Noble

Street toward us.

     The man in the car had started his car. He did not put his

lights on.  The man walking, started to cross Airy Street, toward

us. The car sped around the corner and hit him, and kept on going.

Well, we all hollered and yelled.

     The grownups that saw it, only saw when the car turned the

corner.  Some of them were setting on their front porches on Airy

Street and could not see him parked on Noble Street. No one but us

girls knew the truth, that he had waited for the man.

     It was several weeks, the police came around to the house.
 
They were interviewing everyone that had seen the accident
.
They had already been to Gerry's house.  They questioned us,
 
and picked me to go to court.  I thought it was because I was

9, the oldest of us three.

     Dad continued to talk to Mary and me, after the police
 
left.  He wanted to know, why we were out so late?  What

the man in the car was doing?  We told him how the man

had waited in the car?  The police did not ask us about that.
 
Dad kept talking,and said," How did we know he was waiting? 

We told him about moving the car to the other side of the

street, and starting the car up with no headlights turned on.

Dad said, that did not prove that he was waiting.

     Dad took off work, and kept me out of school, the day

of the trial. I testified in court, about what we saw.  The man

went free. They kept saying it was an accident.

     But Dad knew, the man knew, and now he knew where

we lived.  Everything was printed in the newspaper, our names,
 
our addresses. Dad moved us away.  We did not understand at

the time.  We do now.  Thank God for Dad. He wanted us

to be safe. 

THIS IS A TRUE STORY. WE CAN NOW TALK ABOUT IT.