Triple Tragedy in Alcolu: The execution of 14-year-old George Stinney, Jr., accused of the murders of Betty June Binnicker and Mary Emma Thames.

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Three of Stinney's surviving siblings testified Tuesday that their brother spent the day that the girls vanished with his family and could not have killed them. KR: I remember going to the funeral. I couldn’t believe what they had done to that little boy. I’ll never forget the way he looked. Betty's parents had already lost a baby son, Harold, when he was six months old and, after Betty June, lost a third child, a son who died on duty in the Korean war. According to the family they never recovered. Carolyn added: "For Betty June to be killed in such a horrible way – it was a terrible time for all of them." George's place is here': Aime Ruffner with a portrait of her brother, George Stinney Jr. Photograph: Karen McVeigh for the Observer However, George Stinney Jr.’s execution was not without protest, and as the date of his execution progressed, various campaigns and protests started across South Carolina. In an attempt to save the young boy’s life, protestors petitioned Governor Olin Johnston; demanding mercy for Stinney. Additionally, the protestors sent hundreds of letters and telegrams to the governor’s office and they all demanded clemency. However, it was all in vain and in the end, Stinney could not be saved. A petition to save Stinney’s life 10) George Stinney Jr.’s execution

The 14-year-old had not seen or spoken to his parents for weeks, and they were too terrified of the white mob to show up at the trial. Instead, strangers surrounded him. Fifteen hundred people swelled into the courtroom, too many to fit. They flowed out of every door. No one was willing to host the memorial, however, not even the rural Pinewood church where George is buried. His family wanted to keep the location of his grave secret. A mere 31 days after his arrest, George appeared at the Clarendon County Courthouse in downtown Manning, the county seat, dressed in jeans and a faded blue shirt. A reporter from The State newspaper in Columbia noted that George looked calm and “apparently little concerned.”

In 2014 his conviction was posthumously vacated based on the fact there was little evidence he committed these crimes and supposedly there had been a deathbed confession by a prominent white member of the community about the murders. Stinney became the prime suspect in this case as the bodies of the girls were found near his residence where he used to stay with his parents. Together on their bikes, Mary and Bethy allegedly pulled over to ask Stinney and his sister Aime where they could find yellow maypops. George Stinney Jr.’s siblings were overjoyed to learn that their brother was exonerated after 70 years, appreciating that they were able to live long enough to see it happen. Walker, Tim (January 22, 2014). "George Stinney: After 70 years, justice in sight for boy America sent to electric chair". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.

We can't say whether Stinney "always had his Bible in his hands" from the moment of his conviction up until his death, but multiple news articles from 1944 certainly noted that Stinney brought a Bible with him into the execution chamber on 16 June. The Greenville News, for example, reported that Stinney had "a Bible under his arm" as he sat in the electric chair. Johnston, who was running for the US Senate at the time, was unmoved. In one letter, dated 14 June, two days before the execution, Johnston wrote to a VM Ford of Myrtle Beach who had asked for clemency, that he had spoken with the arresting officer. He said: "It may be interesting for you to know that Stinney killed the smaller girl to rape the larger one. Then he killed the larger girl and raped her dead body. Twenty minutes later he returned and attempted to rape her again, but her body was too cold. All of this he admitted himself." This was rumour – and was contradicted by the physical examination at postmortem. Banner, Stuart (March 5, 2005). "When Killing a Juvenile Was Routine". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Even today, a Confederate soldiers monument towered over the protesters as they gathered. They stood outside the place where, seven decades earlier, an all-white jury had sentenced George to die after only a few moments' debate. The stories we hear are that he was a shy bashful boy, but he was a bully and he was mean," she said, citing allegations by Duke and others. She questions the memories of the Stinney family, the motivation of the attorneys and the timing of the appeal. "Why now? What about in the 1960s, when the civil rights movement was starting? What about in the 1970s or 80s? One was a school teacher. It's not as though they weren't educated."Even though there were rumours that the girls had a stopover at a prominent white family’s house, the police never investigated them nor did they search for a white killer. After receiving reports that the girls had stopped at Stinney’s house, the law enforcement officers arrested George Stinney Jr. and his older brother Johnny. Although they released Johnny, they kept 14-year-old George in custody. Thomas Granger, sixteen-year-old boy who was the first documented juvenile to be executed on United States territory George Junius Stinney jr. ( (Clarendon County), 21 oktober 1929 – Columbia, 16 juni 1944) was een Amerikaanse jongen, die op 14-jarige leeftijd onterecht werd geëxecuteerd op de elektrische stoel vanwege een dubbele moord op twee meisjes. Daarmee was hij de jongste persoon die in de 20e eeuw in Amerika de doodstraf kreeg. Zijn executie, alsmede de vraag omtrent zijn schuld en het proces waarbij hij veroordeeld werd, zijn tot op heden onderwerp van discussie. Vooral vanwege het feit dat de jury die Stinney veroordeelde geheel uit blanken bestond, het feit dat het enige bewijs tegen Stinney bestond uit verklaringen van drie blanke politieagenten die beweerden dat Stinney de moorden zou hebben bekend en het feit dat Stinney's familie niet bij de rechtszaak mocht zijn. Op 17 december 2014 is, 70 jaar na zijn dood, Stinney's straf teruggedraaid door een rechter, vanwege het gebrek aan verdediging tijdens de rechtszaak en een waarschijnlijk gedwongen bekentenis, wat het enige bewijsmateriaal in de zaak was. (nl) A rumor floated around town that the girls had made a stop at a prominent white family’s home on the same day of their murder, but this was never confirmed. And police certainly didn’t seem to be looking for a white killer. I have just talked with the officer who made the arrest in this case. It may be interesting for you to know that Stinney killed the smaller girl to rape the larger one. Then he killed the larger girl and raped her dead body. Twenty minutes later he returned and attempted to rape her again but her body was too cold. All of this he admitted himself.”