The Trial of Alex Henson - Donald R. Ross

The Trial of Alex Henson contains the actual transcript of a high profile criminal case

tried in an East Texas town in 1953. Henson was accused of a late-night burglary of

the private residence of a prominent physician and assaulting that physician's wife

with a gun while the doctor was away on an emergency call.

Henson was Black and his alleged victim was white.

The case stirred the emotions of both the white and the Black communities.

The whites were outraged that a Black man had allegedly

committed this vicious attack on a highly respected lady in the community. Their

outrage was matched by a high level of skepticism in the Black community that

Henson was the one who committed it.

The indictment charged Henson with burglary of a private residence at night with

intent to commit rape. The trial had the intrigue of having a highly skilled local defense

attorney as the special prosecutor, hired by the doctor, and a former District Attorney of

a large urban county in Texas, reportedly hired by the NAACP, as the defense attorney.

The trial transcript is analyzed by a retired trial and appellate judge who attended the trial

as a 14-year-old boy and gives his unique perspective on the judge, the lawyers, the jury,

and the evidence in this case.