March 8, 2022 • 27 mins
Following Jim Duncan's death, the Lancaster County coroner called an inquest to determine what happened inside the police station. Seven witnesses were called to testify under oath; all worked at, or with, the Lancaster police department. After a short deliberation, the small jury concluded that Duncan died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. But the one Black member of the inquest panel didn't believe what became the official account, and doesn't to this day. New episodes coming each Tuesday, through March 16. To continue supporting work like this, visit heraldonline.com/podcasts and consider a digital subscription.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Long Shot is a production of McClatchy Studios and I
Heart Radio. Previously on return Men, Even Bad it got
a little more cautious. What did you guys get more
cautious about white police officers? If that happens this day
in time, that agency backs out, they're not involved in
(00:21):
their own investigation. We did lab work for the investigating agency.
We did not independently investigate. Wow. A lot of the
stories said that he shot himself under in the right here,
so why would you pull with Yeah, they say he
committed sulice, but they say Lancas are always considered itself
(00:51):
a polite southern town. Work shaded moss on highways, calling
the traveler into another quite intentionally. The boat wasn't rocked
by anyone regardless of race. So maybe it's not surprising
that Lancaster authorities never made any sort of documentation about
Jim's death public, even if it would have provided more answers. Historically,
(01:17):
corners will keep all their records in their home, but
because of that, it's hard to know how much documentation
ever really existed. Unfortunately, the year that you're looking for,
along with many other years, is missing, just tally missing
and the silence didn't help anything. Street made it into
a NLF was as proud as we could be. Michael
(01:39):
Bogan is the Bar Street graduate who has remained involved
with the Lancaster community for the past half century. Rush
Duncan was a Jim Duncan. And you know, I really
don't think anyone really has suscepted the police departments Virgin
Day he came into the Polish Department officers gun from
(02:01):
his social and shot him self to eight. So for
the moment, if we don't accept the official police account,
what happened, was it Lieutenant Russell Henson who shot Jim?
If so, why If Alice is right and Jim entered
the police station voluntarily, what could have made a veteran
(02:23):
officer shoot him dead moments after his arrival. People wanted
to expose what happened when you've done but at Lancaster
was a place to stay. They were hoping to because
have stood behind the law and when the law didn't
show up. From the Herald McClatchy Studios and I Heart Radio,
(02:48):
this is return man. I'm Brett McCormick, and this is
part six the end Quest. Mm hmm. Five days after
Jim's death, more than three people crowded into the Lancaster Courthouse,
(03:11):
just a few hundred feet from where Jim had died.
Richard Chandler, Lancaster County's corner had called an inquest. Okay,
so yes, this is actually there's a fascinating history here
and um, okay, it's a quasi judicial proceeding that's gone
out of fashion in most of the country but has
a long history in South Carolina. The easiest way I
(03:32):
think to explain it is to compare to modern things.
Seth Stoughton is a professor at the University of South
Carolina Law School, one of which is a medical examiner.
The medical examiner does the autopsy, determines the cause of death,
and in addition to the medical examiner, we have modern
juries that determine culpability. There's a crime, there's not a crime.
(03:57):
Someone was negligent, someone wasn't negligent. A corner does kind
of a combination of those two things, where the corner
will look not just at the physical autopsy, but also
the circumstances surrounding the death and would have said at
the time and even today in some circumstances, here is
(04:20):
the cause of death and my inquest, as Corner suggests
that the officers failed to take proper steps in this way.
By definition, a coroner's inquest exists in order to establish
the manner in which someone died by natural causes homicide, suicide,
(04:42):
accidental death, or undetermined. Witnesses testify under oath during an inquest,
and at the end a small jury reaches a verdict
on what happened, but that formal pronouncement doesn't directly affect
anyone's rights or preclude a wrongful death civil suit, or
prevent someone from being charged with a crime after the fact.
(05:04):
Inquests have largely gone out of style because their findings
don't actually result in any legal sanctions against anyone. Criminal
and civil courts cover many of the same bases with
real penalties involved. By modern standards, It was this kind
of weird combination of medical examination, including autopsy, and also
(05:24):
a determination of whether the death was morally justified. If
inquests are a bit archaic, The venue where this one
was held has quite a history to Lancaster's Courthouse was
built in eighteen fifteen years after the last American witch
(05:44):
trial was held at the same site in eighteen sixty
one hundred and sixty five slaves were sold at that courthouse,
and four years later General William Sherman's Union troops burned
it to the ground. That final episode might have inspired
the thirty foot tall Confederate monument standing outside the rebuilt structure.
It was coote room capacit time we held a capathitor
(06:07):
would and we have people on the house in the streets. Right.
Floyd White was one of Jim's high school coaches, and
he attended the inquest. He told us the seated courtroom
crowd was mostly black, surrounded by white police officers standing
along three walls. But what's our hero? Yeah, he was
(06:30):
our hero. Who ain't right? Richard Chandler, who spent his
days running an auto body repair shop, later told reporters
he almost didn't call the inquests at all, but he
did because of a growing public outcry over Jim's death. Right,
So Chandler hand picked the six person jury or in
(06:54):
quest panel. It consisted of five whites and Billy Ray Crawford,
Chandler's one black employee at the repair shop. Pretty conspicuously,
Billy Ray was also the only member of the panel
named by local newspapers. I had read that you were
the only blackout and then quest panel, so I just
wondered if you had volunteered or if they had volunteered
(07:15):
you for you. They called me, he called it. He
wanted me to be there. You have some black once
as it were black feeling anxious about the police and
about interacting with Jim's family. Jim's widow, Alice, did not
attend the inquest, but his mom did, and ellery brought
representation and out of town twenty something lawyer named Christopher Coates,
(07:39):
who was so fresh out of law school he hadn't
even passed the South Carolina bar yet. The family had
told me they had tried to get lawyers in Lancashire
to represent them and no one would. I mean the
Coats is in his seventies now. He declined to be
part of this podcast, but he told me that at
the time he worked for Thomas Broadwater, a prominent lawyer
in Columbia. Do you remember any kind of sin of
(08:00):
like maybe you know, because of the racial implications, it
was kind of a a very hot case. The touch
coach said yes, for that kind of case in that
kind of place, it made sense that Jim's family went
to Columbia for a lawyer, and Coach said he was
sent to Lancaster because Broadwater just wanted someone president at
the inquest. At the proceeding, the inquest panel heard just
(08:23):
forty one minutes of testimony from seven total witnesses. All
worked for or with local law enforcement, and all supported
the account from Lancaster police that Jim died by suicide.
Five of them were from the Lancaster Police Department, including
Lieutenant Russell Henson and dispatcher George Lloyd. There's a lot
(08:44):
of well dispute about the story. He declined to appear
in this podcast. We spoke briefly by phone at his
home outside Lancaster. Did you ever hear like people that
didn't agree that it went down the way you guys
said it did. What would be your answer to that?
He told me quote, All I can say is what
I've seen and what I heard. If they didn't like it,
(09:06):
that was up to them. The sixth witness at the
inquest was a doctor who worked with local law enforcement
and who briefly examined Jim's body. The seventh witness was
an agent from SLED the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division.
The agent had delivered Henson's gun to sled's crime lab,
(09:26):
and he testified to something else. The SLED agent claimed
the snapdown strap on the personal gun holster Henson war
the day of Jim's death was never unfastened in the
moment before the shooting. It's not clear how he knew
that the agent seemed to be supporting the police account
that Jim had acted suddenly and that there was no
premeditation on Henson's part before the encounter, but jurors had
(09:50):
to take the authority's word for it that Jim could
have yanked Henson's gun from his holster without ever unfastening it. Oh,
right alone, he has somewhady you know. Well long, yeah,
I remember, like I'm looking at you. Remember I recently
sat down with Floyd White in that same courthouse. Your
your thoughts, they're gonna be all white. I wouldn't having
(10:11):
a black officer sing, right, It was just just like
blackness in here, so white officers, but like black crowd
and outside saying what how like tense was it? Well
it wasn't, said Damne. Nobody saying thing. You could hear
some moment, but not enough. No, one from Jim's side
(10:36):
was allowed to speak at the inquest, no statements, no
cross examinations. Some people had told me that they felt
like the inquests, could you know, provide some measure of
relief for them, a lawyer could stand up in a
way that they, as black people cannot. Coats remembered many
of Lancaster's black residents hoped he would play a larger
(10:57):
role there. But inquests are not legal hearings, and there's
no standard procedure to be followed. So that seems to
me like the misunderstanding of what was going to happen
at that inquest, like it was going to be some
kind of hearing you would be able to speak, the
family would be able to speak, when in reality that
was not the case at all. Coats told me quote
(11:20):
a corner's inquest would not be the forum you would
want to litigate a case like this in it was
my understanding, and I think Mr Broadwaters understanding that Duncan's
family would be looking to file a federal lawsuit in
which there would have been an allegation of a wrongful
death and the defendants would be members of the Lancaster
Police Department. But given the way Chandler ran his inquest,
(11:41):
the panel that day in Lancaster was left with two options.
Either law enforcement eyewitnesses were telling the truth and Duncan
died by suicide, or they were lying under oath to
cover up a killing. It took just twenty two minutes
of deliberation for the inquest panel to return its verdict.
Chandler and now to the courthouse audience that Jim quote
(12:02):
came to his death by a self inflicted thirty eight
caliber gunshot wound. The inquest is now complete. Although I
removed by that was they want to say we have
the police go in and shot itself. But I don't
believe that. Ship. Billy Ray Crawford couldn't recall the exact
panel vote, but he did remember most of the panelists
thinking everybody yourself, so you know it will be a
(12:26):
big deal of killing yourself. Yeah yeah, but you didn't
really think that he did that though, Well that's what
they say. Wouldn't that what this is, right? I wouldn't
do you remember, like, uh, they say, you know he
died by suicide. Yeah. Self complicated. Floyd White said the
(12:48):
inquest had nothing to resolve the community's confusion and anger.
Did people stand up then? You know, and sometimes nobody
can be to dentifier by wouldn't saybody, so they're gonna
express their right. They didn't know what to say. You
(13:11):
don't know what to say about what you've been situation
like that. We'll be back in a moment. When you
mentioned the South, most people think of cotton in South Carolina,
lastest of those days would look with astonishment at King
(13:34):
Cotton's empire today. Back then, Lancaster was at least thirty
miles from any significant urban area. You'll see them wherever
you drive, and the textile belt such giant mills as
this one and Leicester largest cotton mill ever constructed under
a single room. Following Jim's death, racial tensions were clearly high.
(13:56):
Richard Chandler's son, Rick, is a lawyer in Lancaster today.
He was a teenager when Jim died. Rick didn't respond
to my request for an interview, But when Richard Chandler
died in two thousand nine, Rick told the Lancaster News
that after the inquest into Jim's death, quote sled in
the Sheriff's department watched our house. Rick told a story
(14:17):
about relatives coming to visit, and said that when they
approached the house, sled agents rushed out of the woods
around the Chandler home to confront them. Rick told the
newspaper quote, Dad was scared. I don't know if he
was scared for himself or his family. It wasn't just
his life that was in danger. There were two or
three people. They were worried about two. But at the
(14:40):
same time, much of Lancaster's black population worried about the
economic consequences of speaking out in the shadow of Springs Mill,
the ability to bring up complaints and get some representation
that you didn't find any in these company dominated times
like Lancaster. Timothy mentioned is an expert in the history
of racial integrat in the textile industry of the American South.
(15:03):
He said, even the police would probably be the brothers
of maal workers. They would know people, and they would
be a you know, I don't if you want to
use the word conspiracy, but you know, like there's a
network to keep it quiet and to suppress what happens.
He wasn't talking about Jim's case in particular, so much
as acknowledging that even now Lancaster is an isolated rural town,
(15:25):
it felt especially so in nineteen two. Springs controlled thousands
of jobs in town and had financial influence at the hospital,
the bank, even the local newspaper. Around the time of
Jim's death, the Springs CEO gave a speech that only
reinforced the company's paternalistic control of the town. He said, quote,
(15:46):
revolution should be controlled by force if necessary. A lot
of times that we're not like Birmingham. It's not like
that here, but often there were attentions and even if
the violence isn't now on the surface, there's a lot
of press attention, and you know, white control of the
black community, and you have to dig deeper and find
out what's going on. There seems to be no evidence
(16:14):
that Jim died any other way than the manner in
which Lancaster police described at the time. It's also true
there's not much evidence of anything. White authorities in this
rural southern town conducted what seems to have been a
cursory investigation and a one sided inquest. It's entirely possible
those were not covering up any sort of wrongdoing. And
(16:34):
yet it's also true that if police were trying to
cover up wrongdoing, this was the way to do it.
I'm not trying to indict police officers because many of
them are great and you don't know how really Cete
kicks in and the things that people will do. Upton
Bell is the former Colts Scout who first saw Jim's
potential at Maryland State. Because of my experience in small
(16:56):
towns all over the South, there are many secret none
of us will ever find out. When it comes to race.
We this is a great mystery. It involves race, the
mental state of the person, the police state at the time,
and a town that was scared to death to say anything.
(17:17):
I mean, it's it's it's almost like a Gothic novel.
If if we didn't know this was a real person,
I would say, wow, that's pretty interesting. The inquest ruling
pretty clearly showed there was no appetite to investigate further,
let alone consider criminal charges against anyone. A federal civil
rights lawsuit could have been possible if Jim's family had
(17:40):
pursued one. We couldn't get any help here. Door You
open the door ship Jim's brother, Elroy, and Elroy's wife Linda,
and the attorney that we had. He just said that
nobody would talk period, and he was saying he didn't
know what and whom, you know. Made the people feel
(18:02):
like they couldn't even address the issue, you know, if
they were told that something would happen to them or
their families or anything, but they just shut down. Now
one person wanted to talk about in our conversations. Christopher
Coates vaguely remember trying to speak with a few of
Jim's friends and relatives in Lancaster. But then the Broadwater
(18:26):
law firm apparently ceased its involvement in the case. It's
not clear why. Broadwater himself is now in a senior
home in Columbia. He couldn't recall any details of Jim's
case when I called him. Coats speculated that a lack
of heart evidence, coupled with Jim's history of mental health treatment,
would have made it a hard case to win, whatever
(18:46):
the reasons. After Broadwater backed out, no other firms took
the case either. The family felt stuck and unsure of
what to do next. Know where there's from fourth to
mention anything about the shooting. And they knew they lived
in a small or sleepy southern town. Racism was abundant,
(19:11):
but it was just you know right right on her.
See like police people know what to say to put
fear into people. Elroy says that last part was one
final factor in his own hesitation to pursue legal action.
He told a reporter at the time and confirmed to
(19:32):
me that after the inquest he had a conversation with
Chief Larry Lower. According to Elroy, the chief told him, quote,
I'd advise you not to pursue this further. One death
is enough. We'll be back after this. The story was
(19:56):
that my brother took a gun off of the police
officer and shot stuff in my head. As stunning as
the official version of Jim's death might be, is it
possible as any other hypothesis seems equally unusual. Think of
this scenario. A guy his age comes in. Let's say
(20:16):
he was mentally upset about whatever. Upton Bell was the
Colts executive who helped draft Jim. Now this again nine
two versus sake, because then the police station is really upset.
He's screaming and yelling. His version projects at least a
kind of rationality on the situation, and maybe your scenario.
They tried to calm them down, and as a result,
(20:39):
maybe he went for one of the guns or something
like that. If you were white and screaming and yelling,
would it have been a different situation. I just find
it very hard to believe if you're going to commit suicide,
would you walk in being black, walk into a white
station and blow your brains out in front of everybody.
(21:00):
Carla Diese, the current Lancaster Corner, wondered the same thing.
It's very perplacing, and I'm not disputing either way. I'm
just bouncing around things. A tussle could certainly end up
in a head shot, but typically if a cop gets
his gun back, they usually shoot center mass. All right,
(21:21):
But this is where you have to look at everything
on both sides. I want to say here. Current South
Carolina authorities were helpful with my research whenever they could be,
and Deese was sincerely curious about trying to solve this puzzle.
If you're in a tussle with somebody and you're in
a decision making moment that one of you has to
go home tonight to your family, you don't really care
(21:43):
where you shoot, right, and you can pretty much fit
this anywhere you won't right. It's the rest of the
details you need that seemed to be non existent. Des
also offered a helpful note about confusion over the side
of the entry wound on Jim's head. Where was his
sun warned one of the news stories said that he
was shot behind the right ear. His wife told me
(22:05):
that somebody at the funeral and told her left, which
would be weird because he's right handed. I mean, there's
a lot of stuff would get worked up about the
left the right unless you're sewing on top. Serr report
on that, because you could have any entrance and that
would look similar. Yeah, okay, that's good to know. As
(22:30):
I spoke with dozens of people over the past three years,
how was Christmas? Yeah, it's good, it's good. The lack
of detail here was still illuminating in its own way.
With an uncertain incident like Jim's death. What questions do
we choose to ask and what answers do we believe?
Those things say a lot about all of us. One
(22:53):
thing that helps conspiracy theories flourishes official action that seems
kind of half a now what it is that the
event itself deserves? This is Mark Finster. He's a professor
at the University of Florida and an expert on conspiracy theories.
I am the author of conspiracy theories, Secrecy and Power
in American Culture and the transparency mixed secrets, leaks and
(23:16):
uncontrollable government information. For the moment, let's say the other
possible narratives about Jim's death are hypotheses that a group
of people took intentional steps to conceal dangerous actions. In short,
we'll call them conspiracy theories. We have compromission bias, which
we think and we seek out pieces of information that
(23:39):
fit into an existing scheme that we have and the
way we understand the world. Conspiracy theories, because they are
particularly heightened way of viewing the world, work the same way.
Carla des and Upton Bell could imagine a confrontation in
which Lieutenant Hinson acted, if not reasonably try to come
(24:00):
of them down. Maybe he went for one of the
guns or something like that, at least understandably. If you're
in a tessa with somebody and you're in a decision
making moment, you don't really care where you shot. See it.
But Jim's brother, Elroy, did you watch them football yesterday?
You have hardlock football. Most of the town suspects a
(24:24):
very different cause and effect. The detector just gun shot
Butch in the back of the head. Okay, but Butch
was fast enough and a six he's probably as fast
as he was gonna eb Yeah, you know, and I'm
saying that there's no way unless he was behind it
(24:45):
just pulls shirt. I've seen no evidence that the fifty
two year old lieutenant executed Jim that morning, But clearly
for Elroy and much of the black population in Lancaster,
it seems plausible. The idea that whites thought that they
were inferior wasn't a conspiracy theory put into these damnable proposals.
(25:12):
There are conspiracies in the world, and so having a
theory of now that conspiracy is not necessarily irrational. It
might not even be wrong. Here, Spinster, growing up in
the Gym Grove, Souths and you're African American, there is
a conspiracy against you to try to prevent your economic success,
(25:39):
to try to prevent you from moving to particular neighborhoods,
to try to prevent you from going to particular schools.
So if you grew up in that era, then viewing
the world through a less like that is not necessarily parent.
You're viewing the world in the way in which the
world is treated. Yeah. None of the other theories that
(26:06):
I heard about Jim's death seemed to reckon with his
likely depression, or the potential impacts of CTE, or the
possibility that he wanted to take his own life. But
one scandalous theory came up time and time again, and
it was something I could look into. I work at
the newspaper in Rockyoll, South Carolina. Was your dad, Russell Henton,
(26:28):
the police officer from Mica start and on part seven
of Return Man, Jim Duncan was he didn't question a
lot of those attitudes because it would be like questioning
whether the sun was going to come up in the
east in the morning or not. How we interact with
(26:49):
people depends on our perception of their social status. Mr.
As I've talked to her on the phone like a
month or two ago. Right, I'm Brett McCormick. Return Man
is a production of The Herald McClatchy Studios and I
Heart Radio. It's produced by Matt Walsh, Kara Tabor Cotta, Stevens,
(27:13):
Rachel Wise, and Davin Coburn. The executive producer for I
Heart Radio is Sean Titone. For lots more on this story,
go to Harold online dot com slash return Man. If
you have any additional information about Jim Duncan's life or death,
email us at return Man at Harold online dot com.
To continue supporting this kind of work, visit Harold online
(27:36):
dot com slash Podcasts and consider a digital subscription. And
for more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows
Long Shot is a production of McClatchy Studios and I
Heart Radio. Previously on return Men, Even Bad it got
a little more cautious. What did you guys get more
cautious about white police officers? If that happens this day
in time, that agency backs out, they're not involved in
(00:21):
their own investigation. We did lab work for the investigating agency.
We did not independently investigate. Wow. A lot of the
stories said that he shot himself under in the right here,
so why would you pull with Yeah, they say he
committed sulice, but they say Lancas are always considered itself
(00:51):
a polite southern town. Work shaded moss on highways, calling
the traveler into another quite intentionally. The boat wasn't rocked
by anyone regardless of race. So maybe it's not surprising
that Lancaster authorities never made any sort of documentation about
Jim's death public, even if it would have provided more answers. Historically,
(01:17):
corners will keep all their records in their home, but
because of that, it's hard to know how much documentation
ever really existed. Unfortunately, the year that you're looking for,
along with many other years, is missing, just tally missing
and the silence didn't help anything. Street made it into
a NLF was as proud as we could be. Michael
(01:39):
Bogan is the Bar Street graduate who has remained involved
with the Lancaster community for the past half century. Rush
Duncan was a Jim Duncan. And you know, I really
don't think anyone really has suscepted the police departments Virgin
Day he came into the Polish Department officers gun from
(02:01):
his social and shot him self to eight. So for
the moment, if we don't accept the official police account,
what happened, was it Lieutenant Russell Henson who shot Jim?
If so, why If Alice is right and Jim entered
the police station voluntarily, what could have made a veteran
(02:23):
officer shoot him dead moments after his arrival. People wanted
to expose what happened when you've done but at Lancaster
was a place to stay. They were hoping to because
have stood behind the law and when the law didn't
show up. From the Herald McClatchy Studios and I Heart Radio,
(02:48):
this is return man. I'm Brett McCormick, and this is
part six the end Quest. Mm hmm. Five days after
Jim's death, more than three people crowded into the Lancaster Courthouse,
(03:11):
just a few hundred feet from where Jim had died.
Richard Chandler, Lancaster County's corner had called an inquest. Okay,
so yes, this is actually there's a fascinating history here
and um, okay, it's a quasi judicial proceeding that's gone
out of fashion in most of the country but has
a long history in South Carolina. The easiest way I
(03:32):
think to explain it is to compare to modern things.
Seth Stoughton is a professor at the University of South
Carolina Law School, one of which is a medical examiner.
The medical examiner does the autopsy, determines the cause of death,
and in addition to the medical examiner, we have modern
juries that determine culpability. There's a crime, there's not a crime.
(03:57):
Someone was negligent, someone wasn't negligent. A corner does kind
of a combination of those two things, where the corner
will look not just at the physical autopsy, but also
the circumstances surrounding the death and would have said at
the time and even today in some circumstances, here is
(04:20):
the cause of death and my inquest, as Corner suggests
that the officers failed to take proper steps in this way.
By definition, a coroner's inquest exists in order to establish
the manner in which someone died by natural causes homicide, suicide,
(04:42):
accidental death, or undetermined. Witnesses testify under oath during an inquest,
and at the end a small jury reaches a verdict
on what happened, but that formal pronouncement doesn't directly affect
anyone's rights or preclude a wrongful death civil suit, or
prevent someone from being charged with a crime after the fact.
(05:04):
Inquests have largely gone out of style because their findings
don't actually result in any legal sanctions against anyone. Criminal
and civil courts cover many of the same bases with
real penalties involved. By modern standards, It was this kind
of weird combination of medical examination, including autopsy, and also
(05:24):
a determination of whether the death was morally justified. If
inquests are a bit archaic, The venue where this one
was held has quite a history to Lancaster's Courthouse was
built in eighteen fifteen years after the last American witch
(05:44):
trial was held at the same site in eighteen sixty
one hundred and sixty five slaves were sold at that courthouse,
and four years later General William Sherman's Union troops burned
it to the ground. That final episode might have inspired
the thirty foot tall Confederate monument standing outside the rebuilt structure.
It was coote room capacit time we held a capathitor
(06:07):
would and we have people on the house in the streets. Right.
Floyd White was one of Jim's high school coaches, and
he attended the inquest. He told us the seated courtroom
crowd was mostly black, surrounded by white police officers standing
along three walls. But what's our hero? Yeah, he was
(06:30):
our hero. Who ain't right? Richard Chandler, who spent his
days running an auto body repair shop, later told reporters
he almost didn't call the inquests at all, but he
did because of a growing public outcry over Jim's death. Right,
So Chandler hand picked the six person jury or in
(06:54):
quest panel. It consisted of five whites and Billy Ray Crawford,
Chandler's one black employee at the repair shop. Pretty conspicuously,
Billy Ray was also the only member of the panel
named by local newspapers. I had read that you were
the only blackout and then quest panel, so I just
wondered if you had volunteered or if they had volunteered
(07:15):
you for you. They called me, he called it. He
wanted me to be there. You have some black once
as it were black feeling anxious about the police and
about interacting with Jim's family. Jim's widow, Alice, did not
attend the inquest, but his mom did, and ellery brought
representation and out of town twenty something lawyer named Christopher Coates,
(07:39):
who was so fresh out of law school he hadn't
even passed the South Carolina bar yet. The family had
told me they had tried to get lawyers in Lancashire
to represent them and no one would. I mean the
Coats is in his seventies now. He declined to be
part of this podcast, but he told me that at
the time he worked for Thomas Broadwater, a prominent lawyer
in Columbia. Do you remember any kind of sin of
(08:00):
like maybe you know, because of the racial implications, it
was kind of a a very hot case. The touch
coach said yes, for that kind of case in that
kind of place, it made sense that Jim's family went
to Columbia for a lawyer, and Coach said he was
sent to Lancaster because Broadwater just wanted someone president at
the inquest. At the proceeding, the inquest panel heard just
(08:23):
forty one minutes of testimony from seven total witnesses. All
worked for or with local law enforcement, and all supported
the account from Lancaster police that Jim died by suicide.
Five of them were from the Lancaster Police Department, including
Lieutenant Russell Henson and dispatcher George Lloyd. There's a lot
(08:44):
of well dispute about the story. He declined to appear
in this podcast. We spoke briefly by phone at his
home outside Lancaster. Did you ever hear like people that
didn't agree that it went down the way you guys
said it did. What would be your answer to that?
He told me quote, All I can say is what
I've seen and what I heard. If they didn't like it,
(09:06):
that was up to them. The sixth witness at the
inquest was a doctor who worked with local law enforcement
and who briefly examined Jim's body. The seventh witness was
an agent from SLED the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division.
The agent had delivered Henson's gun to sled's crime lab,
(09:26):
and he testified to something else. The SLED agent claimed
the snapdown strap on the personal gun holster Henson war
the day of Jim's death was never unfastened in the
moment before the shooting. It's not clear how he knew
that the agent seemed to be supporting the police account
that Jim had acted suddenly and that there was no
premeditation on Henson's part before the encounter, but jurors had
(09:50):
to take the authority's word for it that Jim could
have yanked Henson's gun from his holster without ever unfastening it. Oh,
right alone, he has somewhady you know. Well long, yeah,
I remember, like I'm looking at you. Remember I recently
sat down with Floyd White in that same courthouse. Your
your thoughts, they're gonna be all white. I wouldn't having
(10:11):
a black officer sing, right, It was just just like
blackness in here, so white officers, but like black crowd
and outside saying what how like tense was it? Well
it wasn't, said Damne. Nobody saying thing. You could hear
some moment, but not enough. No, one from Jim's side
(10:36):
was allowed to speak at the inquest, no statements, no
cross examinations. Some people had told me that they felt
like the inquests, could you know, provide some measure of
relief for them, a lawyer could stand up in a
way that they, as black people cannot. Coats remembered many
of Lancaster's black residents hoped he would play a larger
(10:57):
role there. But inquests are not legal hearings, and there's
no standard procedure to be followed. So that seems to
me like the misunderstanding of what was going to happen
at that inquest, like it was going to be some
kind of hearing you would be able to speak, the
family would be able to speak, when in reality that
was not the case at all. Coats told me quote
(11:20):
a corner's inquest would not be the forum you would
want to litigate a case like this in it was
my understanding, and I think Mr Broadwaters understanding that Duncan's
family would be looking to file a federal lawsuit in
which there would have been an allegation of a wrongful
death and the defendants would be members of the Lancaster
Police Department. But given the way Chandler ran his inquest,
(11:41):
the panel that day in Lancaster was left with two options.
Either law enforcement eyewitnesses were telling the truth and Duncan
died by suicide, or they were lying under oath to
cover up a killing. It took just twenty two minutes
of deliberation for the inquest panel to return its verdict.
Chandler and now to the courthouse audience that Jim quote
(12:02):
came to his death by a self inflicted thirty eight
caliber gunshot wound. The inquest is now complete. Although I
removed by that was they want to say we have
the police go in and shot itself. But I don't
believe that. Ship. Billy Ray Crawford couldn't recall the exact
panel vote, but he did remember most of the panelists
thinking everybody yourself, so you know it will be a
(12:26):
big deal of killing yourself. Yeah yeah, but you didn't
really think that he did that though, Well that's what
they say. Wouldn't that what this is, right? I wouldn't
do you remember, like, uh, they say, you know he
died by suicide. Yeah. Self complicated. Floyd White said the
(12:48):
inquest had nothing to resolve the community's confusion and anger.
Did people stand up then? You know, and sometimes nobody
can be to dentifier by wouldn't saybody, so they're gonna
express their right. They didn't know what to say. You
(13:11):
don't know what to say about what you've been situation
like that. We'll be back in a moment. When you
mentioned the South, most people think of cotton in South Carolina,
lastest of those days would look with astonishment at King
(13:34):
Cotton's empire today. Back then, Lancaster was at least thirty
miles from any significant urban area. You'll see them wherever
you drive, and the textile belt such giant mills as
this one and Leicester largest cotton mill ever constructed under
a single room. Following Jim's death, racial tensions were clearly high.
(13:56):
Richard Chandler's son, Rick, is a lawyer in Lancaster today.
He was a teenager when Jim died. Rick didn't respond
to my request for an interview, But when Richard Chandler
died in two thousand nine, Rick told the Lancaster News
that after the inquest into Jim's death, quote sled in
the Sheriff's department watched our house. Rick told a story
(14:17):
about relatives coming to visit, and said that when they
approached the house, sled agents rushed out of the woods
around the Chandler home to confront them. Rick told the
newspaper quote, Dad was scared. I don't know if he
was scared for himself or his family. It wasn't just
his life that was in danger. There were two or
three people. They were worried about two. But at the
(14:40):
same time, much of Lancaster's black population worried about the
economic consequences of speaking out in the shadow of Springs Mill,
the ability to bring up complaints and get some representation
that you didn't find any in these company dominated times
like Lancaster. Timothy mentioned is an expert in the history
of racial integrat in the textile industry of the American South.
(15:03):
He said, even the police would probably be the brothers
of maal workers. They would know people, and they would
be a you know, I don't if you want to
use the word conspiracy, but you know, like there's a
network to keep it quiet and to suppress what happens.
He wasn't talking about Jim's case in particular, so much
as acknowledging that even now Lancaster is an isolated rural town,
(15:25):
it felt especially so in nineteen two. Springs controlled thousands
of jobs in town and had financial influence at the hospital,
the bank, even the local newspaper. Around the time of
Jim's death, the Springs CEO gave a speech that only
reinforced the company's paternalistic control of the town. He said, quote,
(15:46):
revolution should be controlled by force if necessary. A lot
of times that we're not like Birmingham. It's not like
that here, but often there were attentions and even if
the violence isn't now on the surface, there's a lot
of press attention, and you know, white control of the
black community, and you have to dig deeper and find
out what's going on. There seems to be no evidence
(16:14):
that Jim died any other way than the manner in
which Lancaster police described at the time. It's also true
there's not much evidence of anything. White authorities in this
rural southern town conducted what seems to have been a
cursory investigation and a one sided inquest. It's entirely possible
those were not covering up any sort of wrongdoing. And
(16:34):
yet it's also true that if police were trying to
cover up wrongdoing, this was the way to do it.
I'm not trying to indict police officers because many of
them are great and you don't know how really Cete
kicks in and the things that people will do. Upton
Bell is the former Colts Scout who first saw Jim's
potential at Maryland State. Because of my experience in small
(16:56):
towns all over the South, there are many secret none
of us will ever find out. When it comes to race.
We this is a great mystery. It involves race, the
mental state of the person, the police state at the time,
and a town that was scared to death to say anything.
(17:17):
I mean, it's it's it's almost like a Gothic novel.
If if we didn't know this was a real person,
I would say, wow, that's pretty interesting. The inquest ruling
pretty clearly showed there was no appetite to investigate further,
let alone consider criminal charges against anyone. A federal civil
rights lawsuit could have been possible if Jim's family had
(17:40):
pursued one. We couldn't get any help here. Door You
open the door ship Jim's brother, Elroy, and Elroy's wife Linda,
and the attorney that we had. He just said that
nobody would talk period, and he was saying he didn't
know what and whom, you know. Made the people feel
(18:02):
like they couldn't even address the issue, you know, if
they were told that something would happen to them or
their families or anything, but they just shut down. Now
one person wanted to talk about in our conversations. Christopher
Coates vaguely remember trying to speak with a few of
Jim's friends and relatives in Lancaster. But then the Broadwater
(18:26):
law firm apparently ceased its involvement in the case. It's
not clear why. Broadwater himself is now in a senior
home in Columbia. He couldn't recall any details of Jim's
case when I called him. Coats speculated that a lack
of heart evidence, coupled with Jim's history of mental health treatment,
would have made it a hard case to win, whatever
(18:46):
the reasons. After Broadwater backed out, no other firms took
the case either. The family felt stuck and unsure of
what to do next. Know where there's from fourth to
mention anything about the shooting. And they knew they lived
in a small or sleepy southern town. Racism was abundant,
(19:11):
but it was just you know right right on her.
See like police people know what to say to put
fear into people. Elroy says that last part was one
final factor in his own hesitation to pursue legal action.
He told a reporter at the time and confirmed to
(19:32):
me that after the inquest he had a conversation with
Chief Larry Lower. According to Elroy, the chief told him, quote,
I'd advise you not to pursue this further. One death
is enough. We'll be back after this. The story was
(19:56):
that my brother took a gun off of the police
officer and shot stuff in my head. As stunning as
the official version of Jim's death might be, is it
possible as any other hypothesis seems equally unusual. Think of
this scenario. A guy his age comes in. Let's say
(20:16):
he was mentally upset about whatever. Upton Bell was the
Colts executive who helped draft Jim. Now this again nine
two versus sake, because then the police station is really upset.
He's screaming and yelling. His version projects at least a
kind of rationality on the situation, and maybe your scenario.
They tried to calm them down, and as a result,
(20:39):
maybe he went for one of the guns or something
like that. If you were white and screaming and yelling,
would it have been a different situation. I just find
it very hard to believe if you're going to commit suicide,
would you walk in being black, walk into a white
station and blow your brains out in front of everybody.
(21:00):
Carla Diese, the current Lancaster Corner, wondered the same thing.
It's very perplacing, and I'm not disputing either way. I'm
just bouncing around things. A tussle could certainly end up
in a head shot, but typically if a cop gets
his gun back, they usually shoot center mass. All right,
(21:21):
But this is where you have to look at everything
on both sides. I want to say here. Current South
Carolina authorities were helpful with my research whenever they could be,
and Deese was sincerely curious about trying to solve this puzzle.
If you're in a tussle with somebody and you're in
a decision making moment that one of you has to
go home tonight to your family, you don't really care
(21:43):
where you shoot, right, and you can pretty much fit
this anywhere you won't right. It's the rest of the
details you need that seemed to be non existent. Des
also offered a helpful note about confusion over the side
of the entry wound on Jim's head. Where was his
sun warned one of the news stories said that he
was shot behind the right ear. His wife told me
(22:05):
that somebody at the funeral and told her left, which
would be weird because he's right handed. I mean, there's
a lot of stuff would get worked up about the
left the right unless you're sewing on top. Serr report
on that, because you could have any entrance and that
would look similar. Yeah, okay, that's good to know. As
(22:30):
I spoke with dozens of people over the past three years,
how was Christmas? Yeah, it's good, it's good. The lack
of detail here was still illuminating in its own way.
With an uncertain incident like Jim's death. What questions do
we choose to ask and what answers do we believe?
Those things say a lot about all of us. One
(22:53):
thing that helps conspiracy theories flourishes official action that seems
kind of half a now what it is that the
event itself deserves? This is Mark Finster. He's a professor
at the University of Florida and an expert on conspiracy theories.
I am the author of conspiracy theories, Secrecy and Power
in American Culture and the transparency mixed secrets, leaks and
(23:16):
uncontrollable government information. For the moment, let's say the other
possible narratives about Jim's death are hypotheses that a group
of people took intentional steps to conceal dangerous actions. In short,
we'll call them conspiracy theories. We have compromission bias, which
we think and we seek out pieces of information that
(23:39):
fit into an existing scheme that we have and the
way we understand the world. Conspiracy theories, because they are
particularly heightened way of viewing the world, work the same way.
Carla des and Upton Bell could imagine a confrontation in
which Lieutenant Hinson acted, if not reasonably try to come
(24:00):
of them down. Maybe he went for one of the
guns or something like that, at least understandably. If you're
in a tessa with somebody and you're in a decision
making moment, you don't really care where you shot. See it.
But Jim's brother, Elroy, did you watch them football yesterday?
You have hardlock football. Most of the town suspects a
(24:24):
very different cause and effect. The detector just gun shot
Butch in the back of the head. Okay, but Butch
was fast enough and a six he's probably as fast
as he was gonna eb Yeah, you know, and I'm
saying that there's no way unless he was behind it
(24:45):
just pulls shirt. I've seen no evidence that the fifty
two year old lieutenant executed Jim that morning, But clearly
for Elroy and much of the black population in Lancaster,
it seems plausible. The idea that whites thought that they
were inferior wasn't a conspiracy theory put into these damnable proposals.
(25:12):
There are conspiracies in the world, and so having a
theory of now that conspiracy is not necessarily irrational. It
might not even be wrong. Here, Spinster, growing up in
the Gym Grove, Souths and you're African American, there is
a conspiracy against you to try to prevent your economic success,
(25:39):
to try to prevent you from moving to particular neighborhoods,
to try to prevent you from going to particular schools.
So if you grew up in that era, then viewing
the world through a less like that is not necessarily parent.
You're viewing the world in the way in which the
world is treated. Yeah. None of the other theories that
(26:06):
I heard about Jim's death seemed to reckon with his
likely depression, or the potential impacts of CTE, or the
possibility that he wanted to take his own life. But
one scandalous theory came up time and time again, and
it was something I could look into. I work at
the newspaper in Rockyoll, South Carolina. Was your dad, Russell Henton,
(26:28):
the police officer from Mica start and on part seven
of Return Man, Jim Duncan was he didn't question a
lot of those attitudes because it would be like questioning
whether the sun was going to come up in the
east in the morning or not. How we interact with
(26:49):
people depends on our perception of their social status. Mr.
As I've talked to her on the phone like a
month or two ago. Right, I'm Brett McCormick. Return Man
is a production of The Herald McClatchy Studios and I
Heart Radio. It's produced by Matt Walsh, Kara Tabor Cotta, Stevens,
(27:13):
Rachel Wise, and Davin Coburn. The executive producer for I
Heart Radio is Sean Titone. For lots more on this story,
go to Harold online dot com slash return Man. If
you have any additional information about Jim Duncan's life or death,
email us at return Man at Harold online dot com.
To continue supporting this kind of work, visit Harold online
(27:36):
dot com slash Podcasts and consider a digital subscription. And
for more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I
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