Guam - Ruth Farnsworth McGinnis, 27, raped & murdered by 3 men, 13 Dec 1948

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Ruth McGinnis (born Farnsworth), 1921 - 1948

Ruth Farnsworth served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. In December 1948, at age 27, she was working as a Navy civilian employee (some accounts say as a nurse) on Guam.

Ruth was married to Marine Sgt. Sterling McGinnis, although most news reports of the time referred to her by her maiden name of Ruth Farnsworth.

On Saturday evening, 11 December 1948, Ruth was violently attacked, beaten and raped. She died of her injuries in hospital on 13 December 1948.

Evidence found by Investigators included a pair of boots found near the crime scene and some bloody trousers found in a barracks.

By 16 December 1948, Major John Copeland, chief of Guam police, announced that two unnamed men were under investigation for the crime.

As the investigation progressed, it was stated at one point that three men were involved in the attack on Ruth Farnsworth. Eventually two Air Force enlisted men; Robert Burns of Spokane, Washington and Herman Dennis, Jr. of Calvert, Texas were charged and convicted by Court Martial of Ruth's murder. They were sentenced to Death and, after appeals to the Supreme Court and President Eisenhower failed, they were hanged in 1954. Both claimed their innocence to the end.

Because both Burns and Dennis were black, and Ruth Farnsworth was white, the NAACP became involved in the case, and there remains controversy as to the fairness of the trial and its outcome.

Were the defendants guilty of murder, or did someone else kill Ruth Farnsworth and escape justice?

LINKS:

https://www.myheritage.com/names/ruth_farnsworth

EX-WAC ON GUAM DIES AFTER ATTACK; Navy Civilian Employe, Found Unconscious in Jungle, Victim of Beating and Exposure (Published 1948)

3 SERVICE MEN HELD IN GUAM RAPE CASE (Published 1949)

Madera Tribune 16 December 1948 — California Digital Newspaper Collection

Please Don't Cry for Me: The Ruth Farnsworth Murder Story by Robert Leland Athey

Two Negro GIs, Robert Burns and Herman Dennis, Jr., Hanged for Rape in Guam, Plead Innocence on Scaffold - Jet Magazine, February 11, 1954

Another Injustice Disclosed
 
[URL='https://www.myheritage.com/names/ruth_farnsworth#']
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LINK:

https://www.myheritage.com/names/ruth_farnsworth#
 

Attachments

[URL='https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87851170/ruth-farnsworth#']
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Ruth Farnsworth
BIRTH 4 Apr 1921
Chihuahua, Mexico
DEATH 14 Dec 1948 (aged 27)
Guam
BURIAL
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA
PLOT Garden / Section: PALM Lot: LOT 122

Ruth Farnsworth served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. In December 1948, at age 27, she was working as a Navy civilian employee (some accounts say as a nurse) on Guam.

Ruth was married to Marine Sgt. Sterling McGinnis, although most news reports of the time referred to her by her maiden name of Ruth Farnsworth.

On Saturday evening, 11 December 1948, Ruth was violently attacked, beaten and raped. She died of her injuries in hospital on 13 December 1948.

LINK:

Ruth Farnsworth (1921-1948) - Find a Grave...
 
Bumping this thread up. Two black men were tried, convicted, and hanged for the brutal rape and murder of Ruth Farnsworth McGinnis.

But we're they really guilty? If not them, then who?
 
Three men were tried and convicted on Guam of the rape and murder of Ruth Farnsworth. They were: USAF Staff Sergeant Robert W. Burns (35), PFC Herman Perry Dennis, Jr. (25) and his half brother Calvin Dennis (32). All three men were tried, convicted and sentenced in a court martial.

After several years of appeals, Burns and Herman Dennis were hanged on Guam in January 1954. They went to the gallows still claiming to be innocent.

Calvin Dennis was sentenced to life in Federal prison for the crime.

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Picture of


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 Herman Perry Dennis Jr.
Headstone of PFC Herman Perry Dennis, Jr. convicted of Ruth's murder and hanged on Guam.

Herman Perry Dennis Jr.
BIRTH 10 Jul 1928
DEATH 28 Jan 1954 (aged 25) Guam
BURIAL Fort Bliss National Cemetery, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas, USA
Section PG, Row 7, Site 14G

LINKS:





 

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