The Bay Street Beatdown
Ladies and gentlemen, court is in session!
Today we are looking at the case of Burke vs Maughn.
Now, have you ever left home with plans for a day of well needed rest and recreation only for events to take a very chaotic turn? Well, McDonald Burke of the Bay Land, St. Michael had one of those days on December 18, 1951. The less than fortuitous events were documented in the Barbados Advocate.
On this day, after deciding to spend his Tuesday afternoon at the sea, Mr. Burke hopped on his bicycle and headed for Graves End Beach (today known as Pebbles). While passing through Dunlow Lane, he ran into his good friend by the name of Mr. Carmen Carter. Carter had just left the Information Bureau and after a quick discussion, he decided to join Burke at the beach. With that, the pair rode in that direction with Carter seated on the bicycle bar.
It was as they were traversing Bay Street around 2 p.m. that this hard-hitting story reached its climax. Pushing a box cart was Mr. Sydney Maughn, accompanied by a woman. Maughn was a cook, also from the Bay Land but he and Burke were clearly far from friends. At the time of the encounter, he was dressed in khaki pants and an old white shirt. He was also barefooted but that did not stop him from starting bacchanal in Bay Street. Before McDonald could collect his thoughts, he felt himself being dragged off the bicycle seat and greeted by two big cuffs from Sydney.
Meanwhile, the woman who was later identified as Hilda Jones, pelted poor McDonald with her weapon of choice: big rocks. Getting blows left and right, he was knocked down, even losing consciousness at one point. This did not stop his assailants, however. Rather, the assault got even more brutal. As if the stones and cuffs were not enough, Sydney took hold of McDonald’s finger and forcibly bit it. Hunger for revenge must have been his motive that day because Sydney then grabbed McDonald’s left ear and bit that too. Unlike the finger, he was not so quick to release, going as far as to bite an entire chunk out of his victim’s ear.
From this brutal beatdown, one biting question arises. The first that comes to my mind is: Where was Carmen Carter when his friend was being attacked? Witnesses to the encounter, McDonald and even Carmen himself provided the answer to this question during the investigation. Believe it or not, he was an engineer and an ex-soldier but for some reason, he could not seem to come up with a plan of action, nor were his combat skills enough to defend his companion on this day. Carmen explained that the entire situation happened SO quickly! One minute he was balancing on the bicycle bar and in two two’s he “felt a jerk and missed Burke” (Barbados Advocate 5 Apr. 1952, 5). Standing aside, he got the bicycle out of harm’s way and watched as the fight unfolded. At that point, he decided it was best to head to the Police Station for help and took off on the bicycle, leaving McDonald behind despite his desperate cries:
“Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!”
Onlookers to the incident echoed similar words. Many of them shouted at him, asking whether or not he was going to let ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ kill poor McDonald. With this, Carmen turned around and headed back to the scene. There, he tried to no avail to stop the fight. Trying to hold off Hilda proved to be futile, as she simply turned her attention to him and ripped his shirt straight off his back. He then attempted to part the tussle between the two men but Sydney’s blows and bites were unrelenting, leaving Carmen helpless.
Finally, McDonald managed to break free and ran towards the nearby General Hospital with the assistance of Carmen. There he was seen by Dr. Anthony Gale. Upon examination, it was clear (and understandable) that he was somewhat disoriented. While he remembered what his attacker was wearing during the fight, he could not remember what Carmen was dressed in at all. Dr. Gale confirmed that along with other minor injuries, a large chunk of the patient’s ear had in fact been bitten off.
Once released from the hospital, McDonald wasted no time reporting the matter to the authorities. At 3:20 p.m. he marched into the Bridge Police Station where he recounted the situation to Cpl. Clair Carter. When Maughn arrived, it was clear who had the upper hand in the showdown. After all, he had walked away with just a ripped shirt and a little swelling under one eye. Oh, and an earful of Mr. Burke! It is therefore not in the least bit surprising that McDonald demanded that Sydney be placed under arrest immediately.
The case of the Bay Street brawl, however, did not come to a close until months later in April 1952. Both parties appeared in court where Maughn’s lawyer: Mr. Denis Malone put up quite the argument on his client’s behalf. Mr. Malone first opened by letting the jury know that his client had been attacked by not one, but two men, referring to McDonald and Carmen. Therefore, while he did not encourage fighting, it was expected one should use common sense and fight like a man if such an incident arose. He argued that his client did just that, and no excessive force was used by Maughn (Barbados Advocate 5 Apr. 1952, 8). I must say that if that is the case, I can only imagine what “excessive force” by the Bay Street cook would look like. After all, McDonald did go home with one less ear than he started the day with!
Mr. Malone made yet another argument, this time regarding intent. He reasoned that if Maughn had truly meant to cause any serious bodily harm, he would have left home with a weapon, be it “a stick, stone [or] knife” (Barbados Advocate 5 Apr. 1952, 8). He acquiesced that Ms. Hilda Jones was armed with stones but there was not a shred of evidence that the two were in cahoots. What a way to throw Ms. Jones under the bus!
Before the trial was over, the second question had to be asked: What could possibly have warranted the brutal assault on December 18? For me, this story brought to mind that of Peter when, in defence of Jesus, he chopped off a man’s ear. However, it seems abundantly clear that Sydney was not acting as his brother’s keeper, nor was this even an act of self defence.
McDonald seemed quite puzzled himself, revealing that he and Sydney had spoken just the day before and he had made no disparaging or threatening comments towards Mr. Maughn. The only possible reasoning given was related to a woman. According to McDonald, he had in fact been involved with the assailant’s wife at some point but he SWORE that it was long after the two had separated. Thus, he felt the palpable wrath that was displayed made no sense!
Needless to say, between the evidence presented by the victim, the eyewitnesses, the police officer and the doctor himself, the jury found holes in Malone’s arguments. As a result, Mr. Sydney Maughn was found guilty of wounding Mr. McDonald Burke with “intent to maim, disfigure or do grievous bodily harm” (Barbados Advocate 5 Apr. 1952, 5).
All in all, this story put quite the spin on the Bajan adage: ‘Hard EARS ya won’t hear, own way ya gin’ feel!
Bibliography
“Cook found Guilty of Wounding Lighterman”. Barbados Advocate. April 5, 1952, 5-8.