Before Howard Unruh
First, let it be understood that this page is in no way an attempt to glorify Howard Unruh or the terrible things he did on September 6, 1949. If anything however, this page stands as evidence for each of us that “there but for the grace of God go I.”
Howard Unruh has been, and unfortunately will continue to be, called America’s first mass shooter. This is completely untrue. There were several other similar incidents, including the one described below, where a sniper killed seven people before taking his own life in November of 1948 in Chester, Pennsylvania, than 24 miles away from Camden and only 10 months before Unruh’s killings.
Why was this incident forgotten, buried, and the Unruh killings publicized to the extent that they were? I believe that there are three reasons.
- The shooter was Black, as were seven of the eight victims.
- The New York Times did not get a reporter down to the scene of the crime while it was still taking place.
- The Chester killings did not fit the “crazed veteran” narrative.
There were other incidents before this. In 1945, nine German POWs were killed and nineteen wounded in Utah when a deranged prison camp guard fired on them as they slept in tents. There were several other rampage murders between 1900 and 1941, most of them taking place far from any of the big cities and big city newspapers.
— Phil Cohen, February 7, 2020
Shooting Maniac Slays 7, Ends Life in Chester
Camden Courier-Post —
Chester, Pa., Nov. 6 — Eight persons were shot and killed, one wounded and three others injured when a berserk man staged a massacre here today.
The dead included a veteran Chester detective, a 7-year-old boy, a deaf mute, and four other men. A woman was critically wounded and is not expected to live.
The crazed killer then placed the .22 calibre rifle, which he had used to snipe innocent victims, into his mouth and killed himself as state and local police closed in on his barricaded room with machine-guns and tear gas. Police zigzagged through a hail of bullets to his second story room on Market street. The killer was identified as Melvin Collins, 30, of Virginia.
Scene a Busy Street
Scene of the shooting was the heavily-populated Bethel Court Negro section of Chester along a main north-south traffic artery through the city.
Piecing together fragments of information received, police reconstructed the killings as follows:
Collins is believed to have commandeered a car driven by Frank Casino in front of a restaurant, operated by Mike Pappas, at 233 Market street, at approximately 8:30 a. m. today.
Collins had rented a room over the restaurant a week ago but was packed to check out today. A fight allegedly ensued between Collins and Casino during which Collins shot and killed the driver.
Sleuth Hears Shot
At about the same time, Ellery Purnsley, 56, the detective, was walking along Market street, enroute to work. He heard the shot and spun around as Collins leaped from Casino’s car. Purnsley whipped out his service revolver as Collins leveled the rifle at him. The sleuth’s shot grazed Collins’s chin, but not before a bullet from Collins’s rifle had pierced his heart. He died instantly.
Police said Collins then turned, apparently with the intentions of shooting his way to safety, and fired wildly at anyone in sight until he gained entrance to the restaurant building.
It was during this shooting episode he shot and killed Samuel Hill, 7, of 220 Welsh street with a shot through the heart; Peter Parker, shot through the stomach; and James Simon, 218 Seventh street.
Dashes to Room
Collins then raced to his second floor room as police converged on the spot, headed by Mayor Ralph Swarts and Police Chief Andrew J. Desmond Jr. They were augmented by nine state troopers from the Glenolden barracks, headed by Sgt. Francis X. Kelly. It was estimated more than 55 policemen were at the scene when Collins committed suicide.
Barricading himself in the room, Collins took up a position at the front window and shot at anyone in sight, killing Edward Boyer, 205 Market street, a bullet entering his right chest; and Samuel Litle, a deaf mute, 200 block Welsh street.
The woman wounded was Louise Moore, 232 Market street, who was hit by a bullet while she stood in the second floor window across the street from Collins’s room. She is not expected to live, according to Chester hospital authorities.
Cops Use Tear Gas
All of the dead were Negro with the exception of Casino. As police converged on the scene of the massacre, they used tear gas, machineguns and submachineguns to pour bullets into the maniac’s room as others twisted their way through flying bullets to close in on Collins. No motive for any of the shooting could be given by police. They pointed out that any thought of a race riot was unthinkable because of the way in which both white and Negro officials and civilians cooperated in an attempt to capture the killer.
Sleuth’s Son Hurt
Among the three injured was Bert Purnsley, son of the murdered detective who was engaged in a fight while attempting to aid his dead father.
Monrey Wyche, 233 Market street, received abrasions of the hand from the broken window where Mrs. Moore was shot; and Martha Brown, 30, of 1622 West Second street, a waitress in the restaurant across the street, who was hurt by falling glass.