Leon Bronstein

Lynwood Lanier Shull's father was Thaddeus Haskell Hasker Shull (1880-1974). His mother was Nettie Mattie Livingston (1882-1969). Both parents were born in South Carolina. He had siblings Seth (1908 - 1910), Lurline (born 1911), Miriam 1914 -2002), Shuford (1920 - 2001), and Cothran Shull (born 1923). Lynwood Shull married Ola S. Jordan (1913-1999) and they had a daughter, Marilyn Annette Shull (1932-2008). In the 1940 census, Lynwood, age 34, was living with Ola, age 27, and daughter Marilyn, age 7. All were born in South Carolina and living in Leesville. In 1940, Lynwood was Chief of Police in Leesville. In the 1930 census, he had been living with his parents and siblings and was a laborer in an auto garage. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Sept 27 1946, the Justice Department filed a criminal action against Police Chief Lynwood Lanier Shull of Batesburg South Carolina, alleging that he beat and tortured a "Negro war veteran" on Feb 12 of the same year. See Police Chief Faces Federal Charge. "The announcement identified the Negro as Isaac Woodard Jr of the Bronx NY and said Woodard 'is permanently blind as a result of the alleged beating'" The article goes on to say that "Shull had 'beaten and tortured' Woodard in violation of the Federal Civil Rights statute. . . . The mistreatment is said to have occurred after Shull had arrested Woodard in the South Carolina town for allegedly creating a disturbance on a bus on which he (Woodard) was returning home after his discharge from the Army earlier that day." Woodward was a veteran of World War II. On November 3, 1946, The Florence Morning News (Florence, SC) reported that US District Attorney Claud N. Sapp said that he expected to call the case of Police Chief Lynwood L. Shull of Batesburg, charged with violating the civil rights of a Negro war veteran, "about next Wednesday" in a term of federal court opening Monday. Shull, under $2,000 bond, was alleged in a justice department criminal information paper to have "beaten and tortured" Isaac Woodard Jr last February. Woodard claimed he was blinded as the result of a blackjack across the face. On November 6, 1946, the New York Times reported: "POLICE CHIEF FREED IN NEGRO BEATING; Federal Court Jury Acquits South Carolina Officer After Blind Veteran Accuses Him" It took only minutes for the jury in the case to acquit Lynwood. He lived until the age of 92, free, and his victim was blinded for life. See Steve Williams Column: ‘I Kept Trying To Hush Him’ to read an article about the historical perspective of the incident. The article was written in Feb of 2019 and shows how the actor Orson Wells made the case a celebrated cause after it was ignored for months.