Wells Wesley Robert (4 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Square octavo bound in paper wraps, stapled. Contents are mimeographed. Condition: slight curling to volume; covers worn & rubbed; else good. 44 pages.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. 31pp. Staple bound pamphlet. Mild wear to extremities, four lines redacted on rear. Pages toned, otherwise clean and unmarked. Pamphlet contains basic biographical background on Wells, and his criminal history, as well as details on his plainly unjust death sentence. Wells threw a cuspidor at a guard who taunted him and somehow ended up with a death sentence as a result. The Civil Rights Congress (a Communist Party adjunct) took up his case and won his eventual clemency. He was released in 1974 and died in 1976. An artifact of a gross miscarriage of justice, largely forgotten today. Foreword by Buddy Green. Uncommon title. Size: 16mo - over 5¾ - 6¾" tall. Book.…

Softcover. Condition: Fine. First edition. Preface by John Howard Lawson. Octavo. 44pp. Mimeographed leaves in stapled illustrated wrappers. A trifle rubbed, very near fine. Letters by a convicted African-American issued in an attempt to have his death penalty commuted.

Softcover. Condition: Very Good. Legal brief. 14 Mimeographed folio leaves printed rectos only stapled at the top and folded in thirds. A little age-toning and small chips in a couple of margins, final leaf detached but present, sound and very good. Long brief by Charles R. Garry. Wesley Robert Wells was an African-American man convicted of minor crimes of theft and imprisoned, but because of an altercation with a guard (who was unhurt) was given the death penalty. The attorney Charles R. Garry worked tirelessly to have the sentence commuted, and after 40 years Wells was released from prison, little more than a year before he died of a heart attack. Garry, who eventually was central to the defense schemes of various Black Panthers, referred to Wells as "The First Black Panther." This was obviously issued as part of some sort of public relations effort by Garry. Rare. *OCLC* locates a single copy.…