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- Description is exactly "A Florence Times and Florence Herald article reporting the 3:30 am Thursday morning, September 11, 1919 shooting death of African-American resident of Memphis Tennessee, Sylvester Wilson, while resisting arrest.
While making his rounds East Florence night policeman Bob Freeman was attracted to a light on at the Florence Steam Laundry. Upon investigating Freeman discovered two African-American men attempting to rob the laundry; when told to surrender one of the men fled, escaping out a window but not before Officer Freeman fired his .38 special, striking the man in the shoulder. His partner, identified as Sylvester Wilson of Memphis, brandished a razor and was killed when Freeman emptied his pistol into the man.
Wilson had supposedly been in Florence since August 19 and his relatives asked for his body to be shipped back to Memphis for burial. Florence African-American undertaker HMO Terry was the undertaker.
Nothing further is known about Sylvester Wilson at this time."
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