Biography
Collis English was one of the Trenton Six. The Trenton Six were six young Black men arrested February 11, 1948 and charged with the murder of William Horner, a 73-year-old white second-hand shop owner, on the basis of confessions extracted during 60+ hours of interrogation without counsel. After a 55-day trial in Mercer County Court, an all-white jury convicted all six on August 6, 1948 and sentenced them to death — a verdict the Civil Rights Congress and NAACP called a "Northern lynching." NJ Supreme Court reversed 1949; on retrial four were acquitted, Cooper pleaded guilty, and English was convicted with a life-sentence recommendation. English died in prison late 1952.
The May 23, 1951 National Guardian reports sworn retrial testimony challenging the Trenton Six confessions and describing alleged police coercion and drugging. English described prolonged interrogation, including about one hundred hours before a confession. These are attributed testimony; interrogation or blackout lengths are not the person’s entire jail term. This midtrial account does not replace later verdict or release information. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/national-guardian/1951-05-23-3-31-nat-guardian.pdf#page=5
