Tabor City Tribune

In Death Of Fipps
Charles James Fipps, 20-year-old Tabor City airman, died early the morning of Sunday, April 30, of a bullet in the brain, a coroner's jury found Friday night at an inquest in the courthouse at Conway.
The jury ordered Sgt. George O. (Buddy) Fowler and Policeman Willis Gause, both of the Horry County Police department, "held for further investigation."
No charge has been lodged against the officers. They are at liberty under $2,000 bond each.
Fipps died at 5:20 a.m. April 30 in Conway hospital after being shot in the back of the head during a 120-miles-per-hour chase that started north of Conway and ended near Howard, between Loris and Tabor City. At Loris, an officer testified, he skidded on two wheels through a road block which had been set up by Fowler and Gause.
Six witnesses were called Friday night by Coroner Littlejohn Blanton in a courtroom packed to the last inch with spectators: Dr. Edward I. Proctor, Conway general surgeon; Dr. C. W. Della, Conway pathologist; Lieut. M. N. Cate, ballistics expert of SLED; County Policeman Olin I. Blanton, Jr.; J. C. Gasque, Service Station operator; and SLED Agent Colin King.
Drs. Proctor and Della established the cause of death.
Lieut. Cate testified that the bullet taken from Fipps brain had been fired from the .30 calibre carbine which Fowler and Gause had with them. Policeman Blanton told of starting the chase north of Conway, testifying that when Fipps sped away from him so rapidly he thought "it was a stolen car or had a load of whisky or something." Gasque told of finding a bullet in a tail light and said the 1954 Ford convertible was powered with a Mercury Engine with a four barrel carburetor. SLED Agent King testified that skid marks showed Fipps had swerved through the road block at Loris on two wheels and that after Fipps was shot his car rolled a long distance between the highway and railroad, hit a slight rise and sailed through the air 100 feet before coming down on all four wheels and rolling even further—a total distance of "800 long steps" from the point where the car left the highway.
Assisting District Solicitor Richard Dusenbury were Attorneys Frank McGougan of Tabor City; M. C. Tyndall, of Marion; and Ed Williamson, of Whiteville.
No questions were asked by Chief Defense Counsel H. T. Abbott. Sitting at the table with him were L. B. Dawes, Charles Dawes and Reuben Long, three of a number of Horry attorneys who volunteered their services.
Dr. Proctor testified as follows:
At 4 a.m. April 30, he was called to the emergency room of Conway Hospital where he found a young man, brought by ambulance from Loris, suffering from a severe head injury. The man was "deeply unconscious." The left side of the head was badly swollen as was the left eye. There was a tiny hole in the left side of the scalp at the back of the head through which blood and brain tissue exuded.
There were multiple fractures along the whole left side of the head. The patient's pupils were dilated and fixed—"another indication of deep unconsciousness." The patient was "in deep shock." No blood pressure could be recorded. A vein was opened and a pint of plasma substitute and two pints of blood were administered. It was impossible to move the patient to the X-ray room because "we were unable to get him out of shock."
"He expired at 5:20 a.m."
After death further examination was made of the head. A foreign body shaped like a bullet in the left side of the head was seen on X-ray film, as were fractures of the skull on that side.
Dr. Proctor showed the coroner's jury two X-rays. A side view showed an opening in the skull beneath the hole in the scalp at the back side of the head and slightly to the left. This, he said, was the wound of entrance: there was no wound of exit. Along the left side of the skull, he said, the X-ray showed "cracks like an egg shell, when you crack an egg. In fact, they're called egg shell cracks."
Asked if he had determined the cause of death, he said: "In my opinion the immediate cause of death was acute shock due to blood loss, secondary to a brain injury due to a gun shot wound."
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of violence except on the face,

Under questioning he said which showed one black eye, a

that the first time he knew

superficial scrape above the

there was a bullet wound was

left eye (not associated with

the bullet and an abrasion

when he saw the bullet on the

X-ray.

high on the left cheek.

He said there were no abra-

'The remainder of his testi-

sions or contusions to indicate

mony showed:

any

blow had caused death.

There was a single small

Dr. Della told of performing

hole in the left rear portion of

an autopsy on the body and

the scalp, devoid of powder

showed

the coroner's jury a

burns. There were many fract-

number of photos.

ures of the bones of the left

He said there were no marks inside of the skull from the very
back: and left side to the front.

The skin at the front of the

head was intact. He said the

bullet travelled from the back

of the head all the way to the

front and was later found at

about the midway point be-

cause it "fell back through the

tunnel, I think." He said he

didn't think that at first but

he did think so now but did

not indicate what has caused

him to change his thinking.

He identified the bullet he

said was received from the

head.

He said the fractures of the

head. except for that part o

the skull immediately in front

of the bullet. where caused not

directly by the bullet. but bv

the force of the "semi-fluid

brain" against the "rigid box"

of the skull when the bran

was pushed hard and suddenly

by the force of the bullet He

said these were "indirectly due

but not directly to the bullet."

He said that in his opinion

death was due to a gunshot

wound. with many multiple

fractures on the left side of

the skull, intravernal homor-

rhage and major contusions oi

the brain

Under questioning he added

that the "damage inflicted bv

the bullet to the head and

brain. were sufficient to ac-

count for death."

Lieut. Cate, who identified

himself as identification tech-

nician of the State Law En-

forcement Division's ballistics

department. told of receiving

from SLED Agent Colin King

on May 4 a bullet and a ".30

calibre M-1 carbine." he said

he fired a test bullet from the

carbine and that the same

weapon fired both that bullet

and the bullet turned over to

him by King.

Other testimony given by

him was to the effect that:

He had examined Fipps' car

and found several holes in the

back, some of which were

bullet holes but some of which

he could not say were bullet

holes.

One hole at the top left side

of the car was a bullet hole

and the bullet. after entering

the cloth top of the converti-

ble, had hit a zipper. covered

with black cloth. with white

canvas on either side of the

black cloth.

A photograph of the nose of

the bullet handed him by King

showed that it had hit some-

thing hard and that it bore a

black substance (not powder

burns) similar to the black

cloth between the two layers o

canvas on the zipper.

County Policeman

Olin I.

Blanton. Jr. was next on the

stand. His testimony tended to

show that:

He began pursuing a 1954

Ford convertible on Hwys. 410-

701 north of Conway about

3:30 a.m. April 30. after the

car sped away from him rapid-

ly as he approached it. Un-

able to catch the fleeing car.

he radioed County Police

Headquarters and learned that

Fowler and Gause were at the

Loris jail.

"I told the officer (at the

headquarters radio) to have

them stop this car as it was

coming through Loris, that

there was a chase underway."

The fleeing car "gained speed

on me all the time practically

When we got to Loris I saw

the boys had a road block . .

and could see that the car went

through the road block."

Gause and Fowler took off

behind the fleeing car. A mile

or so beyond Loris, Blanton's

police car "burned up."

Under questioning he testi-

fied further that:

For a few moments at the

start of the chase he was with-

in a few feet of the fleeing car.

He had not signalled the car

to pull over. it "just sped a-

way" He didn't have time to

turn on his siren but did turn

on his blinking red light as

the fleeing car sped away.

Twenty to 30 minutes after

his car burned up. Gause pick-

ed him up.

During most of the chase ov-

er 15 miles before reaching

Loris. Blanton raced along at

110 to 120 miles per hour

"most of the time doing close

to 120." At that speed he was

able to keep within a mile and

a half of the fleeing car.

When he was picked up. was

there any statement made a-

bout the fleeing car?

He had asked why the car

wrecked and was told it must

have blown a tire. He was also

told that the car in which

Fowler and Gause were pur-

suing the fleeing car. had also

had a flat tire.

What type of road block was

set up at Loris?

"All I could see was the red

light on the (police) car. As

we approached I saw he was

going through . . . I told the

boys. 'It hit him yet away.'"

Prior to the chase the Ford

convertible was doing about 70

north of Conway It changed

speed before Blanton could cut

on his flashing red light.

Why did he begin to chase

the car?

"I thought it was a stolen

car or had a load of whisky or

something."

He did not recognize the car

nor the driver at that time.

when he saw that he would

not be able to catch the fleeing

car, "I radioed the office and

asked them to locate Gause

and Fowler. I told my office to

have them give me assistance.

to set up a road block. and to

stop him at Loris."

J. C. Gasque. Tabor City ser-

vice station operator. said that

Fipps' car was stored at his

place from Sunday through

Friday. In examining the car.

he said. he found a hunk of

metal inside the tail light that

was built out over the tail

light." caught in the rim of

the old tail light inside."

He testified that Fipps' car

was a 1954 Ford. with a Mer-

cury engine.

The engine was not the en-

ggine originally in the car. he

said.

Asked if it was "a special

souped-up type motor." he re-

plied that it had a four-barrel

carburetor that is standard in

a Mercury engine.

SLED Agent Colin King told

of his investigation, of talking

with Fowler. Gause and Blan-

ton. of learning of the start of

the chase. of the "hot pursuit."

Two miles after it began, he

said he was told, Blanton's car

began to give trouble and Blan-

ton. "Realizing he was not go-

ing to be able to apprehend

him. radioed the boys at Loris

to help him."

"I asked Blanton his reason

for checking the car and he

said that after the car dashed

off at such a high rate of speed

he had reason to believe it was

either a hot automobile or load-

ed with liquor.

He said Fowler and Gause

told him that when they re-

ceived the message to help

Blanton they went a short dist-

ance out of Loris and set up a

road block. putting their police

car in the middle of the road