John Rulse
John Rulse, age unknown, lived in Colbert County, Alabama.
Case summary
Incident
On August 8, 1940, a Tuscumbia, Alabama resident named Oliver Suttle wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to report the killing of a local Black man, whom he identified as John Rulse. According to Suttle’s letter, an unspecified number of white men, whom Suttle described as bootleggers, came to Rulse’s home on August 3, 1940, and accused him of stealing some of their whiskey. The men beat Rulse to death and disposed of his body in a nearby creek, according to Suttle, despite Rulse never having bothered the men. Suttle requested immediate federal intervention.
The Secretary to the President referred the letter to the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division.
Aftermath
There is no record of any substantive follow-up by the Department of Justice, and no identifiable record that any state or local law enforcement agency undertook an investigation into Rulse’s death. An extensive search of death records and newspapers turned up no evidence of Rulse’s death – or even any record of his birth and life.
Media Gallery
Case summaries are compiled from information contained in different sources, including, but not limited to, investigative records, arrest reports, court filings, census records, birth and death certificates, transcripts, and press releases. In many cases, the records contain contradictory assertions.