Why would anyone want to kill a man of God? Who would want to kill a man of God? Certainly not another man of God right? Well you might want to sit down for this story.
meet
Father James Coyle
He was a Birmingham priest, who was murdered, for marring an interracial couple at the Cathedral of St. Paul in downtown Birmingham in 1921.
Right in the front of the church that is today still there today.
30 year old widower from Puerto Rico.
Pedro Gusman
came to Birmingham in 1907 from Tennessee, where he had worked as a wallpaper hanger. He found jobs and was supplied by Sherwin Williams. He was an active member of the paperhanger's union and participated as a delegate to the Birmingham Trade Council.
Several years pass and Gusman meets underage Ruth Stephenson while working and boarding at her parents' home on 3rd Avenue North.
Gusman was Catholic and a native of Puerto Rico, thus Ruth's father,
Rev. Edwin Stephenson
A racist loud mouth bigot, disapproved. Among his dislikes was, non-whites and the Catholic church and had been known to punish his daughter for showing interest in both, for he himself was a preacher and a member of the Invisible Empire.
The story goes that when 44 year old Gusman, proposed to 19 year old Ruth , she accepted his proposal to marry, against her fathers wishes. They thought they were slick, so they planned a secret ceremony. Ruth left from her job as a sales clerk at Loveman, Joseph & Loeb , to meet up with Gusman. They both took their lunch break to go out to the Bessemer Courthouse to apply for a marriage license they had to sneak to Bessemer , a small town very close to Birmingham because Edwin,hung out at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham all day.
Why did he hang out at the courthouse all day you ask?
Because before he became a preacher, he was a Barber. His story is that one day about 1918, while Stephenson was cleaning a pistol, he claims he accidentally shot himself in the foot, and was thereafter unable to stand long days at the barber's chair. He lied about his credentials as a minister, reinforced by his Klu Klux Klan connections in the court house, he began spending his days at the Jefferson County Courthouse, offering to marry newly-licensed couples right there in the hallway, for a small fee.
The couple intended to be married by Father George Callahan at St Aloysius Catholic Church, but he was unavailable that afternoon. Instead they had to return to Birmingham and risk discovery by seeking to exchange vows in front of the altar at St Paul's, who was down the literal street from the Jefferson County Courthouse.
Coyle, contacted in Pratt City, returned to his church to preside over the ceremony at once.
News of his daughter's marriage reached and provoked Edwin Stephenson to murder. Stephenson marched to the rectory porch, confronted Coyle, and shot him three times. The priest died at St Vincent's Hospital soon later. Stephenson's crime had been witnessed by numerous bystanders. He calmly walked slowly across the lawn to the courthouse stair and waited for police. He was apprehended and jailed. Rev. Edwin Stephenson then concocted a tale of self-defense, saying that Coyle had taunted him went back inside, waited a while and came back out out returning only to striking him. He said the Priest threw blows first. No witnesses ever came forward to testify to having seen or heard any fighting before the shots, and no other weapon was found at the scene.
Because it was a lie.
He claimed self-defense , and temporarily insanity by the news about his daughter marring a non-white man. The True Americans and Ku Klux Klan both called Edwin a hero in the fight against Catholic threats to American morals.
The Klan pooled resources statewide raising money for Stephenson's defense.
They found him a lawyer who was already in the Klan.
Black won Stephenson's acquittal in part by reminding the jury Gusman had " dark complexion and curly hair".
During the trial, Birmingham Police chief Thomas Shirley had Gusman arrested on suspicion of killing his wife, Pearl. in Peoria, Illinois the previous November. This was a load of crap but , Birmingham was a Close community bound by racism, much like it still is today. Police chief Shirley held him in jail until Peoria authorities responded negatively to a photograph sent to them.
Also during the trail ,Ruth testified against her father, describing in damning detail his hatred of Catholics, his severe punishments,which would now be called Domestic Abuse or Family Violence and his threats against Father Coyle. The press, owned and operated by Racist Patriarchal founding fathers of Birmingham naturally painted an unsympathetic picture of the "disloyal" daughter. It should also come as no surprise Rev. Edwin Stephenson had an All whit, all male, non-Catholic jury.all white male jury. The jury acquitted him on October 21 and he was sent home. Edwin Stephenson and his daughter Ruth never spoke to one another again. He continued to limp around the court house and marry runaway couples at the Jefferson County Courthouse until his death Birmingham in 1956.
Gusman and Ruth separated shortly after their marriage, and finally divorced on June 5, 1923. She suffered from cruelty and abuse in the complaint, but in an age which pre-dated no-fault divorces this still left her with nothing and no one.
Gusman went on with his life and married Vera Hancock on May 28, 1930 and moved to 1820 2nd Avenue South.
Gusman might have been through with the past, but the past was not through with him. He was hit by a car at the intersection right outside outside the very doors of St Paul's on January 20, 1934. The driver did not stop and was never identified. Gusman died at the hospital from pneumonia while recovering from a broken femur and internal injuries on Valentine's Day. He is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery.
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