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
The April 1951 report identifies Ralph J. Smalley as presiding judge and Mario H. Volpe as prosecutor during the Trenton Six retrial.
At the 1951 retrial, the court admitted Collis English’s typed statement, leaving its voluntariness for the jury.
The July 4, 1951 National Guardian reported that Judge Ralph J. Smalley refused a new trial for Collis English and the other remaining Trenton defendant after their jury verdict and life sentences. Defense lawyers announced an appeal. This records that procedural stage, without changing later proceedings or custody totals. National Guardian, July 4, 1951, p. 6.
William A. Reuben’s April 4, 1951 National Guardian retrial report attributes an individual arrest chronology to the police witnesses: English was arrested at about 8:30 p.m. on February 6, 1948 at his mother’s home on an automobile-use complaint; the report distinguishes that arrest from the later disputed murder confession. This chronology differs from the previously recorded common February 10 date; the conflicting reports are preserved here without changing the case date or calculating a new custody total. The account reports disputed police testimony about the statements, not an independent finding that the confessions were voluntary or true. Contemporary retrial report, printed page 8.
