Manhunt for notorious fugitives ends without fanfare

THE HUNT for the four fugitives wanted for the murder of two infantrymen of the Royal Hampshire Regiment took a gruesome turn on Saturday, June 25, 1960, when the body of three Rastafarians were found buried in one grave, near where the Rastafarian camp at Red Hills in St Andrew was raided and destroyed on Tuesday, the 21st.

The grave was discovered by an eight-man patrol from the Royal Hampshire Regiment who were searching for ammunition. They had chanced upon a pile of soil in the dense thicket, and thought it strange. On digging through the soil, they saw an arm just below the surface. They stopped the digging and reported the find to the police.

Early Sunday morning, a party of detectives, led by Superintendent George Mullen, head of the CID for the Corporate Area, visited the spot. It took three hours to get the deceased Rasta men out. The exhumation took place in the presence of Dr H. J. H. Persbadsingh, the then medical officer for lower St Andrew. Also present were forensic experts, paid grave-diggers, a police photographer, and a fingerprint expert.

In the six-foot, six-inch long, two-foot, two-inch wide grave, the partially decomposed bodies of three black-skin men laid, one on top of the other. The bearded and shoeless men were fully clothed, two in denims, the other in a pair of regular pants and short-sleeve shirt. Also found in the grave were a cap, a piece of cord and a leather belt. A two-inch metal lapel badge bearing the images of Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen was seen near the grave.

Dr Persbadsingh surmised that the men might have been killed eight to 12 days prior to the discovery. In that case, they were killed before the police and military raid on the camp. This turned the investigation into a totally new direction. Who killed the Rastas? Their bodies were taken to the public mortuary in Kingston for the post-mortem examinations, which revealed they were shot in the head at close range.

With the discovery, tension heightened while the exhumation was going on, and the search got intense. Rain and poor visibility in the Sligoville and Bog Walk regions did not dampen the resolve of the pursuers, but several sighting reports turned up nothing. Sunday, too, was over fruitlessly, but under the cover of darkness the need for liquids and food sent the fugitives into the yard of Septimus Higgins, a 48-year-old shopkeeper in the district of Orange Grove, two miles from Sligoville.

Reynold Henry was among them. They wanted to know what he had in his little shop. There were cooking oil, codfish and flour, only. They then entered a one-bedroom structure, that also served as a kitchen, and put a pot over a woodfire. Then, they went into the shop and took four bottles of “aerated water” (today’s soda), and got oil, flour and codfish from Higgins.

The men helped him to prepare a meal of dumplings and codfish, which they ate after drinking the aerated water. They then wrung the water from their wet clothes, and put them on sticks near the fireplace to dry. They showed Higgins their guns, The Daily Gleaner of Tuesday, June 28 reports, and said, “These are for those who set hands against us,” before putting them on to the floor. Shortly after that, their weary bodies, too, were on the ground, and their eyes closed within a jiffy. Sleep had conquered the fugitives.

The research did not unveil at what point Higgins went to get the police and the military, but before dawn the Monday morning they were at the door of Higgin’s room. Shouts jolted the tired bodies from their deep slumber. As one of the fugitives, Howard Rollins, reached for his submachine gun, a soldier shot him. More police and soldiers entered the room.

Reynold Henry, too, reached for his gun, but before he could grab it, “a soldier clubbed him to the floor with the butt end of his riffle”. The manhunt that started a week prior at the Rasta camp in Red Hills was suddenly over, in Septimus Higgins’ room in Orange Grove. Rollins was transported to Kingston Public Hospital under heavy police guard.

Shortly after, it was established that Calvert Claudius ‘Thunder’ Beckford, who was wanted by the police for treason, was one of the three Rastas who were killed and buried near the Rasta training camp at Red Hills. The others were Gerald Scott and a R. McDonald, members of the Ethiopian Coptic Church, and leaders at the Red Hills training camp, who fell out of favour with the American trainers, Rollins, Henry, Al Thomas, William Jeters, and a Leroy from Brooklyn, who was arrested earlier in Kingston.

All four were also subsequently charged. A wanted list of about 11 was published. The majority of the forces were withdrawn from the zone of operations, and at a press conference, Commissioner of Police L. P. R. Browning requested the continued support from the public. He said the guns and the ammunition found on the men were not from the local military.

And for all his troubles, or luck, perhaps, Septimus Higgins was rewarded immediately with £1,200 for his information leading to the capture and arrest of the fugitives. His flour, cooking oil and codfish were not eaten in vain, knocking the American fugitives out, to conclude Jamaica’s greatest manhunt, including 400 soldiers and 100 police personnel, up to that time.