Charlie Howard (murder victim)
Encyclopedia
Charles O. Howard was an American hate-crime victim in Bangor, Maine
in 1984. As Howard and a male companion, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers, Shawn I. Mabry, age 16, James Francis Baines, age 15, and Daniel Ness, age 17, harassed Howard for being gay
. The youths chased the pair, yelling homophobic
epithet
s, until they caught Howard and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream
, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his friend escaped and pulled a fire alarm. Charlie Howard's body was found by rescue workers several hours later.
This event galvanized the Bangor community in ways similar to the killing of Matthew Shepard
, although the case never attained the same level of national notoriety. As an adult Jim Baines later spoke to various groups in Maine about his involvement in the murder and the damage that intolerance can do to people and their community. His story, Penitence: A True Story by Edward Armstrong, was published, although he received no royalties from the book. The Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, which later became EqualityMaine
, was formed in part as a reaction to Howard's death.
The Bangor City Council
and members of the lesbian
, gay
, bisexual
and transgender
(LGBT
) community have been working on a monument to be installed along the Kenduskeag Stream honoring the memory of Charlie Howard as the victim of a hate crime
. On November 14, 2007, the Bangor City Council approved the monument, and the Charles O. Howard Memorial Foundation is raising money to install the monument. On July 7, 2004, a twentieth anniversary walk was held in memory of Howard. The Maine Speakout Project maintains the Charlie Howard Memorial Library in Portland, Maine. The library is open to the public.
This incident inspired a similar scene in the beginning of Stephen King's novel It
, where three homophobic teenagers throw an openly
gay man, Adrian Mellon, over a bridge and into the Kenduskeag, there to be set upon and murdered by the monster Pennywise. Mark Doty
wrote a poem about the tragedy called "Charlie Howard's Descent". The murder is also the inspiration for a novel by Bette Greene titled The Drowning of Stephan Jones.
Charlie Howard was from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A young, fair-haired man Charlie was small boned and suffered from asthma. He was often made fun of as a small child, and was bullied in high school due to his sexual orientation. He did not attend his graduation to spare his family from the taunts he often received. With his poor grades, he knew college was not for him.
and eventually landed in Ellsworth, Maine
. When the relationship that he was in ended in January 1984, Charlie left Ellsworth for Bangor, Maine.
In Bangor, Paul Noddin and Scott Hamilton befriended Charlie. Charlie was homeless with no prospects and Scott and Paul welcomed Charlie into their home. After a month, Charlie's opportunities were nil and Scott and Paul convinced him to return home to Portsmouth to live with his mother and stepfather.
Charlie returned - in high sprits and determined. He joined the local supportive Unitarian Church on Union Street as well as the group Interweave. Here he made new friends and was accepted for who he was. In thanks for their support, Charlie prepared an Easter dinner for Paul and Scott and decorated their home. Eventually Charlie took an apartment on First Street, near his church and adopted a kitten.
" from the musical La Cage aux Folles
.
In 1984, many were not tolerant of homosexuality and victims of gay bashing often did not report incidents. Charlie was often tormented by local high school boys and was asked to leave a local night club when he danced with a man. Charlie was accosted by a woman in a local market one day shouting epithets such as "You pervert" and "You queer!" Frightened, Charlie made a hasty retreat, but as he was leaving, stopped, turned around, and blew a kiss. After this, Charlie was more wary of strangers. Leaving his apartment one day, he found his pet kitten dead on the doorstep. It had been strangled.
In the car were Shawn Mabry, Jim Baines, Daniel Ness and two girls. They had been at a party and had left to purchase alcohol with a fake ID that one of the girls had in her possession. Seeing Charlie, the boys got out of the car and decided to give chase. The two girls remained in the car.
Charlie began to run when he recognized the vehicle from an earlier incident. Shouting epithets, the boys gave chase. Charlie fell and because of his asthma could not catch his breath. Roy ran further down State Street and stopped and observed.
Pouncing on Charlie, the boys began beating and kicking him. Jim Baines shouted to throw Charlie over the bridge and grabbed him by the legs. Jim Baines and Daniel Ness grabbed Charlie and they began lifting him. Pleading for his life, Charlie grabbed the rail and begged them not to throw him in the river as he could not swim. Prying his hand loose, they began to pitch him over the rail, with Shawn Mabry giving the final push. The boys then returned to the car where the girls were trying to start the car. Spying Roy Ogden, they threatened him not to tell anyone. Roy Ogden then ran for help and pulled the first fire alarm he came to on State Street.
Soon, the sirens could be heard. An immediate search for Charlie began amongst the concrete walls that retain the Kenduskeag. At 1 am Charlie was found. An autopsy would later show he had suffered from a severe asthma attack and drowned.
Returning to the party, the boys bragged about their misdeed. The next day one of the boys turned himself in after he learned that Charlie had died. The other two boys decided to leave town on a freight train and then thought better of it. Returning home, they were arrested.
The following Monday a memorial service was held at the Unitarian church. From the church, a walk began to Charlie's murder site where his mother requested that a rose be dropped into the Kenduskeag. Looking up at a nearby wall, someone had spray painted "faggots jump here".
From the Bridge, the mourners walked to the police station where they stood in silent observance. Along the route, the crowd hurled homophobic epithets at the mourners.
's book It
features a scene where the creature is re-awakened by a homophobic attack on a couple, much in a fashion like this case.
Today, a short distance from Charlie's murder site, a memorial has been erected; engraved on the stone are the words: “May we, the citizens of Bangor, continue to change the world around us until hatred becomes peacemaking and ignorance becomes understanding.”
July 7, Charlie's death date, is now Diversity Day in Bangor.
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
in 1984. As Howard and a male companion, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers, Shawn I. Mabry, age 16, James Francis Baines, age 15, and Daniel Ness, age 17, harassed Howard for being gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
. The youths chased the pair, yelling homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
epithet
Epithet
An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
s, until they caught Howard and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream
Kenduskeag Stream
Kenduskeag Stream is a stream in the U.S. state of Maine. It is a tributary of the Penobscot River. The stream rises at the outlet of Garland Pond in the town of Garland, and flows southeast through Corinth, Kenduskeag, and Glenburn, before entering the city of Bangor...
, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his friend escaped and pulled a fire alarm. Charlie Howard's body was found by rescue workers several hours later.
This event galvanized the Bangor community in ways similar to the killing of Matthew Shepard
Matthew Shepard
Matthew Wayne Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998...
, although the case never attained the same level of national notoriety. As an adult Jim Baines later spoke to various groups in Maine about his involvement in the murder and the damage that intolerance can do to people and their community. His story, Penitence: A True Story by Edward Armstrong, was published, although he received no royalties from the book. The Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, which later became EqualityMaine
EqualityMaine
EqualityMaine is a political advocacy organization in Maine, United States. Founded in 1984 after the murder of Charlie Howard, it is the oldest and largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization in the state. In 2008, they were a primary opponent of an attempt to revoke an...
, was formed in part as a reaction to Howard's death.
The Bangor City Council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
and members of the lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) community have been working on a monument to be installed along the Kenduskeag Stream honoring the memory of Charlie Howard as the victim of a hate crime
Hate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
. On November 14, 2007, the Bangor City Council approved the monument, and the Charles O. Howard Memorial Foundation is raising money to install the monument. On July 7, 2004, a twentieth anniversary walk was held in memory of Howard. The Maine Speakout Project maintains the Charlie Howard Memorial Library in Portland, Maine. The library is open to the public.
This incident inspired a similar scene in the beginning of Stephen King's novel It
It (novel)
It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The story follows the exploits of seven children as they are terrorized by the eponymous inter-dimensional predatory life-form that exploits the fears and phobias of its victims in order to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It"...
, where three homophobic teenagers throw an openly
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
gay man, Adrian Mellon, over a bridge and into the Kenduskeag, there to be set upon and murdered by the monster Pennywise. Mark Doty
Mark Doty
Mark Doty is an American poet and memoirist.-Biography:He was born in Maryville, Tennessee, earned his Bachelor of Arts from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and received his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Goddard College in Vermont.In 1989, his partner Wally Roberts tested...
wrote a poem about the tragedy called "Charlie Howard's Descent". The murder is also the inspiration for a novel by Bette Greene titled The Drowning of Stephan Jones.
Charlie Howard was from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A young, fair-haired man Charlie was small boned and suffered from asthma. He was often made fun of as a small child, and was bullied in high school due to his sexual orientation. He did not attend his graduation to spare his family from the taunts he often received. With his poor grades, he knew college was not for him.
Charlie moves to Maine
Charlie left Portsmouth, New HampshirePortsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
and eventually landed in Ellsworth, Maine
Ellsworth, Maine
Ellsworth is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Maine, United States. The 2010 Census determined it had a population of 7,741. Ellsworth was Maine's fastest growing city from 2000-2010 with a growth rate of nearly 20 percent...
. When the relationship that he was in ended in January 1984, Charlie left Ellsworth for Bangor, Maine.
In Bangor, Paul Noddin and Scott Hamilton befriended Charlie. Charlie was homeless with no prospects and Scott and Paul welcomed Charlie into their home. After a month, Charlie's opportunities were nil and Scott and Paul convinced him to return home to Portsmouth to live with his mother and stepfather.
Charlie's fateful return
Charlie was not home a week when he knew he could not stay. He had a brief relationship that ended quickly. Calling his two friends in Bangor, they realized Charlie was hurting and offered him to come back to Bangor.Charlie returned - in high sprits and determined. He joined the local supportive Unitarian Church on Union Street as well as the group Interweave. Here he made new friends and was accepted for who he was. In thanks for their support, Charlie prepared an Easter dinner for Paul and Scott and decorated their home. Eventually Charlie took an apartment on First Street, near his church and adopted a kitten.
Homophobic experiences
Charlie was an individual at a time when most homosexuals were still closeted, Charlie was "out" and even flamboyant. If he felt like wearing make up, jewelry and a woman's accessories, he was known for doing so. He was known for singing the song "I Am What I AmI Am What I Am (Broadway musical song)
"I am what I am" is a song originally introduced in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles . The song is the finale number of the musical's first act, and performed by the character of Albin Mougeotte, first played by George Hearn...
" from the musical La Cage aux Folles
La Cage aux Folles (play)
La Cage aux Folles is a 1973 French farce by Jean Poiret centering on confusion that ensues when Laurent, the son of a Saint Tropez night club owner and his gay lover, brings his fiancée's ultraconservative parents for dinner. The original French production premiered at the Théâtre du...
.
In 1984, many were not tolerant of homosexuality and victims of gay bashing often did not report incidents. Charlie was often tormented by local high school boys and was asked to leave a local night club when he danced with a man. Charlie was accosted by a woman in a local market one day shouting epithets such as "You pervert" and "You queer!" Frightened, Charlie made a hasty retreat, but as he was leaving, stopped, turned around, and blew a kiss. After this, Charlie was more wary of strangers. Leaving his apartment one day, he found his pet kitten dead on the doorstep. It had been strangled.
July 7, 1984
On Saturday, July 7, 1984 Charlie attended a potluck supper at Interweave. Leaving the party about 10 pm with his friend Roy Ogden, Charlie decided to walk to the post office to retrieve his post box mail. As Charlie and Roy walked up State Street and began to cross the Kenduskeag River Bridge, a car full of high school teenagers began to slow down.In the car were Shawn Mabry, Jim Baines, Daniel Ness and two girls. They had been at a party and had left to purchase alcohol with a fake ID that one of the girls had in her possession. Seeing Charlie, the boys got out of the car and decided to give chase. The two girls remained in the car.
Charlie began to run when he recognized the vehicle from an earlier incident. Shouting epithets, the boys gave chase. Charlie fell and because of his asthma could not catch his breath. Roy ran further down State Street and stopped and observed.
Pouncing on Charlie, the boys began beating and kicking him. Jim Baines shouted to throw Charlie over the bridge and grabbed him by the legs. Jim Baines and Daniel Ness grabbed Charlie and they began lifting him. Pleading for his life, Charlie grabbed the rail and begged them not to throw him in the river as he could not swim. Prying his hand loose, they began to pitch him over the rail, with Shawn Mabry giving the final push. The boys then returned to the car where the girls were trying to start the car. Spying Roy Ogden, they threatened him not to tell anyone. Roy Ogden then ran for help and pulled the first fire alarm he came to on State Street.
Soon, the sirens could be heard. An immediate search for Charlie began amongst the concrete walls that retain the Kenduskeag. At 1 am Charlie was found. An autopsy would later show he had suffered from a severe asthma attack and drowned.
Returning to the party, the boys bragged about their misdeed. The next day one of the boys turned himself in after he learned that Charlie had died. The other two boys decided to leave town on a freight train and then thought better of it. Returning home, they were arrested.
The aftermath
The boys were sent to the Hancock County Jail and later released into their parents' custody. The boys were tried as juveniles and sentenced to the Maine Youth Center not to exceed their 21st birthdays. The boys were sentenced on 1 October 1984. According to the Bangor Daily News, "Baines was released after serving two years and Mabry was released after 22 months."The following Monday a memorial service was held at the Unitarian church. From the church, a walk began to Charlie's murder site where his mother requested that a rose be dropped into the Kenduskeag. Looking up at a nearby wall, someone had spray painted "faggots jump here".
From the Bridge, the mourners walked to the police station where they stood in silent observance. Along the route, the crowd hurled homophobic epithets at the mourners.
Legacy
Stephen KingStephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's book It
It (novel)
It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The story follows the exploits of seven children as they are terrorized by the eponymous inter-dimensional predatory life-form that exploits the fears and phobias of its victims in order to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It"...
features a scene where the creature is re-awakened by a homophobic attack on a couple, much in a fashion like this case.
Twenty-five years later
Twenty-five years later, The Bangor Daily News tried to locate Shawn Mabry, Jim Baines and Daniel Ness, now middle-aged men, for their views. The whereabouts of two of the men are unknown. Jim Baines lives and works in Bangor. Following his release from the detention center, he spoke regularly about tolerance to local students and even address the Maine State Legislature in "support of a bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation". In addition, he has co-authored the book Penitence with Ed Armstrong in 1994. That same year, Shawn Mabry expressed his regrets about his participation. He stated that he thinks about Charlie Howard every day.Today, a short distance from Charlie's murder site, a memorial has been erected; engraved on the stone are the words: “May we, the citizens of Bangor, continue to change the world around us until hatred becomes peacemaking and ignorance becomes understanding.”
July 7, Charlie's death date, is now Diversity Day in Bangor.
Memorial vandalized
In May 2011, vandals spray-painted graffiti and an anti-gay slur on Charlie Howard's memorial. Family and friends cleaned it up and rededicated it.External links
- http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmid=46997510&GRid=62191915&