Detective Ellery Bertram Purnsley, aged 56, was a dedicated officer with the Chester City Police Department in Pennsylvania. On November 6, 1948, he responded to a distress call at the scene of the Market Street Massacre. The incident began when a dispute between a numbers writer and a migrant worker escalated into a violent shooting spree. The shooter, Melvin Collins, opened fire from his apartment window, targeting pedestrians on Market Street.
Detective Purnsley, who was the first Blac
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