Ernest Crumb

Ernest Crumb [also Crum, Crumbs] was a man of color born around 1896 in Florida. He died of tuberculosis in the T.B. Ward of the Florida State Prison Farm in Raiford, Union County, Florida on 31 May 1932. He was buried in the State Farm cemetery.

Ernest Crumb first came to my attention as the man arrested for the murder of Louis Bragg (see his entry here.) He was charged first with assault with attempt to murder, and then with murder, on 16 March 1925. He had served seven years of a life sentence when he died in prison.

Ernest was no stranger to the law, having been arrested for petty crime in the past. For the murder of Louis Bragg, however, he consistently asserted that Bragg had pulled a gun on him with the intent of robbing him. In defense, he hit Bragg in the head with a brick, fracturing Bragg’s skull and ultimately killing him.

Crumb’s death certificate indicates his mother was Emma Crumb (the informant apparently did not know her maiden name), born in Pensacola, FL. There is no other information about his family.

Emma Crumb may be the Emma Lee Beals who married Brooks Crumb [spelled “Crumbo”] on 13 July 1895 at St. John the Baptist Church (Rev. J.B. Green officiating). If so, she and Brooks are only rarely documented in the same household, despite her having 6 children with the last name of Crumb and despite their cohabiting from time to time. She worked as a laundress, whenever an occupation is given.

In the 1910 and 1920 Census of Pensacola, Ernest appears as “Ernestine.” In fact, in the 1910 census, Ernestine is listed as a daughter (in 1920, Ernestine is listed as a son). Perhaps his given name was Ernestine, or perhaps Emma was hiding his true identity from the authorities – most of the male members of the family managed to get arrested for petty crime from time to time throughout their young adulthood. Ernest appears in the 1930 census as an inmate of the State Prison in Raiford, 34 years old, born in Florida.

I have been unable to trace Emma; however, one of her sons was named Charlie Bell Crumb. This leads me to wonder if there is a connection with her maiden name as “Beall” is often pronounced as “Bell.”

Brooks Crumb died September 10, 1924 of senility at the age of 60. He was buried in Zion Cemetery. According to his death certificate, he had been living in Florida for 45 years before his death. His father was also named Brooks, and both parents were born in Mississippi. The informant was his son, Samuel Elijah.

Emma died in 1943.

FAMILY:

Mother: Emma Lee Beals Crumb

Father: Brooks Crumb

Siblings: Samuel Elijah, Walter, Robert, Charie Bell, Annie D. Crumb Foy

SOURCES:

Death Certificate of Ernest Crumb. Florida Certificate of Death No. 8266, Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.

Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.