Bulla and Boo: Man Who Had No Age and Boy Maybe 18 Hanged Nassau 1942

On Tuesday May 12, 1942, the Bahamas executed two men. They were hanged at His Majesty’s Prison, the Nassau Prison. The men went by their aliases Bulla and Boo. Although prejudicial to the jury, they were referred to by their street aliases during the entire duration of the trial.

Bulla and Boo were found guilty by a jury on Friday April 24th., 1942, for the brutal hatchet murder of a Grant’s Town shopkeeper, Mr. Clarence Walters on February 27, 1942. Walters was murdered in his own shop by the pair.

Edward Mackey (alias Bulla) and Belton Fernander (alias Boo) were hanged in the early hours of Tuesday May 12, 1942.

Belton Fernander (alias Boo), did not know when he was born. He didn’t know the date of his birth, the month or year. He did not know how old he was. No records were found of his birth. The death certificate simply stated he was of no age.

Edward Mackey (alias Bulla) was just 18 years old, making him, quite probably, the youngest person ever executed in The Bahamas since modern recording had begun in the 20th century.

In the early 20th century in the Bahamas, justice was swift, harsh and final. Murder was a high capital offence for which there was only one penalty, unless mercy was granted.

During that time, when the crime chronicles of the islands were written, there were few dangling ends. Few doubts. Few misgivings. And missteps, if any, were quickly forgotten, as the pages of history turned, and new days dawned.

The Foreman, William Hall, said that they found their decision a very painful duty.

For their services in delivering a verdict in the murder trial the jurors were given a four year release from jury duty.

CAME TO ROB SHOPKEEPER. BOO STRUCK THE FATAL BLOW WITH A HATCHET. BOTH GUILTY.

Two women, Leonora Darville and Julie Nixon, gave conflicting testimony, probably to save themselves from indictment. They both claimed to have watched as the Bulla and Boo robbed the shopkeeper Clarence Walters. At first they both claimed to have left the scene before the murder took place. Darville testified she saw Boo with a hatchet and Bulla carrying a stick.

Julie Nixon, not a person of high moral character, an alcoholic, who was also drunk on the evening of the murder, as well as the morning after, claimed to have been assaulted by Bulla and Boo who told her to keep her mouth shut.

She claimed to have been walking together with the shopkeeper and very religious man Clarence Walters to his shop that evening.

Nixon claimed he was getting religious materials for her to read. It was near the shop that Julia Nixon and Clarence Walters ran into Bulla and Boo. They all went inside the shop.

Julie Nixon said she went to the police station to report the assault.

She testified that when she got to the police station, because she was so drunk, she was turned away and told “to go to hell.”