A Database of the Dead

Milton Gibson McSween was born on July 13, 1945 and was murdered December 3, 1981 by Port Authority Police in New York City. Milton was part of a family of five kids and grew up in an intact home with a mother and father in a middle class working family. He was one of the few black students to be excepted, attended and graduated from the famous all-White Music and Art High School in New York. He graduated in 1964 and was deemed a genius. He served in the Marines and attended Boot Camp with Elvis Presley. He served in the Vietnam war. He was sitting under a tree in Vietnam writing a letter to his mother and his Caucasian friend was sitting under another tree and all of a sudden his friend was blown up by a bomb. What was left of his friend’s body was little pieces. Milton was never the same. He was honorably discharged. And he was diagnosed and suffered from PTSD. When he came out of the service, a lot of times he would not go home. He would sleep in Grand Central Station. He would occasionally come home to receive his military check. When he didn’t come home to pick up his check his mother got worried. That evening, McSween attempted to sleep in Grand Central Station. That evening a news report covered a story about a man sleeping in Grand Central Station on December 3, 1981. The police saw Milton McSween sleeping in Grand Central and chased him away. That same evening McSween came back to Grand Central Station to sleep; it was December, it was cold so he needed a warm place to stay. It was documented that the Port Authority Police came back to find McSween sleeping and they were extremely upset. They were witnessed physically taking Milton Gibson McSween out of Port Authority. When he was found, McSween was beaten with his face smashed in and his body was dumped in the Hudson River. Port Authority Policemen who killed Milton Gibson McSween were never bought up on charges and got away with murder. He was killed December 3, 1981, Milton was 36 years old. After calling all of the hospitals in the city, his mother and friend discovered his body in the City Morgue in Bellevue Hospital just before he was to be buried in Potters Field. McSween received a full military funeral and his mother was given the United States of America flag for his military service. He was buried in a military cemetery with a proper headstone. Our family knew that the police officers killed Milton because they had filed documents of the night they took McSween out of Grand Central Station, however, there was no documentation of how he died. The Mayes/ McSween Family we’re advised by their minister and National Civil Rights Leader Rev. Wyatt T. Walker to drop the case for the safety of the family and his surviving brother and sisters who are all alive today.

A quiet, unassuming hard working and loving son, brother, uncle and friend to many. He is continually missed by his immediate family in Ontario.