Why‪?‬

Loyce Freeman was one month shy of his 70th birthday on June 13, 1952, and all of Charleston, South Carolina, planned to turn out for a public celebration to honor him. There would be speeches, fireworks, and a special dedication ceremony. 

Abandoned at an orphanage several days after his birth by an unwed teenage mother, fate appeared to have dealt Loyce Freeman a crushing blow. But destiny had other plans for the dynamics of his life. 

Loyce Freeman would be become the wealthiest man in Charleston's storied history, and one of the richest men in the nation. Living in a stately Charleston mansion with a staff of ten servants to dote upon his every need, Loyce never had an interest in taking a wife or fathering children. Rather, accumulating money, power, and adoration became the aphrodisiacs that infused emotion into his life. 

Loyce Freeman seemed to have it all. What more did he need to find contentment and fulfillment? But did he really have it all? Apparently not! One month before he would be fêted by a community that was both loving and envious, Mr. Freeman did the unthinkable, and it would take a private investigator with guile and courage to try to discover "WHY" before an innocent black man was blamed for something that he clearly didn't do and was dragged to the "lynching tree" to satisfy a burning public outcry for revenge. 


BRETT STEPHAN BASS is an attorney-at-law who began his professional career specializing in corporate litigation and appellate work. Leaving an active legal practice to become a business entrepreneur, he retired at age 50 to study science, art, literature, religion, and philosophy, to travel the world with his wife, Rosalind, to hone his skills as a photographer, and to write extensively about a variety of life experiences. 

He and his wife reside just outside of New York City.