Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking, they change laws, change society, or even

earn the label, Crime of the Century. But the stories that made headlines and decades past

aren't necessarily remembered today.

I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author, and in each episode of this show,

I'll examine a case that's maybe lesser known today, but was huge when it happened.

This is Crimes of the Centuries.

Thank you. This is Crimes of the Centuries. In the Library of Congress's repository of seminal American historical artifacts, under the file

name William Gabbitusitus is a single letter.

It's dated November 5, 1935.

In the cursive slanted scrawl of a fifth grade boy, Billy Gubitus wrote to inform the Minersville

Pennsylvania School District that he could not be a part of their public school

morning ritual anymore. Addressed to our school directors, the missive read, quote,

Dear sirs, I do not salute the flag because I have promised to do the will of God. That means

that I must not worship anything out of harmony with God's law. In the 20th chapter of Exodus

is stated, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor bow down to them, nor serve them,

for I the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the

children unto the third and fourth generation of

them that hate me. I am a true follower of Christ. I do not salute the flag, not because I do not

love my country, but I love my country and God more, and I must obey his commandments. Your pupil,

Billy Gabbitus, end quote.

Ten-year-old Billy could not have known it, but he had just tossed a hand grenade onto a

battlefield. It would take eight years for the dust to settle, and for him and his sister, Lillian,

...