| Notes |
- Slain cabby laughed off risk
by Eric Sharp, Free Press Staff Writer
Charles A. France’s father pleaded with him not to drive a taxi during the Christmas holidays. But the University of Michigan graduate student laughed off the danger, saying hack driving would earn him more Christmas cash than anything else available.
“He was the finest young man in the world, an honors student with a brilliant mind,” Dr. Charles J. France of Gross Pointe Park said Sunday, a day after he buried the 26-year-old son who was murdered during an apparent robbery attempt in his cab in Detroit.
“I pleaded with him not to take that job. I said it was too dangerous,” Dr. France said.
“Friends tried to persuade him too, and offered him other jobs, but he said we should not worry. He said he was making more money than in the other jobs and he only had one more week to go.”
Young France saw the job advertised by the East Side Cab Co. in the weekly Grosse Pointe News, his father said, and had been driving a taxi for two weeks.
Just after midnight Thursday, a woman who lives on Kitchener in Detroit heard what sounded like gunshots.
She told police she looked out her window and saw a taxi drive over a curb and into a field near Kitchener and Essex, on Detroit’s east side.
Sgt. Tim Dowd of the Detroit homicide squad said young France had dropped a customer off in the Jefferson-St. Jean area about 10 minutes before he was shot approximately a mile away.
Dowd said it was not known if he had picked up another fare on Jefferson or was flagged down on Kitchener.
Dowd said the killer stood outside the car. France apparently sat inside with the car in neutral gear. Police believe his body fell forward and put the car in gear at the first shot.
The killer apparently fled without robbing the young man, Dowd said, since more than $40 was found in France’s pockets.
Police said Sunday they had no suspects.
Dr. France said his son was trying to earn enough money over the Christmas break to buy gifts and save some money to take back to Ann Arbor.
“He was studying biology. He wanted to be a teacher, and would have started teaching” after receiving his master’s degree in June.
“He worked in a gas station over Christmas last year,” Dr. France said. “I thought that was dangerous because of the robberies. I was appalled when he told me he was going to drive a cab.
Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan. Monday, 18 December 1978, page 3.
[3]
- Barefoot taxicab driver killed
Detroit (AP) – Police are puzzled over why a taxi driver found shot to death in his cab was barefoot, and still carrying $40 in his wallet and pockets.
The driver, found dead early Thursday, was identified as Charles France, 26, of suburban Grosse Pointe Park.
Police said one of his shoes was found on the ground near the cab.
The driver may have been shot during an attempted robbery, police said.
Lansing State Journal, Lansing, Michigan. Friday, 15 December 1978, page 15.
[3]
- France, Charles. Services 1 p.m. at Grosse Point Memorial Church. Arrangements by the Verheyden Funeral Home.
Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan. Saturday, 16 December 1978.
[3, 4]
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1952 - 1978 (26 years)
[1, 2] 
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set