He was the man suspects trusted

IN A FEBRUARY 1983 Daily News column, Chuck Stone pondered why suspects chose to surrender to him.

"I'm not sure," the legendary columnist and senior editor wrote. "Perhaps, trust. Maybe an operative subliminal negritude, since 80 percent of all police abuse is white cop-black victim. Possibly, an expectation of abuse deterrence."

They may have needed a dictionary to read his column, but over the years 72 criminal suspects, many wanted in shootings and murders, surrendered to Stone - at times even showing up at his home, according to a 1987 column.

The columns Stone penned during his 19 years at the Daily News tackled a range of issues, frequently focusing on criminal justice, violence, race and politics.

Stone left the paper in 1991 to accept the Walter Spearman Professorship of Journalism at the University of North Carolina - a position for which he beat out 107 other candidates, according to a 1991 Daily News story.

Stone retired from UNC in 2005. In his honor, a summer program for aspiring high-school journalists there is named the Chuck Stone Program for Diversity in Education and Media.

John F. Morrison, a longtime Daily News reporter, recalls his former colleague with a combination of nostalgia and awe:

"The [fugitives] who came into the Daily News office over the years were there to see the man they believed would protect them from any abuse from the cops. They were wanted criminals, usually wanted for violent crimes, and they thought Chuck Stone would help them with a smooth transition into the criminal-justice system.

"Several times, I had the job of calling Chuck at home after hours to tell him that another criminal suspect wanted to turn himself in. Chuck never complained, at least not to me, and he'd soon arrive to meet another of those sheepish young men. He would then notify the police, who would shortly arrive to take the suspect away.

"Since Chuck is black and the criminals were also black, they no doubt felt he would be more sympathetic to their plight. I once asked him if a white suspect ever came to him. He said, 'No, but one of these days I'm going to get one.'

"He never did."