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Mississippi Jury Convicts 7 of 18 in Rights Killings

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Mississippi Jury Convicts 7 of 18 in Rights Killings Misc II — KKK 'tut ork intoo .NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1967 — Three of the Guilty and Sheriff Who Was Acquitted in Mississippi Associated pr. vh,t.toi.c1 Untied Press International Telephoto Sam H. Bowers Sr., a Klan Cecil R. Price, left, and Alton W. Roberts Sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey of Neshoba leader, leaving court after being taken to jail after the ,verdict. The County is embraced by friend as he leaves he had been found guilty. others convicted were released on bail. the court after jury found him not guilty. seven men today for partici- pating in a Ku Klux Klan con- spiracy to murder three young MISSISSIPPI JURY civil rights ,workers in 1964. Guilty verdicts were returned ed against Cecil R. Price, 29 CONVICTS 7 OF 18 years old, the - chief deputy sheriff of Neshoba County, and Sam H. Bowers Jr., 43, of Lau- IN RIGHTS KILLINGS rel, identified as the Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. All-White Panel Acquits 8 Also convicted were Horace and Rules a Mistrial on 3 D. Barnette, 29, a one-time Me- ridian salesman; Jimmy Arledge in Klan Conspiracy Case 30, a Meridian truck driver; j Billy Wayne Posey, 30, a Wil- liamsville service station oper- 2 JAILED WITHOUT BOND ator; Jimmie Snowden, 34, a Meridian laundry truck driv- er, and Alton W. Roberts, 29, Judge Rebukes 'Wild Man' a Meridian salesman. After Receiving Report The maximum penalty for the conspiracy convictions is of a Dynamite Threat 10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. By WALTER. RUGABER 3 Will Be Retried Special toThelfew York Times Eight other men-.were acquit- MERIDIAN, Miss., Oct. 20 f ted by the panel of five men —A Federal Court jury of white Mississippians convicted and seven women. The jurors were. unable to reach a ver- stern demeanor and disciplined dict on three of the 18 defend- courtroom, then delivered a ants, and mistrials were de- slashing rebuke. "There's not a power on this , clued. Judge Cox said that the earth that can frighten this three would be retried. court," he said. "No one else ; Mr. Bowers had been ac- need be frightened with his cused , of approving the. Klan bluster and his bluff for a long plot to "eliminate" the three time. We're not going to have - workers and the six oth- any anarchy down here, not rights as long as I'm on this bench." ers were among those placed on [The United Press Inter- the murder scene by Govern- national reported that Rob- ment evidence presented dur- erts and Price had been ing the two-week trial. party to other such state- The United States District ments in and around the corridors of the courtroom.] Court Judge, W. Harold Cox, Roberts and Price were ordered the compilation of the whisked from the courthouse probation reports on the seven by United States marshals and convicted men by next Friday driven to the Hinds County jail and deferred sentencing until in Jackson. The five other men were continued in $5,000 per- after they were received. sonal bonds and released. Murder is genraIly no a The convictions were said to Federal crime unless committed be the first in a civil rights on government property. The slaying in Mississippi. The conspiracy charges, filed under state has had a series of un- a Reconstruction era law, were punished .racial killings in re- cent years, starting with the brought after the state courts murder in 1955 of Emmett Till, failed to take action. a Negro from Chicago. Gasps From Relatives But the lynching in nearby Neshoba County of the three Two of those convited—Price young rights workers occurred and Roberts—were called be- at the height of the direct fore the judge, denounced and assault on segregation in the jailed without bond. No addi- South and has been one of the most widely followed criminal tional charges were made. cases of the decade. Judge Cox set a hearing on The Department of Justice their release for 9 A.M. Mon- and the Federal Bureau of In- day in Jackson. vestigation fought in court for "I'm not going to let any more than three years. In- formed estimates of the prose- wildman loose on a civilized cution's cost ranged upward society, and I want you locked from $1-million. up," Judge Cox told the two The dead youths were Mi- after the jury pronouncedthem chael H. Schwerner, 24, of New guilty. York, a white field worker for the Congress of Racial Equality; There were gasps from rela- Andrew Goodman, 20, of New tives of the defendants, but York, a white college student, and James E. Chaney, 21, of Continued on Page 18, Column 1 Meridian, a Negro plasterer. They disappeared June 21, 1964, after driving to Neshoba County from Meridian to in- vestigate the burning of a Negro church. Price arrested their and placed them in the ALL-WHITE PANEL county jail that afternoon. 3 Held for Lynching ACQUITS 8 OF MEN The Government found that Price held the three until a Klan lynching party could be assembled, then released them, Rules Mistrial on 3, Others recaptured them on the high- way and turned them over to —2 Jailed Without Bond the gunmen for execution. The bodies were found Aug. After a Dynamite Threat 4, 1964, buried about 15 feet beneath the earthen dam, of a small-'farm pond in Neshoba Continued From Page 1, . Col. 8 County. Prosecution witnesses told how the three had been the judge continued: buried in a common grave and "I very heartily enter into covered with the aid of a bull- this jury's verdict, particularly dozer. , regarding,Mr. Roberts." Many newsmen, Government After the jury reported a sources and other long-time ob- deadlock yesterday, Judge Cox servers of the state were sur- read it new instructions drawn prised by the news of the from the so - called "Allen guilty verdicts and predicted charge," a set of directions used that the jury's decision would in the case of Allen v. the have a substantial effect here. United. States and upheld by Several observers said that the Supreme Court in 1898. the convictions would not only Lawyers also refer to the in- restrain terrorist activities in structions as the "dynamite Charge" because it is designed to help jog the jurors into a unanimous verdict. Judge Cox said he had learned that Roberts, while awaiting the jury's verdict, had made the following threat: "Judge Cox just gave that jury a 'dynamite charge.' We've got somedynamitef or 'em ourselves." The judge, known for his Sketches of 7 Men Convicted in Mississippi Cecil Ray Price Sam Holloway Bowers Jr. Alton Wayne Roberts Horace Doyle Barnette - • - • TWENTY-NINE years old. ORTY-THREE years old. TWENTY-NINE 'years old. TWENTY-NINE years old. Chief deputy sheriff F Operates Magnolia Con- . Mobile home sales- 1 . Automotive parts of Neshoba. County since solidated Realty Company man, lives in a house trailer 'salesman for Allen Supply January, 1964. Arrested and Sambo Amusement Com- near Hickory, Miss.. Company in Meridian until rights workers June 21, 1964, pany Vending Machine in Named member of lynching three days after discovery held them in jail more than Laurel. Identified as Im- mob. Born in Meridian, or rights workers' bodies, six hours, released them, re- perial Wizard of White when he went to Cullen, La. captured them after highway Knights of Ku Klux Klan who played football in high school . Signed confession that chase then turned them over approved lynching plot in here.. Served in Marine gave eye-witness description to lynching .mob, of which advance. Charged by , Corps is 1957 and 1958 and, of slayings and admitted his he was a member. Born Congressional investigator according to Federal Bureau presence at shootings. in Jackson... Finished high with having told statewide of Investigation, received Born in Plain Dealing, La., school and moved to Phila- Klan meeting near Raleigh bad conduct discharge for where he was raised and delphia, Miss.„ six years ago. on Jan. 7, 1964, that "you fighting, drunkenness and ab- finished high school. Worked in automobile have a right to kill" civil sence without official leave. Came to Meridian in May, agency and then at supply rights workers. Dabbles . Worked one and a half 1964, after series of jobs as company.... Served as Phila- in philosophy, student of Ro- years as bouncer at the Sky automobile mechanic and delphia fire 'chief before be- man Empire. .. Born in New View nightclub. Six feet truck driver in Louisiana and coming deputy sheriff. Orleans. Five feet 11 11/2 inches tali, 175 pounds, Arkansas. Six feet tall, Six feet tall, 225 pounds. inches tall, sandy hair. long black hair. Married, 180 pounds, baldish. Married, no children. Single. three children. Married. Mississippi but also make it easier for the prosecution to obtain convictions in future cases. The Government will return to Federal Court in Hattiesburg next month for another con- spiracy trial in the firebomb slaying of Vernon Dahmer, a Negro voter registration leader killed Jan. 10, 1965. Bowers is a defendant in that case, too. Associated Press Jimmy. Arledge Billy Wayne. Posey Jimmie Snowden THIRTY years old. THIRTY years old. THIRTY-FOUR years old. 1 Meridian truck driver, Manager of Phillips 66 1 Truck driver for Meridian since 1963. :Named mem- Service Station in Williams- laundry last 11 years. ber of lynching party. Nabed member of lynching Born in Newton County, ville near Philadelphia. mob. Born in Bailey, Miss. Classified 4-F by Named member of lynching Miss.
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