NO States—Item Misc II — KKK 12 Oct 67

DENNIS ALSO testified that The Justice Department ?IILLER SAt HE under- presented 12 witnesses and in- he, had., discussed Klan busi- stood that at 'the time, Sam Neither Tells ness wititRainey..Dennis said troduced several exhibits in Holloway Bowers Jr. was the an attempt to establish the he .liecatne . chaplain: of the imperial wizard of the Klan identity of the trio and how Landerdale County (Meridian) group. Bowers is among the the men were killed. 18 defendants. Of Klan Plot to KlaVerno and later was pr - moted" to province At a meeting with Killen at GEORGE BURLEY, an FBI adminiStrative Officer and Miller's home on June 28, a ballistics expert, testified the Eliminate Trio assistant to the imperial wiz- week after the workers were workers were shot from close ard in charge of activities in slain, Miller said Killen told range—an inch or closer - MERIDIAN (AP) — A 27- six East Mississippi counties him the trio had been shot with 38-caliber pistols. Four year-old itinerant preacher, including Neshoba County. and had been buried in an of the 'five bullets were .from who said he'd received $15,- Dennis explained that "the earthen dam. the same weapon, he said. 000 as an FBI informant on state" in Klan discussions Miller said he was told the Dr. William Featherstone, a the , testified meant the state organization. civil rights workers, "Were Jackson pathologist, who per- today that The FBI had identified Sam chased down Hwy. 19 about • formed the autopsies, testified told a Klan meeting in April H. Bowers Jr., of Laure4..ontr 100 miles per hour" on the the two white men were shot night of June 21. 1 1964 that the "elimination" of of the defendants,' as ' _ _ _ through the heart and the Ne- civil rights worker Michael sissippi imperial wizard of gro through the head. Schwerner had been approved the White Knights Klan SCHWERNER, GOODMAN and Chaney were arrested on Dr. Ruehl May, a Jackson "arid he would be taken care group. oral surgeon, said he estab- of." a speeding charge at Philadel- A Meridian police sergeant lished the identity of Schwer- The Rev. Delmar Dennis, a testified yesterday that the phia, Miss., after they re- Meridian resident who said 1964 slayings of the three civ- turned from a Negro com- ner. and Goodman by compar- he had preached in both Bap- il rights workers was part of munity where they had in- ing dental charts made from tist and Methodist churches in a Klan "elimination plot." spected a burned church. the bodies with 'earlier dental the area, was the first wit- They were released late that charts made by their dentists ness put on the stand today night. from New York. THE SERGEANT,, Carlton Asked if he was told about —the fourth day of the trial— Wallace Miller, 48, told the SAM BAILEY, an FBI fin- by the Justice Department. the 'church' burning, Miller packed courtroom that the said Killen told him, "They gerprint expert, said he iden- MEANWHILE, IT was slayings were approved by the burned the 'church to get the tified the body of Chaney by learned' that James Edward imperial wizard of the militant civil rights worker up there. comparing a print from the Jordan,. one of the govern- White, Knights. Miller, an ex- At the time, they were re- body with a print he devel- ment's key witnesses, had Klan member, testified he re- ferring to Schwerner." oped on a Selective Service in- collapsed yesterday in the ceived $2',400 over a two-year HE SAID BERNARD Akin, formation sheet which Chaney federal court building here. period from the FBI to pro- another defendant, told him had filled out. vide information on the slay- We was whisked to a Merid- as they were talking in an The state has never brought ian hospital, where, it was ings. auto in Meridian in late June charges in the case. Slain with Schwerner was 1, (Turn to Page 5, Column 1) that "they burned the church Andrew Goodman, 20, of New for the purpose of getting, Mr. York, and , 22, also learned, goverrudent of- Schwerner up there." a Meridian 'Negro. Schwerner, ficials inatructee:attendanta i who was 24 at the time of his On cross-examination, Mil- not to disclose that 'he was a death, was also- from New ler said that Killen and Akin patient or discuss his condi- York, told him that they played no tion'.: However, it was learned part in the church burning or slayings. from a reliable source today ASST. U. S. ATTY. John Doar, the Justice Depart- Miller said he went to the that -Jordan's condition was ment's chief civil rights trou- FBI with the information in satisfactory. ble-shooter, personally hand- mid-September of 1964. led the examination of Miller JORDAN IS UNDER indict- as the stocky policeman calm- "I WENT TO THEM. I ment in-the case; but jurisdic- ly told his story. asked for nothing in return," tion has been transferred to a Miller' said he joined the he said. federal court district in Klan when -E d g a r Ray Asked why he didn't report the information to authorities Georgia - "Preacher" Killen, one of the defendants, approached. him in sooner, Miller said, "I didn't Dennis testified that he at- late March or early April believe it." tended .a. Klan meeting on of 1964. Miller denied he tipped off June, 16 in Neshoba County at The target of the Klan group the FBI to the location of which defendants Bernard was Schwerner, a bearded the bodies. "I had faith and civil rights organizer who' had confidence in the Ku Klux Akin, Alton Wayne Roberts, Klan," he said. "I didn't think Frank J Herndon, E. G. been active in the Neshoba County area, Miller said. those people had been mur- "Hop" Barnette, Billy Wayne dered. I joined in good faith." Posey and Killen were present. HE SAID SOME of the mem- Later he was asked if he bers wanted to "whip" Sch- ON CROSS-EXAMINATION werner. Miller testified that he had knew Neshoba County Sheriff been married three times. De- Lawrence Rainey, another de- At one Klan meeting, Miller said, "Mr. Killen said to leave fense counsel produced a copy fendant. , him (Schwerner) alone—that of a marriage application another klavern had been giv- signed by Miller and it said - A. I DO. en approval for his elimina- he had only one 'previous wife. Q.. po you know if he yr tion." ' member of the White KniAik Miller acknowledged that in- hen asked by Doar who formation of the,Ku Klux Klan?. horized the "elimination," on the application Miller replied, "his elimina- was incorrect. He said he A. I:ItneW him to be a mem- didn't know that an oath was ber: tion had been approved '"by included in the application. the imperial wizard."