Neither Tells of Klan Plot to Eliminate Trio
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12 Oct 67 NO States—Item Misc II — KKK The Justice Department DENNIS ALSO testified that ?IILLER SAt HE under- presented 12 witnesses and in- he, had., discussed Klan busi- stood that at 'the time, Sam troduced several exhibits in Neither Tells ness wititRainey..Dennis said 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 - GEORGE BURLEY, an FBI province At a meeting with Killen at moted" to Miller's home on June 28, a ballistics expert, testified the adminiStrative Officer and week after the workers were workers were shot from close assistant to the imperial wiz- range—an inch or closer - Eliminate Trio ard in charge of activities in slain, Miller said Killen told him the trio had been shot with 38-caliber pistols. Four MERIDIAN (AP) — A 27- six East Mississippi counties and had been buried in an of the 'five bullets were .from year-old itinerant preacher, including Neshoba County. Dennis explained that "the earthen dam. the same weapon, he said. who said he'd received $15,- Miller said he was told the Dr. William Featherstone, a 000 as an FBI informant on state" in Klan discussions meant the state organization. civil rights workers, "Were Jackson pathologist, who per- the Ku Klux Klan, testified chased down Hwy. 19 about • formed the autopsies, testified today that Edgar Ray Killen The FBI had identified Sam 100 miles per hour" on the 1 the two white men were shot told a Klan meeting in April H. Bowers Jr., of Laure4..ontr night of June 21. _ _ _ of the defendants,' as ' through the heart and the Ne- 1964 that the "elimination" of gro through the head. civil rights worker Michael sissippi imperial wizard of SCHWERNER, GOODMAN Schwerner had been approved the White Knights Klan Dr. Ruehl May, a Jackson and Chaney were arrested on oral surgeon, said he estab- "arid he would be taken care group. a speeding charge at Philadel- of." A Meridian police sergeant phia, Miss., after they re- lished the identity of Schwer- The Rev. Delmar Dennis, a testified yesterday that the turned from a Negro com- ner. and Goodman by compar- Meridian resident who said 1964 slayings of the three civ- munity where they had in- ing dental charts made from he had preached in both Bap- il rights workers was part of spected a burned church. the bodies with 'earlier dental tist and Methodist churches in a Klan "elimination plot." They were released late that charts made by their dentists the area, was the first wit- night. from New York. ness put on the stand today 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- the 'church' burning, Miller gerprint expert, said he iden- by the Justice Department. packed courtroom that the said Killen told him, "They slayings were approved by the tified the body of Chaney by MEANWHILE, IT was burned the 'church to get the comparing a print from the learned' that James Edward imperial wizard of the militant civil rights worker up there. White, Knights. Miller, an ex- body with a print he devel- Jordan,. one of the govern- At the time, they were re- oped on a Selective Service in- ment's key witnesses, had Klan member, testified he re- ferring to Schwerner." ceived $2',400 over a two-year formation sheet which Chaney collapsed yesterday in the HE SAID BERNARD Akin, had filled out. federal court building here. period from the FBI to pro- another defendant, told him vide information on the slay- as they were talking in an The state has never brought We was whisked to a Merid- ings. charges in the case. ian hospital, where, it was auto in Meridian in late June 1, Slain with Schwerner was that "they burned the church (Turn to Page 5, Column 1) Andrew Goodman, 20, of New for the purpose of getting, Mr. also learned, goverrudent of- York, and James Chaney, 22, Schwerner up there." a Meridian 'Negro. Schwerner, ficials inatructee:attendanta i On cross-examination, Mil- who was 24 at the time of his ler said that Killen and Akin not to disclose that 'he was a death, was also- from New York, told him that they played no patient or discuss his condi- part in the church burning or tion'.: However, it was learned ASST. U. S. ATTY. John slayings. from a reliable source today 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 ly told his story. asked for nothing in return," ment in-the case; but jurisdic- he said. Miller' said he joined the tion has been transferred to a Asked why he didn't report federal court district in Klan when -E d g a r Ray "Preacher" Killen, one of the the information to authorities Georgia - 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 the FBI to the location of June, 16 in Neshoba County at The target of the Klan group the bodies. "I had faith and which defendants Bernard was Schwerner, a bearded confidence in the Ku Klux Akin, Alton Wayne Roberts, civil rights organizer who' had Klan," he said. "I didn't think been active in the Neshoba those people had been mur- Frank J Herndon, E. G. County area, Miller said. "Hop" Barnette, Billy Wayne dered. I joined in good faith." Posey and Killen were present. HE SAID SOME of the mem- ON CROSS-EXAMINATION Later he was asked if he bers wanted to "whip" Sch- Miller testified that he had knew Neshoba County Sheriff werner. been married three times. De- At one Klan meeting, Miller fense counsel produced a copy Lawrence Rainey, another de- said, "Mr. Killen said to leave fendant. , of a marriage application him (Schwerner) alone—that signed by Miller and it said another klavern had been giv- - A. I DO. he had only one 'previous en approval for his elimina- wife. Q.. po you know if he yr tion." ' Miller acknowledged that in- member of the White KniAik hen asked by Doar who formation on the application of the,Ku Klux Klan?. horized the "elimination," was incorrect. He said he A. I:ItneW him to be a mem- Miller replied, "his elimina- didn't know that an oath was tion had been approved '"by included in the application. ber: the imperial wizard." .