illllllllllllllllllllllllltllMllilllllllllllllHlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllMIIIIIIIIIIIIIinilllilllltlllllMIIIIMIIIIIlllllllllllllllllltllllllllllllllllllllllllllllUIIIIIIIMIIIIIMIIIIIIIIItlllllllllllllllllllllllllll|||||(NlllllllMIIIIHIUI(llllllllll(IHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH|lllllllll THE MILITANT The Facts About Cyprus Published in the Interests of the Working People — See article page 6 — Vol. 28 - No. 9 Monday, March 2, 1964 Price 10c aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiu Racist Bombings, Beatings Hit Maryland, Mississippi Alleged Victims Tell Story A new series of violent acts by eral 'Kennedy protesting the beat­ white supremacists is hitting ings, Robert Moses, head of Mis­ Southern Negroes in reprisal for sissippi voter registration for the In Monroe "Kidnap" Trial integration activities. In Princess Student Nonviolent Coordinating Anne, Md., a terrorist’s bomb ex­ Committee, said Curtis’ beating Special to The Militant ploded in the front yard of a was the fourth in the past ten Negro family’s home just off the days. Another Negro was shot and MONROE, N.C., Feb. 26 — This main street late on Feb. 24. Early killed in Tallatchie County by is the third day of the presenta­ in the evening a flaming cross was policemen on Feb. 13. Still another tion of the prosecution’s case sighted in a field near the Mary­ was forced to strip and was soaked against Mrs. Mae Mallory, John land State campus, apparently ig­ in oil before being beaten in near­ Lowry, Richard Crowder and nited by opponents of rights dem­ by Amite County. Harold Reape in the so-called onstrations staged at the college As if these events were not “ kidnap” case. on that day. enough to shock the American On the morning of Feb. 24 the The bomb blast broke the sun people’s sensibilities, the white state opened the, case by putting porch windows in the Gates fam­ power structure has handed down Mrs. G. Bruce Stegall and her ily’s home. Leon Gates is the uncle a number of legal decisions that husband, the allegedly kidnapped of John Wilson, college junior who further assault the rights and lib­ couple, on the stand. Under Pro­ has been leading the demonstra­ erties of Negroes and freedom secutor Boyette’s questioning they tions. “I saw a black car passing fighters in general. Dion Tyrone gave the following story: at the time and saw a red flicker,” Diamond, a worker for the Student They had left their house in Mrs. Gates said. “Then this tre­ Nonviolent Coordinating Commit­ nearby Marshfield around five mendous explosion came. There tee, who reportedly urged Negro p.m. August 27, 1961 to visit Mrs. was a terrific impact. I didn’t students at a Louisiana college to Stegall’s mother. They drove into know what to think.” boycott classes in a protest move­ Monroe and stopped near the In Natchez, Mississippi, an eld­ ment, lost his case in the U.S. courthouse square where Mr. Ste­ erly Negro man who was stripped Supreme Court Feb. 24. gall got out and talked to a taxi and beaten by hooded members of The Court had agreed to review driver, who told him, “They just the Ku Klux Klan late Feb. 15, his conviction for “disturbing the had a war here.” has received further threats on peace,” but then decided that its Mr. ' Stegall went back to the his life. Archie Curtis, 60, a Negro w rit of review was “improvident- car and he and his wife decided undertaker, said he was lured to ly granted.” One Washington cor­ to get out of town quickly. They a deserted section of the city by respondent saw the high court ac­ drove down Winchester Ave. an unidentified caller who told tion as “a warning to racial dem­ w hich goes through New Town, him a woman was dying of a heart onstrators in the South that there the principal Negro neighborhood attack. was a lim it to what they could do in Monroe. When they sighted a DEFENDANTS. John Lowry (left), Harold Reape (center), and Curtis was given directions to within the shelter of the Consti­ crowd of Negroes ahead in the Richard Crowder. a deserted road and was told a tution.” middle of the avenue, Mrs. Stegall man “with a lantern” would guide Students at Southern Univer­ said to her husband, “Let’s turn and a white boy whom she now him to the stricken woman’s home. sity in East Baton Rouge, Loui­ around and get out of here.” tify and at the opening of the identifies as John Lowry, a Free­ When the undertaker arrived at siana, had been holding meetings They then turned into Boyte St. questioning told the prosecutor, the road, he and his companion and conducting anti-segregation in order, they claim, to back out dom Rider from New York, got in “ My testimony is the same as hers. behind the wheel. And you all can just take hers.” were ordered at pistol point to demonstrations for some weeks and turn around. However, their She and her husband were first leave their car. Blindfolded, they when Diamond arrived there in car was immediately surrounded However, this wasn’t acceptable were taken to Duck Pond Road January of 1962. When the univer­ by not less than 200 people, many taken to the front yard of 410 and he had to tell the story again Boyte St., home of Robert F. W il­ in his own words. where they were asked to show sity penalized some students for of them carrying rifles. liams, former NAACP president It is still unclear why the Ste­ their NAACP membership cards their activities, Diamond encour­ According to Mrs. Stegall, and NAACP membership lists. aged students to boycott classes members of the crowd opened the here, who is now a political ref­ galls were on Boyte St. on the day ugee in Cuba. After a conversa­ They had neither. The Klan mem­ to protest the penalties. car door and told her husband to of the rioting. The most direct bers told Curtis he was “ a NAACP At one point, he is alleged to get out, some taking him by the tion in the yard with Williams, route to visit Mrs. Stegall’s mother nigger.” have said to an audience, “let’s arm. They conducted him further who said that he could not con­ would not even have taken them Both Negroes were forced to go through the classrooms,” to up Boyte St. She then testified trol the crowd, they followed him into downtown Monroe. Moreover, strip and were beaten with a lead the students out. This was that Mrs. Mae Mallory ordered into his house. they claim that they saw practi­ strap. claimed to be encouraging unruly her to get out. There, they say, Williams called cally no one in the courthouse In a telegram to Attorney Gen- (Continued on Page 5) She got out of the car, she says, police chief A. A. Mauney and square, though the mob action then put Mr. Stegall on the phone. there had taken place only a short He says he told the Monroe police time before. A NOTABLE CIVIL LIBERTIES VICTORY official, “They got me and my In like fashion, though they wife out here and they seem to parked near and drove past the think we can help get their peo­ police station, they noted no crowd ple out of jail.” out in front. Worthy's Conviction Upset The reference was to the large Again, if they wished to get number of Negroes and Freedom out of town quickly, as they say By M. L. Stafford appeals court in New Orleans threw amount of support from civil lib­ Riders arrested in the courthouse they did when they heard about square following police-encouraged the rioting, it is a mystery why W illia m W orthy, w e ll - known out his conviction for going to erties quarters. His case was they took the Winchester Ave. correspondent for the Baltimore Cuba and returning without a handled by the Workers Defense rioting against their picket line. route, which is not the most direct Afro-American, scored a notable passport. The appeals court de­ League, with Roland Watts former The Stegalls said that they were victory for freedom of travel Feb. clared unconstitutional the fed­ legal director of the American stood up back to back and their (Continued on Page 2) 20 when a three-judge federal eral law which prohibits a citizen Civil Liberties Union, as counsel. hands bound together. Then they from leaving or entering the coun­ He was represented on appeal by were taken out the back door to try without a valid passport. the noted lawyer William Kunst- the next house which apparently was empty and without electricity. Worthy was convicted of this ler, now in Monroe, N.C., repre­ Their hands on one side were charge in August 1962 and was senting John Lowry. untied and chairs were brought sentenced to three months in jail The American Civil Liberties fo r them. plus nine months on probation. Union filed a “friend of the court” brief in Worthy’s appeal. The Mrs. Mallory they say, sat in His conviction was based on the a corner facing them, holding a widely read Scripps Howard col­ fact that he had gone to Cuba in rifle and a flashlight. Mrs. Stegall umnist Richard Starnes wrote sev­ July 1961 and returned in October identified Richard Crowder, pres­ eral columns assailing the prosecu­ of that year without a passport. ident of the Monroe Nonviolent tion of Worthy and the danger to Worthy was without a passport as Action Committee, as one of those civil liberties it represented. a result of his earlier defiance of who helped tie them up and guard State Department efforts to curb The government has not yet the back door.