Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—AUGUST 1957—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Clinton Trial
(Continued From Page 1)
followed to and from school. The gov
ernment also introduced news pho
tographs as evidence to support this
contention.
Government witnesses testified that
all of the defendants were on the scene
when Turner was roughed up, although
only one of them, Cook, was arrested
as a result of the fracas.
IN DEFENSE
Defense counsel contended that their
clients, except Kasper, did not receive
proper notice of the injunction because
they were not actually served with the
writ. They contended no conspiracy
existed, that the cafe meetings of Kas
per and the other defendants were
simply meetings as friends, and that
the mutual membership in the Citizens
Council of Kasper and the other de
fendants was no sign of conspiracy
because councils are legitimate organ
izations, anyone can join them and, as
one defense attorney put it, member
ship in a council is analagous to mem
bership in “the church or Masons.”
The defense contended furthermore,
that to prove conspiracy the govern
ment must show that there was a com
mon object to be sought by defendants,
that there was an agreement to seek
the object, and that there was a plan
to execute the agreement.
The defense contended also there
were no overt acts committed in vio
lation of the injunction, and that the
incident involving Turner occurred two
blocks away from the school, after he
delivered the Negro students to class,
and was outside the scope of the in
junction. Defense contended also that
Turner was guilty of violating the in
junction by his very act of escorting
the Negro children to school.
FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS
Their clients, said defense counsel, in
all the acts charged by the govern
ment, had merely been exercising their
rights to free speech and peaceable
assembly as accorded them under the
First Amendment to the U. S. Consti
tution.
Interviews with jurors and attorneys
participating in the case indicated the
jury’s verdict was probably based on
five separate developments in the
trial:
The first was a tactical error on the
part of defense counsel in cross-ex
amining Turner. The cross-examination
was an admitted effort to reduce Tur
ner from the usually untouchable sta
tus of a clergyman to that of a fallible
human being, a human being interested
in publicity and money.
The clincher in Turner’s cross-ex
amination testimony, brought out by
defense counsel Hansel Proffitt of Se-
vierville, Tenn., was when he was
asked if he had prayed for the defend
ants. Turner replied that he had done
so. Proffitt then asked, “You send up
any prayers for Rev. Bullock, Brother
Turner?”
‘SEND UP PRAYERS?’
“What do you mean, send up pray
er. Turner asked.
‘ „v il, that’s what we say up in the
m mtains, send up prayers,” Proffitt
sa*«, “you sure don’t send them down.
Now, brother, did you send up any
piayers for Rev. Bullock?”
“I’ve prayed for him,” Turner said,
“but I don’t have to send up prayers,
Mr. Proffiitt, the Lord is close by me.”
The second was the testimony from a
Clinton policeman that he saw the de
fendants and Kasper meeting “once a
week” in Gates’ cafe.
The third was testimony from An
derson County Superintendent of
Schools Frank Irwin. Irwin was first
subpoenaed by the government, later
dropped as a prosecution witness. The
defense then subpoenaed him and min
utes of the school board meetings in
September and October—meetings at
which the government contended the
injunction was explained to and dis
cussed with various of the defendants.
NO DISCUSSION
Irwin testified that the minutes dis
closed no such discussion but under
cross examination by U. S. District
Atty. Gen. John C. Crawford Jr.,
testified that school board minutes
never record discussions, only actions.
Under cross examination, Irwin gave
what was described as one of the most
damaging pieces of evidence to the de
fendants’ case. He said Clinton’s police
chief, who is also a member of the
school board, had informed him that
the reason the Negro children were
staying away from class was the pres
ence of the defendants on the route
they took to school.
The fourth development was the
definition of conspiracy given by Craw
ford which Judge Taylor indicated he
believed to be the law, some days be
fore he actually spelled it out in his
charge to the jury. The definition was
based on a decision last August by the
‘How’s the Clinton Case
Going?’
—Nashville Banner
U. S. Sixth Circuit Court in the case
of Poliafico v. United States, which
declared:
“No formal agreement is necessary to
constitute an unlawful conspiracy . . .
almost always the crime is a matter of
inference deduced from the acts of the
persons accused which are done in
pursuance of an apparent criminal
purpose . . .
ESSENCE OF CONSPIRACY
“It is the common design which is
the essence of the conspiracy . . . and
this may be made to appear when the
parties steadily nursue the same ob
ject. whether acting separately or to
gether, by common or different means,
but always leading to the same unlaw
ful result . . .”
The fifth factor was the personality
of Judge Taylor and his 7,500-word
charge to the jury. Taylor, 57, is a
member of one of East Tennessee’s
most distinguished families. His father,
Alfred, was a Republican of great pow
er and his uncle and namesake, Rob
ert, was a Democrat of similar stature.
Both became legendary figures in Ten
nessee political folklore through their
“War of the Roses” campaign of 1896
when they opposed each other as can
didates for governor. The Taylor voice
in East Tennessee, said one Knoxville
political observer, “is a strong and
clear one, one that is always listened
to with respect.”
The judge’s charge itself, said jurors
and attorneys, did much to demolish
the case for the defendants. Through
out the trial defense counsel had at
tempted to make segregation v. deseg
regation the issue. They had also con
tended the injunction was invalid and
finally, they declared a conspiracy
could not be inferred but must be
proved by substantive fact.
JURY ISSUES LIMITED
In his charge, Taylor told the jury
that the issue of segregation v. deseg
regation was not a matter for the jury
to decide. Neither was the validity of
the injunction a matter for the jury to
decide, he said. This, he said, is a mat
ter of law and “with that question the
jury is not concerned ...”
And on the definition of conspiracy,
Taylor said, in part, “In its simplest
form, a conspiracy to do an unlawful
act may arise from an exchange of
nods or smiles or gestures. Words may
be necessary to clarify; they would not
be necessary to create a conspiracy
# # #
Court Rulings
(Continued From Page 1)
Texas
Port Arthur, Galveston and other
communities planning desegregation
were held in check by a new state law
which provided penalties (in particular,
loss of state aid) for districts which
desegregate without a popular vote.
Virginia
The state’s Pupil Placement Act was
held unconstitutional by the Fourth
Circuit Court in a ruling affirming a
lower court decision. Desegregation
orders against Norfolk, Newport News
and Charlottesville were stayed pend
ing a U. S. Supreme Court ruling, but
a district court ordered Arlington
County to begin desegregation in Sep
tember.
West Virginia
School superintendents predicted no
trouble at school opening time this
year in two districts where there he
been flare-ups previously, and this
appeared to be the picture throughout
the state.
Two Georgia Gubernatorial Candidates
Argue Which Is Firmer Segregationist
MACON, Ga.
A n argument over which one is
strongest for segregation
broke out between Roger Law-
son, a Griffin administration offi
cial who resigned his state post to
run for governor in 1958, and Lt.
Gov. Ernest Vandiver, an unoffi
cial candidate. Both emphasized
their firmness against mixing the
races, and another possible can
didate said all candidates would
be for segregation. (See “Politi
cal Activity.”)
An Atlanta Negro minister said
he might run for mayor if the Ne
gro vote in Atlanta continued to
increase. A report said Georgia
had 163,389 registered Negro vot
ers. (See “Political Activity.”)
The State Department of Education
reported population changes would
trim needs for Negro teachers in rural
areas in 1957-58. (See “School Boards
and Schoolmen.”)
Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook ruled the
Georgia Education Commission could
spend public funds to promote segre
gation defenses. (See “Legal Action.”)
The first official announcement of a
candidacy for the 1958 gubernatorial
primary came from Roger Lawson of
Hawkinsville, who resigned as chair
man of the State Highway Board to
make the race. Lawson was believed
by political observers to be the choice
of Gov. Marvin Griffin and his admin
istration to defeat Lt. Gov. Ernest
Vandiver, an unannounced but hard-
campaigning candidate.
Lawson immediately launched an at
tack by questioning the firmness of
Vandiver’s segregation views. “A great
many people believe,” he said, “that
Lt. Gov. Vandiver is not as strong for
the maintenance of the county unit
system and our Georgia way of life as
he might be.”
In speeches at Eastman and Rome,
Lawson continued to emphasize his
stand against mixing of the races. He
accused Vandiver of favoring “gradual
integration.”
VANDIVER REBUTTS
Vandiver denied the accusation and
defended his record of supporting the
county unit system and opposing inte
gration.
Roy Harris, Augusta politician and
former House speaker, came to Van
diver’s defense, saying the lieutenant
governor has backed every effort of
the state government to maintain and
preserve segregation.
Rep. Charles Gowen of Brunswick,
who was defeated in the 1954 guber
natorial primary but is reported in
terested in offering for the post of gov
ernor or lieutenant governor in 1958,
said segregation “is the thing all the
candidates will talk about.” He added,
“All the candidates will stand the same
way on segregation and all will be
honest.”
Both Vandiver and Lawson sought to
emphasize the closeness of their poli
tical ties with Sen. Richard B. Russell
and Sen. Herman Talmadge of Georgia.
Both Georgia senators kept hands off
the developing state political situation,
saying they were busy fighting the civ
il rights bill before the Congress.
RUSSELL ON ‘CIVIL RIGHTS’
Sen. Russell has played a key
role as leading strategist and chief
spokesman for the southern bloc op
posing the measure advocated by U. S.
Atty. Gen. Herbert Brownell. Russell’s
speech of July 2, in which he charged
the unusual powers of the proposed
bill could be utilized to force southern
whites at the point of a bayonet to
conform to edicts aimed at destruction
of local customs and laws, gained na
tional attention. Russell proposed a
national referendum on the civil rights
bill.
Sen. Talmadge, too, has been active
in speaking and maneuvering against
the proposed civil rights measure.
Speaking in New York, an Atlanta
Negro minister said he would run for
mayor of Atlanta if the Negro vote in
Georgia’s capital city continues to in
crease. The Rev. William Holmes Bor
ders, pastor of the Wheat Street Bap
tist Church, said 19,000 Negroes helped
elect Mayor William B. Hartsfield, who
also received 16,000 white votes.
(Hartsfield defeated Archie Lindsay
‘Step Right Up, Folks, and
Have a Whiff’
FARMER'S MARKET ^
—Atlanta Journal
37,612 to 33,808 in the May 8 Atlanta
city primary. Seventy-three per cent of
28,645 registered Negroes and 54 per
cent of 95,943 registered whites voted,
with political observers estimating that
Hartsfield received about 90 per cent
of the Negro votes.)
BALLOT IS KEY’
John We=ley Dobbs of Atlanta, pres
ident of the Georgia Voters League,
said the ballot is the key to the Ne
gro’s problems. “Negro citizens in the
South will still have a long way to go
regardless of what kind of civil rights
bill might be passed by the Congress.”
Most Negroes in the South lost in
terest in politics during the white pri
mary era in which they could vote only
in general elections, he said, and
pointed out that only about 163,000 of
Georgia’s 633.000 eligible Negro voters
are registered.
The Southern Regional Council, in a
report on the Negro voter in the South,
said Georgia has 163,389 registered
voters. This is an increase of approxi
mately 19,000 over 1952 and 38,000 over
1947.
VOTE UP IN 10 STATES
The report of the biracial council
said Negro voter registration increased
in the past four years in each of 11
southern states except Mississippi.
The southern Negro registration to
tal was set at 1.238,000, an increase of
229,400 over 1952, but, according to the
council, only about 25 per cent of the
4,980,000 Negroes of voting age, as
compared to 60 per cent registration
among eligible wihte southerners.
The secretary of state reported Geor
gia has approximately 158,000 regis
tered Negro voters last year out of a
total registration of 1,310,000.
500,000 PREDICTED
James S. Peters, a member of the
Election Laws Study Committee creat
ed by the state legislature, predicted
there would be 500,000 or more regis
tered Negro voters in Georgia within a
few years.
Negroes in Georgia have voted Re
publican in the Presidential contest
and for the GOP candidate in a con
gressional (Fifth District, Atlanta) race
in large numbers. Peters, opposed to
participation in Democratic primaries
by Negroes and whites who vote Re
publican in general elections, moved
the committee recommend voters be
required to declare their party affilia
tions when registering and the motion
was adopted. The proposed legislation
would limit a voter to participation in
a primary of the party with which he
has registered affiliation and would
permit persons registering as inde
pendents to vote only in general elec
tions.
Georgia will need an additional 399
teachers for the 1957-58 school term,
according to the State Department of
Education. An analysis of the report
shows gains in urban areas will more
than offset losses in rural areas.
One hundred and seven of Georgia’s
197 school systems will lose teachers
under the tentative teacher allocations.
The loss will cut particularly deep into
rural Negro teaching ranks.
A total of 19,788 white and 8,926
Negro teachers will be needed. Teach
ers are allotted to county and inde
pendent systems on a formula which
generally parallels pupil enrollment.
The survey shows counties which are
losing the highest percentages of their
teachers next fall are those showing
drops in Negro population.
In Atlanta, the city board of educa
tion accepted low bids totalling a p.
proximately $1.5 million for 10 schools
seven of which are for Negroes.
However, the state university system
apparently was running into trouble in
its attempt to borrow money for a
million building program. In a state,
ment July 24, State Auditor B. £
Thrasher said the “bugaboo of segre.
gation” is hindering the system in its
effort to float bonds.
According to Thrasher, investment
officers of insurance companies are
“afraid of controversial issues.” (The
University System Building Authority
withdrew the $12 million bond offer a
little more than two months ago be
cause advisers said there might not be
any bidders.)
“To my mind,” said Thrasher, “the
argument is ridiculous, because we are
going to use the buildings regardless.”
But he said investors had been de
terred by rumors that the segregation-
desegregation controversy might force
the closing of the buildings.
An official opinion that it is within
constitutional authority for the Geor
gia Education Commission to spend
public funds for promoting a national
defense of segregation was issued by
Atty. Gen. Eugene Cook.
The GEC plans to spend approxi
mately $376,000 and is preparing a test
run of newspaper advertisements in
Washington, D. C. Members felt, how
ever, that the campaign should be de
layed until after the current civil
rights controversy in Congress is set
tled.
The state again asked dismissal of
the case of Barbara Hunt et al v. Rob
ert O. Arnold et al. In this suit, four
Negroes are seeking admission to the
white Georgia State College of Busi
ness Administration. Filed June 15.
1956, the litigation attacked the rule of
the State Board of Regents requiring
entrance applications to be signed by
two alumni. Atty. Gen. Cook defended
the entrance requirements as “valid
and lawful administrative regulations
adopted in good faith, and reasonably
calculated to improve the quality of
students admitted ...” He also charged
that the Negroes did not present formal
applications for admission to the col
leges.
The NAACP was granted an addi
tional 30 days in which to protest an
income tax assessment filed by the
state. Revenue Commissioner T. V.
Williams, whose department claims the
NAACP owes approximately $17,000 in
state income tax, granted the request
The National Association of County
Officials met in Atlanta and the chief
backers of a resolution calling for de
letion of Section III of the civil right 5
bill before the Senate agreed to P 0 ^'
pone its introduction “until the situa-
tion in Congress has clarified.”
Gov. Marvin Griffin, in addressing
delegates to the association meeting'
hailed the unique county unit system
(which gives disproportionate repre
sentation to rural areas) as “the ba<*
bone of conservatism” in Georgia sta
government. , 1
Sen. Roman L. Hruska (R-Neb.) t0 (
the convention the federal governmen
must “exercise restraint” in interver^
ing in problems “which are capable 0 •
local solution.” ^
The Atlanta chapter of the NAA ^
won an honorable mention for 0 ^
standing civil rights work on the
level in 1956, the national organiza
announced.
KLAN ACTIVE
Ku Klux Klan activity was repo 1
in Jones County and in Savannah-
*' r'roS
Manager James Balkcom of the '
M ■
Theater in Jones County said a
piar
•incenci ill uuiics v.uiiiiiv mu-
identifying himself as a Klansa^
warned him against permitting jgj.
to sit in the balcony of the the* ^
Klansmen paraded in Gray at mS” -
two separate occasions, and B aiK
appealed to Gov. Griffin to act
Griffin said he can do nothing
long as the Klan remains peace
.ful.
state
A Klan meeting was held at a
farmers’ market in Savannah,
disapproval by Commissioner of ^
culture Phil CampbelL Campbel
Gov. Griffin had expressed them 5
as opposed after W. H. Moore, the ^
vannah market manager, had &
approval. ^ # t j