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PAGE 8—MAY. 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Text of Mississippi’s Charges Against U, S. Marshak Following is the text of the first section of a report issued on April 24 by the General Legislative In vestigating Committee in Mississippi concerning “occupation of the cam pus of the University of Mississippi and the events resulting therefrom.” The report was directed to the gover nor and to the membership of the legislature. It was titled, “Operation Rapid Road.” The Protection of Civil Rights By The Department of Justice The occupation of the campus of the University of Mississippi on Sep tember 30, 1962, (which was officially designated OPERATION RAPID ROAD by the federal authorities), was upon direct orders of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, under the personal supervision of Deputy Attorney General Nicholas de B. Katz- enbach, assisted by Mr. Ed Guthman, Publicity Director for the Department of Justice, Chief United States Mar shal James McShane, Mr. John Doar, Mr. Norbert Schlei, and other members of the staff of the Department of Jus tice. This line of command was sup ported by 97 penitentiary guards, 336 border patrolmen and 123 deputy mar shals, all of whom are said to have been deputized for the occasion as deputy marshals. The events which occurred cannot be understood unless the actual conduct of the personnel utilized is considered to comprehend their nature and their complete lack of training and experience. A pattern of treatment of students and other citizens was followed from and including the first firing of gas, through the evening of Sunday, September 30, during the day and evening of Monday, October 1, and subsequent thereto. This pattern is best understood when considered in three categories: 1. The treatment accorded on Mon day night and Tuesday to citizens de tained in a garage adjoining the Soil Sedimentation Laboratory near the campus used as a detention stockade. Up to 100 people at one time were confined therein. At that time violence had ceased and the entire area was under complete control of the mar shals and the military. 2. The treatment accorded students and other citizens after they had been seized on the campus of the University of Mississippi and taken into the Ly ceum Building Sunday night and Mon day, where they were confined in a basement 17 feet by 40 feet (at times heavily contaminated with gas) in numbers up to more than 85 at one time. 3. The treatment of students on Mon day morning after order had been re stored and all violence had ceased, when they were taken into custody on the campus of the University on the way to class rooms, University build ings or passing through the campus. The treatment of University officials, campus policemen, highway patrolmen and students upon the University cam pus on the evening of Sunday, Septem ber 30, and the early morning of Mon day, October 1, is discussed in another section of this report. Treatment of citizens in the vicinity of the University on October 2 is also discussed in another section of this report. In an attempt to give a clear picture of the treatment of students and other citizens by the Department of Justice of the United States and its representa tives, the Committee will first give the pattern of treatment followed in each of the three categories, followed by some of the individual instances illus trative of such pattern. Space will not permit the recitation of all such in cidents. The general nature and type of treatment of those who were seized and taken into custody is supported by the sworn testimony of six or more witnesses. The treatment of individuals while incarcerated in the basement of the Lyceum Building and in the garage of the Soil Conservation Service and the treatment of individual students and other citizens before they were in carcerated in either of the places of detention are supported by the sworn testimony of two or more witnesses, with the exception of a few instances in which the sworn testimony of only one witness was available. General refer ence to “marshals” includes penitenti ary guards and border patrolmen acting as deputy marshals. 1. Treatment of students and other citizens in the Soil Sedimentation ga rage Monday night and Tuesday, after the entire area was under control of the marshals and the military and all disturbances had ceased. Order was restored on the campus before 7:00 a.m., Monday, October 1. After 5:30 pun. on Monday the Justice Department set up a stockade or place of imprisonment in a garage adjacent to the Soil Sedimentation Laboratory. The garage had a concrete floor, one end was open to the weather. It was not equipped with lights. Marshals were placed in charge of this place of detention and Chief Marshal McShane visited this spot several times. To this place of imprisonment there were taken between 100 and 150 persons. Some were transferred to this garage from the basement of the Lyceum Building, being told by the marshals they were to be taken to where bunks and food would be provided. Others were brought there after being seized on Monday or Tuesday by either mar shals or members of the military forces. All disturbances had ceased before any persons were imprisoned in this garage. The persons seized varied in age from 14 or 15 years old to more than 60 years of age. Some had been badly beaten, others were ill. All persons, regardless of age or physical condition, were forced to sit on the concrete slab for periods up to 20 hours, with their knees drawn up toward their chins, their hands clasped around their knees, their eyes to the front, without turning their heads or speaking to anyone. This was planned and executed as physical tor ture. During the night of Monday, October 1, the marshals on duty changed shifts every two hours. During the entire night the marshals walked up and down between the rows of prisoners in pairs throwing flashlight beams upon them to prevent them from going to sleep or obtaining any rest. When a prisoner moved his head from a direct front angle or spoke to any other person and was observed by a marshal, he was either clubbed or kicked by the “mar shals.” If a captive fell asleep or became cramped and moved his hands from around his knees, or changed the posi tion of his legs as he was seated upon the torture slab, and was seen by the “marshals,” he was struck with a club or kicked, and threatened with further beatings. Some prisoners who fell asleep or changed positions were forced to place their hands above their heads, leaning tip-toe with their faces to the wall; then they were beaten, jabbed in the back and their feet kicked out from under them. Others were jabbed in the kidney or the groin with the mar shals’ clubs. Wedding Party Several young boys between 12 and 15 years of age, some older men and members of a wedding party dressed in wedding attire, as well as disabled veterans of World War II were thus treated. Medicine required by one or more captives was confiscated. A disabled veteran begged the marshals for his medicine (required to prevent jerking and blackout spells and they refused to give it to him. When he suffered from one such spell for lack of medi cine, he was clubbed and manhandled. Persons thus incarcerated, who ap peared before this Committee, were denied the right to make any telephone call or contact any person and were given no food until they were inter rogated by FBI agents, between two o’clock and five o’clock Tuesday after noon. A few of the individual instances of mistreatment by the marshals in the garage are as follows: (a) An 18-year-old boy went to sleep. A marshal pulled him up, hit him on the forehead with a club, two other marshals joined them, pushed the boy against the wall, struck him in the throat and jabbed him in the groin with clubs. (b) A captive’s hands became cramp ed and one of his hands dropped off his knees. One marshal hit him across the back with a club and another jabbed him in the kidney. (c) A young boy went to sleep. He was first beaten on the floor by the marshals, then they stood him up against the wall and beat him some more, and when his father protested, he was also beaten. (d) A sophomore, after having been held in the Lyceum Building all night, had been beaten about the body and beaten so badly on the head that six teen stitches were taken in the wound. After being released, he was again seized and taken to the garage. When, through loss of blood and exhaustion, he was unable to maintain the re quired position on the torture slab, he was twice clubbed on the back by the marshals. (e) One prisoner who was ill begged for his medicine and was refused, and he passed out twice and each time the marshals kicked him in the mouth and forced him to sit back in the required position. (f) A disabled veteran had a pain in his knee so that he could not bend it up under his chin. The marshals changed shifts every two hours. Several times he was clubbed on his leg by marshals when they saw it extended in the row. (g) Several prisoners who failed to maintain the prescribed position on the torture slab were forced to stand with their faces to the walls, hands above their heads, on their toes, and the mar shals kicked their feet from under them so they fell on their faces on the con crete. 2. Treatment by marshals of students and other citizens in the Lyceum base ment on Sunday night and Monday. During the night of September 30 and the day of October 1, students and other persons seized were taken to the basement of the Lyceum Building on the campus of the University. At one time between 100 and 150 captives were crowded into this room 17 feet by 40 feet in size. The marshals wore gas masks but none were given to the cap tives, who suffered severely from the presence of tear gas during a large portion of the time they were held in this basement. Prisoners were held in this basement up to as much as 18 hours, through the night of the 30th and the day of October 1, and some were then transferred to the Soil Sedi mentation garage and handled there as outlined elsewhere in this report. Prisoners, who were bleeding after having been badly beaten and in need of medical treatment, were held for as much as six hours without being given any medical attention. Requests to use the telephone, to be permitted to go to the toilet, or to call a lawyer, were frequently met with either being knocked to the floor with fists or hit with billies. Later captives were per mitted to go to the toilet and upon demand of the University authorities, to use the telephone. While some of the prisoners were permitted to sleep sitting on the floor, others were kicked by the marshals when they went to sleep. Some of the students taken to the Lyceum basement were forced to stand on tip-toe leaning against the wall with their backs to the marshals, and then were either jabbed in the back or their legs were kicked out from under them after having been struck on the legs with clubs. A number of students, as they were taken down to the Lyceum base ment, were either hit on the shins or back with the butts of the marshals’ sidearms and with their clubs. Students were spit upon and repeatedly cursed by the “marshals.” From time to time at the end of the hall leading to the basement the students were struck severely on the shins, jabbed or hit on back with night sticks or kicked on the legs. Instances A few of the instances of mistreat ment by marshals in the Lyceum base ment are as follows: (a) A University freshman, after be ing clubbed across the back of the neck with a billy, was kicked a num ber of times by the marshals. (b) One of the prisoners found a Text of Government’s Answer The following statement was made on April 24 by the U.S. Department of Justice in reply to a report issued that day by a Mississippi legislative committee. The report of the General Legislative Investigating Committee of Mississippi is so far from the truth that it hardly merits an answer. It is strange indeed that none of the so-called brutalities were reported by the several hundred newsmen, includ ing many from Southern newspapers, radio and television stations, who wit nessed the riot and its aftermath. These newsmen were in the Lyceum Building throughout the riot. They were outside observing the mob. The newsmen were free to go where they wished. And rather than criticize the marshals, the newsmen praised the marshals’ courage and calmness under fire. About 350 deputy U.S. marshals were on duty around the Lyceum Building during the riot. Of these, 180 were in jured and of that number, 27 were wounded by gunfire. The discipline and training of the marshals was exempli fied by the fact that they did not return this fire. Student Activities During the riot, the students and adults who joined the mob drove a bulldozer, a fire engine, and an auto mobile full speed toward the line of marshals in front of the Lyceum Build ing. The marshals captured about 30 youths and adults who were attacking them with gunfire, bricks, bottles, rocks, acid, pipes and Molotov cocktails. These prisoners were held under guard in a basement room in the Lyceum Build ing because there was no place else to put them. The conditions were not the best, but were not nearly so bad as those the marshals had to undergo. Many of the marshals went without food and sleep far longer than any of the prisoners. Members of the mob attacked the soldiers of the National Guard and the Regular Army as they arrived on the scene and a number were injured, in cluding Captain Murray Falkner of the Mississippi National Guard. Many of these rioters were taken into custody and during the following day, the mar shals and soldiers apprehended other persons who were converging on the Oxford area, heavily armed. In all, about 300 persons were taken into custody, ranging in age from 14 to 57. The adults came from as far away as Los Angeles, California and Decatur, Georgia. A large number of shotguns, high-powered rifles, knives, blackjacks, clubs and other weapons were tempor arily taken from these persons. Prisoners Removed On October 1, the prisoners were re moved from the Lyceum Building to the airport. Some were kept in a ga rage building. By the afternoon of Oc tober 2, all but a handful had been released. Before being released, the prisoners were questioned by agents of the Fed eral Bureau of Investigation and com plaints were filed against 13 men. Four of these subsequently were indicted by a federal grand jury of Mississippians on charges of interfering with U.S. Marshals in the performance of their duties and obstructing orders of the United States courts. The report of this committee contains no names or facts that could be checked by anyone. The report is an untruthful document. Worse, it is a grievous slander against a courageous group of deputy marshals, more than two-thirds of whom are Southerners. Far from de serving such distortions and falsifica tions of fact, they deserve the greatest credit for their courage and dedication to their orders and to the laws of the United States. Their conduct, in a time of great danger, was in the highest tradition of American law enforcement. “Incidents Manufactured’ If right and justice are on the side of the committee as it claims, then it is shocking to us that facts would be distorted or ignored and incidents manufactured. The fact that the com mittee did not interview any objective observers who were there, much less the federal officials involved, is an in dication of the accuracy and fairness of this report. The marshals went to Mississippi to uphold the orders of the federal courts. There was interference with the orders of the courts, and if there had not been, the marshals would not have been there. No marshals were sent to Clem- son University in South Carolina last February. It appears to us that this committee might do some self-examination. There is going to be very little possibility for progress and understanding among all of us as a people in this difficult field if responsible local officials put their heads in the sand and manufacture rather than face the facts. spot where he could lie down and sl^ in the crowded basement, and he kicked in the stomach by a marshy (c) A boy who had been bad]- beaten about the head and was bleed! ing from the head asked for water ^ when he went to the water founts and bent over to drink, the marshal, grabbed him by the hair and shovel his head in the fountain, although ^ was bleeding from the head at 4 time. (d) A student approached a marshal and asked to be permitted to call, lawyer and the marshal slugged him it the face with his fist and knocked hit to his knees. (e) A student asked a marshal to be permitted to use the telephone, ani 1 he was hit by the marshal with a cliil and knocked to the floor. (f) One of the students went to ; marshal at the door of the basemeni and while he was talking to hint another marshal came up and they both grabbed the student and beat him with their fists. (g) While a freshman was standing in the hall of the Lyceum Building jj custody, a marshal walked by and told him he did not like the way he was holding his feet, and when he did not move quickly enough, the marshal cursed him, struck him a severe bio* with his club across the knee knocking : him to the floor. (h) A boy who had been shot in the face with a tear gas bomb, resulting in both eyes being badly swollen and bleeding, who also had been beaten, repeatedly asked for a doctor and was refused medical attention for a number of hours. (i) A student who was placed in a bus called to some friends to ask them to get him help. Two marshals struck him on the arm with their clubs, and later when he asked to be permitted to make a telephone call, he was again hit by a marshal with a club. 3. Treatment of students on the cam pus Monday morning. On Monday morning, after order had been restored on the campus and in its vicinity, the campus remained in full control of the marshals. Members of the military forces participated with the marshals in seizing students and other citizens. The pattern of treat ment included forcing students goinl from their dormitories to classes to lie spread eagle on the ground with faces in the dirt while they were searched at gunpoint. Students passing along the campus to go to classes were treated as the junior going to his thermodynamics class in the Engineering Building who made a remark to several deputy mar shals concerning the mess the campus was in. He was seized by two marshals his arms were twisted behind his ba ■ he was hit in the back with a bill! cursed, taken to the Lyceum basem®" and, as he walked toward the basej ment, a marshal on each side kk , him in the shins. A billy was fo ^ between his legs and he was stm on the testicles. Students were beaten or jabbed night sticks or billies. Students were seized on Monday, after taken to the Lyceum Building, ^ forced to lean forward against the ^ with their hands over their hea ^ the wall and then their feet kick from under them. They were W clubs on their shins and ankle ^ Students from other schools found asleep on the campus to early morning, were hit on their backs or heads with billies. One ^ awakened, forced to stand wit ^ legs spread apart, clubbed on inside and outside of his l e & s '^ struck in his crotch and in his The above general patterns o duct occurred after the ^ en \ arS b»b guards, border patrolmen and had taken students and other a ^ jyC e into custody, or after all ftp had been quieted on the campu 3 University of Mississippi- MISSISSIPPI GENERAL TIVE INVESTIGATING legis^; CO ive Russell L. Fox, >rge M. Yarbrough, * nk D. Barber, Secret ive W. L. Sims
