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Happy New Year
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Cor. 7th and Cherry
C hattanooga, Tenn.
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BANK OF KNOXVILLE
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John G. Riddick Robert E. Lavin
Riddick and Lavin
709 MARKET STREET
Knoxville, Tennessee
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their car. The man sitting in
the right front seat rolled
down his window, stared at
Milt for a second or two, then
leaning both arms over the
window ledge, pointed a re
volver at Milt’s head. “Pull
over, Nigger,” he screamed in
a shrill voice.
As the blood rose in Milt’s
head, his temples throbbed
visibly. Without thinking, he
jammed on his brakes, quickly
gunned the gas pedal again,
and swerved toward the left.
The white man howled as his
armed hand was smashed be
tween the speeding autos.
Careening off to the right,
Milt straightened the car out
and took off as fast as possible.
Several seconds later, their
window was shattered by a
bullet; two others missed their
mark, but the fourth ripped
into their tire, throwing them
off the road.
The Ford screeched to a halt,
its occupants piling out. Hasti
ly taking the key from the
ignition and opening the glove
compartment. Milt removed
the gun inside and slipped it
into his coat pocket. He and
Josh both got out of the car
and waited. The five men ap
proached, one of them holding
his injured hand in a bloodied
Handkerchief.
‘‘Hey boy,” the driver said
as he stepped up, gun in hand,
and jabbed Milt in the chest.
“What do you think you’re
doing? Pulling a stunt like
that!”
“You know damn well why
I did it.” Milt answered angri
ly, spitting out the words like
venom.
“Watch your tongue boy. We
don’t take kindly to drunken
uppitty niggers like you.”
“Wait a second,” Josh said,
breaking in, “we’ve no quarrel
with you. We have a wounded
man in the back seat who’ll die
if we don’t get him to a hos
pital. Leave us alone.”
“Well isn’t that something,”
the leader yelled over his
shoulder as he now faced Josh,
“the nigger-lover wants to go
to a hospital. Well, maybe we
can help him on that score.”
The others guffawed loudly.
“You won’t get away with
this,” Josh answered, controll
ing himself. He stepped closer
to the bigger man. “Get out of
here.” he said from between
clenched teeth.
For a second, the other re
garded him quizzically, then
glancing quickly at the others
he grew bolder.
“Come on boys, let’s show
the folks here some of our own
stunts."
The others approached. The
big fellow menaced Josh with
his gun as two others, still
dressed in the garb of gas sta
tion attendants and with the
smear of grime on their hands
and faces rushed at Milt. Side
stepping them, he pulled the
revolver out of his pocket and
fired. One of them dropped t<
the ground.
The big fellow was startled
by the noise. He turned. an<
seeing what happened, unload
ed his gun into Josh’s head.
“Come on,” he yelled, “let’s
get out of here.” Dragging the
body of their friend, the mob
piled back into their old car
and roared off.
Josh lay on the ground un
moving, blood oozing slowly
from the wound on his fore
head and from the corner of
his mouth. Milt bent over,
lifted him off the ground,
walked to the-car and gently
placed him on the floor of the
back. Their companion seemed
strangely still. Milt reached
for his arm to feel the pulse,
then put an ear to his chest.
He was dead—too. . .
Within fifteen minutes Milt
had replaced the destroyed tire
with the spare and was ready
to go.
He crossed the road and en
tered an open field. In the
distance, a mountain lost its
proud individuality as it faded
into the background of a
rapidly darkening sky. Nearer,
the fields seemed to come
alive with the sounds of night
life.
He walked on, the night
closing more and more around
him. The earth seemed
strangely soft beneath his feet.
Bending down to grab a hand
ful. he was suddenly confront
ed by his shadow cast bv the
rudeiv intruding headlights.
He dropped the dirt and stood
up. Tears streamed down his
rugged face, but no sob came
from his lips.
Returning to the car, he
glanced once again into the
back. Both bodies were rigid,
blankly facing upwards. He
climbed into the front seat,
started the motor and drove
off.
Compliments of
KNOX Federal
Savings and
Loan Association
4 ] A°/o
Insured Savings
Home Loans
610 SOUTH GAY STREET
KNOXVILLE, TENN.
42
The Southern Israelite
