Newspaper Page Text
Aurtusta
Vol. 4
Black Leaders See Conspiracy in
Shooting Mrs. Martin Luther King
A 23-year-old Black man
who said he was sent to
Atlanta on a mission “and it's
partly accomplished” was
ordered held for a grand jury
on murder charges Monday in
the slaying of Mrs. Martin
Luther King Sr.
Short, boyish-looking
Marcus Wayne Chenault of
Dayton, Ohio, said during a
15-minute arraignment in City
Court: “My name is Servant
Jacob. I’m a Hebrew. I was
sent here on a purpose and it’s
partly accomplished.”
He admitted carrying two
pistols into Atlanta’s Ebenezer
Baptist Church Sunday and
when asked if he shot anyone
Chenault replied, “I assume
that I shot someone.”
Judge E.T. Brock ordered
him bound over to the Fulton
County grand jury on two
counts of murder in the deaths
of Mrs. King and a church
deacon, Edward Boykin, 69,
and a charge of aggravated
assault in the wounding of
another member of the church.
The shootings erupted
during church services Sunday,
shortly after 11 a.m., and
scattered about SOO members
of the congregation in panic.
Deacon James Kemp of The
Ebenezer Baptist Church told
the News-Review by telephone
Sunday that shortly after the
services started he (Chenault)
just got up and started
shooting.
“We caught him before he
got out of the church. He had
two guns. He emptied both of
them. And after he emptied
them, he continued to snap.
Sijr\ / t’dikMPRMFMi
a \IWK.r WL JL
ittM w- 4 rtMm <£» ™ ?■
* --■ -•■<■
H _ rW’’*^''!-■* U -fc-BL. ® "*'fl
i. P
nk. ini -
• ; iv JHHMwMW o
Mr* Ek ' w '
KTb" * PtjW ’3^ l V r
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has selected what its membership of more than 100
publishers consider to be the top 50 national Black NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR. Twenty-one of them are
shown above. Top row, left to right: Tom Bradley who was elected Mayor of Los Angeles, Congressman Louis
Stokes of Cleveland who headed the Congressional Black Caucus last year. Symbolically, he represents all the Black
Congressmen as Newsmakers. Hon. Damon J. Keith, federal judge for the Eastern District of Michigan for his $4
million decision against Detroit; Hank Aaron, homerun king; Mayor Maynard Jackson who was elected mayor of
Atlanta; Mayor Coleman A. Young elected mayor of Detroit; Dr. Leon H. Sullivan secured funds for Continuation
of his OIC; Second Row: H.R. Crawford, Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for housing
management; Roy Wilkins, Executive Director of the NAACP; Dr. Gloria E.A. Toote, Assistant Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development for equal opportunity; Commissioner Benjamin Hooks of the Federal
Communications Commission; Vonetta McGee for starring in Shaft in Africa; Vernon Jordan, executive director of
the National Urban League; Jesse Hill, Jr., who was elected president of the Atlanta Life, also heads the Atlanta
Inquirer; Third Row: State Senator Mervyn Dymally of California; Mayor Doris Davis of Compton, Calif.; Willie L.
Brown, Jr., Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the California Assembly; H. Naylor Fitzhugh, vice
president of Pepsi-Cola; Col. T.D. McNeal, president of the Board of Police Commissioners of St. Louis, Mo.;
Joseph W.B. Clark, director of Public Safety, St Louis, Mo., Dr. Katheryn Favors, assistant superintendent of
schools Berkley, Calif.
I
| NATIONAL BLACK NCWt SERVICE
’ MEMBER
illite*' ’
4 If rOw * J
'4-> -v 9HM
■ v - Y << o
Mrs. Martin Luther King Sr. with son, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,’
and wife, Coretta, in 1958. • •
After we saw that he was out
of bullets, we caught him.”
One woman nearby said she
heard Chenault plead, “Don’t
hit me. Please don’t hit me.
They did it to me in the
Army.” The choir was singing
the Lord’s Prayer.
The Reverend Clavin Morris,
who was presiding over the
service said Chenault stood up
and shouted, “You must stop
this. I’m tired of all this.”
Brock refused to allow bond
for Chenault.
His attorney entered pleas
of no contest to all of the
charges, but Brock refused to
accept them and instead
entered innocent pleas.
P.O. Box 953
The brief arraignment took
place under tight security at
Atlanta Police headquarters.
Chenault, dressed in a light
grey suit with a blue shirt,
broke into a grin as he entered
the courtroom accompanied by
his attorney and detectives.
Randy Bacote, a Black
Atlanta attorney who
represented Chenault, told
newsmen after the hearing that
Chenault “belives he is Jacob
in person” and that “his god”
sent him on a mission to
Atlanta.
The mission, Bacote said,
“was to confront Martin
Luther King, Sr.,” but he
added that Chenault “stated
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER
that he was not able to do tliat
because Mr. King was seated on
another side of the church.”
Bacote explained that “the
connotation I’m putting on
’confrontation’ means he
(Chenault) wanted to see him I
can't determine what he had in
his mind.”
The attorney also said that
by calling himself a Hebrew,
C henault was describing
himself as “a Black follower of
the God of Jacob, as
distinguished from the Jew.”
He said Chenault “no longer
recognizes his family in
Dayton. He says he is now
serving Jacob, and being a
servant of Jacob, he has no
Augusta. Georgia
earthly parents.”
Bacote, wearing a dark
brown suit with his hair shaved
close to his head, said he had
not determined what line of
defense he would use. and
would not comment when
asked if the plea might be
temporary insanity.
Chenault was identified as
the assailant during the
arraignment hearing by the
Rev. Calvin Morris, who was on
the pulpit when the firing
began.
“Can you see the person in
the courtroom?” he was asked.
“I do, sir,” Morris replied in a
calm voice “This gentleman
here.”
The only other witness was
Police Sgt. Berlyn Compton,
who said that when he arrived
at the church, bystanders were
restraining Chenault.
Compton said in an
interview that despite
speculation of a conspiracy in
the skyings, “thus far, there is
nothing to lead us to believe he
acted in concert with any other
person. We are still
investigating.”
Black leaders said Sunday
the killings were part of a
conspiracy to assasinate civil
rights leaders.
Columbus, Ohio police who
searched Chenault’s apartment
Sunday said they found a list
of civil rights leaders
apparently marked for death.
Compton said Atlanta
detectives were aware of the
names on the list but did not
intend to disclose them.
Funeral services for Mrs.
King were held Wednesday at
11 a.m.
Hinton Resigns
From Pilgrim
James M. Hinton, Jr., a
member of the Board of
Directors and Third Vice
President of Administration -
General Counsel, has resigned
from Pilgrim Health & Life
Insurance Company. “The
Hinton family has been
identified with Pilgrim for
more than fifty years and Jim
Hinton and his late father have
made tremendous
contributions to this
/ 5 iff
fr H ¥ 'JU f
i I ; W t
11
i I IfIHMI
(Left to right) State Representative Albert W.
Thompson of Columbus, Ga., Gubernatorial Candidate,
State Senator Harry Jackson and State Representative
R.A. Dent of Augusta pose, prior to meeting with Black
leaders to help boost the candidate’s bid to become
Governor.
.....- V''
< I
jLj W|hK If
L-~ .11 I M ■
■ fe.
I £ U
us
Er
■r I wLI,
I rl
Mr. and Mrs. Milton Olive Jr. (top right) visiting with the family of Mr. and Mrs.
Amos Evans of Augusta. The Olives were in Augusta for the dedication of a Fort
Gordon facility to be named for their son.
Fort Gordon honored the
memory of a Medal of Honor
winner- in dedication
ceremonies for a new post
housing area Monday.
Olive Terrace, a tract
containing 122 units for
noncommissioned officers, is
being named in honor of
Private First Class Milton L.
Olive 111, the first Black man to
win the Congressional Medal of
Honor in Vietnam.
The new housing, along with
78 new units for officers, is
made up of three and four
bedroom duplex apartments
and was built at a cost of $4.2
million dollars by Community
Science Technology
Development Corporation of
Newport Beach, California.
The dedication ceremony
was headed by Major General
Charles R. Myer with PFC
Olive’s parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Milton Olive Jr. of Chicago,
attending.
The young soldier was killed
community and to the
Pilgrim,” said Ed Mclntyre
Vice President of Public
Relations.
“I am sure that the
community will miss the
leadership that Hinton has
offered to so many
organizations and agencies
throughout the CSRA.
“Hinton did not inform us
of his immediate plans,”
Mclntyre said.
July 3, 1974 No. 15
in October, 1965, when he fell
on a Viet Cong grenade and
saved the lives of fellow
soldiers.
At the time of his death PFC
Olive was a member of
Company B, 2nd Battalion
(Airborne), 503rd Infantry in
pursuit of Viet Cong guerrillas.
He and four other soldiers were
moving through the jungle
together when a grenade was
thrown in their midst. Olive
saw the grenade, grabbed it in
his hand, and fell on it to
absorb the blast with his body.
In addition to the Medal of
Honor, PFC Olive was awarded
the Military Merit Medal, the
Gallantry Cross with Palm and
the Purple Heart
(Posthumous).
Nineteen other permanent
memorials have been erected to
the memory of PFC Milton Lee
Olive throughout the country.
The 21st one is to be erected
on July 4th, at Fort Campbell
Kentucky when the Army
■ ♦ . . . •
jy A ■MjF Jj
v .. T4 ..
PLANNING SESSION (L R) Livingston Wallace,
Robert Darby, J. Philip Waring, Emory Russell and
William Candley.
Blacks Who Helped
Build Augusta
PARTI
Imformation by Mrs. Nellie Waring
The Bi-Centennial Commission will help this nation to observe
its two hundredth birthday anniversary in 1976.
Augusta’s Springfield Baptist Church, founded in 1787, will be
ready because its own history almost parallels the life of the
American Republic.
This institution, rich in history and legend, has made notable
achievements in the religious, social and civic life of the Augusta
community.
Springfield Baptist Church is the oldest Black Baptist Church
in the United States. Its parent church, the Silve Bluff Baptist
Church, originally had a white congregation.
The early histories of the two churches are so closely
interwoven that it appears the Springfield Baptist Church
gradually emerged into a separate all Black Baptist Church from
the Silver Bluff Church, or better known as the Dead River
Baptist Church.
Some of the early pastors claimed that the Augusta church was
the Silver Bluff Church under a new name, while the Dead River
Church contends it has proof to show that it is the mother
church of all Black Baptist Churches in the United States.
Springfield Baptist Church was organized the second Sunday in
August, 1787, by Rev. Jesse Peters and George Leile. The had
belonged to the Silver Bluff Church, but had been scattered along
with others during the revolutionary War period.
Rev. Peters served as pastor of the church until his death in
1814. Meanwile, services continued at the Silver Bluff Church
which had been turned over to Blacks by the members of the
SEE SPRINGFIELD PAGE 5
there dedicates its new gym to
him.
The others are the 10
Headstart projects in the
county where he is buried at
Lexington, Miss. The Milton
Olive Elementary School is in
Wyandanch, Long Island, New
York. Olive Field, Fort Polk,
Louisiana; Olive Field, Fort
Benning, Georgia; Olive
Theatre, Fort Knox, Kentucky;
Olive Park, CHicago; The
Milton Olive Child-Parent
Training Center, 1339 South
Pulaski Road Chicago; The
Olive-Harvey Junton College,
10001 South Woodlawn,
Chicago; A wing of the
Terrace-Garden Nursing Home,
34th & Michigan Ave., Chicago
and the Olive-Harvey Banquet
Room, Macormiek Place in
Chicago.
Olive Terrace is located at
the northwest corner of North
Range Road and Third Avenue
not far from the Gate Five
entrance to Fort Gordon.
|ln I
I this |
I Issue I
Homes Burglarized
See... .P. 2
Police Report
Patty Hearst Tape Cont.
See ... .P. 3
Guest Editorial.. ,P. 4