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oa) _—— U. S. District Judge Clarerite Alt. good is & native of Birmingham. It. was in that capacity as much as in his official role as federal judge that he spoke to a special Grand Jury Mon- He spoke for most of his fellow wleart Way. “sick- | Citizens when he said he was ened” by the Sunday bombing of a . Negro church in which four young girls died and many others werg cinjured. ' Judge Aligocd called the crime 1 ; “blackening sin against humanity.’ ; itt is to Birmingham’s and Alabama's everlasting disgrace that conditions existed here which were conducive to euch an atrocity. “In recent weeks.” this federal judge said in his charge te the jury. “we have witnessed what amounts to ineckers ef our laws. a mockery hb those who would cut the very roots of i in sm doing ef our way of life, and snuff out human life with insane fury and irra- tionality.” | This was not a “Northern body,” a “do-gocder” with no concep- tion of Southern conditions. This was a Southerner. am Alabamian, outs :, raged by the horrible thing which had! ' come to pass. The deep and abiding tragedy of this and other acts of violence is that those who commit them do so in de- fense of what they conceive to be a “Southern traditien.” Nothing contd be further from the ideals of our ' beloved region, and these who think so are the ones who least understane¢ what that tradition is. “Those who resort to this type of vinlence in the pious oame of free- duin and tradition blaspheme their neighbor, thete country and their God." Judge Allgood said, “If they think that in their insane frenzy they are serving the cause of segregation, they are traitors to their cause. They dv the South a disservice and will be condemned by all decent thinking peopl.” = ON ath 1 ~ Judge Allgood “On Law, ‘5 eur American avstem of justice: wha | wold Starve the growth | ue TOL ment of social change; it is the pro- (Mount Clipping in Space Below) Courts, ~ eJndgawAl 11868 charged dusnfa to’ indict thosé who’ have broken the law by obstructing dr ‘attempting to ob- fede eh, ee ‘struct execution of court orders. “It is not just the order of this court that ig entitled to respect and | obedience, ” he said, “it is the lawful order of any court, the decision of the-justice of the peace, the verdict /Of-the-jery in the circuitueanctin , your home county, the decree of your circuit judge and the decision of the Supreme Court of this state. “If the order of this court, or of any court, is allowed to be illegally and forcibly flouted by irresponsible agitators, a chink in the mortar which supports the keystone of our system of justice has occurred, and when the kevstone falls from the structure, the / wall will collapse and mankind will take a giant step backward. “This Grand Jury is not an instru- tector and vindicator of the system of taw and order which is our strength and our shield.” ‘ ft was a solemn charge by a trou- } dled man fo similarly troublerd men. ‘o lake action to eliminate some of the conditions in whieh tragedy is’ routed. tt deserves widest attention and respect. 7" 10: 4 THL RED STAR a rh ime sty ame ot Lostate.y HWE BIRMESGH AHS Me:. BLRMINGEAS POST HLKALE BOG SNGIEAM 9/18/63 L, PINAL HOLLAND, 2. B BM