◆ SpookStack

GOES YEE Kast ve thers -C. TE Denton, town cr, 3 Highway Panel Chit Evan Bout. and District Attorn vo General Paul F. Bourtizats dane avs ther odves up as a “board” nate the “riot. All three are fear. fully }newn to Tennessee \ oes Neco ding to pbtshied acevayes Ino Cordie Check Ienchi gw inessee carefully fetid docs ch. mot phate nurihers of tO wt. Corrving the Kroup of armed hood. lum: «ho captured the yout before he was lynched. One of the Nurisis tallied exactly with the plates on Denton’s car. The other numbcr was traced to Columbia’s pestmaster. The postmaster was later iemoved. Denton who was magistrate then is Magistrate now. During discussions with the sheriff Mr. Weaver was told that about 70 men were being held although there was no available list of their names. Neither had any exact offense been charged against them. (According to published accounts the number varied from between 75 and 103.) Weaver was finally assured that bonds for the im- prisoned men could be made by Mr. Julius Blair. Bumpus assured them that bonds would be fixed at the normal rate for like offense. Relying on word of these officials Mr. Weaver returned to Chatta- nooga. Within two hours Mr. Blair was placed under arrest charged with being an accomplice before the fact! When taken into custody the old man was berated by the arresting officers for daring to associate with white lawyers from Chattanooga. On Wednesday night Mr. Weaver called the sheriff from Chattanooga to ask whether or ny bonds had been made. The sheriff advised him over the telephone that various people had been released. He did not tell him that the reign of terror continued for Columbia’s Negro population or that new arrests had been made. Nor did he tell that Mr. Blair had been thrown into prison. Thursday morning Mr. Weaver returned to Maury County and pre- sented himself at the prison where he was told by a deputy that it would be impossible for him to sec the sheriff. He also discovered that it would be impossible to see and talk with any of the men. Then the sheriff's office insisted that he show proof that he'd been retained by the prisoners, more than half of whom had but recently returned from the war in Europe and in the Pacific, were slated to appear before a Board of Investigation. This board now consisted of General Paul Bumpus, the county prosecutor, a representative from the State At. torney's office, and Lynn Bomar, chief of the armed band which had pulverized the Negro community. The room in which the bruised and battered men were to be ar. raigned hefore the “board™ was filled with the clamour af! rd-he ‘ed : oa x mlue lic. a . so ae web ee nd the ni. neises Of tomm--guns and rifles. I[chneted troop rs stood in knots deng the walls snd in the corri- dors, The NAACP representative uiformed Attorney-General Bum- pus that in his opinion statements made by any of the men in that room, bristling with men armed to the tecth, would be made under coercion and intimidation. He ye- quested the right to advise them. asa lawyer, of their rights to refuse to make a statement. Mr. Bumps joined with the sheriff's office in refusing this request. At least 75 citizens were brought before the board and questioned concerning their involvement in what the “board” was obviously attempting to label an insurrection. Included in the group were all of the town’s businessmen. including the aged Mr. Blair. troeper boots . A few minutes later several volleys were heard in the anteroom where several men were being prepared for the investigation. The thoroughly riddled bodies of two Negrocs were later dragged out of the room. Reporters released the “official version”, One of the men had scized a confiscated “Japanese rifle”, which for some strange rea- son had been left in the anteroom, filled it with “cartridges which he must have stolen from the sheriff's office’, After going through this operation the man is alleged to have shot a deputy in the arm. Al! of this in a room bristling with armed suards! The press accepted this version along with photographs showing the walis of the anteroom literally covered with slug holes. Following these murders Mr. Weaver's attempts to see Mr. Julius Blair were unavailing. The sheriff also refused to see the Association’s uttorney privately. Weaver saw the sheriff as Chief Lynn Bomar stood by. Permission was finally granted to talk with Mr. Blair in the Maury County jail at 9:00 P.M. that evening. Arriving at the Appointed time Weaver passed through a cordon of cuards to the sheriff's office where he was casually informed that Mr. Blair and the other men had been transferred to the Davidson County prison! The NAACP attorneys have been faced with such tactics since they first announced their intentions to defend these victims of rabid race- hate. The Attorney General declared that the writ of habeas corpus filed by Attorney Looby was pending for thirty or more defendants and would not be heard until Mare! 6, 46. Meanwhile the NCA (Pp et nye