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ing against the killers of three young civil rights workers whose ies were found in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Miss., the ~~ ayear after Evers was guntied. down "Struggle deprived him of natural al- lies, he Says, “T’ve stood alone. Whites reject- ed me as a traitor, blacks couldn’t embrace me because I was so con- alone. And it’s been very lonely.” The biggest reward he has reaped from his involvemtnt was Something he Overheard his son tel] a friend: “He said ‘My dad is my hero,’” Dennis said. He says has not been able to benefit from helping make history. “Sevier County people have never been anything but nice, but it’s a natural tendency for People to shy away from Someone who's identified with controversy. “And my Poor wife never thought 23 years after she married me she'd still be dealing with front- page stories and TV shows." The latest TV show after Dennis is “60 Minutes.” He has been ap- Proached about doing an interview. “I don't know about television,” he said. “They edit and Splice and Put things together until they get Up Saying what they had in mind all along.” | He says he keeps thinking “someday this will be Over, and I'l! get a book published and gO on the Speaking circuit. I have never made a dime off my experiences,” - He never knew Medgar Evers, but says almost everyone in Missis- sippi thought Beckwith killed him. “He was a Klan hero because they believed he killed Medgar Evers,” Dennis Said. “He was known to brag about doing it, al- though I never heard him point- blank say he did it.” Dennis, 50, moved to Sevier County in 1976. He had gained na- tional attention in 1967 for testify- Kill from the in the driveway of “his” Jackson home. - : While Dennis was in his ear} 20s, he was a Klan Titan (adminis- trative officer) who worked under- . Cover for 3 years as an FBI infor- mant. He came to know Beckwith, now 70, in the course of that work. He describes Beckwith as a dan- 8erous, dedicated cheerleader for violence. “Beckwith scares me,” Dennis Said. “The kind of raw hatred he ex- hibited is a frightening thing to see, and there were few people in the Klan as vicious. Klan work is his whole life, and while I have never n impressed with his intelli- Bence, he has spent his whole life concentrating on what he is most dedicated to — white supremacy.” When ‘Dennis first met him, Beckwith was stumping the state in a run for the office of lieutenant governor. He often urged younger Klansmen to violence, Dennis says, “He'd say ‘you Ought to get out there and do some killing yourself, top down, Starting with the President of the United States.” Twice tried for murder in the Evers killing, Beckwith walked.free after two all-white juries failed to agree On a verdict. Not long after, ' he spent several years in a federal penitentiary for trying to Smuggle dynamite across the Louisiana state line. Now a fertilizer Salesman. liv- ing in Signal Mountain, he was rear- rested this week in the Evers kill- ing, and will be tried late next summer in Jackson. The case was reopened primari- ly because of the work of a Jackson newspaper reporter whose research unearthed evidence of misconduct in Beckwith’s trials. The reporter also came across Something Dennis said in a 1975 book about his expe- riences called “Klandestine,” . “Killing that nigger gave me no: more inner discomfort than our en they give birth ” Dennis recalled without specifi- wives endure wh to our children,’ Beckwith Saying, cally mentioning them to dé-thatfo. just as much.” Why did it tak e so long for the Y quote to be notic. ed and the case re- Dennis cites.a numbe: It’s a new day in says. In 1964, blacks Mississippi, he fact, it was Evers’ work registering vote that led to his Given the viole his testimony wil Says he worri nce of the people I offend, Dennis €s about his family’s rcement authori- © help, and agents ville FBI bureau ir response time to Local! law enfo: ties have offered t from the Knox have gauged the his h : But his main line of defense, he Says, is his faith. through the years n formed against you shall prosper.” : bronze, sword poised e fallen Goliath, David: phant over his enemy. ng David's going to id.