The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-09-03
INVESTIGATOR
ADMITS FRAME
UP OF NINE BOYS
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VI vi NINE DUlE
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Defense, the organization charged by
the boys and their parents with the
defense, that the two girls were
forced by the prosecuting officials
to testify falsely against the boys:
There is no way Of proving this
conclusively but from the interview
I had with the two girls separately
several weeks after the trial, would
say that there is a strong possibility
Of truth in this statement. The talk
with Victoria Price, particularly, con-
vinced me that she was the type who
welcomes attention and publicity at
any price. The price in this case
meant little to harm her as she has
no notions Of shame connected with
sexual intercourse in any form and
was quite unbothered in alleging that
she went through such an expert
ence as the charges against the nine
Negro lads implied. Having been in
direct contact from the cradle with
the institution of prostitution as a
side-line necessary to make the mea-
ger wages Of mill worker pay the
rent and buy the groceries, she has nc
feeling Of revulsion against promiscu-
Gus sexual intercourse such as wo-
men of easier lives might suffer. II
is very much matter Of ordinary
routine Of life to her, known in both
Huntsville and Chattanooga as q
prostitute herself"
1t was mainly Victoria Prices tes-
timony that the Alabama bosses
used in railroading the boys to the
electric chair. Miss Ransdan points
out the reason the bosses played ur
Victoria in preference to Ruby Bates
and Orvil Gilley, white youth who
is supposed to nave witnessed the al
legged rape of the two girls:
Victoria Price Lied Most Chilly.
From all I could gather later,
it seems that the opinion of the
spectators and officials at the trial
was that both Ruby Bates and Or
vii Gilley were no good because
they could not make their testi-
mOny fit in with the positive iden-
LITIGATION of the Negroes and the
account of events as given by Vic
toria on the stand" Victoria was
preferred because she got the
point at once of what was needed
to hurry the trial through so that
sentence of death could be pro-
nounced quickly. From my talks
with Judge Hawkins, who presided
at the trial, with DIR. Bridges who
examined the girls, and with other
officials, / believe any unbiased
| person would have come to the
conclusion that this was the basis
of their Judgment of the two girls
as witnesses"
Miss Ransdau stresses the rabid
race hatred which pervaded the tria,
of the boys:
'The officials and citizens of
Scottsboro and neighboring COM
munities present at the trial gave
unmistakable signs of violent hate,
of blind, unreasoning antipathy TO
these young Negroes whom they
had never seen before, and who had
done nothing whatever to them"
Recognizes Glass Issue.
Miss Ransdall clearly does not
agree with the contentious of the
NAACP misleaders and the Southern
liberals that there is no class issue
involved in this frightful frame-ur
Of Negro children. She says:
e. One is brought up against
the ugly fact that these pleasant
people of the South, the Civil War
Notwithstanding, are still living on
the ensIavement of the Negro race.
And this brings one to second
ugly fact, that when this is so, the
subjugating race cannot afford to
have any regard for decency, hon.
esty, kindness or fairness in their
treatment Of the black race.
The thing that stands out above
everything else In their minds Is
that the black race must be kept
down: as they put 1t, The niger
must be kept in bis place Re-
preston, terror and torture are the
means that will do it,"
That it is not the entire white
race in the South that benefits from
the brutal oppression and eXploita-
ton Of the Negro people is appar'
emily not clear to Miss Ransdall. Ger
tainly white workers have been cor
rupted by the white ruling class, but
it is also crystal clear that chauvin-
istic tendencies do not arise spon-
taneously within the working class
but are the results Of deliberate
boss policy of poisoning the minds Of
white workers against the Negro peo.
pie and thus accomplishing the dou.
Bile end Of isolating the Negro masse.
for more intensive exploitation ant
of splitting the working class and re.
tarding a united struggle against the
oppressors of both the white anc
Negro workers.
OF two of the attorneys claimed BY
the NAACP to be representing then
in the case, Miss Ransdall says:
1.-THE NAACP claim credit fol
| the nresenca at the trial Of Stepher