The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-02
The following interview took place
On april 18th, 1851, in the B.uniug-
ham County Jail.-~Ed.
by ALLAN TAU3

ham County 1ail~~Ed.
by ALLAN TAU8
AS AN attorney for the international
n Labor Defense 1 arrived at Chat
tanooga. Tennessee, to change for an
other train to, Scottsboro, Alabama,
where the defendants were held,
There, I was informed by workers
that the first flood Of kilograms to
the Governor and Judge had the
effect Of transferring the nine boys
to the Birmingham County Jail
That night Douglas Mckenzie, an
other representative or the Tnterna-
tlional Labor Defense, and inter-
viewed the boys in Jail tehi i'd heavy
iron bars. The VINCE 27pc rance of
the dungeon made enc rc-l as though
one was in a cave.
The southern Negro is brought up
in the midst OF a ceaSelsss terror, and
as a result he carries certain air
of balance, However, these nine Ne
gro workers upon meeting q white
man were suspicious and careful as
to what they said
They had barely escaped a lynch-
ing or burning. at the stake by a mob
Of 10000 outside the court at Scots
boro. In Gadsen, Alabama, they had
been subjected to a barborous beating.
They informed us that they had been
led from their cells and handcufTed
in pairs by q lieutenant Of the Ma
tional Guard. They were then club
bed by all whom the lieutenant could
round up from the streets for this spe-
cial ceremony. They, therefore, had
special reasons to distust white yis-
itors.
We sat around long bleak table
in a Gagged room. The sheriff with
several of his deputies stood outside
the cell. Southern gentlemen" all
with high sense Of chivalryi Every
once in a while they would inquir-
ingly thrust their head nearer the
bars, wondering what brought this
Yankee" way down this way just to
interview some niggers that we're
Just as good as dead"
All nine were offered cigarettes
which were eagerly seized. This was
our gesture of good will and solidar-
ity. Matches were struck; and amidst
the friendly smoke that went up the
nine boys were informed that the
white man represented the Interna-
sional Labor Defense, an organization
that would fight for them to the limit.
There was a noticeable loosening of
tension in the close room. Roy
Wright, the youngest, a lad Of four
teen, spoke up, IS that the o'ganiza-
ton, that sent them kilograms? He
felt bond. Hadn't that caused their
removal to safer quarters?
The colored workers from their gen
eral background and from the ex-
perience of the last few days had
seen too much to become enthusiast
tic over white men. They welcomed
the aid Of the lid. although they
were somewhat restrained.
The press throughout the south
paints these nine youths as vicious
thugs and gangsters. We beheld,
young boys several Of whom were
mere children They, as toilers' chill
dren, were at an early age forced to
go into the fields, and factories, and
there do tbs work Of grown men at a
child's pay,
Roy WrlghtA yith q twinkle in his
large brown eyes, soon stood out as
the spokesman He explained that
he and his brother, Andy, with Hay
wood, and Eugene, had jumped on an
oil car:of the fFeight train, and that
these tour ,nlst the other FIVE for
the first time when they we're all
arrested at Paint Rock.
Roy explained that four of the
boys were companions. Roy, and his
brother Andy, aged fourteen and sew
eIiteeen, were toyhood friends Of Hay
wood Paterson, seventeen, and Eugene
Williams aged fourteen These four
childhood chuins had been brought