The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-07-04

EJIIE innocent Negro boys. eEre. ID Eeegq g y
II wears old. two Of them "a and &ae oefeee D.
eve facing death at the hands ct The white
ruiing classes of Alabama.
These innocent boys ars framed ap "a the
false charges Of rape" supposed % hAvs been
committed against two wf1its prostitutes who
were travelling. dressed IN mems clothes and
disguised as men, in a freight car with seven
white men hoboes Testimony Of doctors shows
there was no evidence Of violence % the women,
and the women themselves re1used 10 say that
the boys had raped" them until after being
Jailed and threatened.
The mock trial" took place IN q courthouse
surrounded by a crowd of 10000 men. many Of
them armed, entertained by brass band which
greeted the death verdicts with bursts Of music.
Even the lawyer who was palzned off as de
tense" attorney. a drlnkard and q member Of
the Ku Klux Khan, acted eS their attorney only
to cooperate in the frame-up and courthouse
lynching" The day selected for the trial WEI
April s, horse swapping" day. The four mock
trials and eight death verdicts were rushed
through in II hours, and the Ku Kiux Klan
lawyer, Steven R. Roddy. did not ass for post
ponement, to give chance to prepare a de-
Tense, because as he promised he wanted to CO.
operate with the prosecutors to keep the crowd
of 10000 white mountaineers In the town for
the money they would spend In the stores with
the local merchants. This Ku Klux Klan law
yer, planted" on the boys without their con-
sent, advised them to plead guilty although he
has since admitted Gin the Atlanta World, April
22) that he knows the boys are innocent In
each of the four trials, when called upon to
make his speech to the jury, this Ku Klux Klan
lawyer publicly refused in the courtroom TO ask
the Jury for q verdict Of not guilty
The eight convicted boys were condemned 30
die In the electric chair on july 10.
The framing UP and the intended legal muir
der Of these nine Negro boys Is the regular "jus-
tice" for Negroes at the hands of the white rul-
ing class
Nobody would have thought Of accusing these
boys If they were not Negroes. The seven white
men and boys who we're consorting for hours
with these white prostitutes In the same freight
car have not been accused. But the innocent
Negro boys are condemned to death without
even a chance to defend themselves without at
torreys of their choice, without even the parents
of the IS and 14-year-old children being noti-
fled that their sons we're being tried for their
lives.
There Is nothing unusual about the conviction
of innocent Negroes in the United States.
The only thing unusual" about the Scots
boro case is that this time the masses Of Negro
people and Of the white and colored working
class refuse TO sit idly by while their innocent
sons are to be slaughtered by the parasitic
criminal ruling class Of Alabama.
Because of telegram sent from Chattanooga
by the organizer Of the Communist Party to
the Daily Worker In New York, the League of
Struggle for Negro Rights and the International
Labor Defense learned Of this hideous frame-u
and started a mass campaign to save the nine
innocent Negro boys
Only this mass movement has given them the
slightest chance for life and liberty. The only
chance of life and freedom that these innocent
Negro boys have is in the organized mass
movement of millions of Negroes and of the
white working class to save them.
This murderous outrage is only a part Of the
age-old persecution of the Negro people. 1t is
part of the regular practice Of the white ruling
class against Negroes. 1t is the Justice" regu-
larly given by white supremacy" to the Negro
subject-people. 1t is the same Justice" the
British imperalists give to the Indian people,
the same Justice" the nperislists give to the
Chinese and to the African colonial peoples the
same Justice given by American imperialism
- Nicaragua, Haiti the Philippnes-the same