The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-14
BY WILLIAM L. PATTERSON.
General Secretary Of the Inter
national Labor nefense.l

national Labor Defense.)
I LEFT WASHINGTON after
l visit with the nine Negro boys
involved in the Logan Circle case,
the case in which Police Off1cer
Kennedy, known as a Negro hater
and batter, was killed after an at
tempt to terorize q group of unof-
Tending Negro workers My desti
nation was Chattanooga, where
meant TO visit the families of the
Scottsboro boys / travelled jim
Grow all the way.
The families of the boys are
hopeful and courageous. They ex-
pressed great faith in the Interna-
tional Labor Defense, and said they
felt now that their boys were 60
ing to be set free.
On the way to Kilby Prison we
had to stop at filling station
operated by white man. He asked
me who the members of our group
were. and when 1 told him he ex-
pressed great sympathy, and told
the mothers he hoped their boys
would get out. The mothers were
greatly heartehed by this unexpect-
ed sign of good will, coming as it
did from a white man and
Southerner.
AT KILBY PRISON we were told
n that visiting time was As min
utes. The prison guards were hos
tile and insulting. They refused
entrance to a white man, mem
Der of the LID. defense organiza-
ton, who accompanied us. They
told him it was Niger Day" and
he couldn't come in.
Our group was asked: who do
you niggers want, to see?" We told
them we had come to see the
Scottsboro boys. There was some
consultation among the guards, and
finally we were told that we could
go in. We marched through a lit
tie iron gate that led into a corri-
dor, and then past a series OF iron
gates until we reached the stair
way leading to the death cells.
Here we were stopped. A guard
approached our escort. Have you
searched these niggers?" He asked
We were searched.
Finally we were permitted to talk
to the boys. To me, who had never
seen them before, the sight of them
was a complete surprise. Pictures
of them, their faces swollen and
sullen, their looks furtiYe and
suspicious had not prepared me for
the clean-cut, courageous boys l
met and talked to in Kilby Prison.
They were dressed in coarse but
clean duck, the uniform of the
prison. They looked fine and intel
ligent. The Weems kid, in particu-
lar, was a fine looking boy, straight
and tall. He and Powell seemed
particularly bright. They told me
they hoped, if they got out, to be
able to get some schooling. All the
boys struck me as being naturally
intelligent, and not at all the sui
len. hopeless lot the N.A,A.C.P. re-
ports, and to tell the truth, the
early pictures, had prepared me
for.
All conversation with them took
place through the grating that COW
cred the bars, and in the presence
of surly and hostile guards. The
boys complained that their food
was getting worse, and one of the
guards had told them 'They are
making an awful fuss about you
niggers up North. But we are 60
ing to burn you, anyhow Andy
Wright had been shown a clipping,
reporting the arrest of his mother
in Belgium, where she had gone to
address a mass meeting of workers
in behalf of her boy. Andy Wright
had resented the slur cast upon his
mother, and had shouted back at
the guard. whereupon he had been
placed in solitary confinement.
THE GUARDS listened to all that
was said. At the end of 20 min
utes they cut us short and ordered
us out, although we still had %
minutes to stay according to prison
regulations. TELL our comrades we
have faith that they will get us
OUT, was the last words Of the