The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-04-07
ALLEGATIONS
IN SCOTTSBORO
CASE A HOAX
Ruby Bates Repudiates Her
Testimony at First Trial
of Nine Negroes

DECATUR, Ala. April =
(UP)-Dramatically appearing as
a surprise defense witness, Miss
Ruby Bates of Huntsville, Ala,
yesterday completely rcpudlated
her charges against nine negro
youths in the internationally ia
nous Scottsboro case. and refut-
ed the testimony Of Mrs. Victoria
Price, her co-complainant.
Her entire previous testimony
in the case. now being retired
here in an atmosphere of tension
caused by vague threats of VIC
lencc, was a hoax, Miss Bates
said. She added that if Nus. Rrlses
was subjected to mistrcatment,
she knew nothing of l..
The testimony Of the lOng-mlSS-
ing girl was a direct right-about
face from the story she told when
the state won death sentences for
seven of the nine accused negroes.
1t came as q l0";bshell, distinct
surprise, as the defen-e had rest
ed its direct presentation.
Miss Bates arrived in court IN
company of Mrs. May Jones, So
cial worker for the Independent
Presbyterian church, Birmingham,
Ala, and was Immediately called
to the witness chair by Samuel
Licbowitz, chief defense counsel
NJ,. D,;.o 1ucba6
Early in her testimony, Miss
Bates revealed that until two
weeks ago she was in New York,
where she conferred with DR..
Harry Emerson FosdiCk, widely
known pastor. to whom, she said'
she confessed to pcrpetrating
hoax. DR.. FOsdick arranged Tor
her return, she said.
She came to Birmingham, she
said, and got in touch with Dr.
Charles Clingman, pastor of the
Episcopal Church Of the Advent,
through whom she met Mrs. Jones
and at whose request she was
brought to the court yesterday.
In a previous trial Mis- Bates
testified and directly accused the
nine negroes of mistreatlng her
and Mrs. Price on a freight train
while they were 'hoboing" their
way from Chattanooga, Tenn, to
ScottsbOro. There was a fight on
the train between the group OF
ncproos and some white boys
with whom the two women were
riding. The white boys, according
to the trial record, were thrown
from the train by the larger ne
gro group, members Of which then
allegedly mistreated the white
girls. Word of the incident was
flashed ahead by the elected white
bows and arrest of the negroes
occurred at Scottsboro.
The reputation of Miss Bates
included the admission she ana
Mrs. Price were on the train, but
also the assertion that they were
in an entirely different part of the
train from where the two fighting
groups were.
Testimony of Miss Bates was
the second major defense move OF
the day, the other being the story
of Lester Carter, white witness
who testified he and one JACK
Tiller spent the night prior to the
Scottsboro incident with MISS
Bates and Mrs. Price in a hobo
camp at Chattanooga. -,
owe were dissatisfied with
wages in Huntsville, and decided
TO 90 to Chattanooga to look Tor
work" Carter said. "The four or o.,
us spent two nights in a box car
Carter testified his association
with Mrs. Price was intimate, at
that time. BY his testimony the
defense sought to convince the
jury that Carter, and not the ne
groes. was responsible for a phy-
sician's positive report of her con-
dition an hour after the alleged
Scottsboro incident.
In her surprise testimony yes
terday, Miss Bates corroborated1
the Carter testimony, that she ana
Mrs. Price spent the night with
Carter and Tiller at the hobo re-
treat. She confessed previously
described intimacies with the two
men, as testified by Carter.
On cross-examination by the
Continued on page three)