Evening star., 1933-12-11
CRAWFORD TOFACE
COURT TOMORROW
Legal Fight Over Venirelnen
Expected in IIsIey SIay-
ing Trial.
, staff correspondent Of The Star.

BY STAFF Correspondent Of The Star.
LEESBURG, Va, December lin
the red brick Loudoun County Court
House tomorrow morning, George Craw-
ford, IS, colored. will 60 on trial charged
with q murder which shocked the fox
hunting gentry of Middleburg almost
two years ago and later precipitated an
historic legal battle In the courts of
Massachusetts, and Virginia.
To the Virginia social leaders who will
be on hand tomorrow as prosecution
witnesses and as spectators, the trial Of
Crawford represents the elimination OF
long and ardent search for the man
suspected Of numbering one Of their own
| number, Mrs. Agnes Boeing Ilsley, AZ
year-old wealthy widow whose battered
body was found in the bed room of q
small cottage on her Middleburg estate
| on January 13, 1892 Across the hall In
servants room lay her maid, Mrs.
Nina Buckner. 65, also beaten to death.
Nation n-wide Search Made.
Incensed at the staying of a woman
| whose friends were legion in the hunt
| ing colony of Northern Virginia. the
| residents of Middleburg urged on police
authorities In Nation-wid search for
| Crawford, who was suspected because he
was formerly a chauffeur for Mrs. Ilsley
and was said to have returned to Md
dleburg the day before the crimes.
Private detectives were hired. re-
wards posted and no expense spared as
the manhunt went on. Ultimately 1t
was crowned with success when q fin
gerprint student in the Boston Police
| Department recognized the prints OF a
Joseph Taylor" arrested for house
breaking. as those Of Crawford.
At that point began the legal con-
ficts which will lend the Loudoun
| County trial this week its chief signifi-
canoe TO the world at large.
| Judge James A. Lowell in the Massa-
chusetts Federal Court granted a writ
of habeas corpus releasing Crawford
from extradition to Virginia.
why send this Negro back to Vir-
ginia when know and every one knows
| the Supreme Court will say the trial is
| illegal?" Judge Lowell said, explaining
| he believed the Supreme Court would
reverse any conviction on the grounds
that Negroes are not called for jury
service in Virginia.
A storm of protest broke loose at the
decision. The State of Massachusetts,
appealed to the Circuit Court of the
! United States. The House judiciary
J Committee voted a fund to try Judge
Lowell after impeachment proceedings
had been filed against him. That side
of the case ended, however. with the
recent death Of the Boston jurist.
LoweIPs Decision Reversed.
The United States Circuit Court Of
Appeals reversed Judge LOwels de-
cision, stating that the question oi
/ whether or not Negroes served on Vir-
ginia juries should be argued in the
courss of Virginia, not during extradi-
tion proceedings in another State.
Crawford's counsel petitioned the
United States Supreme Court for re-
view of the Circuit Court findings, but
this was denied and on october 28, 1888
the suspect was returned to Virginia
soil and jailed at Alexandria.
His chief of counsel, Charles II. Hous-
ton, colored Washington attorney
promptly went into Loudoun County
Circuit Court with q motion to Quash
the indictments against his client, on
the grounds that Negroes do not serve
on grand juries in Loudoun County
Judge j. r. H. Alexander. the Loudoun
circuit ~Sldge, was the principal wit
ness at the hearing, called by the petit
tioners as an adverse witness" to de-
scribe how he selected grand jurors in
his judicial territory.
| As a consequence of Judge Alex
ander's role of witness. he disqualified
himself from sitting in the case, and
the motion was heard before Judge j
L. McLemore of Suffolk County, who
also will preside at the trial. Judge
Alexander testified at the hearing that
he selected for the Loudoun grand jury
men he knew to be qualified to serve
and that his acquaintanceship among
colored people had not put him in con-
tact with many who were in his opinion
fit for such service. He denied how
ever. deliberate race prejudice had gov
erned his decisions in selecting the
grand jury panel.
Houston argued that the records
showed there never were Negroes called
for grand jury service in the county
and that the history in itself conSti-
tuted, evidence of exclusion.
Motion to Quash Denied.
After q two-day hearing, Judge Nc
Lemore denied the motion and sus-
tanned the indictments.
Nevertheless the opening gun of the
trial tomorrow will sound off on legal
point Houston is prepared to fight this
time against the petit jury pane
drawn for the trial, again contending
that there were no colored persons In
the list of 104 names from which the
trial jury is to be selected, and that
therefore the venire Is not constitu-
| tional
Perhaps a day or a day and hall
| will be consumed in Houston's attack
on the Jury venire and the efforts oi
| Commonwealths Attorney John Gale
her to sustain it.
Then will begin the parade Of al
most threescore prosecution and defense
witnesses across the tense court room
scene
For Prosecutor Galleher the Crawford
case is as familiar as his own name
He was one of the first persons called
to the scene of the crimes. He directed
the search for Crawford. managed
| funds raised by Mrs. Ilsley's wealthy
| friends to aid him, conferred with pri-
vate detective agencies and municipal
police, went to Boston after Crawford's
capture to question him and bring back
the confession which will be one OF
the main weapons of the State in this
trial. and successfully defended the in
dictments at the last court hearing.
Now, II he can sustain his petit jury
venire. he is prepared to 60 to court
armed with the testimony of witnesse,
who will place Crawford in Middlebure
short time before the murders: tC
show that note in Crawford's hand
writing was found In a car stolen from
Mrs. Ilsley the night of the crimes and
supposedly used by the slayer to make
his escape; to contend Crawford in
his confession. which he made anG
then repudiated. gave details tallyins
with the statements, of persons the
State will call to the stand.
The legal angles of the Crawford
case have been paid persistent and
energetic attention by Defense Attorney
case by the National Association fol
the Advancement of Colored People
but in his actual direct defense of hi
] clicxat ia<a s1,ill xaxesas,t s.,itxaossas In,