Evening star., 1933-08-15
MILITIA GUARDS
|LYNCH|NG VICTIM
Area About Tuscaloosa Jail
Blocked Off to Avert
Mob Violence.
" the Associated Press.

" the Associated Press.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala, August IS
National Guardsmen patrolled the
court house block behind barbed-wire
barricades today as Tuscaloosa County
grand jury was convened in special
session to investigate the lynching Of
two colored men and the wounding Of
q third, all of whom were under indict-
ment on q charge of killing a white
woman.
The troops went on duty early today
and the area blocked of after the
wounded man, Elmore Clark. %. was
found near the scene of the lynching
and brought to the county jail, ad-
iacent to the court house.
Offices Have Holiday.
A holiday was declared for all offices
in the court house and no persons were
permitted to enter except by special
permission. The only activity in evi-
dence was in the grand jury room and
the Circuit Court room as members OF
the grand jury began to assemble.
Opening of the grand jury session
was delayed pending the arrival OF At
torney General Thomas E. Knight from
Montgomery, who was en- route here 10
take charge of the investigation.
Clark, who was wounded In the LETT
shoulder, left upper arm and right
thigh, was not considered seriously
wounded and at the Jail it was said he
was expected to be called before the
grand jury. Sheriff r. L. Shamblln
said, however, the colored man had
made no statement, other than that he
could not recognize any member of the
lynching party as each was masked.
Band Halts Sheriff.
The man was wounded by a band of
men who halted a group Of county dep
uties carrying Clark, Tom Pippen, ID,
and A. T. Harden, Is, to Birmingham
for safe keeping, after reports were cir
culated a plot was under way Satur-
day night to storm the jail here. Pip
pen and Harden were killed.
Meanwhile, the city was quiet but
for a few curiosity seekers who peered
through the barbedwire entanglements
set up by the Guardsmen, there was
little evidence of interest in the case.
Repudiated Labor Defense.
Clark, with Dan Pippen, jr.. 18, and
A. T. Harden, was indicted in the slay-
ing of Miss Vaudine Maddox. Pippen
and his parents repudiated attorney
retained by the international labor de-
fense when his trial was called on Au-
gust and the case was postponed IN
definitely.
Threatened violence against the men
in jail here led Sheriff Shamblin to
attempt to remove them to Birmingham
for safe keeping. Early Sunday two
carloads of masked men hemmed in
the car in which the men were hand
cuffed together and forced the officers
to surrender them.
Several hours later the bodies Of Pip
pen and Harden. riddled with bullets,
we're found about a mile from Wood
stock in the woods. How Clark escaped
and made his way to Vance officers did
not learn.
Attorney General Thomas E. Knight,
the investigation.
A colored physician of Tuscaloosa was
called to Vance, Ala, % miles south
east of here early last night to attend
q colored man who was wounded"
Found in Clubhouse.
The physician called Sheriff Sham
blin, who trailed the mans automobile
to the home of friend Of Clark, where
he was found in an clubhouse.
Judge Henry B. Foster and Sheriff
Shamblin, the latter declaring activities
of attorneys for the International La
Dor Defense in the case were directly
responsible for this violence" yesterday
received kilograms from International
Labor Defense headquarters at Bir-
mingham and New York demanding
''the death penalty for the lynchers."
The prisoners were under ind1ct-
ment on a charge of killing Miss
Maddox, 2l-year-old daughter of a
farmer. She was attacked and slain
near her home, in rural Tuscaloosa
County, last June.