The Omaha guide., 1934-04-28

away. W. D. Adkins, special agent
of the Missouri Pacific Railway, drove
up to the church in an automobile,
accompanied by a deputy sheriff.
They fired into the church. The
Negroes returned fire and Adkins was
killed.
He'll Breaks Loose
Then hell broke loose in Phillips
County. A Committee of Seven
consisting of the county judge. the
mayor of Elaine, the sheriff and four
others, allegedly planters took down
charge of affairs.organizing the mob
shooting down Negroes indiscrimin-
ately. Word was sent out that Ne
groes were uprising and massacre
ing the whites" The Governor hur-
ried to the county with a militia.
Federal troops from Camp Pike were
dispatched to stop the massacre Of
the white people. ut is significant
that this massacre of whites" re-
suited in the death of five white and
fifty Negroes. Among the Negroes
killed were the four Johnson brothers,
n a dentist and property owner in
Helena, another a prominent Okla
homa physician visiting Helena, who
were turning from a squirrel hunt
when they met the bloodthirsty mob.
Eight hundred Negroes were round
ed up like cattle by the state and fed
eral troops and 200 of them petnned
in a s~tockade. Within a month after
wards 70 of these Negroes were put
on trial at Heena. The trials lasted
five days. Twelve vel condemned
to death and 81 were sentenced from
twenty-o years to life. Many of
them were tortured to force confess
sions. In the case of five of those
tried. the jury brought in a verdict
of guilty after but six minutes de-
liberation. The trial counsel provid-
ed the court did not consult the accus-
ed Negroes, put no witnesses DON the
stand and did not address the jury in
behalf Of their supposed Clients The
whole affair was a gross miscarriage
Of justice.
N A A c p To The Rescue
The Associations legal department
Immediately got busy. Colonel Geo.
w. Murphy (white) and Sciopio A.
Jones of Little Rock, Ark, were re-
tanned as defense counsel. On Mari
80, 1920, the supreme court Of Ar
kansas reversed the verdict of death
of the Phillips county circuit court
in the cases Of the six of the twelve
condemned men, the other six were
found guilty. Again the cases were
taken to the Arkansas supreme court
and again the county court was re-
versed on December 6, 1920,on the
ground that Negroes had been exclud-
ed from juries in Phillips county in
c~ontraventiOn of the Fourteenth
Amendment and Civil Rights Act of
1875 The execution Of the second
six men was held up pending the
outcome of the third trial of the
first six At this time Colonel Muir
ply died and the burden Of handling
the cases fell upon the capable
shoulders of his colored associate,
Scipio A. Jones
On March %, 1921 the Association
defeated the efforts of the Arkansas
authorities to extradite Robert L..
Hill. head Of the Progressive Farm
ers and Household Union of Ameri-
ca, who had been arrested in Tope-
ka. Kans., whence he had fled fol-
the Phillips county race war
The state of Arkansas persisted In
its efforts to get Hill, but at every
turn the Associations legal defense
blocked the way. Finally, after sew
eral unsuccessful by Ar
kansas in the federal courts, At
torney Jones was able to wire the
National office: Both cases in the
federal court against Hill have been
dismissed by order of the Attorney
general"
On April 20, 1921, Governor McRae
of Arkansas set June 10 as the exc
cution date for the second six of the
convicted sharecroppers- When he
refused appeals to stay execution un-
til the conclusion of the trials OF the
first six men, the Associations law
yers won q restraining order which
was set aside when Arkansas auth
critics applied for and obtained a
writ Of prohibition dissolving It,
from the state supreme court The
N. A. A. c.. P. attorneys then
moved for a writ Of habeas corpus in
the federal court
Win Change of Venue.
When the first six condemned men
again went to trial in May, the As
sociations attorneys applied for and
get, after a studied delay of six
--