The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-12-16

ScottSboro, Ala, in March 1881.
 Thus the state of Alabama take tain new convictions in the notorio'
 Almost four year safter the datC of the alleged attack Haywood Patterson, @ defendant who three times has been sentenced to death again is facing trial-a trial that may see members of his own ract on tEe jury which hears his case
 Three times his death convic' tions have been reversed. Int latest, made by the supreme court of the United States, declared ht had been illegally indicted ant illegally convictde. Negroes hac been systematically excluded from .jurieS that heard his case in viola. ton of the constitution, the court ruled.
 Jury Rolls Revised
 As a result, Alabama jury rolls haze been revised. For the ~s time since the days "cal Iet baggers," practically every jury , roll in the state contains tht names of negroes. It is understood that negroes have been added tt the lists in every county that ha. revised its roll since April 1, tht date of the courts ruling.
 A new grand jury was con. vened in Scottsboro, Jackson coun. ty, last month. The 14th member of the 18-man jury was Creed Conyer, negro laborer. Conyer's home is near Paint Rock, Ala, al. most in sight of the railway sta. ton where Mrs. Victoria Price anc Ruby Bates, the purported victims of the attack, and the nine negroes were taken from the train.
 The United PerSs leraned that two score more negroes names have been placed on the jury lists in that county. One other negro Bird Hill, who had been drawn fol probable service on the jury, was was excused when he gave his age as "A, nine years above the jury age-limit.
 Mrs. Price Among Witnesses
 The jury examined some dozer witnesses. Among them was Mrs Price, who had sworn the war rants charging the assault. Her warrants also named the negroes as the attackers of Ruby Bates The other witnesses were members of the posse which took the women and the negroes from the train at Paint Rock.
 After less than an hours delibera- tioa, following the examination of witnesses, the jury returney 18 in- dictmentS. Each of the nine ne- groes was charge with assoult of Mrs. Price and each with assault of Miss Bates. Those indicted were Haywood Patterson, Clarence Morris, Ozie Powell, William Rober. son, Andy Wright, Olen Montgom. cry, Charlie Weems, Eugene Will. liam and Roy Wright.
 These nine will appear before the judge tomorrow.
 As soon as pleas are entered, the date for the trial will be set. It has already been announced by Judge Callahan and special prose- cutor Thomas E. Knight, Jr., Lieu tenant-governor of Alabama, that the trial date will be Jan. 6, 1886.
 Negroes Have Served
 Three negroes have served on the grand jury in this, Morgan county. Thus 1t is known that negroes names are on the jury roll. At the grand jury hearing in Scottsboro no tetempt to prevent the presence of Conyer on the jury was made.
 Knight recently announced he would make no attempt to prevent negroes from serving on a jury which would try the case. He de- clared he had nothing, to do with the names of negroes being put ir jury boxes, and I'm not going to make any attempt to keep them of the jury"
 Samuel Leibowitz, New York at- torney who has represented the negroes since their first trial, will be here as their counsel. It is re. ported here that attempts will bt made by the defense to prove the revision of jury boxes was merel, a farce and htat names of only g few negroes were placed in them A new motion to quash the indict- ments is expected to be offered or those grounds.
 Representation Believed Fair
 The United Press was informed that the negro population of Jack. son county is fairl represented or the jury roll from which the last grand jury was drawn. There ap. pears little chance that the indict. ments could be quashed because oi any fault in either the personne of the grand jury or the manner ir which it conducted its investiga- tion.
 The state appears to be bend ing Cver backward" in its efforts to comply with the law in every respect. As one official expressed it, the prosecution doesn't want to give the defense a single peg on which they can hang an appeal"
 Knight will lead the prosecution for the state. He will be assisted e-