Evening star., 1936-09-29
L Of Z CONVICTED
OF LEGION MURDER
Michigan Terrorists Found
Guilty of "Execution"
on False Rumors.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
DETROIT, September 29-Eleven
of the II men charged with plotting
the Black Legion execution" of
Charles A. Poole on an isolated subur-
ban road last May IL were convicted
today in Circuit Court.
OF the II, all but four were con-
victed of first-degree murder. The
jury of nine men and three women
held two of the others guilty of second
degree murder, and Judge Joseph A.
Moynihan returned a second-degree
murder conviction against the two de-
PENDANTS who had waived jury trial.
The jury. which had listened to the
prolonged testimony in the case since
September 10, required an hour and
Is minutes to reach its decision.
Mrs. Rebecca Poole, comely young
widow of the man the II were con-
victed of Turing to-niS death in pun
ishment" for false rumors that he had
mistreated his wife. was in the court
room when the verdict was returned.
Only One Acquitted.
The acquittal of Herschell Gill, the
only defendant freed on the charges
by the jury, had been suggested by
Assistant State Attorney Chester P.
O'Hara-
Five of those convicted of first
degree murder-"Colonel' Harvey
Davis, Erwin D. Lee, Urban Lipps, Paul
r. Edwards and Edgar Baldwin-were
present when Poole was shot to death
by Dayton Dean. the confessed exc
cutioner" The two others convicted
of first-degree murder were John
Bannerman and Lowell Rushing, who
were charged with taking an active
part in the death plot.
The jury convicted Thomas r. Craig
and Virgil Morrow, both of whom at
tended the meeting in Findlater Hall
where the State charged the "execu-
ton" plot was agreed upon, of second
degree murder, with recommenda-
ton of leniency for Morrow.
Maximum Is Life Imprisonment.
The bench returned the second-de-
gree conviction against Albert Stevens
and John S. Vincent, the Oldest of the
defendants. Both of them also were
at the Findlater Hall meeting.
Under Michigan law the maximum
penalty for first degree murder is life
Imprisonment Second-degree con-
viction leaves the sentence to the dis
cretion of the court.
The cold-blooded killing of Poole. a
young w. P. A. worker, followed false
neighborhood gossip that he beat his
wife.
The intensive inquiry that followed
exposed the Black Legion as group OF
hooded night riders that terrorized its
own members and sought to impose its
racial and religious prejudices on poll
ticians in cities of the Detroit area.
Dayton Dean, chunky two-gun Tex
ecutioner," who calmly testified he shot
down Poole at close range on orders
of col" Davis, was frequent, willing
witness before grand juries investi-
eating ramifications Of the secret or
der. He also was the principal wit
ness in the present trial.
Uprising Plot Charged.
In Wayne County (Detroit) nearly 6
score of kidnapings, floggings and con-
spiracies to murder and incite to riot
were charged against members of the
society. An indictment charging it!
leaders with criminal syndicalism al.
legged they plotted an armed uprising
against the Federal Government.
At nearby Pontiac a grand jury
named Sc public officials and employe:
as members of the terrorist organiza.
ton, but claims that it had 5000, ,00C
members in the United States were dis
counted by authorities.
Poole's wife was in Detroit hos
pital with a 5-day-old baby, her Sec
ond child, the night her husband
pleaded vainly for his life on a lonely
country road. She said charges thai
he beat her were ridiculous"