Evening star., 1936-04-13
BY WARD MOREHOUSE.

b1 w ARD
SCOTTSBORO. Ala. April Is (NA
MAJ Perhaps you know the picture.
Red brick court house in the center of
a square fringed with stores. Creaky
mule-drawn carts and farm wagons,
rusty Fords and townfolk swarming
about the storefronts On this corner
a bank, on that the post Office. One
sign says Drugs" Another says
Hotel" There's generally big clock
IN the court house cupola. There you
have the compost Southern county
seat of 1000 to $500 population. And
there. if you take away the clock, add
a feed store and toss in the Cinderella
Beauty Shop, you have ScottSboro, Ala
Five years ago freight train pulled
up alongside water tank just outside
OF town 1t would have been better
for Scottsboro's peace Of mind had
that train kept on going. Nine colored
men were hauled of. locked up,
charged with rape, and tried. Eight
were sentenced to death, ScottSboro
sprang into the headlines Of Nation.
The case provoked angry editorial
protest. it infiamed defenders of justice
to Negroes. And even now. five years
afterward, Scottsboro has been unable
to live down an international impress
sion, that in Northern Alabama, jack
son County. there is a town where
outlawery reigns, where the black man
is ever terrorized by the whites.
Talks to Newspaper Editor.
What's Scottsboro really like? Are
the colored people in constant fear OF
their lives? Does the Ku Klux Klan
hold nightly paradeS in Court House
Square? Were those nine men framed
by false testimony, tried before a
prejudiced justice and convicted by
vengeful jury? And where could you
get a better answer to such questions
than in the Office Of local weekly?
P. w. Campbell is editor of the
Jackson County Sentinel, published
every Thursday. His latest issue was
out and he was pleased with it. He
had plenty of time. The Scottsboro
case? He began laughing.
I'm laughing" he said, because
everybody else in this town is laughing.
We just got tired of being mad. We
didn't like all the publicity and it
made us good and hot and we looked
with suspicion upon every New York
! license tag. and maybe We still do.
And we don't like Mr.. Leibowitz. But
we had to get over being mad. We
know we can't make people in the
/ East believe us We realize that the
| country still thinks lynchings in
Scottsboro are weekly occurrences. But
what can We do about it?"
Principals All Transients.
He shook his head and went on:
why. this town is Just about the
most peaceful place you ever saw.
Those colored men didn't belong here.
They were passing through. So we're
the two white girls. The girls lived in
the adjoining county of Madison. And
if that freight train had Just gone two
miles further. the world would have
put the blame for the whole thing upon
Huntsville and Madison County in
stead of Scottsboro and Jackson. I'm
telling you facts. was all through 1t
and I know
After IL hours in Scottsboro, I'm
compelled to report that it falls short
of its billing. It's lazy. It's quiet. And
dull. Perhaps when Circuit Court
convenes there'll be some excitement.
Righ now you must provide your own.
With some reservations, recommend
the Bocanita movie theater and the
Arcade pool and billiard pariol. In
Scottsboro. as in many Southern
counterparts, life is motionleSs.
There's a population of $500. Prob
ably $50 of this total is colored. Five
white churches, two hotels. several
boarding houses, two banks, T. v. A.
office, two country weeklies, as stores.
It's an agricultural town in the valley
Of the Tennessee River. Three mills
rug, hosiery. underwear-are located
here. Chattanooga Is some so miles
distant. There is, apparently, no fric-
ton Whatever between races. The
townSmen tell you there never has
been They say they can recall but
one lynching in the county, and that
took place 35 years ago. They assert
that newspaper men. propaganda
spreaders and "reds"-that's the term
generally used-have given their quiet
little town its terrible name.
Village Scene.
Let's wander about the square and
see what there is to see:
The post office. No small-town pic
ture could be complete without it
The individual combination mail boxes
(rental 60 cents quarter), and above
J the boxes the heavy wire netting
reaching to the ceiling. Special de-
livery window, litter on the floor, Gov
ernment bond posters, Don't spit or
floor" placards People ambling in
peering into the glass boxes, ambline
out
The Bocanita movie house. A
shrunken little old lady sells tickets
Top price, 20 cents. Colored people in
second balcony. Cash prizes on Sat-
urday night. And Saturday Is the
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