The Dayton forum. [volume] (Dayton, Ohio) 1913-1949, 1937-07-23
SCOTTSBORO
Continued from page one)

i
In!pudcntly 4alting the n gro
peo 81 as a race II lapists," Gala
man told tse jury that social and
racial characteristics may be con
sidefed by tie jury"
GIRLS Story Contradictory
The main witness for the State
was Victoria Price who, flustercd and
tid ely under cross examination, In
yolyed herself in a mess Of contra.
dletlens. Peppered under contia.
lteus baIfag Of whitening questions
by samuel Leibowitz, Mrs. Price tes
tilted that she and Ruby Bates were
alone when they boarded freight
train IN Chattanooga, Tenn, on their
return 10 Alabama. At the original
trial in scottsboro, Mrs. Price testi-
fed that she and Ruby Bates were
with two men when they boarded the
freight train on which they were sup.
posedly raped
Ruby Bates, who testified against
the boys at the original trials but
later recanted and charged Alabama
officials with coercion to make her
lie against the the boys" was not
present at the Norris trial. She was
star defense witness at one Of tha
earlier trials Of Norris and Patterson
in Decatur.
Negro Jurors Struck
Three Ncgo jurors were drawn
for the Norris trial, one in The regu
Lar veaire of thffty-fve, and two in
the first section of a special panel.
One was excused because he did not
believe III capital punishment. The
othes were struck by the State.
Assistant Attorney General Thorn
as Z. Lawson, acting as special pro
secutor IN the six--year-old case since
the til of Thomas e. Knight, Jr.,
made il clear that the names of the
three Negroes we're merely drawn
10 get around the ruling of the
United Stases Supreme Court, re-
versing an earlier death sentence
against Peterson on the grounds
that Negroes were systematically ex-
cluded from Alabama juries. Lawson
said that III drawing the names Of
the three Negroes complied with the
federal courts ruling.
Mrs Emma Bates, mother of Ruby
Bates, was summoned by the defense
for the first time by either side.
She said that when she went to
the jailhpuse' at Scottsbaro she
found her daughter and Mrs. Price
locked in a cell with two strange
boys, Odell and Lindsay Caldwell
Leibowitz emphasized the discrep-
ancies in the stories told from the
witness stand by Mrs. Price on the
dozen occasions when she repeated
it. He said that despite her repeated
assertions that she was beaten black
and blue, trapped on the head with a
pistol butt, smashed on the nose by
a fist and lacerated, Dr. r. e. Bridg
es, Jackson county physician, who ex
aminad her two hours after the all
legged attack, found no traces of any
wounds such as she described.
Lcibowitz, who reminded the
jury that DR.. Bridges had died since
the trial at which he last testified,
declared that it was for the jury to
decide whether the respected ply
sician" or Mrs. Price was lying.
Ds. Bridges, he said, was "your
doctor and your neighbor." He was
brought here to testify by the officials
of your State, and vet he damns that
womans story as lie.
Marion G. Hudson, the solicitor
for the Morgan County circuit, urged
a quick verdict Of guilty with a re-
commended penalty Of death which
could be written in golden letters
across the Alabama sky" for all the
world to see, so that outsiders"
never again would meddle" in ALA
bama's affairs.''