St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1942-04-03
u. S. Finally To
Act To Protect
American Negro

United States Government is NOV
ing on a wide front to protect the
civil rights of Negroes. A survey
of pending actions revealed today
that Investigations and prosecu-
tions initiated by the Department
of Justice extend through Arkan-
sas, Kentucky, Texas, Georgia,
Missouri and Illinois.
By order of Attorney General
Francis Biddle, agents of the JUS
tice Department are pressing an in
quiry into the Sikeston, Missouri,
lynching case. If the evidence war
rants, the Department intends to
seek a Federal grand jury indict-
ment. Should Federal indictment
in the Sikeston case be sought and
obtained, it will mark the first time
in the history of American juris-
prudence that a lynching case has
been brought into Federal court.
The case grows out of the lynch
ing of Negro, Cleo Wright, who
was accused of assault on a white
woman, and was tortured and killed
by a mob in Sikeston on January
"a, 1912. The assistance of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
was requested by Governor Don
nell. Evidence was presented to a
State grand jury, which failed to
return an Indictment.
The FBI is continuing it's in
vestigation with a view to prose-
cutting under civil rights statutes
on the theory that State authori-
ties conspired to deny Wright the
equal protection of the law by re-
leasing him to the lynching mob.
In Kentucky an indictment has
been returned in the United States
Court for the States Western Dis
trict against Martin ]. Corners and
others. Corners was jailer at the
Jefferson County, Kentucky, Jail,
and allegedly worked Negro pris-
oners in his privately owned tour
list camp. One of the counts in the
indictment is based upon the denial
to the victims Of equal protection
of the law.
An investigation has been au-
thorized by the Department into
the lynching of Mott Flournory in
open court at Lufkin, Texas, No
vember "a, 1941. Flournory, an
aged Negro, was in court as de-
PENDANT in rape case. Complaints
received by the Department indi-
Gated that he was denied equal pro-
lection of the law through failure
of the authorities to protect him
when they knew that an attempt
might be made on his life.
In Georgia, the Justice Depart
ment is investigating an alleged
conspiracy by William Cunning
ham and Hamilton McWhorter of
Oglethorpe County to secure the
return of certain Negroes who had
fled from Cunningham's farm,
where they were being worked I'M
der conditions described as amount
ing to peonage. The Negroes
escaped to Chicago. An indictment
in the case was obtained in the
Northern District of Illinois, but in
August, 1871, the defendants sue
cessfully instituted proceedings to
have the case removed to Georgia.
It is expected that evidence show
ing a violation of the Negroes
civil rights will be presented to a
Federal grand jury in Georgia.
An indictment has been returned
in the Southern District of Georgia
against W. Il. Callan, James O'Neil
and Carlos Hardin, operators of
turpentine stills, for holding Ne
gro employees in a state of peon-
age. Trial has been set for June
Is, 1912.
The Federal Grand Jury in the
Northern District of Florida will
hear case concerning brutal treat
ment administered to a Negro,
"Impy" Johnson, in connection with
his return to a turpentine farm.
The Department will retry in the
United States District Court for
the Northern District of Georgia,
W. F. Sutherland Of the Atlanta,
Georgia, police force, for branding
a Negro youth with a hot iron in
order to extort a confession.