The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-08-02
Athens Scene Of Shootinq
 (asting votez
Quiet Is Finally Restored After Long Period of
 Disorder in Town

ATHENS, Tenn, Aug. "A bi- partisan group of c Is, their cleo ton to McMinn county offices con- ceded by leader of the opposi- ton, brought quiet to bullet-riddled Athens today after bloody 6-hour gun battle around a now battered jail
 At least l8 persons were injured. SIX seriousy. in the election day strife which began yesterday after noon and continued until 3 a. m. when score or more deputized officers surrendered their hold on the two-story brick prison building. 1 Before order could be restored, several automobiles were overturn- i cd or stripped. and near riots swept over this town of 1000, suddenly bereft of formal law enforcement from county agencies.
 A mobilization of state guards men was cancelled and a spokes- man for the CT forces said they would maintain order until mass meeting Monday, when 1t was hop ed some provision for filling county offices would be made.
 Orders Investigation l In Washington, Attorney General Tom Clark ordered an investigation today of the gun battle. The civil rights section of tEe Justice De- partment was directed to determine whether Federal laws were violated.
 The battle of the jail, pocked and battered from bullets and home made bombs tossed by CT syrnpath- izers, was direct outgrowth of the bitter political campaign wag- ed by the veterans to overturn the Democratic organization of State Senator Paul Cantrell, in power for a decade.
 Armed sheriff's deputies moved two ballot boxes to the jail Thurs day afternoon, shortly after the polls closed at D. m, and trouble long brewing, burst into the open.
 Token For Ride A group of GIs disarmed seven of the deputized officers, beat them and showed them into automobiles for a swift ride out of town
 At 9 D. m, crowd estimated at 500 and armed with pistols and light rifles, moved on the jail oc- cupied by the force of deputies
 Ralph Duggan, a former Navy lieutenant commander and leader of the CT forces. said the crowd was met by gunfire' and because they had promised that the bal lots would be counted as cast" they had mo choice but to meet fire with fire"
 The exchange of fire, sporadic for six hours, ended after the jail was rocked by four blasts of explosives and ore of the deputies shouted down for a halt because we are dying in here
 False Killing Report Cne report, telephoned from with in the jail during the night, said two men inside had been killed, i but it proved false.
 The deputies. hands high in the 1 air. marched out of the building, were searched, and 2l returned to the jail under GI guards. One officer, identified by onlookers as Deputy Windy Wise, was man. handled by group which surged about him. but apparently was not seriously harmed.
 Cantrell's whereabout were not known. Sheriff Pat Mansfield, short sieeved and without his badge, was seen in the company of a physician after the surrender. He apparently was unharmed. but newsmen did not reach him for a statement.
 Frank Cantrell, the mayor of nearby Etowah. telephoned an Ath- ems newspaper this morning that lon behalf of my brother, Paul Cantrell, I wish to concede the election to the CT candidates to pre- vent further shooting" Both towns are in McMinn county midway be- tween Chattanooga and Knoxville.