Evening star., 1947-05-14
| yncIling Statements
Given Without Threat,
Mass Trial Is Told
sy he Assee;assd Press

GREENVILLE, s. C.. May A.
The State today began presenting
leyidence to offset any possible de-
Tense contention that statements
given by 26 of the 81 defendants
in the lynching of Willie Earle, "a
|colored. were obtained by ofhcers
rs the result Of threats or promises
". Z. Ashmore. a sergeant OF the
State constabu1ary and the days
first witness, said 1--WE treated him
as nice as we possibly could when
asked by Solicitor Sam r. Watt
what treatment was accorded Willie
Eugene Bishop, defendant, whose
statement was introduced yesterday
over defense objections.
Under cross-examination by De-
Tense Attorney Tom WofIord, Sergt.
Ashmore insisted no inducements
were offered the defendant to get
his statement.
Attempts by defense attorneys
yesterday to bar alleged statements
from defendants were denied by
37-year-old Judge ]. Robert Mar
/ tin, jr.
Statements Implicate Men.
The statements, first introduced
March I at an inquest in the pre-
dawn staying OF Earle, implicated
their makers In varying degrees as
being members Of an armed, un-
masked mob that wfisked Earle
from the Pickens County Jail last
February II and left his body
punctured by shotgun and stab
wounds, in lonely roadside ditch
Earle was being held in the fatal
/ stabbing OF a Greenville taxi driver
The Bishop statement said q group
of taxi drivers went to Pickens to
get Earle. Bishop said he never
saw Earle, although he saw a group
enter the Pickens Jail.
Bishop said, further, that he left
the caravan and was not at the
spot In Greenville County where the
lynching victims body was found.
Jailer Tells Of Unmasked Mob.
The State called six witnesses
yesterday. among them Greenville
County Sheriff r. H. Bearden and
N. T. Easterling, Federal Bureau of
Investigation agent.
The State called six witnesses,
among them Greenville County
Sheriff r. H. Bearden and N. T.
Easterling, Federal Bureau of IN
vestigation agent. to the stand
yesterday.
One of the first witnesses called,
Jailer j. Ed Gilstrap of Pickens
County, testified that he surrendered
Earle to a group of unmasked men,
one of whom was armed with a
shotgun.
The gray and balding jailer said
he was unable to identify any mem
ber of the mob.
! Two witnesses, Earl Porter and L.
H. Grove, guards at a Pickens
County prison camp, testified that
one of the defendants, Paul r.
Griggs, was near the scene OF
Earle's seizure. Pointing to Griggs
in the courtroom, they testified that
he was one of two men who came
to the camp early on the morning
OF February II to get an automobile
which had been left a short time
before with a nat tire.
Mr. Wofford sought to show by
questioning Sheriff Bearden that the
Bishop statement was made only
after Bishop had been interrogated
hours on end without food or sleep.
Sheriff Bearden said he did not
know how much sleep the 27-year-
old defendant had before he signed
the statement but he was sure he
had been given food. Z r.
Mr.. Easterling was put on the
stand by the State to substantiate
the authenticity of the Bishop
statement.
The FBI agent testified that he
wrote the statement in longhand in
midafternoon of February 10. some
IS hours after the defendant had
been taken into custody for ques-
tioning. He said no promises or
threats were made to induce Bishop
to sign the statement.