The Wilmington morning star., 1947-05-24
White Masked
Men Raid Jail
Mob Takes Assault Suspect
From Sheriff At
Gun Point

JACKSON, May 23-W.H-A band
OF white men armed with revolt
vers and wearing white masks
seized a Negro from the county
Jail today and were believed to
have lynched him.
Sheriff J. C. Stephenson tonight
said he a ''up against a stone
wall" after an all-day fruitless
search for the mob and a Negro.
Gov. Gregg Cherry in Raleigh
directed the State Bureau O: In.
vestigation to spare no effort to
bring the mob to justice, and or
dered every agent 'if necessary"
to work on the case.
Cherry blasted the mob's action
as Shameful and said North
Carolina will n tolerate lynch
ings and mob violence"
Grey-haired Jailer A. w. Ed.
wards said the men banged on
his door about 2 am. and that
three men with guns ordered him
to surrender Goodwin Buddy
Bush, 2~4-year-old Negro sawmil
worker arrested four hours earlier
at Rich Square, Is miles away. on
charges of trying to attack d
young white woman.
Edwards was unarmed. when
they told me / had to open the
door, there was nothing elss l
could do" he said.
The slim, sixtyish %jailer said ne
was asleep in his upstairs quar-
tiers in the red brick jail when
he heard the knock. He thought
it was Police Chief Frank Outland
of Rich Square who had brought
Bush to jail.
A gruff-voiced leader OF the
gang said 1--WE want to take that
man Frank Outland brought
here"
Edwards said he first demurred
but the three men leveled revol-
vers al his belly. He unlocked the
cell door and the men ordered
Bush down from his top-deck cot
and TOOK MIN away.
The taller said he was not sure,
but thought he heard a shot or
backfire as the several automo-
biles drove away from the front
of the Jail. He would not estimate
how many men we're In the group,
but said he had seen none of them
before.
Edwards tried vainly for half
an hour to reach the sheriff,
whose telephone was broken. He
finally ran to the courthouse near
by and spread the alarm.
Stephenson Immediately organ
lied a possee and combed the sur
rounding farmlands, and WOODS
along the Roanoke river bottom
lands, but failed to turn up the
quarry.
The sheriff's deputies were rein
forced later today by SB1 agents
rushed from Raleigh and a hand-
full of state highway patrolmen.
Bush had been arrested four
hours before his seizure at near
by Rich Square, N. c. on charges
of attempting to criminally assault
= Young white woman, Mrs. Mar
garet Allen Bryan. She said she
was accosted near a warehouse.
News of the incident spread fast
through the town of Jackson, a
small county seat farming center
with a population of 1000 In the
rich truck and tobacco country OF
northeastern North Carolina.
Because the mob and their VIC
tim had melted away" without q
trace, local residents believed tna'
the Negroes body may have been
dumned into the Roanoke river at
the edge of town.
Experienced rivermen said ina
the deep, swift and treacherous
currents of the Roanoke mlghl
carry a mans body many miles
downstream before washing 1t out
on a sandbar. =,
The river runs through some Oh
the states thickest sWampland
which rises to lush farming areas.
After surveying the scene, STE
phenson said it would be useless
to put bloodhounds on the trail
"because there is nothing for them
to go on" q.
CHERRY LASHES OUT AT MOB
RALEIGH, May % -P)-Gover'
nor Cherry, speaking firmly but
bluntly at his afternoon confer
ence, dashed out against lynchlngs
and mob violence, and personally
pledged his support and the aid
of all state agencies in fixing, n
guilt on those responsible for the
alleged lynching early today at
Jackson.
"North Carolina will not tolerate
lynchings and mob violence" the
governor said.
Immediately upon hearing OF
the unfortunate happening at
Jackson, 1 ordered the State Bu-
~ rnroc+ioatiop IN On immk-