Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-04-24
.bus|ine Starts
DesegregatiOn
In Alabama
Arrests Threatened
By Head Of Police
At Montgomery

I MONTGOMERY, Ala, April
"a (P.-Racial barriers were
hauled down on city buses in
Montgomery today. but the head
of the police department threat
ened to arrest any passenger
who mixes with the opposite
race.
Bus drivers who permit deseg-
regation on their buses also face
prosecution, the official said.
Montgomery City Lines, Inc,
operating the only bus service,
abandoned segregation of white
and Negro patrons this morning
in the wake of yesterdays United
States Supreme Court ruling.
A reporter for the Alabama
Journal, cruising the city, said
all the Negroes he saw on buses
were riding in the rear, the Sec
ton reserved for them in the
past.
Threatens Prosecution
A few hours after the bus COM
pany ended segregation, Police
Commissioner Clyde Sellers, a
member of the White Citizens
Council, said any passenger who
violates city or State segregation
laws will be prosecuted.
The council is an organization
dedicated to the preservation of
racial segregation.
I'll be responsible for any ar
rests and I'll give the direct
orders for those arrests" Mr..
Sellers declared.
"AS far as I'm concerned, this
damn thing applies to South
Carolina only" the commits
sioner explained, referring to the
court decision holding bus seq
regation unconstitutional. The
ruling came on an appeal from
South Carolina.
A similar suit attacking Mont
gomery and Alabama segregation
laws is pending in U. S. District
Court and hearing is scheduled
for May IL.
Says He'll Enforce Laws
Until they tell us in this
suit filed here that it (the Su-
preme Court decision) applies
to u.s." MI. Sellers said, I'm
going to enforce all city laws to
maintain segregation.
That's the way 1 feel. I'm
a Southern white man and Il
want to continue to be one"
Only a relatively few Negroes
who have boycotted the buses
for nearly five months patron
lied them during the morning
because word of the bus COM
pany's new policy didn't become
known until late last night.
Some of the drivers were un-
aware of it until they reported
for work today.
A spokesman for the COM
pany, R. c. Mills. assistant man.
ager. said "everything's working
out fine. We don't expect any
trouble"
Mr.. Mills said the company
will continue to provide separate
school buses for white and Ne
gro children because the routing
of the buses to white and Negro
schools automatically segre-
gates them"
The school buses operate in
the morning and afternoon on
special routes. hauling only
school children.
Hopes for End of Protest
Meanwhile. the future course
Iof the boycott was undeter-
mined, but the Rev. Martin
Luther King. jr., one of the lead
ers. expressed hope that the end
of segregation would terminate
the long protest.
Mr.. King said the decision will
be left to the Montgomery I'm
provement Association, an Or
ganization formed to support the
boycott. The executive board
was called to meet this after
noon, with a Negro mass meet
ing perhaps to follow.
The Negro Baptist minister
who was convicted of violating
Alabama's anti-boycott law for
his part in the bus protest. said
ne didn't believe news of the end
OF segregation had spread enough
See BUS, Page AS.