The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??, 1957-02-21

Shortly after midnight on JAM IL, Sumter
County Sheriff Fred Chappell telephoned Koin-
onia Farm that another explosion had taken place
at our Roadside Market Harry Atkinson and Cla-
renee Jordan quickly went to the scene terrific
charge of dynamite had been planted inside the
building and the explosion blew the whole struct
ure to bits pieces of it going far as $40 feet.
Fragments showered the highway and surrounding
property. Fire burned what was left OF the build
ing equipment and goods. When Harry and Cla-
| renee arrived the grass around the building was
burning and was about to set fire to beehive
Although there were gathered there about 40 white
people, including officers and state patrolmen,
one attempted to stop the grass fire. There
no word of greeting, A Georgia Bureau of hives
tigation agent asked, what was the size of the
building?" We replied that it was 20 #. by 80 #
He then asked what we thought was the value of
the building, fixtures and merchandise We guess
ed it between $4,000 and $1,000. This was the extent
of the Interrogation. t
There had been three previous attacks upon
the Market, In June "A pistol was fired into it.
doing little damage. On July % charge Of dyna-
mite placed outside the building wrecked the front
part and destroyed much equipment. The damage
was estimated at $4,000. The third attack Novem-
Der q, consisted of several rounds of buckshot
which destroyed a refrigerated meat case valued
| at $500. AS previously reported, the Market is
miles from the main farm. No one lives on the
property.
We have decided, at least for the time being
not to clean up the wreckage but to leave it be
side the highway mute testimony to passers-
by of the fruits of hate and prejudice It is fairly
certain that, due to its distance from the main
farm, we will not rebuild the Market in the same
location within the foreseeable future
We shall, however, continue to carry on the
nail order huSineeS from here best we can
entire supply of about 125 smoked hams and large
quantities of bacon, sausage tongue, etc.
lost. Quite number of orders had been packaged
and were to be mailed the following morning. We
lost all of refrigeration and cold storage equip
ment, as well processing equipment and sup
plies for curing meat Over 100 lbs Of shelled pc
cans, large quantity of shelled peanuts honey,
popcorn syrup, eggs, and other products Went up
in the flames
The loss of the Market is serious blow not
only because of the actual loss, but because it de
prives u.s. at least temporarily from what was de-
veloping into of the major sources Of income.
Last month gross sales largely from mail
derS, amounted to $1,000 This is about what
our annual sales Through the Roadside Market
were before the mail order business began Our
manpower is limited and it is extremely difficult
to get materials. A short while ago we were mott
fled by Mr.. Willis SILVER, head of the SILVER
Lumber Company, that no building mater
ials would be sold to u.s. Mr. SILVER is steward
in the First Methodist Church Fourteen of our
buildings have been erected wholly or partially
with materials obtained from him He said that
the reason he cut us off pressure from level
headed business men" and that his own feelings
| made him receptive to the pressure.
Yesterday, Jan. II, the phone rang just before
noon and Ora Brown answered. A voice said
| Tell Clarence to be on watch tonight, and be
| careful" Before Ora could ask any questions the
party hung up. Last night we doubled our watch
but it was in vain About AM. the watchmen
saw flames from of our houses leaping into
the sky. The house located about " mile from
the cluster of community buildings and was the
main residence adjoining farm which we
purchased several years ago. Because of its dis
lance, we had not used it for living quarters 1T
was valued at about $500. Due to the fact that
the flames were far advanced when first spotted
and because we thought it might be attempt
to lure the men away from the main community
no one went to the scene until daylight The sher-
riff notified at once but he never came
About 4:30 AM. while the house was still
burning, Gil and Marguerite Butler, and Clarence
Jordan went to the house of neighbor, Jack
Singetary, who was to accompany them on pre-
viously planned business trip to Atlanta When
they arrived, they noticed small fire under his
large barn in which were stored his tractors com
bine, fertilizer, feed and seed They stopped and
Gil ran to the barn where he found three kero-
sene flares which had been tossed from the road
into the barn. Two of the flares had gone out and
one was still burning under plank which was
about to burst into flames. 1t extinguished
and the party continued on to Atlanta.
Shortly after Z AM, Mrs. Singletary saw
| smoke coming from the barn She went out to
find fourth flare which had been either over
looked or planted later. It was smoldering under
pile of lumber in the barn. She summoned help
and even though the pump and water pipes were