Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1960-04-23

former sports broadcaster known
as "Bull" because of the timber
Of his voice. He served as Bir-
mingham police commissioner for
sixteen years in the late Nineties.
His administration was stormy
one.
+; He went into eclipse for sew
eral years but made a comeback
in 1868, running on a platform of
race hate.
"Bull is the law in Birmingham,
like it or not" business man
said.
/ Mr.. Conner is the author Of
many widely quoted aphorisms. He
once said:
damn the law-down here we
make our own law"
On another occasion he de-
clared:
"White and Negro are not to
segregate together"
"Only legitimate hold-ups will
be investigated" he announced
after evidence had been uncovered
that some Birmingham robberies
were inside jobs
Mr.. Shuttlesworth has been a
frequent target of Mr.. Connor's
men. He has three cases on ap-
peal. His church has been bombed
twice. In one bombing his home
was destroyed. Both he and his
wife were injured and a white
pastor was badly manhandled by a
Birmingham mob when the three
Of them sought to use the white
waiting room of the local bus
depot.
A test of the forces symbolized
by Mr.. Connor is now in the max
ing-a product of the seismic Bir-
mingham reaction to the Negro
student sit-ins.
Centers On Student
It centers on young Reeves. He
is a slight youngster weighing
about 1877 pounds and standing
five feet eight inches. He wears
horn-rimmed glasses, suffers from
asthma and is noticeably shy and
| diffident.
He has been charged by the
police with "intimidating a wit
ness" The witness presumably
/! was one of the ten Negro students
arrested for sit-ins.
The parents of young Reeves
have received threats Of death
The youth have been restricted to
the campus of Birmingham-South-
ern, technically on administrative
probation. Actually, the step is
for his physical protection.
A cross was burned on the Bir-
mingham-Southern campus, pos
sibly because Of the Reeves case
possibly because ninety-seven Bir-
mingham-Southern students had
signed a petition to Gov. John
Patterson protesting his action in
forcing Alabama College to expel
Negro sit-in demonstrators. The
petition did not protest segrega-
ton. It protested political inter
ference with the academic process
DR.. Henry King Stanford, pres
ident of Birmingham Southern,
has been subjected to extraordi-
nary pressures. But he has not
buckled under. He supported the
right of his students to send their
petition to Governor Patterson or
the ground of academic freedom
When he was confronted with
threats and demands that young
Reeves be expelled he again stood
his ground. He declined to pre-
Judge the case.
The Price OF Courage
In Birmingham this kind II
courage does not come cheaply
DR.. Stanford has been told thai
the colleges position in the Reeves
case will cost it minimum Of 81 i,
100000. This is the amount that
the college had hoped to raise il
a drive for badly needed building
funds this year.
But as one Birmingham either
said: "You weight the situation
You take the counsels of caution
You listen to the voices which sa!
dent rock the boat. But final!
the time comes when man has t.
stand up and be counted"
If fear and terror are common
in the streets of Birmingham, thu
atmosphere in Bessemer, the ad
jacent steel suburb is even worse
On the night the Birmingham
police arrested Mr.. Shuttleswortl
band of floggers went to worl
in Bessemer.
The victim was a white woman
Barbara Espy, 10 years old, a for
mer WAC. She was seized by fou
or five men, dragged into a car
beaten until she signed a comics
sion that she had been dating
Negroes.
She has since sworn out war
rants charging that she was alb
Quoted and beaten by sheriff.
deputy, an alderman and three
other persons.
The sheriff repeatedly refused
to entertain charges against hi:
deputy. The Federal Bureau O.
Investigation has been asked t.
lock into the case for possible VIC
lations CT civil rights.
One of the students who partici
pated in the prayer for free
dom" lived in Bessemer. An eve
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