Arizona sun., 1962-10-18
Drugstore Owners
Refuse To Serve NEGRO

1GS taSS ~ SSt w HN~AsV
TALLADEGA, Ala. The owners
of two drugstore lunch counters
said they refused to serve Negro
students because they feared dam
age to their business and property.
Mitchell Orr told Circuit Court
Judge William C. Sullivan that it
was not the students he feared,
but mobs of angry whites. 7 h e
students are members of the So
cial Action Committee (SAC) at
Talladega College and work closely
with the Student Nonviolent Co.
ordinating Committee (SNCC) At
lanta.
The students, SNCC. and others
are under temporary injunction to
stop integration activities in Tai
ladega and the State of Alabama.
None of the white segregationists
are barred from their activities,
such as acts of violence against
students.
Testimony of Orr and his part
ner, Robert L. Slay, took up the
whole third day of a hearing to
determine whether the injunction
shall be made permanent. Testi-
mony by Louie Stone, owner of
Stone Drug Co., consumed the
fourth day.
| All confirmed statements by
Police Chief Victor Dyson, who
had described how mobS of unruly
whites almost took control of the
ltown square after sit in demon
Istrations last April.
Orr was asked why he didn't
serve the Negro students. He said
Il was trying to preserve my prop
erty and keep it from being de-
stroyed, and there was the posi-
bility of harm to the persons in
volved.''
He added: "If word got out that
we served Negroes at our lunch
counter, we would have to close
up"
He was asked: What if you and
the other druggists agreed to do
| it at the same tinne?"
I'VE would all have to close up"
Orr replied.
The druggists agreed that there
were no disorders by the demon
strators. The only disturbances
were caused by persons not con-
nected with the students.
Orr said that a large number of
out of town residents were present
during the disorders by crowds
numbering up to 500 or 600 per-
sons. These included a huge man
with arms as large as tree trunks
who came into Orr's Store.
The man told Orr he had come
to get me one,' meaning a Negro
student. This man offered to help
Orr, but the druggist told him the
best way for him to help was to
get out of his store.
Orr said he refused several re-
quests for oil of mustard and sui
furic acid by persons who wanted
to throw them on demonstrators.
One man simply asked for some
thing | cant throw on somebody
and burn EN- -
Students here and at Huntsville,
Ala.,, were later burned by oil of
mustard, apparently by persons
who obtained it elsewhere than at
Orr and Stays store.
Similar testimony was given by
Stone. Even while the trial was
going on, two young women were
denied service at his lunch counter.
Neither Stone nor the other drug
gists should admit that service was
denied to Negroes because of
their race.
Meantime, the Talladega Civic
Association urged its members and
other citizens to refuse to attend
"a segregated fair sponsored by the
Junior Chamber of Commerce.
One day during the trial, toughs
standing in front of the Court house
threatened to kill Bob Zellner, a
field secretary for SNCC, as he left
the building with Carl Braden, an
editor and field secretary for the
Southern Conference Educational
Fund (SCEF). Both men are de-
PENDANTS in the case.