Arizona sun., 1962-01-04
Justice Department
Continued from Page One)

W0ntlnued from rage One)
the original of Stacks confession
duplicating the Monroe police tc
the u. S. Attorney General, he
was not even accorded the courtesy
of a letter acknowledging its re
ceipt..
/ 1t is known, however, that some
F.B.I. investigation followed. Rich
ard Griswold of Brooklyn, N. Y.
and Kenneth Shilman of Oceanside,
N. Y, the Freedom Riders who
respectively suffered and witness
ed the beating were interviewed b.
F.B.I. agents who took their de.
positions. F.B.I agents also inter-
viewed or attempted to interview
Stack. How far this interview got
is not known since Stack allegedly
had, "a fit Of insanity" at the time.
On November oath, Conrad Lynn
inquired as to the progress of the
Justice Departments investigation.
He noted that since his original
complaint and sending of the con-
fessioni on October 9Th, he had not
received any acknowledgment or
reply. He also stated that while
he had been in Monroe for court
appearance on behalf of the de-
PENDANTS falsely accused of shoot
ing a policeman in the leg, he had
heard that Howard Stack had
faxed a fit of insanity and was sent
to a mental institution by Judge
Gwyn, Superior Court, Union Coun-
ty.'.
II said faxed, and advisedly."
Lynn wrote, "since Warden Reid
told me later that it was quite
apparent that it was fake. The
purpose of this maneuver wa S
ltransparently to make it appear
that Stack, from the beginning of
his difficulty with Griswold, was
inSarie.'" I
1t was in reply to this letter that
Lynn received his first communi-
cation on the case from the At
torney Generals office. 1t was a
brief note dated November Both
from Burke Marshall, Assistant
Attorney General, Civil Rights
Division, stating that investiga-
ton ''had failed to reveal suffici-
ent evidence and that I'VE have
closed our file on this natter
Journalist William Worthy, writ
ing about this case in the Dec
ember 10th Afro American, COM
mented: observers familiar with
the genuine legal difficulties of
proving the role of police officers
in cases of brutality regarded
Stacks confession and the readi-
ness of two reputable Freedom
Riders to testify as providing the
federal government with a virtual
alright opportunity to prosecute. +"
The Committee to Aid the Mon
roe Defendants has resolved that
in the interest of bringing racial
justice to Union County it will not
only provide legal defense for the
victims of the .'kidnap' and other
trumped-up cases growing out of
| the August 9th white-supremacist
riot in Monroe, but it will also
seek out all the details of the police
inspired beating of Griswold and
the subsequent coverup in which
Stack was declared insane.
Three defendants in, Monroe face
life sentences on the "kidnap'
!charge. They are John C. Lowry,
I20. white Freedom Rider from New
York, Richard Crowder, 19, Negro,
president of the Monroe Non-Vio-
lent Action Committee, and Harold
Reape. 17-year old Negro youth
active in the MNVAC. Also indicted
are Mrs. Mae Mallory, 34-year-
old Negro mother, who is fighting
extradition from Ohio to North
Carolina, and Robert F. Williams
militant president of the Unior
County NAACP branch, who has
been granted political asylum in
Cuba, where he fled with his wife
and two children after receiving
lynch threats in Monroe, his home
town.
/ The CAMD was formed to pro-
vide legal counsel to defendants,
material assistance to the hard
pressed colored community of Mon
roe and to acquaint the public
with the facts about the Monroe sit
uation. Contributions and inqui-
ries should be addressed to CAMD,
Suite 1117, 141 Broadway. New
York 6, N. Y.