Grand Jury Will Probe Deaths of two on Highway

Title
Grand Jury Will Probe Deaths of two on Highway
Source Type
Newspapers
Author
N/A
Publisher
The Andalusia Star
Publication Place
Andalusia, AL
Publication Date
August 23, 1933
Transcript
Grand or "outside and wound- were taken from ing the were taking them pend- to officers who safekeeping for on of having white woman, a Foster moved Circuit to justice the Judge Henry B. members in swiftly masked to bring band responsible for the Negroe6' A special death. Grand Foster Jury was announced ordered drawn would organize the them a and Judge investiga- that he body Tuesday, giving to the bot ting charge to "get thing." tom of this Pippen, Jr., a special distressing The "Honey" Clark, awaiting trial three Negroes, Dan 28, and 18; T. Elmore Harden 16, were Vaudine Mad- A. murder of Miss County last dox in gural and Harden's for for the Tuscaloosa bodies June. found Pippen Sunday. The Indictments search Clark trio with murder ap- were continued Monday. were charging the Negro returned the Tuscaloosa slay after the Harden Coun- peared Grand before Jury shortly after the ty ing of Mies Maddox. Sheriff recent visit of Irving and Fayette Shamblin Schwab charged and Allan of Birmingham, De- that the Taub, of New York, all rep- Frank Irwin, International Labor resting Tuscaloosa, where they the made fense, to effort to represent an when the first racial unsuccessful of the cases Pippen for trial, etirred the to was called which led him to decide feeling the Negroes to Birmingham. take decision to take the Negroes Sheriff to after a ocnference gave The Birmingham was made by with Shamblin Foster at which the latter trans- Judge sheriff a blanket order discretion." to fer Sheriff the Shamblin said that but he de- the prisoners "at his had informed that a small make been group had decided to an Tuscaloosa County jail after termined effort to get the accused Negroes some from the Saturday night, and that had time reports of this intention three further received, he instructed the Bir- been deputies to take the Negroes to mingham. Murray Pate, N. Y. the Hole- Deputies W. I. Huff handcuffed the three man and prisoners, placed them in and of a county automobile rear started seat for Birmingham by a round- about route left Tuscaloosa shortly after They Saturday. After driving sev- 10 eral p. miles m. to throw possible pursuers Bir- track" they struck the and "off mingham-Tuscaloosa the highway sped toward Bessemer Just as they crossed the Jefferson saw County automobiles stop just ahead. line, near Burksville, they com- two pletely blocking the highway. Armed with revolvers and shot band of 10 or 12 men quickly a surrounded guns, the officers' auto, and for the group demanded that spokesman the deputies turn "those Negroes over to us." Deputy Huff said he tried to remon- with the men, but that he wis ordered strate to "shut up and head for Birm- get ingham and keep going until you there.' The spokesman for the group then out of the officers' car. Without a word. ordered the three Negroes to get one the of the two cars holding the three obeyed, were shoved mem- into bers of the band and driven off. Deputy Pate turned to try to get the license numbers of the two auto- but mobiles involved in the seizure, found that the license plates had been twisted together. It was impossible to tell, he said, whether the cars bore Alabama plates or those of another state. Driving to the nearest telephone. the three officers reported loss of their prisoners to officers of Jeffer- Tuscaloosa and Bibb Counties, and son, immediate search of the sparsely settled region near by began. More than 10 hours later the bullet- ridden bodies of Pippen and Harden were found 50 yards off the Center- ville Highway, three-fourths of a mile from Woodstock, in Bibb County. Fifteen bullets had entered Pippen's body, while 13 had pierced Harden. Curous residents of the vicinity thronged to the scene before the bod ies were removed under the direction+ of Deputy Sheriff Festus Shamblin. Many bullets of varying calibers wer taken from the spot as souvenirs No shots were heard by persons liv- ing near by, however, but officers ex pressed the theory that this could be explained by the fact that the nearest house was almost half a mile from the spot and that nearby trees would deaden the noise. No trace of the band believed to have killed the Negroes was found The automobiles did not turn from the main highway into the woods at the scene of the slaying, and the throngs of spectators obliterated footprints or other possible marks of identifica- tion. The bodies of Pippen and Harden were found seven miles from the scene of their seizure. Inhabitants of that section had been roused early Sunday by officers from Tuscaloosa, Jefferson and Bibb Counties, search- ing for the Negroes or their captors As preparations went forward for the Grand Jury's investigation, Tuscaloosa County officers freely admitted that chances for indictments of members of the band which capture- the Negroes were slight unless new
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