Arizona Sun

CLUBBED BY SHERIFF, NEGRO CLAIMS

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) - Negro attorney C. B. King said yesterday the Dougherty County sheriff struck him on the head more than once when he went to the county jail to inquire about the reported beating of another integrationist.

King, his head swathed in bandages and his shirt soaked with blood, talked with newsmen soon after a doctor closed a two-inch gash in his forehead.

"I was hit over the head with what I think was a walking stick," the attorney declared. He said Sheriff D. C. Campbell hit him when he went to the jail to see two prisoners.

The 76-year-old sheriff, who refused to talk with other newsmen, told an Albany Herald reporter that King came to his office and wanted to see some prisoners.

He said he told King three times to wait on a bench in the hallway and he could come in shortly.

"I told him then to leave the office," Campbell said. "When he didn't, I put him out of the office."

A Negro minister who accompanied King to the jail, the Rev. J. C. Harris, said Campbell broke a walking stick on King's head.

Police Chief Laurie Pritchett termed the incident "very regrettable" and said it was "exactly what we have been trying to prevent."

Shortly afterward, William Hansen, 23, a white man identified as a field secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was brought to Pritchett's office with a cut on his lower lip.

Negro spokesmen said King went to the jail to inquire about the youth's alleged beating.

Police jailed 28 more demonstrating Negroes, including 21 under 16, and Negro leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. vowed to stay behind bars in protest. He is not related to attorney C. B. King.

The 28 were arrested after praying on the sidewalk and ignoring orders by Police Chief Pritchett to disperse.

Officers waited for more than 20 minutes before moving in to break up the demonstration. When they ordered the group to move on or face arrest, only one youngster walked away.

Two ministers led the sidewalk prayers. Pritchett tried to talk to them but got no response. He placed a hand on the shoulder of one of the preachers but still was ignored.