Atlanta Daily World

Trolley Shooting Was Self-Defense--Harp

"It all started because Percy didn't want to get a whipping from his father, but as it turned out we both got a beating anyway and we both might die because we defended ourselves."

That statement marked the beginning of a discourse given Friday by Morris Lee Harp, 17, who is one of two teenage boys recently convicted for slaying an Atlanta Transit System trolley operator.

Harp shuddered and trembled nervously as he recalled the incidents that led to his arrest and conviction, though it was not determined whether he shook from fright or if his unsteadiness was due to worry and agony.

Young Harp said he and Percy Wilson, 18, started out that Valentine night to return a gun "that Percy had stolen from his father's trunk to protect himself from bullies in his new neighborhood on Boulevard, N. E."

Harp said that date was chosen to return the gun because Wilson's father would be going in the trunk to store money following an approaching pay day, and that the father would surely miss the gun unless it had been returned immediately. He continued:

FATHER AT HOME

"We walked to within a block of Percy's home and then I walked to the front of his house and spotted his daddy's car," Harp said. "I told Percy his dad was..."

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Trolley Shooting
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home and then he decided not to return the gun right then because he was afraid his dad would beat him if he was caught with the weapon.

"We walked for a while and ended up on English Ave. sitting on the porch of a school to get out of the rain, then I saw my trolley and we decided to take the bus home to our new Boulevard, N. E., address. My wife, Wilson and I had moved there about a week before.

"Maybe we should have walked, now that I think about it, but we knocked on the closed trolley door and were admitted by the operator who had been sitting half way back in the trolley reading a paper."

"We got on the bus. I put forty cents in the coin box and we started to our seats, when the operator, who we now know as Mr. Lewis (Elmer Randall Lewis), demanded that Percy put in 20 cents fare.

"I explained that I had paid fare for both of us but the operator insisted that Percy drop 20 cents more in the box. A scuffle ensued and then I stepped from the trolley by the front door and called back inside for Percy to come out.

"I looked back inside and saw Percy heading towards the door, apparently attempting to leave, and then I saw Mr. Lewis whip out a pistol from his belt and fire at Percy. Percy was hit.

"Percy staggered out the front door, reached for the pistol he had and then fired backwards blindly without even looking to see where he fired. He was hurt too bad to take an aim.

"We were arrested February 27 by Atlanta police and we decided it would be best for our health if we signed a confession admitting that we attempted to rob the trolley operator. But we didn't try to rob him and the shooting was merely in self-defense because we both believed Mr. Lewis was trying to kill us. He even continued to fire as we ran from the scene.

"I don't think we had a fair trial, and so many people took the witness stand and lied on us it is a terrible shame. I understand that a motion for a new trial has been set to be heard on May 7. I hope the new trial is granted. My lawyer said if we are granted a new trial, we will be tried separately this time, rather than together as we were before. I'm not guilty and I still have hope. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Tell my wife hello and talk to my mother for me. Tell them I'll be alright. I believe that somebody up there likes me" (looking skyward).

The interview with a condemned man was over. He offered to shake hands but a wire screen between the reporter and the prisoner prevented any such courtesies. He finally stopped trembling, observed the sun outside and said, "It's a nice day today, isn't it. I wish it had been this way last Valentine Day. We wouldn't have thought about riding a bus."