Atlanta Daily World

Release Of Lynch Suspects Denounced By NAACP Head

NEW YORK - "The release of two suspects in the brutal lynching of Caleb Hill by a grand jury in Irwinton, Georgia, is but further evidence of the necessity of federal action to protect the rights of citizens and curb lynching and other outrages." Roy Wilkins, acting secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a telegram Saturday to Attorney General Tom Clark.

Citing the remarks attributed to the local solicitor that "most Georgia sheriffs would have shot the Negro instead of taking him to jail." In other words, the arrest of an American citizen and the employment of due process of law is an abnormal condition in this section of our country and, as a corollary, any action against those who violated the citizen's rights is unthinkable. We submit that not only the lynching, but the climate of opinion in which it took place are intolerable in our democracy and that all the present powers of the federal government as well as any new powers deemed to be necessary should be marshaled in the defense not alone of our citizens, but of the great principles and traditions of our nation."

TEXT OF WIRE

The text of Mr. Wilkins' wire to Mr. Clark follows:

The release of two suspects in the brutal lynching of Caleb Hill by grand jury in Irwinton, Georgia, June 14, is but further evidence of the necessity of federal action to protect the rights of citizens and curb lynching and other outrages.

The atmosphere in which these suspects were examined is illustrated clearly by the remarks of Solicitor C. S. Baldwin. "Most Georgia sheriffs would have shot the Negro instead of taking him to jail."

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