Arkansas State Press

Judge
Uses "Fear of Race
Violence
to Stall-Off
A Desegregation Order

Fear of racial violence caused
Federal Judge Lamar Cecil of
Beaumont, Texas presiding in federal
court at Jefferson, Texas to
refuse to grant a temporary order
desegregating the Marshall,
Texas public swimming pool in
a preliminary hearing on a suit
brought by Negro veteran Titus
Edwards.

Following opinions by Marshall
city officials expressing fear of
racial violence if the pool was
integrated, Judge Cecil refused
the temporary injunction sought
by Edwards, but told Edwards'
attorneys that they had a good
chance to win when the case is
heard on its merits in a hearing
set for 10 a.m., Nov. 4, in Jefferson.

Edwards, a Korean veteran and
a graduate of Wiley College, in
his class action suit filed by
Attys. W. J. Durham and U.
Simpson Tate, both of Dallas,
claims he was denied admittance
to the public pool on June 4,
1957, and seeks a permanent injunction
against the practice of
operating the pool on a segregated
basis.

Indications of the course the
city will take was inferred when
Marshall city commissioner Frank
C. Green, jr., testified he would
not want to be responsible for
that which might happen if the
pool is integrated, and said he felt the
city's only course would be to
close the pool if integration is
ordered.