Arkansas State Press

Naacp To Defend Groveland Trio

Raiford, Fla.—Assistant Special Counsel Franklin H. Williams of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced today, on his return from an on-the-spot investigation of violence and race rioting in the Groveland, Florida area, that the three young men charged with attacking Mrs. Willie Padgett of Groveland have retained the NAACP to handle their defense.

Retainers have been signed by Samuel Shepherd, Walter Lee Irvin, and Charles Greenlee, the prisoners; Henry Shepherd and Charlie Mae Shepherd, parents of Samuel; and Mrs. Delia Irvin, Walter's mother.

Citing evidence that has convinced him that the three youths are "entirely innocent" of the charges against them, Mr. Williams charged that all three were "brutally and inhumanly" beaten by police and civilians in the jail at Tavares before being transported to the state penitentiary at Raiford. Shepherd, 22, and Greenlee, 16, confessed orally only after being lashed with rubber hose, fists

See Naacp TO DEFEND—page 2
Naacp to Defend-
Continued from page one

and billy, but Irvin, although beaten into unconsciousness, has at no time said he had anything to do with the crime. None of them has signed a confession.

Bodies Mutilated

"Although more than two weeks have passed since the boys were arrested," Mr. Williams said, "the lash scars on their bodies and cuts on their heads made by those beatings are still clearly visible. They have severe cuts on their wrists, inflicted when they were hung with handcuffs from a pipe to coerce them into making a confession. The sole of Greenlee's left foot was cut with glass, and Shepherd has three broken teeth and possibly a fractured jaw."

The NAACP attorney further indicated that the boys had not been supplied with prison clothing and were, at the time of his interview with them, still wearing "the same dirty clothing, blood-stained from the beatings" in which they were attired when they were arrested.

No doctor has seen them and no x-ray has been taken of Shepherd's jaw.

Signed affidavits by the prisoners assert that Shepherd and Irvin, who are friends, had never seen Greenlee before being thrown into jail with him. Greenlee, who hails from Santafe, Fla., was picked up for vagrancy and later charged with the rape when Mrs. Padgett alleged that "four Negroes" had attacked her.

Growing Anti-Negro Sentiment

Testimony given in an affidavit by Samuel Shepherd pointed out that anti-Negro feeling has been growing in the country because of the apparent prosperity of some Negro families. Numerous threats have been made against Shepherd and his family, and white neighbors had allowed their cattle to roam through Shepherd's property to destroy his crops. Resentment was mounting among whites because Negroes had refused to work at harvesting crops at starvation wages.

Mr Williams indicated that rioting had subsided in the Groveland area, although scores of automobiles with out-of-county license plates are still seen in the vicinity. Clippings from the Orlando Morning Sentinel and other local papers reflect the spirit of vengeance still flaring to terrorize Negroes in the
NAACP to go All-Out in Defense

The NAACP announced that as a result of investigations by its local branches, the state conference of branches, and Mr. Williams, they are convinced that the "trumped-up rape charge," the burning of Negro property, the open participation of the Ku Klux Klan, and the continued intimidation of Negroes in the area is "all a part of one great plot to intimidate the Negroes in the community, to force them to work for little or no wages, and to stop them from being so 'uppity.'"

"For these reasons," stated Mr. Williams and NAACP Special Counsel Thurgood Marshall, "the resources of the Association will be thrown behind the defense of these boys, and at the same time we will insist upon protection of other Negroes in the area."

John P. Ellis, president of the Orlando branch of the NAACP, and Harry T. Moore, executive secretary of the Florida State Conference of NAACP branches, have announced that a mass protest meeting will be held in Orlando on Sunday, August 14.