Atlanta Daily World

Refuse To Extradite Fugitive To No. Carolina

LORAIN, Ohio (NNPA) - Freedom from a North Carolina charge of attempted rape was the Christmas present given Ila Coston, 45-year-old fugitive, last Wednesday when a municipal court judge refused to order him extradited. Smiling as he left the courtroom of Judge Malcolm Thomson, Coston said, "I want to thank everyone who has helped me. I've been offered a job at a steel mill and I'm going to make Lorain my home." He said his wife and two grown sons are still on his farm near Hendersonville, North Carolina, but will join him later.

During the fugitive's hearing before Judge Thomson, Robert L. Ratchford, executive secretary to Governor Thomas J. Herbert, recommended that Coston be not turned over to North Carolina authorities.

ATTACK CHARGED

Coston was charged with attempting to rape a 17-year old girl at his farm gate. His attorney, Paul W. Walter, convinced Ratchford in an extradition hearing in Columbus, Ohio, that there is no "attempt to rape" statute on the North Carolina statute books.

Once Coston, caught in Cleveland, was handed over to Henderson County (North Carolina) deputies by Cleveland detectives. But Walter telephoned the law office of Senator Robert A. Taft in Cincinnati, where a habeas corpus writ was obtained. Coston was returned to Cleveland and then freed by Common Pleas Judge Charles J. McNamee.

To get Coston the North Carolina authorities brought the alleged attack victim, Miss Belvie Laughter, to Cleveland to testify and identify him. But they lost out.

Coston again was arrested as a fugitive in Lorain, where he is now working.

CASE CONTINUED.

Judge McNamee continued the case early in December, saying he would let Coston go if there was no more cause shown for holding him than was presented at the earlier hearing. Ratchford, too, said he believed Governor Herbert should inform North Carolina that there seemed insufficient evidence to allow extradition.

According to Coston, he merely asked Miss Laughter if she and some of her friends would like to pick beans on his farm. Shortly after she reached town, he was warned that a mob was coming to get him. He had left the state when an indictment was drawn up.

Coston's attorney said the charge of a 17-year old girl against his client grew out of the desire of Coston's neighbors to obtain his farm on which about 1,000 fruit trees would soon start bearing.