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75 ARE GALLED IN LYNCHING CASE
Summonses For Witnesses Are Expected To Be Issued Tomorrow
LANE TO HELP BAILEY
Wicomico County Grand Jury To
Begin Its Investigation At
Salisbury
More than seventy-five witnesses will be summoned before the Wicomico county grand jury in the investigation of the lynching at Salisbury last December, according to a list prepared by Levin C. Bailey, State's Attorney. The jury convenes tomorrow.
Mr. Bailey yesterday conferred with W. Preston Lane, Jr., Attorney-General, at the latter's offices in Baltimore. The summonses are expected to be issued tomorrow after the grand jury has been selected. Mr. Lane said he probably would go to Salisbury Tuesday to give Mr. Bailey any assistance the State's Attorney might require.
Lane Active In Investigation
The Attorney-General has been active in the investigation of the lynching since December 5, when Governor Ritchie instructed him to use all the facilities of his office to identify and prosecute the lynchers of Matthew Williams, Negro murderer.
Believing himself underpaid, Williams fatally wounded Daniel J. Elliott, Salisbury lumber dealer, December 4, as his employer sat in his office talking to a business acquaintance on the telephone. The Negro then shot himself in the chest. He was wounded again when a shot fired by Daniel J. Elliott, Jr., grazed his head as he staggered toward the lumber yard.
Early that night six men entered the Peninsula General Hospital, where Williams was under treatment, and forced the Negro to accompany them to the street. Two policemen were stationed at the front door when the mob delegates entered by a side door.
Williams was taken to the courthouse green and hanged there from a tree. Mr. Elliott's murder was the third crime within a few weeks in which Negroes were charged with wronging whites.
Cooperates With Bailey Mr. Lane has cooperated with Mr. Bailey in questioning eyewitnesses and in assembling information which will be placed at the disposal of the grand jury. Shortly after the lynching a coroner's jury was impaneled by Magistrate S. King White, but after viewing the body adjourned, subject to the call of Sheriff G. Murray Phillips.
Baltimore detectives also went to the Eastern Shore and conducted an investigation. While Mr. Lane has remained silent as to the results of the various investigations, he has made at least two trips to the Eastern Shore and has been in frequent communication with Mr. Bailey.
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