|
d WITNESSES
STILL TO FACE LYNCHING JURY
Four More Are Added To
List Of Those Called
For Testimony
PROBE IS EXPECTED TO BE ENDED TODAY
Baltimore Detectives Are
Among Those Scheduled
Yet To Appear
By FRANK B. KENT, JR.,
Staff Correspondent of .The Sun Salisbury, Md., March 17—The grand jury investigating the lynching of Matthew Williams, Negro, today completed examination of all but six of more than 120 witnesses expected to give evidence.
Williams was hanged on the Courthouse Square uere a few hours after he killed Daniel J. Elliott, Salisbury lumber dealer, January 4, and the grand jurors are under instructions to investigate not only the lynching but the murder and the events preceding it.
Four Added To List
Among witnesses testifying today were four whose names had been added to the list originally prepared by Levin C. Bailey, State's Attorney.
Unless the jury prolongs deliberation on the information presented, its findings should be presented to Judge Joseph L. Bailey tomorrow, the State's Attorney said.
A number of witnesses listed by State's Attorney Bailey to appear before the investigating body could not be reached. Among these were Jacob Thomas Conquest and Rufus Jernigan, Negroes, who were patients in the ward of the Peninsula General Hospital when the lynchers took Williams from the building and hung him in the Courthouse yard. Conquest is dead and Jernigan has left the State, it was said. Williams was under treatment for wounds inflicted by himself and by Daniel J. Elliott, Jr., son of the murdered man.
Detectives To Appear
Among the witnesses who were scheduled to appear tomorrow were Graydon L. Ware and Walter Martin, Ba'timore detectives, who investigated the case at the request of W. Preston Lane, Jr., Attorney-General. Mr. Lane has been instructed by Governor Ritchie to bring all the facilities of his office into play in an endeavor to assist Wicomico county authorities.
Both the Attorney-General and G. C. A. Anderson, Assistant Attorney-General, have been in the grand jury room since that body formally began its investigation Tuesday.
Other witnesses yet to testify are Dr. Arthur D. Brown, Dr. Creston Collins, Marion Hayman, of Princess Anne, and Virgil Harmon.
Additional witnesses summoned before the jury and examined today were S. O. Furniss, of the Salisbury police; Bill Davis, of Fruitland; Bill Davis, of Salisbury, and William Parker, Negro, of Salisbury.
"Outside" Influences Probed
While rumors persisted here that members of a Communist organization held a meeting in the vicinity of Salisbury shortly before the shooting of Mr. Elliott, there has been no indication that the jury has found facts to substantiate them.
In his charge to the body on Monday, Judge Bailey urged that not only the murder and lynching be investigated, but that inquiry be made into developments leading up to these incidents, and referred to the activities of "outside organizations."
|
