|
14, 1951
iditor,
Brooklyn Dally Eagle, Brooklyn, H. Y.
Dear Mr. Editor:
On account of absence from Maryland the editorial in your issue of Tuesday, December 8th, entitled "Mr .Ritchie and the Kegroes" was not tailed to say attention in time for me to write yon in regard to it until today. Perhaps it ia too late now for the statements contained in this editorial to he corrected, hut they are so completely contrary to the facts that at least I can inform you of them so that you may know the injustice which you hare unintentionally dome*
Your editorial rests on the assertion that I had refused pmefcec-tion to a certain lawyer tiio was attorney for a legro accused of murder, and that this refusal has been followed by a lynching. The facts are that as soon as I heard that the lawyer in question had been molested I got in immediate eoBtaunioation with the Judge and the state's Attorney of the Circuit, who, in their turn, conferred with the Mayor and the Chief of Police of the town, and informed me that the local authorities were able to handle any situation of the aaae kind which might recur, and that they would let me know in the event that any assistance from me would be needed. 1 accented these assurances from the local authorities. As a matter of fact the attorney did net go back to the county so that there was no repetition of the trouble.
So far as subsequent developments in this particular case and in the subsequent lynching ease are concerned, your editorial was ao com* pletely in error that the Baltimore Sun, on December 11th, published an editorial in reply to it, end outlining tile steps I had actually taken in regard to both cases. I enclose you a copy ot this editorial, and also a copy of my statement issued on December 5th, and referred to in tfie editorial of tile Baltimore sun.
It would net be appropriate at this stage for me to go into greater detail beyond saying that as a result of investigations made under my direction, the Attorney General of the state, also under my direction, is at present in Salisbury performing the dutiee which the situation calls for.
What r°^ evidently did was to assume the correctness of the stmte* made In a telegram sent me on December 5th by the National Association for thoAftdvanoement of Colored People. This Association obviously had not
|
