Bomb Wrecks Home Of Negro Leader

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28161, 27 December 1956, Page 7

Bomb Wrecks Home Of Negro Leader

(Rec. 8 p.m.) BIRMINGHAM (Alabama), December 26 An explosion, which the police said was caused by a dynamite bomb, shattered the home of a negro pro-integration leader late last night and at least four persons were reported injured. A city official, Mr Robert Lindbergh. said that the explosion virtually destroyed the home of the negro leader, the Rev. F. L. Shuttlesworth, in a negro neighbourhood. Several nearby homes were damaged. Mrs Shuttlesworth. his wife, and two children were hurt slightly and a man identified as Charley Robinson. 59. a visitor in the home, suffered head and knee injuries. Mr Lindbergh said that the blast shattered the windows in the wooden house, caved in the roof of the living room and wrecked the interior furnishings. Mr Shuttlesworth said he heard a great explosion, and threw his

hands in front of his face to keep away the falling debris. He said it was a miracle that they were not more seriously hurt. The family was watching television when the blast occurred. Mr Shuttlesworth said he was not bitter over the incident. He would continue to press for desegregation of Birmingham City buses. If he had been killed someone else would have taken his place. He is chairman of the Alabama Christian Movement for Christian Rights, an organisation which has demanded that Birmingham City Commissioners order bus desegregation by today or face a' threat of voluntary negro desegregation.