Johnson Declares War On K.K.K.
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)
NEW YORK, March 28.
The Ku Klux Klan has rallied behind four of its Alabama members accused of killing a civil rights worker, Mrs Viola Liuzzo. Their lawyer, Mr M. Murphy, admitting he was a Klan member, said the F. 8.1. charges were “trumped up,” and that he expected to have his clients exonerated. In Washington, senior Justice Department officials met to prepare legislation to curb the Klan.
The four men arrested are Eugene Thomas, aged 4.3; William Easton, aged 41; Gary Rowe, aged 31; and Collie Wilkins, aged 21.
They were arrested by F.B.L agents and charged with violating Mrs Liuzzo’s civil rights, a Federal offence. (Murder is not a Federal offence). Mrs Liuzzo, a 39-year-old housewife and mother of five children, was shot dead from a passing car on a lonely road between Selma and Montgomery on Friday. President Johnson in a televised announcement told of the arrests. In a bitter attack on the Klan he called for legislation against “this hooded society of bigots” and “hoodlums.” Three of the arrested men appeared in court and were freed on bail of 50,000 dollars each.
They were released into the custody of the Klan’s Imperial Grand Wizard, Robert Shelton, to appear in court on April 15.
The Alabama AttorneyGeneral, Mr R. Flowers, said: “We will ask for the maximum penalty if we get the evidence.
“There will be no sweeping under the rug or white-wash-ing of this case.”
Alabama’s Governor, Mr George Wallace, a segregationist, called the killing an “outrageous crime.” He promised the full force of the State in bringing Mrs Liuzzo’s killers to justice.
The fourth man tn the case, Collie Wilkins, is still in custody.
He was arrested with a sawn-off shotgun in his possession.
Mr Shelton today accused President Johnson of convicting the four men without trial.
He said he believed Mrs Liuzzo was to become another martyr and another rallying point because ‘the march from Selma to Montgomery was not a success.”
He said his organisation was investigating Mrs Liuzzo in Detroit. Mr Murphy said one of the four accused had been offered 500 acres of land to “put the finger on the Klan.” Mr Shelton said his Klan “bureau of investigation” had 120 hours of tape recordings of Negro meetings in Selma, Marion and Birmingham. He showed reporters pictures of “known Communists and agitators” attending the meeting.
He said he would use the pictures as evidence in any Congressional investigation. Republicans in the House and Senate backed President Johnson’s call for tough new legislative controls over the Klan. MICHIGAN MOURNS
In Detroit, Michigan's Governor, Mr George Romney, proclaimed two days of State mourning for Mrs Liuzzo.
Mrs Liuzzo’s body was flown back to Michigan aboard a private plane owned by the Teamsters’ Union. Her husband is a minor union official. Four-man shifts of union officials kept watch at Mr Liuzzo’s home.
Their wives cooked, washed dishes, cleaned up and helped care for Mr Liuzzo’s five children. A spokesman said more than 1000 telegrams had arrived at the home and another 15,000 at union head-
quarters in Washington. Sheriff J. Clark, a central figure in Alabama’s racial strife, said there was a “remote possibility” the death of Mrs Liuzzo might not have occurred had the F. 8.1. kept local authorities advised of developments the night she was killed.
He said F. 8.1. agents had under surveillance the car from which the fatal shots allegedly were fired, but they had not bothered to advise local police officers or Army authorities.
“If they had we would have been able to watch for the car and the men,” he said. Mr Clark added: “I regret that it happened but I’ve been getting telegrams from all over the country blaming me for it. I have five children too.
“But the night this happened my wife was at home with the children where she belongs.” The F. 8.1. answered that Mr Clark’s charges were “absolutely without foundation and typical of Sheriff Clark’s weakness in handling his responsibilities.”
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