DEATH DEMANDED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 925, 21 November 1933, Page 1

DEATH DEMANDED.

Negroes’ Alleged Assault on White Girls. United Press Assn. —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. NEW YORK, November 19. A message from Decatour (Alabama) states that the third trial of seven negro youths charged with a criminal assault upon two white girls starts tomorrow under unusual tension. The case has become one, not only of national, but of international interest, threatening to rival that of Sacco and Vanzetti. The youths have twice been convicted and sentenced to death, but the Communist-supported defence has twice gained retrials, once on a Supreme Court reversal. The injection of Communism into the case has so enraged the local populace that mob revenge, not only against the negroes, but also against their New York legal representatives, is continually threatened. Many times during the litigation troops have been called out to protect them and it may be necessary to do so again. “Defence- committees” have been organised throughout the world, and have repeatedly demonstrated before American embassies and consulates. The alleged assaults took place in a railway goods car, while in transit. The negroes’ defenders claim that the girls were of immoral character and accused the negroes in order to hide their own delinquencies. However, in the minds of Alabama people, their system of justice is on trial against “alien” influences, and they are demanding convictions and death sentences.