Salt Lake Telegram | 1943-04-24 | Page 3 | Jury Acquits Three of Lynch Charge

I Jury Acquits Three of Lynch Charge HATTIESBURG Miss April 24 UP A UP-A A federal jury Saturday returned returned returned re re- re- re turned a verdict of not guilty against three white men on trial in connection with a lynching of ofa a convicted Negro murderer near Laurel Miss last fall The verdict was 15 minutes after Federal Judge Sidney Sidney Sidney Sid Sid- ney B. B Mize opened court Jury members said they decided upon the defendants' defendants fate Friday night after the Jury was locked in Congratulate Jurors As soon as the verdict was ann ann anno an- an n no o 0 u n fl nee c e d d. d spectators swarmed around the jury box congratulating ing ng and shaking hands with mem mem- bers Nearly three fourths of the spectators were from Laurel Miss where Howard Wash a convicted Negro murderer was lynched last October 16 The jury composed mainly of sawmill workers and Mississippi farmers was faced with Judging an unprecedented case ase The theories theories the the- ories cries of law involved never have been tested by the U. U S. S supreme court The case Involved the anti- anti lynching bill which evoked a congressional congressional congressional con con- gressional storm before it was de- de On trial were Luther Holder deputy sheriff and Jones county jailer Allen Pryor Pryo and Barney Jones all well-known well citizens of Laurel Miss From rem Railroad Bridge eThe ft e The men were charged with depriving depriving depriving de de- de- de the Negro of hi his life without without without with with- out dU due process of the law Holder also ao was charged with not affording affording af- af fording the protection which was his hi duty as a law enforcement of of- Wash was taken from his cell in n the county jail by a mob of 73 75 to men and tied up from froma I a railroad bridge on th the outskirts of Laurel near Laurel near the spot where he admitted killing his white employer employer employer em em- Clint Welborn Wash had received art an automatic sentence of life imprisonment when the jury failed to agree upon his punishment