Monroe – A band of armed men ambushed a white farmer and four Negroes on a secluded road 10 miles from here late Thursday, and while holding the white man at gunpoint shot the Negroes to death, Sheriff E. S. Gordon reported Friday.
One of the Negroes, Rogers Malcolm, 27, had just been released from jail under $600 bond on charges of stabbing his employer, Barney Hester, a farmer, Sheriff Gordon said.
He identified the other Negroes as Malcolm’s wife, Dorothy, and George Dorsey and his wife, May.
(Other sources of information gave the Malcolm woman’s name as Middie Kate, age 20, and the Dorsey woman as Mary, age about 30)
The Negroes, riding in an automobile with J. Loy Harrison, a prominent Oconee County farmer, were in route from Monroe to Harrison’s farm in the adjoining county when they were waylaid at a bridge over the Apalachee River, the sheriff said.
No Identification
Harrison, at a coroner’s inquest Thursday night, the sheriff said, testified that he could not identify any member of the band which waylaid him. The jury returned a verdict of death at the hands unknown parties.
In Washington Friday, Attorney General Tom Clark’s office announced that he has ordered a “complete investigation” into the slayings. The announcement said without further elaboration that the inquiry would be carried out by the civil rights section of the Department of Justice.
The killing took place at Moore’s Ford Bridge, a wooden structure spanning the Apalachee and approximately 50 feet inside Walton County
One source identified Dorsey as the brother of Malcolm’s wife. Other sources said the women were sisters. Dorsey and his wife were employees of Mr. Harrison.
Coroner Tom Brown, of Walton County impaneled a six-man jury and held an inquest at the scene Thursday night. Deputy Sheriff C. J. Sorrells, and L. W. Howard attended the inquest but the sheriff did not.
Only Witness
Harrison was the only witness to testify. Deputy Sheriff Sorrells quoted him as saying he had come to Monroe about 2 p.m. Thursday, to furnish bond for Malcolm but that Malcolm was not released until 5:10 Thursday afternoon.
Harris was accompanied to Monroe by the Dorsey couple and Malcolm’s wife. The Negroes spent the time from 2 p m. until 5 p. m. shopping, and Harrison had his car repaired.
Harrison came by the jail and picked up Malcolm and was going to his home in Oconee County.
When he reached Moore’s Ford Bridge, he found his passage blocked by an automobile placed across the road. As he stopped, another car was driven in behind him.
A man who apparently had assumed the role of leader, walked up to the automobile and said: “We want Charlie.”
Harrison answered. “That’s not Charlie. That’s George.” Where upon, another member of the group put a gun to Harrison’s neck and the’ leader said: “This is our party: you keep out of it. We ought to kill you, too.”
Didn’t See Shooting
Harrison was forced to move a short distance away from the automobile, and the two Negro men were forced out and loosely bound together with ropes. As the mob marched them a short distance from the automobile, Malcolm’s wife, according to Harrison recognized one or the member and exclaimed. Mr. —” Harrison did not remember the name.
He said the leader immediately stopped and ordered, “Get those damned women, too”
Harrison told the jury he did not actually see the Negroes shot, because members of the mob blocked his view.
Immediately after the shooting, Harrison was released. He was uninjured and retraced his route toward Monroe. He called the sheriff when he reached a telephone.
When Sheriff Gordon and his deputies arrived at the scene, they said they found the two men were still entangled in the ropes and the bodies of their wives were lying nearby.
Hester Recovering
All had been shot an undetermined number of times with shotguns, rifles and pistols. Only 50 minutes elapsed from the time Malcolm was released until the killing.
Barney Hester, whom Malcolm was originally charged with stabbing beneath the heart, is about 22 years and lives in the Blasingame district, seven miles southeast of Monroe. He is still in the hospital and is recovering.
Malcolm had work for Hester before the stabbing.
The sheriff quoted Harrison as saying none of the men wore a mask.
The nearest house to the scene of the slayings was about a half mile away, the sheriff said.
Sheriff Gordon said that without identification of any member of the armed band, he had gone
as far as he could with his investigation. He said he had called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation a division of the state police, and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had called him.
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