MlWederal^
JURY PLEA
OCALA A mixed federal grand
Jury Tuesday denied that the civil
ot the three Qroveland
youths convicted of rdpe had been
violated.
The jury of 1# White men and
three Negroes emphasized its find
ing with praise for Lake County
Sheriff W. V. McCall for saving
Walter Lee Injin, Charles L Qreen
lee and Samuel Shepherd “from
great violence at the hands of an
infuriated citizenry.”
Just 24 hours after the jury con
vened Monday it completed its
probe. Its report submitted by Fore
man Jesse C. Lanier, the grand
Jury said all evidence and related
circumstances of “the alleged beat
ing” of Irvin, Greenlee and Shep
herd were carefully considered.
“We find and report no true bill”
it declared and added the opinion
that Sheriff McCall deserved the
highest praise for protecting and
laving the Negroes.
Irvin and Shepherd were sentenc
ed to death and Greenlee to life im
prisonment for the rape of a young
farm wife in Lake County last July.
The death sentences are under ap
peal.
Mob violence cdlowed the rape.
For several days armed* bands rode
through Negro areas firing wildly
and burning some houses. No casu
alties were reported, most Negroes
having moved out.
Teachers State Meet Big Success
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Guest speakers and officers of the
Florida State Teachers’ Association.
Reading left to right are: Mr. Chas.
L. Williams, host principal, Booker
T. Washington High School, Miami,
Fla.; Dr. L. Manley, State Super
visor of Negro Schools, North Caro
lina; Dr. Harold Alberty, Director
of Education, Ohio State University;
1 - HJT jwj wJ
1 SHB S
VOL. XXV, NO. 33
PRICE TEN CENTS
Second Probe On Housing Need Voted
LIBERTY CITY
MARKET FOUND
CHEATING
A butcher and the owner of the
shop in which he worked were
found guilty last Friday by City
Judge Cecil C. Curry of giving short
weight on hams.
The butcher, James Jesse Agee,
was given a 15-day suspended sen
tence and the shop owner Raleigh
L. Saxon, was fined SSO and costs.
The shop is located at 1342 NW 62nd
st.
%
City Weights and Measures In
spector John C. Mays said that the
tore advertised hams at 30 cents a
pound, but that four hams in the
Mr. B. M. Hindman, Assistant Sup
ervisor of Instruction, Dade County
Board of Public Instruction; Dr.
Gilbert L. Porter, President of
FSTA; President R. V. Moore, Be
thune Cookman College; Dr. W. H.
Brown, Georgia State College, Sa
vannah, Ga., Dr. W. Gore, Presi
dent of Fla. A. and M. College, Tal
MIAMI, FLORIDA, SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1950
The Times Are Changed And We Are Changed With Them
BANDITS ROB
GROCERY
Three bandits held the two pro
prietors of the Radoff Grocery, 401
NW 12th st., at gunpoint early
Monday while they rifled the cash
register of $l5O.
They forced Abe Radoff to lie
face down on the floor, they hit L.
Kaufman over the head with a
broken beer bottle and fired three
shots into the wall to emphasize
that they meant business.
shop that had been wrapped and
priced, weighed out at 45 to 47 a
pound.
The butcher said that he had
weighed and priced the meat.
lahassee, Fla.; Mrs. Ireta M. Cros
by, sth District President and Con
vention Chairman of FSTA, Miami.
Rev. W. F. Ball, pastor of Greater
Bethel AME Church, Miami; Mr.
Samuel O. Cohen, President of Dade
County Teachers’ Association, and
newly elected president of FSTA.
MIAMI TEACHERS
ATTEND ACEI
Mrs. Frances Jollivette. Mrs.
Madge Portier, Mrs. Anzelina Pink
ney and Mr. Claudius Jones spent
last week in Ashville, X. C. attend
ing the Association for Childhood
Education International. They re
port a very interesting conference.
Declamation Contest
April 27
The annual Declamation Contest
sponsored by the Miami Intermedi
ate Teachers Association will be
held at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27
at Booker T. Washington Auditor
ium. This event will feature one
speaker from each of the elementary
schools of the county vieing with
each other in an oratorical battle
TEACHERS HEAR
PROMINENT
SPEAKERS
April 13. 14 and 15 found teachers
ill over the state of Florida head
ne for majestic Miami, scene of the
*7th annual Florida State Teachers
Convention. They came By car, by
train, by bus and by plane some
3.000 strong, and found that Dade
County teachers, 400 in number -
had sufficiently prepared for their
coming months in advance. There
was nothing lacking, expressed dele
gates. to this annual meeting, as
they affirmed that hospitality, hous
ing, entertainment, convention pro
gram and general preparation was
perfect. A day before the official
opening of the meeting, one could
see here and there evidences of a
magnanimous program, as early ar
rivals poured into our fair city. !%•
convention theme, “Making Democ
racy Work in the Schools of Florida”
was well carried out'.
Noontime, Thursday, April 11,
found the executive committee of
the Florida State Teachers Associa
tion at convention headquarter**
Booker T. Washington High School
holding its first business session In
the executive room. President Gil
bert Porter of Lincoln High School,
Tallahassee, presided, ably assisted
by Mr. S. W. Curtis, executive sec
tor: tinned on page 4)
SIXTEEN PAGES
Another investigation on the need
for public housing and slum clear
ance was voted by the Miami City
Commission on Wednesday.
By a 3-2 margin, the commission
turned down a resolution identical
to one passed by the county com
mission Tuesday acknowledging that
the city's slum clearance committee
health, welfare and building depart
ments already have determined the
need.
Aligned on the majority each time
were Mayor William M. Wolfarth.
Commissioners Louie Bandel and
William W. Charles. They have vot
ed consistently against the federal
aid program for slum clearance.
Commissioners Robert L. Floyd
and Perrine Palmer, jr., voted each
time in the minority.
HELD UNDER
$50,000 BOND
FOR SHOOTING
Singleton Madison, 31, of 1135 NW
First ct., is being held under $50,000
bond for the fatal shooting of John
McQuay, 22, early Saturday morn
ing.
First degree murder charges were
filed Saturday and the bond was
set Wednesday after a hearing in
Peace Justice Thomas Ferguson's
court. *
The shooting occured as McQuay
sat in Willie Covington’s automobile
at NW 20th st. and 4th ct.
Court Rules Loyalty Board Quizzes OK
Negro Vet Has White
Pallbearers And
Honor Guards
A Negro veteran of World War I
was laid to rest in Miami City Ceme
tery, Thursday, after a
military ffuneral, attended by White
pallbearers and a Guard of Honor,
composed of White personnel.
Grover Cleveland Jenkins, 59, a
resident of Miami for more than 25
years, died suddenly Sunday from a
heart attack.
Jenkins was employed as a cook
by Mr. and Mrs. Brewer Petty of 59
NE 53rd street, during the entire
time he was in Miami. He lived with
his employers and had no known
relatives in this Tity. A native of
Richmond, Virginia. Jenkins served
overseas with the Aripy during the
Ats y Thomas Named Judge
Gets Commission’*
Unanimous Vote
Miami became the first city in the
South Wednesday to have a Negro
judge.
I The appointment of Atty. L. E. ;
Thomas was unanimously made by
! the city commissioners.
I Judge Thomas will preside over
. the new municipal court being com
pleted at NW Uth st. and sth ave.
1 this month. The court will be mann
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mW " M
3 YOUTHS DRAW
3 YEARS EACH
Three youths who admitted In
Criminal court Tuesday that they
had staged a totalof 13 burglaries
were given 3-year terms in state pri
son by Judge Ben C. Willard. Phln
nie C. Marshall. 17, was charged
with six burglaries. William E. Orlf- |
fin, 17. with four, and John Baker,
IS. with three. All involved small
amounts of loot.
first World War. and was honorably
discharged.
Funeral services, under ths di
rection of the Newbold Funeral
Home, were held Thursday at 3 p.m.
with the Rev. Edward T. Graham,
pastor of Mt. Zion Church officiat
ing Mrs. Leila R. Williams was pi
anist.
♦ d entirely by Negroes and the pre
cinct will be permanent headquar
ters for Miami's 36-mun colored po
lice force.
Thomas' appointment marks the
first Negro judge in the south since
the Reconstruction period.
His Judicial powers will be con
fined solely to cases of Negroes ar
rested by members of the colored
police force.
Thomas was nominated by Com
missioner Robert L. Floyd.
Thomas was born January 28, 1898
L\WTON E. THOMAS
WASHINGTON The United
States Court of Appeals Monday re
-1 affirmed Its ruling that government
SIDEWALK
PAVING DUE
SOON
Mayor William M. Wolfarth got
Informal approval Wednesday at a
meeting of the Miami City Commit*
sion of a plan to set up the next
sidewalk paving district' in the down
town colored area.
Extensive side-walk paving has
boon done in the southwest and
northwest sections but all In White
neighborhoods.
The commission also approved a
s.'>.ooo appropriation to pay for the
concentrated trash removal drive in
our district.
at Ocala. Fla. Parents —Hattie E.
Butler Thomas and Robert J. Thom
as, the oldest of 7 sons. His mother
was one of 10 children of Ida and
Enoch Butler who came from South
Carolina, established the farming
community of BuUerville, 10
west of Ocala; his father was one
of seven children of Robert and
Lydia Thomas, who came from
South Carolina and down Silver
Springs River to the village of Ocala
shortly after the Civil War. The
father and four sons were all master
mechanics and Robert J. Thomas,
Jr., constructed hundreds of phos
phate mines throughout Polk, Cit
rus. Hillsborough, Alachua and
Marion Counties. Several of the
business buildings on the courthouse
squ are of Ocala were erected
by Attorney Thomas' f a t h er.
torney Thomas attended the public
school of oeala. was graduated
Bachelor of Science from Florida A.
and M. College, class of 1919; Bache
elor of Laws University of Michi
gan class of 1923. admitted to prac
tice Michigan 1926. practicing in De
troit until March 1926; associated
with the offices of McGill and McGill
Jacksonville. Florida 1929-1934 prac
ticed in Miami. Florida since Octo-.
ber. 1935.
Continued on page 13
‘BOJANGLES’
ALMOST BROKE
AT DEATH
NEW YORK—Bill "Bojangles”
Rbbtnson, who earned $2,000,000 dur
ng his tap-dancing career, left an
estate of 18.150.
The figure wrus disclosed in let
ters of administration issued Satur
day to Robinson's widow.
During his lifetime, the dancing
star of Broadway and
gave heavily to charity. He died last
November 25 at 71.
Funeral, probate and other ex
penses must come out of his small
estate. The widow gets what's left.
If any.
loyalty board procedures arc consti
tutional.
At the same time. In a 2-1 deci
sion. It rejected claims by 26 Post
Office Department employes that
they were victims of racial and re
ligious discrimination and of de
cisions based "solely'' on guilt-by
assoclatlon. The group includes 18
Negroes and eight Jews, from
Cleveland. Philadelphia. Detroit,
New York City and Plainfield. N.J.
The 26 brought a civil suit in dis
trict court here after receiving loy
alty board "notices of proposed re
moval action.” The notices said the
board had found reasonable grounds
for belief that they wsre disloyal
to the United States.
They were in various stages of
the investigative procedure when
they sued. Some had had hearings,
some had been suspended, and some
had. not reached either stage.