The balance of the sheriff's investigation of the St. John's Baptist Church burning included a visit to the site and interviews with the deacons of the church and civil rights workers in Valley View, a few miles away. He did not interview anyone else.53 There is no record of any investigation by the sheriff's office of the burning of the Cedar Grove Baptist Church.54

Sheriff Cauthen's hostility to civil rights workers, evidenced by the arrests of Joseph Lee Watts and George Washington, Jr., was again demonstrated in an arrest he made in connection with the December 1964 election of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) of the United States Department of Agriculture.

In this election for ASCS county committeemen, Negroes appeared on the ballot for the first time and civil rights workers engaged in a campaign to encourage Negro farmers to vote.55 Department of Agriculture policy permitted observers from civil rights organizations to be present at the polling places and to provide assistance to voters.' This was explained to local law enforcement officers, including Sheriff Cauthen, as well as to white ASCS committeemen and the white owners of the stores used as polling places."7

56

At a polling place in a grocery store, a white civil rights worker, Elayne DeLott, was an observer. Sheriff Cauthen arrived about 9:30 a.m. and ordered her to leave the store. He told her she could see everything from outside. She complied with this order. After the sheriff left, an ASCS committeeman told her she could return. About an hour later the sheriff returned and, over the objection of the ASCS committeeman, again ordered Miss DeLott to leave the store. When he returned later and again found her inside, he arrested her for "investigation." Although

no charges were brought, he required a $250 bond before releasing her.58

9 60

During the Commission hearing Sheriff Cauthen was questioned about this arrest, which appeared to interfere directly with Federal policy in the election. The sheriff testified that he had ordered Miss DeLott out of the store because she was blocking the polls and voters would have had to walk around her.59 He arrested her because her presence inside the store "was a threat to the peace and dignity of that polling place, of the city of Canton, and Madison County." Despite repeated questioning, however, the sheriff was unable to say what Miss DeLott had done to justify this conclusion. He admitted that he had not received a complaint from the store owner or any of the ASCS committeemen,1 and that Miss DeLott had not made any loud noise or otherwise created a disturbance.62 The only grounds offered by the sheriff to support his arrest for breach of the peace were that Miss DeLott had disobeyed his orders and that "she had a very decidedly strong odor that was very unpleasant.""

63

Sheriff Cauthen made no effort to conceal his commitment to white supremacy. He and his chief deputy were members of the steering committee of the local White Citizens Council, a group devoted to "the unity of the white people."" The

64

58 Madison County Report, T. 479; Jail Docket showing arrest of Miss Elayne DeLott, Madison, County, Miss., dated December 3, 1964, Exhibit No. 20 (unpublished). Sheriff Cauthen testified that he usually does not require bonds in arrests for investigation. T. 248.

50 T. 246.

60 T. 247.

1 T. 247.

62 T. 249.

63 T. 251. Incidents of violence against other civil rights observers occurred at this and other polling places on election day. No arrests were made. Madison County Report, T. 478-79. These incidents were said to have deterred Negroes from participating in the election. Testimony of Claude Moore, T. 236–38. As a result, the Department of Agriculture voided the elections in two districts in Madison County due to interferences by nonfarmers which may have affected the election results. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture press release 1059-65, dated April 2, 1965.

Madison County Herald, Feb. 27, 1964, p. 1.

sheriff testified that the Citizens Council was "invaluable" in assisting him and that he was "proud to be a member." 65

Law enforcement was also ineffectual in Canton, the county seat of Madison. During 1963 and 1964, City Police Chief Dan Thompson was unable to solve nine of the eleven reported shootings, bombings, and beatings involving civil rights workers which occurred within the city. He attributed his failure to "lack of information." He said he received "little cooperation" from the Negro community, and believed that with cooperation "we would have had a better chance to solve them." 66 Like Sheriff Cauthen, he was a member of the steering committee of the local White Citizens Council.67

The Commission examined in detail the conduct of Chief Thompson's men in their investigation of one incident—the June 8, 1964, bombing of the Freedom House in Canton.

George Washington, Sr., a leader in the Negro community and owner of the Freedom House (which he rented to civil rights workers), testified that he heard an explosion at the house on the evening of June 8. Since there did not appear to be any damage to the building, he did not report the incident to the police until the next morning." Washington described the police investigation:

[When the police arrived, they said] 'What about this
bombing last night?' I said, 'Well, something threw a
bomb up there in the Freedom House last night.'

[They said] 'Why didn't you call us?' I said, 'I didn't
think it was my responsibility to call you all because there
are people living in the house and they have a telephone
in the house and I thought it was their responsibility to
call you all.' 'It was your responsibility to call us.' They
said... 'We're going to send your so-and-so to the

65 T. 256.

86 T. 266-67.

67 Madison County Herald, Feb. 27, 1964, p. 1. See also, testimony of Rev. George

McCree, T. 207.

68 T. 217.

penitentiary.' . . I said, 'For what? Somebody
bombed my house and you are talking about sending me
to the penitentiary?' They said, 'Yes, we are going to
send you to the penitentiary and try to get you 10 years.'
[They said] 'Get in the car.' And some profane language.
I said, 'Get in the car? Do you have a warrant for me?'
'No, we don't need a warrant. Get your so-and-so in the

car.'

When I got to the station they said, 'Get your so-and-so
out.' ... I said, 'You are going to allow me to make a
phone call and get a lawyer.' He said, 'No, I ain't going
to let you talk to nobody. Get in the jailhouse.'

Just as I went into the jailhouse, I wasn't expecting any-
thing, I was struck right up over the right eye.

It only kind of staggered me. I couldn't see too well.
I had to throw my hand up over my eye and hold it be-
cause it was hurting.69

He was jailed and then brought into an interview room where he was interrogated by an officer:

[He] began to question me when I sat down, asking me
questions about the march 70 and so forth, and about me
letting those people stay in my house. . . . He heard that
I was giving them free rent, wasn't charging them any-
thing. He said I was backing the movement 100 percent,
and that I ought to leave town and go on to Washington,
D.C., somewhere where there was COFO headquarters,
there and stay.

go

69

T. 218-19. The blow caused permanent injury to Washington's eye.

T. 220.

70 On May 28, 1964, the Council of Federated Organizations attempted to conduct a "Freedom March" to the county courthouse in Canton to register to vote. Madison County Report, T. 474.

I was struck again. I was sitting up there smiling. He
said, 'Wipe that smile off your face. You act like you
ain't concerned.' He went to strike me again and I threw
my hands over there and caught part of it. He said, ‘It
just makes me sick to look at you.'

[Question] During the entire interrogation did they ask
you any questions about the bombing of the COFO
house?

MR. WASHINGTON: Yes, sir; he asked me about it.
I told him I didn't know who did it. But he told me I
did know who did it. He said, 'It wasn't nobody but
some of those COFO workers.' I told him I didn't think
they would do anything like that."1

This interrogation lasted more than three hours, after which Mr. Washington was released."2 When Washington reported the beating to Police Chief Thompson, the chief told him that he was sorry it had happened and "guaranteed that it wouldn't happen anymore." The chief's only action was to question the officer concerned, who denied the beating."

9973

The police investigation file in this case consisted of a two-page report which, according to police, was prepared from notes after the Commission subpenaed the records." The report is devoted primarily to Washington's failure to call the police about the bombing until the next morning. It reveals that, in addition to Washington, the only other person interviewed by the police was a civil rights worker living in the house. No arrests were made."

Conduct of this character by law enforcement officers has led to a deep fear and distrust of such officials among the Negroes of

75

Report of Investigation of the bombing of the Freedom House, undated, T. 268-69. Ibid. The records in other cases subpenaed by the Commission from Chief Thompson were of comparable quality.

76

"Madison County Report, T. 475.