7th-The+Scottsboro+Boys

 **The Scottsboro Boys** (Charles Weems, Haywood Patterson, Charles Norris) (Ollen Montgomery, Andy Wright, Ozzie Powell) (Eugene Williams, Willie Roberson)

Before Trial:

In 1931 ,the Depression was still on the headline of every newspaper in the country, hoboing was a common pasttime for kids. Hoboing consist of hoping on a freight train and just riding around leaving the stress of life behind for a short while. Hoboing for some was a way to get around from job to job. On March 25 many whites and blacks rode the Southern Railroad's Chattangooga to head to Memphis. On the train all together was nine black teenagers and four white teenagers. Haywood Patterson, Clarence Norris, Andy Wright, Roy Wright, Willie Roberson, Charles Weems, Ozzie Powell, Ollen Montgomery, and Eugene Williams were the nine black teenagers on the train. While the teenagers were on the train, one white teenager was walking on top of the train car and stepped on the hand of Haywood was holding on to the side. The two groups started argueing and the argueing turned into a stone-throwing fight. The black teenagers forced all the white teenagers out of the car execpt one. When the train was moving at life-threating speed, Patterson pulled Orville Gilley back onto the train. The group of white teenagers went to the station master and reported that they were assualted by a gang of blacks. The station master wired ahead so when the boys were at Paint Rock, Alabma they were met by dozens of men with guns. The boys, later called the "Scottsboro Boys", were arrested and hauled off to jail. Among the posse at Paint Rock was two white teenage girls named Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. Victoria and Ruby told the police that they were raped by a gang of twelve blacks with pistols and knives. In jail, Victoria pointed out six of the nine boys that raped her. Still all boys were held in jail tonight for the guard said, "If those six had Mrs. Victoria then the other ones had Mrs. Price,". All nine boys were arrested for rape.

During the First Round of Trials:

The trails of the Scottsboro Boys began twelve days after thier arrest. Judge A.E. Hawkins was the judge for thier case. Even before the trail began many newspapers already had negative headlines out against the boys. For example, "ALL NEGROES POSTIVILEY INDETIFIED BY GIRLS AND ONE WHITE BOY WHO WAS HELD PRISONER WITH PISTOL AND KNIVES WHILE NINE BLACKS FIENDS COMMITED REVOLTING CRIME," was just one of the headlines against the boys. The boys attornies were Stephen Roody and Milo Moody.The boys did not have the best representation. Stephen was an unprepared real estate attorney and Milo was a seventy year old man who had a case in decades. All the boys were tried together because the prosticution fear that if a single trial would have a reversible error so the boys were tried in group of threes. Six boys denied raping the girls but, the other three boys said they all raped the girls. Later the three boys said they testified against themselves in the others because of the threats and beatings they were getting. No closing arguement was presented by the defense attorney. When all the trails were done, eight out of the nine boys were given the death penalty. Roy Wright, the youngest out of all the Scottsboro Boys at age twelve was given the life sentence instead of the death penalty because of his age. The NCAAP was expected to defend the boys but did not for rape was a big crime and they did not want to defend any of the boys in case one of them was guilty. The Communist party defended the boys instead. They saw it as a good way to recruit southern blacks and liberals. The Communist Party annouced the boys case as a "murderous frame-up" and began to be named as there attorneys. NCAAP finally realized the boys were most likely innocent and that the leadership would have a large relation benefit and tried to persuade the boys by giving them attorney Clarence Dowen. But NCAAP was to late, the boys chose the Communist Party. In Januraury 3, 1932 the Alabma Supreme Court affirmed all but one of the eight convictions and death penalties. The court ruled that Eugene should not been tried as an adult for his age was thirteen. The cases were appealed to the United States Supreme Court which overturned all the convictions. Under the Fourteenth Amendment due process the boys rights as defendts had been denied by the Alabama Court. The Scottsboro Boys were getting new trails.

During the Second Round of Trials:

The Communist Party, through its legals arms was known as ILD, selected two attorneys for the boys with Samuel Leibowitz to serve the lead defense attorney. This trial was mainly for Haywood Patterson. The trial opened on March 30,1933 with Judge James Horton the judge of the trial. Dr.R.R. Bridges was the doctor who examined Bates and Price and did not see any trace of rape. Arthur Woodall testified that there was a weapon found on one of the suspects, that claimed he took the knife from Victoria Price. After this Leibowitz wanted a mistrial ,but Judge did not agree with this choice so they went on. The only witness of the incident was Ory Dobbins who said the boys grabbed the girls right before they jumped off, he thought. Defense witnesses were called to prove Victoria Price was a liar. One of the best witnesses of what happened was Lester Carter who said he had met Ruby Bates before they got on the train and he was there when the fights broke out, but jumped off before it got too out of hand. After hearing this Leibowitz needed a break, when it was over Ruby Bates entered the room ready to tell the truth. Bates confessed there was no raping on the train and Victoria Price told her to make that up. The Jury then pronounced Haywood Patterson guilty.

After the trials:

Ruby Bates and attorney Leibowitz headed east where they pleaded for the boys' freedom. June 22,1993 Judge Horton and others wanted to make a new trial to prove the two girls were lying, but they did not succeed. Not too long after the Patterson trial he and Norris were sentenced to death and two ILD lawyers were arrested for bribery towards Victoria Price. There was a fourth trial for Haywood Patterson on January in the year 1936, Charles Watts was the elected attorney. The time was changed and the verdict was reached at seventy-five years in prison. He was the first to be convicted for rape of a white woman and not sent to death. While the boys were being taken back to the Birmingham prison Ozie Powell managed to take a pen knife out of his pocket and cut one of the officer's throats. The other officer got out of the car and shot Powell, he survived but suffered from brain damage. Knight one of the attorneys, died in May 1937 which meant Callahan was the only one making the decisions. The next trial would begin in July. By this time the 7 Scottsboro boys had been in jail for six years. The third trial of Norris began on July 12,1937. Followed by Andy Wright who got ninety-nine years, then Charlie Weems who got seventy-five, the rest of the boys had dropped charges including: Willie Roberson, Roy Wright, Olen Montgomery, and Eugene Williams. The four remaining were sent to Tennessee where the lived the rest of their lives. The other five were sent to Atmore and Kilby Prison where they barely survived. Haywood Patterson escaped in 1948. After he started writing books about his life, along with his colleague Charles Norris. The books they wrote were published in 1950 and 1979. A little while after Patterson's book was published he was caught and sent back to prison. The last Scottsboro boy died ten years after Norris' book was published on January 23, 1999. There are many movies and books about the Scottsboro Boys including, //Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys,// 1976; and //Stories of Scottsboro,// 1994.

Bibliography: Dougles O. Linder; __A Trail Account__ Copyright 1999;http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html.