Atlanta's Self-Control

Atlanta's Self-Control

Through Atlanta, Ga. one evening last fortnight ran dark unrest. Whispering shopgirls hurried home early or remained all night at their places of work. Those who ventured to the cinema insured themselves of robust escorts. Except for loungers and trouble-lovers, citizens avoided the environs of the court house, where sat closeted a jury deciding the fate of a white man.

The man was Troy F. Martin, arrested with six whites for the slaying last June of Dennis Hubert, Negro divinity student who, they said, had laid his hands on a white woman. When the seven accused were held without bail and indicted for manslaughter, Atlantans restlessly awaited what friends of the prisoners would do about it, for seldom had white men been thus treated for murdering a Negro in the South. The house of Dennis Hubert's father, Baptist preacher, Negro educator, was burned down. And though some whites collected funds to rebuild it, everyone thought a race-riot imminent.

But Atlanta prides itself on its racial tolerance, its Northern contacts, contracts. When the jury agreed late Saturday night and brought out its sealed verdict, Judge R. Earl Camp (imported from Dublin, Ga. as free from local prejudice) adjourned court so that Atlantans might not start trouble in the hot night. Monday morning Judge Camp addressed a large audience of whites & blacks: "It is only the degenerate type of citizens that will promote racial prejudice. . . . We are determined that they shall not interfere with the orderly processes of our courts." Then he read the verdict on Troy Martin: guilty. The sentence recommended: 12 to 15 years in gaol.

Immediately Acting Mayor George Everett Millican issued a proclamation. Excerpts: "It appears that incendiary and provocative actions are going on in the community. . . . There is NO danger threatening either race in Atlanta other than irresponsible small factions who are seemingly unconscious of the firebrands they are bearing. The racial and social disturber is the enemy ... of the people of Atlanta. ... I appeal to all good citizens to set their faces against every person and faction seeking to embroil the races in trouble."

Outside the court house, a few Negroes and whites fought, were arrested promptly. There was no race-riot in Atlanta last week.

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