Hernando Hangman

There was danger of a lynching at Hernando, Miss, a month ago when three black bucks were put on trial for raping a 16-year-old school girl. Mississippi's Adjutant General Thomas Grayson thought he saw a way to avoid it. He asked the father of the girl to write a note to the mob. Clyde Collins ''consented with reluctance to let the law take its course,'' asked the mob to disperse. Short time later the Negroes were convicted, sentenced to hang.

Last week the Mississippi Legislature moved to give Father Collins his reward. By a vote of 19 to 16 the Senate passed a bill authorizing the county sheriff to appoint him hangman at the execution of the Negroes this week. The Senator who introduced it explained that the bill was meant to apply only to the Hernando case, that he would move its repeal the day after Special Hangman Collins springs the trap.

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