Probe Second Lynching in Alabama City

PROBE SECOND LYNCHING IN ALABAMA CITY Sheriff Orders Inquiry After Negro Was Taken From His Home By Men Posing As Officers And Shot To Death TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Sept. 25 (AP)-The second lynching in Tuscaloosa County within the past six weeks was under investigation by the sheriff’s department today. Sheriff R. L. Shamblin ordered the inquiry after the Dennis Cross, Negro under bond on- a charge of assaulting a white woman, was taken from his home by men posing as officers and shot to death. The sheriff said he was told the group of six or seven men appeared at the Negro’s home and told Den- nis it was necessary for him to go to Tuscaloosa and post a bond larger than that required when he was released on ball a week ago. The visit of the group was report- ed to Shamblin by neighbors of Dennis and a search was started which resulted in the finding of the Negro’s body near the Tuscaloosa Country Club yesterday at day- break. Dennis had been struck three times by pistol) bullets. Shamblin said the charge against Dennis was a bailable offense as the victim of the alleged assault had not been attacked. The woman had identified the Negro as her assailant. The slaying of Dennis followed by six weeks to the day the lynching of Dan Pippen, Jr., and A. T. Harden, Negroes under indictment on a charge of murdering the daughter of a Tuscaloosa county farmer. Pippen and Harden were killed and Elmore Clark, another Negro, was wounded by a group of masked men who seized the prisoners from Tuscaloosa County officers hurrying them to Birmingham for safekeeping. PROBE SECOND LYNCHING IN ALABAMA CITY Sheriff Orders Inquiry After Negro Was Taken From His Home By Men Posing As Officers And Shot To Death TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Sept. 25 (AP)-The second lynching in Tuscaloosa County within the past six weeks was under investigation by the sheriff’s department today. Sheriff R. L. Shamblin ordered the inquiry after the Dennis Cross, Negro under bond on- a charge of assaulting a white woman, was taken from his home by men posing as officers and shot to death. The sheriff said he was told the group of six or seven men appeared at the Negro’s home and told Den- nis it was necessary for him to go to Tuscaloosa and post a bond larger than that required when he was released on ball a week ago. The visit of the group was report- ed to Shamblin by neighbors of Dennis and a search was started which resulted in the finding of the Negro’s body near the Tuscaloosa Country Club yesterday at day- break. Dennis had been struck three times by pistol) bullets. Shamblin said the charge against Dennis was a bailable offense as the victim of the alleged assault had not been attacked. The woman had identified the Negro as her assailant. The slaying of Dennis followed by six weeks to the day the lynching of Dan Pippen, Jr., and A. T. Harden, Negroes under indictment on a charge of murdering the daughter of a Tuscaloosa county farmer. Pippen and Harden were killed and Elmore Clark, another Negro, was wounded by a group of masked men who seized the prisoners from Tuscaloosa County officers hurrying them to Birmingham for safekeeping.