Grand Jury Investigation
U.S. District Judge T. Hoyt Davis selected and charged a 23-man jury, which included two African Americans, to hear testimony in the case on Monday December 2, 1946. At the time Governor Ellis Arnall claimed "that 15 to 20 of the mob members are known by name." The case was presented to the jury by United States District Attorney John P. Cowart and John Kelly from the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. The judge "pointed out that federal courts have no jurisdiction over the offense of murder except under well defined conditions."
Harrison testified for six hours after Barnette Hester, the man who was stabbed by Roger Malcolm, concluded his testimony. The following Monday was the fifth day of testimony. On that day Harrison's sons Loy Jr. and Talmadge testified. Additionally, B.H. Hester, the father of Barnette, testified. Perry Dillard, Eugene Evans, Emmerson Farmer and Ridden Farmer, nearby residents to the location of the shooting, testified that day as well. The last to be questioned that day was FBI Agent George Dillard.
Tuesday, December 10, the sixth day of hearings heard ten witnesses. They were Joe Parrish; Harrison's brother-in-law, George Robert Hester and James Weldon Hester; brothers of Barnette Hester, Grady Malcom, Weyman Fletcher Malcom, Cleonius Malcom, Levy Adcock, Willie Lou Head and FBI Agent Dick Hunter.
The seventh day of testimony was Wednesday. That day six people were questioned. Among them were Mrs. Elizabeth Toler, Eugene White, Boysie Daniel and Paul Brown.
Monday's testimony was highlighted by the appearance before the grand jury of Mrs. Jesse Warwick. The wife of a Monroe minister, she testified to seeing men in at least two carloads gather on a roadside in the vicinity of Monroe at some point between the stabbing of Hester and the incident at Moore's Ford. That event was believed to have been a rehearsal for the lynching. The government intended to show planning, possibly with the knowledge of Walton county law officers and Harrison. Other witnesses that day were Monroe chief of Police Ben Dickerson; Gene Sloan, a youth from the Georgia Boys' Training School at Milledgeville, and Mrs. Moena Williams, mother of Dorothy Malcom, who said that Dorothy was killed on her twentieth birthday.
George Alvin Adcock, a resident of Monroe, was indicted by the federal grand jury for perjury. He was accused of two counts of false testimony regarding his statements on December 11, 1946. The first count alleged he denied leaving his house the day of the crime. He supposedly visited the town of Monroe that day. The second count states that he denied visiting the scene of the crime July 26. Sixteen witnesses were questioned that day, including Mrs. Powell Adcock.
After hearing nearly three weeks of testimony, the grand jury was "unable to establish the identity of any persons guilty of violating the civil rights statute of the United States."
Read more about this topic: 1946 Georgia Lynching
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