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FD-350 {Rev. 5-8-81) {Indicate page. name of newspaper, city and state.} ; ; © ; THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS 7 BIRMINGHAM, AL. -~Wilhe Rdwards? ~a 00° ¥* BASBBAY BALE YY GOA VALS ‘Edition: TUESDAY 6 a ul tion de h ‘Tite "WILLIE EDWARDS' ABDUCTION DEATH STILL HAUNTS STATE" Character: still haunts state <=. | Submitting Cttice: BH ‘indexing: | Revelations may force review | | of 1957 killing and later probe | Pete BRARA EL na later A 7 MONTGOM-: . M ERY — They ys ' a called him “Moo- . a 2a name that ! ae bia? H Noo KRi€, 4@ Tari tidy Va C seemed to fit his small stature — | 5-feet-6, 150 pounds. But today, the shadow of Willie Edwards, 24, continues to haunt Ala- i bama, a state which was a strong- hold of Ku Klux Klan activity. Edwards, who was black, died the night of Jan. 23, 1957, when a group of white men abducted him and forced him to jump from the Tyler Goodwyn Bridge i in ‘Montgomery. ac eording to indictments and statements given in the case. Additional details about Edwards’ death have emerged since Diane Al- exander, the wife of Klan member Henry Alexander, revealed two weeks ago that her husband con- fessed ta the deed as he lay near death last December. She also said her husband had worked for the FBI as an informant. i Alexander’s first wife, Edna, whe | was married to him when the Ec- wards incident took place, had given investigators a statement in 1976 implicating her husband in the mur- im puilaiing f Par esl rss der. “Edna was one of my informants on Klan activity,” said Jack Shows, a former Montgomery detective and LS. ,- - JS o- - § f2- {2 ( later chief investigator for then-At- Ltryse torney General Bill Baxfey. i arn Nos ae ‘SE Sh d Ed Al ¢ 7 talked to hina in early 1978 and men- Copy Sent SEP 12 4903 | tioned a missing Winn-Dixie truck a ; ‘ driver To FBIHQ