◆ SpookStack

ap at Beckwith Hald| To-Grand Jury’ In Evers Case ' Possibility Of Witnesses Raised At Hearing In Jackson ” By KENNETH TOLER | * From The Commercial Appeal Jackson, Miss,, Burcau JACKSON, Miss.. June 25.— Byron De La Beckwith Tues- day was ordered held without ‘bail in a preliminary hearing at which.it was hinted that ‘two white witnesses may later testify they saw the person or persons who killed . Negro [Medgar Evers. { Jackson City Judge James i Spencer ordered Beckwith, 42- iyear-old Greenwood salesman, | theld without bond until the jHinds County Grand Jury can (consider the murder charge jagainst him next week. Beck- with pleaded not guilty just lafter the two-hour hearing |began. | Tuesday's scant reference to, ‘possible witnesses Came when iJackson Police Det. Sgt. John ;Chambiee testified under cross lexamination that he ‘‘talked ‘with people who said they theard footsteps running from the scene” of the ambush slay-; ling in a Jackson Negro resi- ‘dential area. It was later developed that! a white man and woman had! , told investigators that they ; were walking along the street ’ gt the time of the shooting. : “ youog white girl identified as Wikser Bishop was dis- : Cicsed as the person who had told ~Fwiice of the.cauple’s presence. Sergeant “Chambtec, first! 4officer.ta reach the*shooting scene. testified that he found je witnesses at the scene who could identify the defendant. Judge Spencer unset ’ Beckwith’s defense counsels’ pleas for release on grounds; that the state had failed to connect Beckwith with the Evers murder other than by circumstantial evidence. The judge said a fingerprint iden- tified as Beckwith’s found on a rifle near the scene of the Slaying was sufficient to bind thim over to the grand jury, which convenes: Monday.: > -+ Cant. Ralph Hargrove, Jack- son Police Department identifi- cation officer, testified he found the fingerprint on the rifle’s telescopic sight and turned it over to the FBI. The ptint and the Japanese-made sitht mounted on the Enficld 3.06 rifle were traced by the RBI to Beckwith. Captain Hargrove also said the did not believe the finger- print found on the sight was more than 12 hours old. The gun was found shortly after} Evers, 37-year-old NAACP: Mississippi field secretary, was shot in the back early June 12 just after he stepped from his car in the driveway of his home. FBI ballistics expert Rich- lard Poppleton testified that riflings on the bullet which killed Evers were similar to ithose fired from an Enfield rifle and “similar to no other weapon in our laboratory.” He said the mutilated condi-: tion of the bullet prevented him saying positively it was! fired from the Enfield rifle found. Hu, Cunningham of Jack- son, membcr of Gov. Ross Barnett’s law firm, Monday joined in Beckwith’s defense along with Hardy Lott, Green- wood city attorney, and Stanny Sanders, a former dis- trict auutney of Greenwood. ~ CSURE Date: é: fc 5 {o3 Edition: 3) 3 hd Author: Editor: Title: Character: or Classification: ee oe (indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.) Submitting Office: os: Y'>* Ponte te ft n . Tad Di Site ak de ng 4 = dy eh