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fur d'a letter on the letter ) e 5 ense Leagu dated 6/9/He2. The letter was addressed "Dear Friend" and was a or the - recipient to write or telegraph Governor Colgate W. Darden, Jr. of Virginia to grant a stay of execlition. for Odell Waller who was con- victed of murder and sentenced to be executed. Pearl S. Buck was among the signers of this letter. The 6/26/42 issue of the "DW" contained an article captioned "Negro Achievement Day to be Observed Here Tomorrow". The article related that Negro and white people of New York would honor noted Negroes at ceremonies at a Victory Dance in the Golden Gate Ballroom, 142nd St. and Lenox Ave., NYC... Pearl Buck and others would partici- pate in the ceremonies. as 2 61D bo The Press Service of the Workers Defense League (WDL) (100-5557) set out information that on 7/1/42, a petition to President Roosevelt to appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate the Odell Waller case appeared in a full-page advertisement in the "Washington Star" placed there by the WDL. Quoting Pearl Buck's statement that Waller "has become a personification of all to whom democracy is denied in our country; the petitioners told the President that “your inter- vention will help restore the badly shaken faith of our Negro minority in American democracy". This document indicated that Odell Waller was convicted of murder and was electrocuted on 7/2/42 at the State Prison in Richmond, Va. -_) Dp