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ah. ¢ In Rights Cases FBI Operates Only Under Justice Dept. Orders Washington Bureau Copley News Service WASHINGTON = The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been| “caught in the middle” in the ‘angry protests that have arisen) following the fatal Sept. 14 bomb- ing of a Birmingham, Ala.,| church. Four Negro girls were killed in the blast. FBI agents began an investiga- tion of the church explosion im- inediately and Friday it was an- nounced that the agents and sher- its men have determined that tng bomb was planted beneath the| steps and was not thrown| from a passing car, as originally| reported. Their investigation is! continuing. “We have to solve this one,” said one FBI agent. In the indignation over the ex- plasion, however, a number of Ne- gro and civil rights leaders have| accused the FBI of failing to act| in civil rights incidents. Since Jan. 1, 1959, there have been 46 bomb- ings in Alabanta, 19 in Birming- bam. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 the FBI cannot investigate| such incidents without direct or- ders from the Department of Jus- tice, Jeeardless ‘of requests for| help from: local authorities. FBI records show that in each ot the 46 Alabama bombings,| agents reported the facts to the. Department of Justice, In only; five cases was the FBI ordered| to investigate. The Birmingham| church blast was the latest and] ‘there FBI men acted immediately} because of the fatalities invalved. The other four incidents under| FBI study — all in Birmingham} |-~ were the two May 11 bombings! lof the home of the Rev. A. D. W. King, brother of the Rev. Martin| Luther King; the May 11 blast at! the Gaston Motel and the Sept. 4] bombing of the home of A. D.| Shores. “The FBI jurisdiction (under| the 1960 Civil Rights Act) is very} limited and is not intended to sup-| plant local and state authority,” said one source. “‘At all times it} operates directly under instruc-| tions from the Department of Jus- tice.” No arrests have been reported in the bombings in Birmingham, but FBI agents have been success- ful in a series of investigations involving civil rights violence. Arrests were made after inves- tigation of two Negro church burnings in 1962 in Terrell Coun- ity, Ga., and another at Leesburg, Ga, Nine men were arrested after FBI investigation of the burning lof a Greyhound bus near Anni- ston, Ala, in 1961. The bus was; carrying members of the Coo-| gress for Racial Equality on 2 30- called “Freedom Ride.” Joliet Herald- News Joliet, Illinois [pee 21, 1963 IS Ve fh 4 5 Eta) TRECT ASTIRE