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i THE EVENING STAR A-3 Weshington, D. C., Saturday, September 21, 1963 tok FBI Piecing Together Church-Bombing Clues By MIRIAM OTTENBERG Star Statr Writer FBI leboratory experts sre now working around the clock on & mass of fragments and other debris collected at the scene of last Sunday's church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. But scientific work has not yet reached the stage where lthe FBI can say definitely| ‘whether the explosives were planted in the church or thrown from a passing car. That was the FBI's comment, on a statement in Birmingham yesterday by United States At- torney Macon L. Weaver that investigation showed a “high order explosive” planted under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church caused the fatal blast. Search Debris The FBI laboratory sleuths| are seeking more than how the explosives penetrated the church. for any evidence that might place @ suspect on the scene or aid in identifying him latr. This could be a book of matches, a ‘cigarette from which saliva f They are testing the debris; construct the crime in terms lof the force and direction of jthe blast. Although there have been approximately 46 bombings in ‘Alabama — 19 in Birmingham “alone — since January 1959, the jchurch bombing is only the 11fth such cese where FBI lagents have been told to make 8 full investigation. Since the lstest bombing, iNegro leaders have been ask- jing why the FBI hasn't delved into the other Alabama cases. ‘Here is the explanation given by Federal authorities: The Justice Department has taken the position that the primary jurisdiction for inves- ‘tigating the bombings re- mains with local authorities and that Congress wanted it that way when it passed the ‘bombing sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Federal Violation Under this act, it's a Fed- feral violation to carry ex- |ptosives across State lines with Intent to use them to destroy property, for the purpose of ‘interfering with its use for could be ed and typed (educational, religious, chari- or a beer cah with. finger ‘table, residential, business or Prints on ft. jeivic purposes. Although the More than e score of agents act is broad, the Justice De- Amported from all over “he county to supplement the Bir- mingham FBI office have fol- ilowed & methodical pattern in ‘their erime scene search to pre- serve the chain of evidence. The scene of the bombing has been drawn off and mapped. As the agents comb through the debris, they pick up with tweezers any fragment: which might be material, scratch an identifying mark on jthelr find; noting on their] copies of the map the location lof the find and the time of its discovery. These notations are then lcopleé onto the master map with the name of the agents who recovered the fragments in case they are later called to testify. Placement of the fragments lon the map ts also part of* the; slow process ‘of trying to re- (er meson toe we cLosuRe AS /- tI partment has specifically told the FBI that no FBI investie gation should be launched jwithout special departmental authorization. ! That directive applies even where local authorities request an FBI investigation. | Where local officials request jhelp, the FBI informs the Jus- itice Department to get an im- mediate cecision. If there is no local request, the FBI pre- sents the facts of the bomb- ing to the department but doesn't go ahead with the in- jvestigation without department ;spproval. In an aggravated case like the church bombing, the FBI jimmediately launched # full scale investigation and told the department what it was jdoing. Of course, official ap- proval was promptly forthcom-