The nation . nd triedon June 10. My wife had obtainedthe services of a lawyer, Mr. JesseStone. He was busy with anothercase on the morning of the trialdate, and asked that my case bepostponed a week, or at least until3 of the same day. Judge Ran-dall Whitmeyer refused. Withoutcounsel, I was tried on charges ofdisturbing the peace and vagrancy, 503 found guilty and sentenced to serveeight months on a prison farm. The other prisoners of the farmhad obviously been tipped off as tomy feelings on integration, for with-in one hour after my arrival, theygave me a terrible beating, one afterthe o
The nation . nd triedon June 10. My wife had obtainedthe services of a lawyer, Mr. JesseStone. He was busy with anothercase on the morning of the trialdate, and asked that my case bepostponed a week, or at least until3 of the same day. Judge Ran-dall Whitmeyer refused. Withoutcounsel, I was tried on charges ofdisturbing the peace and vagrancy, 503 found guilty and sentenced to serveeight months on a prison farm. The other prisoners of the farmhad obviously been tipped off as tomy feelings on integration, for with-in one hour after my arrival, theygave me a terrible beating, one afterthe other, smashing me in the headand face, kicking me all over mybody. They also clipped all the hairoff my head and bo,dy, even to myeyelashes. They let me alone until the fol-lowing Sunday, which was visitorsday. I was most heartened to findthree local people coming to see me,a young couple, Mr. and Mrs. JohnDownes, and their friend. They hadattended the trial and had becomeinterested in my case. They had tried. to see me in jail, but were Downes, a free-lance writer,had been asked by the Texas Ob-server, a weekly journal printed inAustin, to do an article on the was printed in the June 24 is-sue, and resulted in Mr. Downessbeing fired from his job and forcedto move to Austin. His boss didntlike the idea of his wifes writing anarticle that was so sympathetic tosomeone who believed in integration. Right after my visitors left, myfellow prisoners got to work on meagain while the prison trusties lookedon. I was tied to the top of a steelbunk and drenched with water fromjars and buckets. Then they rippedoff all my clothes and beat me withtowels and fists for thirty minutes. There were some inmates whobecame friendly, but they couldntdo anything to stop the horriblebeatings given me by the otherprisoners. On one occasion, I w astied by my feet to the top steel bars and left swinging head-down withni\ shoulders barely touching the 504 bunk. I was worked over bru
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