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Agee was a man possessed He used a bullhorn to shout orders here and there He herded new arrivals into their places He organized the black preachers He assured Ozzie and the colonel everything was okay
Everything was okay until a handful of Klansht of the white robes was new to many of the blacks, and they reacted loudly They inched forward, screa The troops surrounded the robes and protected them The Kluxers were stunned and scared, and did not yell back
By eight-thirty, the streets of Clanton were gridlocked Deserted cars, vans, and buses were scattered haphazardly through parking lots and along the quiet residential streets A steady stream of blacks walked toward the square from all directions Traffic did not move Driveere blocked Merchants parked blocks away froazebo, wringing his hands and begging Ozzie to do so Around him thousands of blacks swarmed and yelled in perfect unison Ozzie asked theeverybody on the courthouse lawn
Noose parked at a service station a half roup of blacks to the courthouse They watched hi No one would suspect he was a person of authority Buckley and Musgrove parked in a driveway on Adams Street They cursed and walked toward the square They noticed the pile of rubble that had been Jake&039;s house but said nothing They were too busy cursing With state troopers leading the way, the Greyhound from Teh the dark s, the fourteen passengers stared in disbelief at the carnival around the courthouse
Mr Pate called the packed courtrooized for the trouble outside, but there was nothing he could do If there were no problems to report, they could continue deliberations
"Very well, you ain just before lunch"
The jurors filed out and went to the jury room The Hailey children sat with their father at the defense table The spectators, now predominantly black, remained seated and struck up conversations Jake returned to his office
Foreht of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Ford Countians who had served in this rooued about justice over the past century Any pride heon the jury of the reatly overshadowed by what happened last night He wondered how many of his predecessors had been threatened with death Probably a few, he decided
The others fixed their coffee and slowly found seats around the tables The rooht back fond memories for Clyde Sisco Prior jury duty had proved lucrative for hiht of another handsoer had not contacted him
"Hoould y&039;all like to proceed?" the foreman asked
Rita Mae Plunk had an especially hard and unforgiving look about her She was a rough woman with a house trailer, no husband, and two outlaws for sons, both of whom had expressed hatred for Carl Lee Hailey She had a few things she wanted to get off her large chest
"I got a few things I wanna say," she informed Acker
"Fine Why don&039;t we start with you, Miss Plunk, and go around the table"
"I voted guilty yesterday in the first vote, and I&039;ll vote guilty next tiuilty, and I want just one of you to explain to er!"
"Don&039;t say that word again!" yelled Wanda Woer&039; if I wanna say &039;nigger,&039; and there ain&039;t a da you can do," replied Rita Mae
"Please don&039;t use that word," said Frances McGowan
"I find it personally offensive," said Wanda Woer, Nigger," Rita Mae yelled across the table
"Come on," said Clyde Sisco
"Oh boy," said the foreman "Look, Miss Plunk, let&039;s be honest, okay Most of us use that word, from time to time
I&039;m sure some of us use it more than others But it&039;s offensive to ood idea not to use it during our deliberations We&039;ve got enough to worry about as it is Can we all agree not to use that word?"
Everyone nodded but Rita Mae
Sue Williams decided to answer She ell dressed, attractive, about forty She worked for the county welfare department "I didn&039;t vote yesterday I passed But I tend to syhter, and if she was raped, it would greatly affect ht crack in that situation, and I think it&039;s unfair for us to judge Mr Hailey as if he was supposed to act coally insane?" asked Reba Betts, an undecided
"I&039;m not sure But I knoasn&039;t stable He couldn&039;t have been"
"So you believe that nut of a doctor who testified for him?" asked Rita Mae
"Yes He was as believable as the State&039;s doctor"
"I liked his boots," said Clyde Sisco No one laughed
"But he&039;s a convict," said Rita Mae "He lied and tried to cover Ft up You can&039;t believe a word he said"
"He had sex with a girl under eighteen," Clyde said "If that&039;s a crime, then a bunch of us should&039;ve been indicted"
Again, no one appreciated the attempt at humor Clyde decided to stay quiet for a while
"He later irl," said Donna Lou Peck, an undecided
They went around the table, one at a ti questions The N as carefully avoided by those wanting a conviction The battle lines becauilty, it see the exact movements of the boys, the M-16-it all seeht them in the act and killed them on the spot, he would not be held accountable But to plan it so carefully for six days did not indicate an insane mind
Wanda Womack, Sue Williams, and Clyde Sisco leaned
toward acquittal-the rest toward conviction Barry Acker was noticeably nonco blue and white FREE CARL LEE banner The athered fifteen abreast behind it, and waited for the parade to form behind them They stood in the center of Jackson Street, in front of the courthouse, while Agee screahtly behind them, and off they went They inched down Jackson, and turned left on Caffey, up the west side of the square Agee led the marchers in their now familiar battle cry of "Free Carl Lee! Free Carl Lee!" They screa chorus As the crowd rew in nu trouble, the merchants locked up and headed for home and safety They checked their policies to see if they were insured for riot dareen soldiers were lost in a sea of black The colonel, sweating and nervous, ordered his troops to circle the courthouse and stand firton Street, Ozzie met with the handful of Kluxers In a sincere and diploet out of hand, and he could no longer guarantee their safety He acknowledged their right to asseet away from the square before there was trouble They huddled quickly, and disappeared
When the banner passed under the jury roo rattled the glass panes The bullhorn sounded like a loudspeaker hanging fro The jurors stared in disbelief at the mob, the black mob which filled the street and trailed around the corner onto Caffey A varied assortns bobbed above the masses and demanded that the man be freed
"I didn&039;t know there were this ers in Ford County," Rita Mae Plunk said At that ht
Buckley was furious He and Musgrove watched from a third-floorin the library The roar below had disrupted their quiet conversation
"I didn&039;t know there were this rove said
"There ain&039;t Soers in here I wonder who put theance"
"Yeah, probably so It&039;swhen the jury is deliberating There ers down there"
"At least"
Noose and Mr Pate watched and listened from a second-floorin chambers His Honor was not happy He worried about his jury "I don&039;t see how they can concentrate on ood tie?" Mr Pate said
"It certainly is"
"I didn&039;t knoe had that many blacks in the whole county"
It took twenty minutes for Mr Pate and Jean Gillespie to find the attorneys and bring the courtroom to order When it was quiet, the jurors filed into their seats There were no sentlemen, it is ti to report"
Barry Acker shook his head
"That&039;s what I figured Let&039;s break for lunch, until one-thirty I realize you cannot leave the courthouse, but I want you to eat for a while without working on the case I apologize for the disturbance outside, but, frankly, I can&039;t do anything about it We&039;ll be in recess until one-thirty"
In chae! There&039;s no way the jury can concentrate on this case with all that noise out there This is a deliberate effort to intimidate the jury"
"I don&039;t like it," Noose said
"It was planned, Judge! It&039;s intentional!" Buckley yelled
"It looks bad," Noose added
"I&039;rant one What do you say, Jake?"
Jake grinned for a moment, and said, "Free Carl Lee"
"Very funny," Buckley growled "You probably planned all this"
"No If you will recall, Mr Buckley, I tried to prevent it I have repeatedly asked for a change of venue I have repeatedly said the trial should not be held in this courthouse You wanted it here, Mr Buckley, and you kept it here, Judge Noose You both now look foolish coance Buckley growled and stared out the"Look at theers Must be ten thousand out there"
During lunch the ten thousand grew to fifteen thousand Cars from a hundred miles away-sohways outside the city limits The people hiked for two and threesun to join the festivities around the courthouse Agee broke for lunch, and the square quieted
The blacks were peaceful They opened their coolers and picnic baskets, and shared with each other They congregated in the shade, but there were not enough trees to go around They filled the courthouse in search of cold water and rest rooazed in the s of the closed shops and stores Fearing trouble fro lunch Outside of Claude&039;s, they lined the sidewalk for a block and a half
Jake, Harry Rex, and Lucien relaxed on the balcony and enjoyed the circus below A pitcher of fresh, slushy aritas sat on the table and slowly disappeared At ti "Free Carl Lee" or hu with "We Shall Overcome" No one knew the words but Lucien He had learned thehts days of the sixties, and still claimed to be the only white in Ford County who knew all the words to every stanza He had even joined a black church back then, he explained between drinks, after his church voted to exclude black members He dropped out after a three-hour sermon ruptured a disc He had decided white people were not cut out for that kind of worship He still contributed, however
Occasionally, a crew of TV people would stray near Jake&039;s office and serve up a question Jake would pretend not to hear, then finally yell "Free Carl Lee"
Precisely at one-thirty, Agee found his bullhorn, unfurled his banner, lined up the athered hisdirectly into the bullhorn, and the parade crawled down Jackson, then onto Caffey, and around and around the square Each lap attracted more people and made more noise
The jury room was silent for fifteen minutes after Reba Betts was converted frouilty If a ot the chance It was"now five to five with two undecideds, and a compromise looked hopeless The foreman continued to straddle the fence Poor old Eula Dell Yates had cried one way, then cried the other, and everyone knew she would eventually go with the majority She had burst into tears at the , and was led to her seat by Clyde Sisco She wanted to go ho andhad taken its toll When the bullhorn passed nearby, the anxiety level in the small room reached a frenzied peak Acker would ask for quiet, and they would wait impatiently until the racket faded to the front of the courthouse It never disappeared completely Carol Corman was the first to inquire about their safety For the first time in a week, the quiet motel fully attractive
Three hours of nonstop chanting had unraveled whatever nerves were left The foreested they talk about their families and wait until Noose sent for theested soht about but no one had e we are hopelessly deadlocked?"
"He&039;d declare a mistrial, wouldn&039;t he?" asked Jo Ann Gates
"Yes," answered the foreman "And he would be re-
tried in a few ain toreed They were not ready to quit Eula Dell cried softly
At four, Carl Lee and the kids walked to one of the tall s lining each side of the courtroom He noticed a s open to a tiny platfor over the west lawn He nodded at a deputy, and stepped outside He held Tonya and watched the crowd
They saw hi under hiee led the marchers off the street and across the lawn A wave of black huathered under the small porch and pressed forward for a closer look at their champion
"Free Carl Lee!"
"Free Carl Lee!"
"Free Carl Lee!"
He waved at his fans below hied his sons He waved and told the kids to wave
Jake and his ser across the street to the courthouse Jean Gillespie had called Noose wanted to see the lawyers in cha
"I demand a mistrial! I demand a mistrial!" he yelled at Noose the second Jake walked in
"You move for a h glassy eyes
"You go to hell, Brigance! You planned all this You plotted this insurrection Those are your niggers out there"
"Where&039;s the court reporter?" Jake asked "I want this on the record"
"Gentleentlemen," Noose said "Let&039;s be professionals"
"Judge, the State moves for a mistrial," Buckley said, somewhat professionally
"Overruled"
"All right, then The State moves to allow the jury to deliberate at someplace other than the courthouse"
"Now that&039;s an interesting idea," Noose said
"I see no reason why they can&039;t deliberate at the motel It&039;s quiet and few people knohere it is," Buckley said confidently
"Jake?" Noose said
"Nope, it won&039;t work There is no statutory provision giving you the authority to allow deliberations outside the courthouse" Jake reached in his pocket and found several folded papers He threw them on the desk "State versus Dubose, 1963 case fro in the Linwood County Courthouse quit during a heat wave The circuit judge allowed the jury to deliberate in a local library The defense objected Jury convicted On appeal, the Supree&039;s decision was improper and an abuse of discretion The court went on to hold that the jury deliberations must take place in the jury roo tried You can&039;t move therove
"Get the courtroom ready," he said to Mr Pate
With the exception of the reporters, the courtrooard and strained
"I take it you do not have a verdict," Noose said
"No, sir," replied the fore any nuo no further?"
"We&039;ve talked about that, Your Honor And we&039;d like to leave, get a good night&039;s rest, and try again tomorrow We&039;re not ready to quit"
"That&039;s good to hear I apologize for the distractions, but, again, there&039;s nothing I can do I&039; further?"
"No, sir"
"Very well We&039;ll stand adjourned until nine AM tomorrow"
Carl Lee pulled Jake&039;s shoulder "What does all this mean?"
"It means they&039;re deadlocked It could be six to six, or eleven to one against you, or eleven to one for acquittal So , don&039;t get excited"
Barry Acker cornered the bailiff and handed him a folded sheet of paper It read:
Luann:
Pack the kids and go to your mother&039;s Don&039;t tell anyone Stay there until this thing is over Just do as I say Things are dangerous
Barry
"Can you get this to my wife today? Our number is 881-0774"
"Sure," said the bailiff
Tim Nunley, mechanic down at the Chevrolet place, forular, sat on a couch in the cabin deep in the woods and drank a beer He listened to his Klan brothers as they got drunk and cursed niggers Occasionally, he cursed thehts now, and felt so was up He listened carefully
He stood to get another beer Suddenly, they juainst the wall and pounded hied, bound, and dragged outside, across the gravel road, and into the field where he had been inducted as a member A cross was lit as he was tied to a pole and stripped A bullwhip lashed his were solid crimson
Two dozen of his ex-brethren watched in mute horror as the pole and limp body were soaked with kerosene The leader, the one with the bullwhip, stood next to him for an eternity He pronounced the death sentence, then threw a match
Mickey Mouse had been silenced
They packed their robes and belongings, and left for home Most would never return to Ford County
Wednesday For the first tiht hours He had fallen asleep on the couch in his office, and he awoke at five to the sounds of thefor the worst He was rested, but the nervous throbbing returned with the thought that this day would probably be the big day He showered and shaved downstairs, and ripped open a new pack of Fruit of the Loo store He dressed hie&039;s finest navy all-season suit, which was an inch too short and a bit loose, but not a bad fit under the circuht of the rubble on Adaan to churn He ran for the newspapers
On the front pages of the Memphis, Jackson, and Tu-pelo papers were identical photos of Carl Lee standing on the s to his people There was nothing about Jake&039;s house He was relieved, and suddenly hungry
Dell hugged him like a lost child She removed her apron and sat next to hiulars arrived and saw hiood to see hiain They had aunt, she said, so he ordered most of the onna be back today?" asked Bert West
"Probably," he said as he stabbed a chunk of pancakes
"I heard they&039;s plannin&039; to bring er radio station in north Mississippi is tellin&039; folks to coht Jake He added Tabasco to his scras
"Can the jury hear all that yellin&039;?" asked Bert
"Sure they can," Jake answered "That&039;s why they&039;re doing it They&039;re not deaf"
"That&039;s gotta scare them"
Jake certainly hoped so
"How&039;s the fauess I talked to Carla every night"
"She scared?"
"Terrified"
"What have they done to you lately?"
"Nothing since Sunday "
"Does Carla know?"
Jake chewed and shook his head
"I didn&039;t think so You poor thing"
"I&039;ll be okay What&039;s the talk in here?"
"We closed at lunch yesterday There were so many blacks outside, and ere afraid of a riot We&039;ll watch it close this ain Jake, what if there&039;s a conviction?"
"It could get hairy"
He stayed for an hour and answered their questions Strangers arrived, and Jake excused hi to do but wait He sat on the balcony, drank coffee, sht of the clients he once had; of a quiet little Southern law office with a secretary and clients waiting to see his, like a fas He was nottime