page80 (2/2)

And that’s exactly what he was doing

“Suddenly, gentlemen, all is pandeuns everywhere Glass flying Wo Suddenly there areto kill the old hter

“The oldwo his body with her own The assault lasts only a few minutes, but it seems like hours and hours”

Jonah paused He studied the faces of the jurors, each one in turn

Finally he spoke again, in a hushed whisper

“Two round One is a hbor to you all, all his life—Luther Cosgrove, an eer for nearly thirty years He lies dead in the side yard, shot in the face by the er man from out in the county, a fellow named Jimmie Cooper, who had coht and volunteered to stand guard over that dying old round in front of the house”

Jonah paused and shook his head sorrowfully, as if he couldn’t believe the price Jimmie and Luther had paid

“But then there is a miracle,” he said “Three of the killers are arrested For once, they are not allowed to pull on their Klan hoods and go riding off into the darkness, unmolested, unpunished For once, there arethe them here today, to face trial before a jury of their peers And that, of course, is where you gentlemen come into the story”

He turned, pointed his finger at the defendants “There they are Mr Chester Madden Mr Henry North Mr Lincoln Stephens”

The defendants put on the smirk they had evidently practiced beforehand, but they couldn’t hold it Their nerves and the silence in the rooot the best of them

It was now ti state back and forth over this part, trying to find the best way to say what he needed to say

“Gentlemen, you may have noticed there is one fact I left out of my account,” Jonah said “You may think it’s the most important fact of all And that is the fact that these defendants are white hborhood One of the men they killed hite The other was black I didn’t mention any of this to you

“And do you knohy? I’ll tell you why—because the pursuit of justice knows no color! The pursuit of justice admits only that which is fair, and honest, and true

“This case is not about race It is not about the black versus the white This case is much easier than that It’s a simple matter of justice

“Now, as the prosecutor representing the great state of Mississippi, it will be ed, how they ca to kill How they planned and then executed the deliberate, preht in the Quarters On a night when these threethat justice had taken a holiday Well, justice has not taken a holiday here in Eudora!”