PEONAGE IN AMERICA.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17113, 7 April 1921, Page 8

PEONAGE IN AMERICA.

A TRIAL IN GEOBGIA. (By .Cable—Presa Association—copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Associating.; (Received April 6th, 8.20 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 5. The trial of Williams on charges of peonage opened at Covington, Georgia, with a heavily-armed, guard searching all persons entering the courtroom for weapons for fear of a possible demonstration, either by whites or blacks. The State Attorney feared an attack upon negro witnesses. Williams maintained his customary silence. The prosecution summoned more than a dozen witnesses, who wore expected to support Manning's testimony. The choice of the jury is considered a first victory for Williams, since it is composed of seven rich planters and five other white business men.

fA previous message said: Agents of the Department of Justice at Atlanta, Georgia, are investigating an alleged peonago system, in Jasper County, - under which negroes are virtually enslaved. They discovered nine bodies of murdered negroes, chained and' weighted with rocks, at the bottom of several rivers, and also shallow graves. John Williams, owner of the plantation on which Bix bodies were discovered, has been arrested and charged with murder. His three »sons have also been apprehended. Clvde Manning, a negro emploved by Williams, confessed to complicity in the murders.]