Transcription
<u>Special</u> ANN ARBOR
MAR 23
6 PM
MICH 1933
ANN ARBOR
MAR 24
6 PM
MICH 1933
From Agnes Inglis
809 South Division Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan,
Governor B.M. Miller
Montgomery,
Alabama.
RECEIVED
MAR 26 A.M.
MONTGOMERY,
(SPEC. DEL.)
CIN & NASH
TR. 1
MAR
25
1933
Ann Arbor, March 25-1933
809 South Division Street.
Governor B.M. Miller.
Montgomery, Alabama.
Dear Sir: -
If I could in words express to you my deep feeling and strong sense of the injustice
of having the re-trial of the Scottsboro boys take place in another small, provincial,
an prejudiced center I should do so.
Men in political positions hold in their hands the life and death of others. It is
so in this case. In your hands lies the fate of these boys. But all the people all ovr
over the world who stand by them hold, too, in their hands their fate! It is a word;
a written word ,- as this from me to you that matters. I think much of this case .
It is to speak, then, -to take this little time, this very little time , to write this
to you ,- to let you know that I am thinking of them , and to express to you the
feeling I share with the many . It is a deep conviction that we share.
I demand for these boys an unconditional fair trial,- such an one as, when over,
will leave no traces of bitterness in regard to those in whose hands it rests.
I demand that you grant a change of venue and that you, in all fair play, have the
trial take place in the city of Birmingham , as thousands are insisting shall be the
case.
So few have the gift of speech! So few the gift of the written word ! Believe me when
I say that to pen even these few lines means much deep feeling and much concerN. It is
an effort to write to unknown people , as you are unknown to me. I say this to tell
you that you may well believe that for every letter that you receive there are
thousands ,- no one knows how many thousands,-indeed, I believe that there are
hundreds of thousands who uphold the boys in their right to a fair and unprejudiced
trial in this re-trial.
I do not know you . I know nothing of your outlook upon life, of your training in
thought, of your values. But I know you value your life, as I value mine. And in such
case I would hope for response from another for my life. I ask, then, that this
response be given in the case of the lives of these boys.
Sincerely, Agnes Inglis
Ann Arbor, March 23, 1933
-Copy- 809 South Division Street.
Thomas E. Knight Jr.
Attorney-General.
Montgomery,
Alabama.
Dear Sir:-
In behalf of the boys concerned in what is known as the Scottsboro Case I address
you. This I do, adding my word to that of thousands of others who are interested
in this world-renouned case . I ask for a change of venue for the setting of the
re-trial , so that it may be held in Birmingham in an atmosphere not charged with
prejudice , I do assure you that this step is of utmost importance . Small
centers , with local prejudices are not the place to insure fair play and justice
as all know who have had experience in such cases..I am sure you must realize this .
I am inclosing for your perusal the letter -a copy of it, at least,- which I am sending
the Governor of Alabama . It is, in its contents, such a letter as I would write to you.
I am therefore sending this copy to you . I believe that the matter of this change of
venue rests with you both and I urge that you agree in this matter , - so that the
case will be tried in Birmingham, Alabama.
Sincerely,
Agnes Inglis