- Collection:
- WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection
- Title:
- Series of WSB-TV newsfilm clips of FBI detention of suspects in the Lemuel Penn murder, Athens, Georgia, 1964 August 1
- Creator:
- WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
- Date of Original:
- 1964-08-01
- Subject:
- Murder--Georgia--Madison County
African Americans--Violence against--Georgia--Madison County
Police--Georgia--Clarke County
Automobiles
Criminals--Georgia--Clarke County
Georgia--Race relations--History--20th century
Clarke County (Ga.)--Race relations--History--20th century
Ku Klux Klan (1915- )--Georgia--Athens
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation--Employees
Penn, Lemuel--Death and burial - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Clarke County, Athens, 33.96095, -83.37794
United States, Georgia, Madison County, 34.12778, -83.20904 - Medium:
- news
unedited footage - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- Series of WSB-TV newsfilm clips of FBI detention of suspects in the Lemuel Penn murder. The clips are silent. The first three shots are of the door of the "Office County Police". The writing is somewhat obscured in the first shot, but the other two clearing show the name, however, the county is unidentified. However, according to newspaper reports from the period, the FBI had taken over the second floor of the federal building in Athens as the base for their investigations. Thus, this is probably an entrance to the Clarke County Police Department. The next shot looks up to a lighted window high in a building, which is probably the federal building in Athens. The final shot is of an unmarked sedan with four men, two in front and two in back. The two men in back are in dark suits. This car is followed by another unmarked sedan with two more men in the front. These are probably FBI agents. Among the agents in Athens at that time were: Edward Kassinger, the case coordinator; Robert Kane, the resident agent in Athens; Jack B. Simpson and William J. Watry, special agents stationed in Atlanta; Clarence Brom and Arthur S. Hamilton, agents from the New Jersey office; Joseph J. Casper, assistant director of the FBI, sent to be in charge of the case; and special agent James Henderson. On the evening of August 1st, agents Brom and Simpson picked up James S. Lackey from his place of employment, a garage owned by Herbert Guest, and questioned him until late that night.Penn, an African American, was returning to Washington D.C. with two other African American officers, Major Howard E. Brown and Lt. Col. John D. Howard, from their two weeks of summer training at Fort Benning, Ga. Early in the morning of July 10, the three men stopped outside the entrance to the University of Georgia to change drivers at which time Penn took the wheel. At some time after they left Athens, their car was followed by another vehicle containing members of the Athens area Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. James S. Lackey was driving; Joseph Howard Sims was in the front passenger seat, with Cecil William Myers in the back. Both Sims and Myers carried sawed-off shot guns. According to Lackey's original statements to the FBI, as they approached the bridge over the Broad River near Colbert in Madison County, he pulled along side the vehicle being driven by Penn. Sims and Myers opened fire on the car killing Penn instantly. Brown and Howard were able to control the car and stop it. They turned around to return to Athens, but lost control in the morning fog and ran into a ditch. They were finally able to flag down a driver who went to Colbert to notify the police. While the local police in Colbert were unwilling to believe the story given by the two Reservists, Lt. Colonel Howard was finally allowed to call the provost marshal at Ft. Benning. Later that morning a member of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division arrived from Ft. Gordon to place Howard and Brown under their protection. On the morning of July 11, FBI Special Agents Jack B. Simpson and William J. Watry from Atlanta, Ga., and Clarence Brom and Arthur S. Hamilton from Newark, N.J. arrived in Athens to begin their investigation.
Supporting information was taken from the following sources: Huie, William Bradford. "Murder: The Klan on Trial." Saturday Evening Post 238.12 (1965): 86-89. Hatfield, Edward A. "Lemuel Penn Murder." New Georgia Encyclopedi Web 29 March 2013. Shipp, Bill. Murder at Broad River Bridge: The Slaying of Lemuel Penn by Members of the Ku Klux Klan. Atlanta, Ga.: Peachtree is_part_ofs, c1981. "4 in Penn Slaying Face Grand Jury Action This Month." The Washington Post, Times Herald, 9 Aug. 1964: B2. Web 4 April 2013. Barnes, Bart. "Penn Slaying Seen Part of Pattern of Intimidation." The Washington Post, Times Herald, 14 July 1964: A3. Web 4 April 2013.
Title supplied by cataloger. - External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/news/id:wsbn47035
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/news/id:wsbn47035
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn47035/presentation/manifest.json
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: wsbn47035, Series of WSB-TV newsfilm clips of FBI detention of suspects in the Lemuel Penn murder, Athens, Georgia, 1964 August 1, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1192, 10:53/11:36, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga
- Extent:
- 1 clip (about 1 min.): black-and-white, silent ; 16 mm.
1 clip (b-roll): black-and-white, silent ; 16 mm. - Original Collection:
- Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.
- Holding Institution:
- Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection
- Rights:
-
