- Collection:
- WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection
- Title:
- Series of WSB-TV newsfilm clips of James S. Lackey in the custody of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Athens, Georgia, 1964 August 6
- Creator:
- WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
- Date of Original:
- 1964-08-06
- Subject:
- African Americans--Violence against--Georgia
Police--Georgia
Murder--Georgia
Criminals--Georgia
Georgia--Race relations--History--20th century
Ku Klux Klan (1915- )--Georgia--Athens
Penn, Lemuel--Death and burial
Lackey, James S.--Trials, litigation, etc.
Sims, Joseph Howard--Trials, litigation, etc.
Guest, Herbert--Trials, litigation, etc. - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Clarke County, Athens, 33.96095, -83.37794
- Medium:
- news
unedited footage - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/mp4
- Description:
- Series of WSB-TV newsfilm clips of James S. Lackey in the custody of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Athens, Georgia, 1964 August 6. These clips are at night and very difficult to see. The first clip is of a man, covering his face, being escorted by five other men, and followed by a photographer. The next four clips are of men getting into a car and driving away. This is presumably James S. Lackey based on the still photograph that is next in this series. This is followed by other still photographs of various men. The first is of Herbert Guest (one of the men arrested for conspiracy in the slaying of Lemuel Penn) and an unidentified man (probably an FBI agent). The next still photograph is of Joseph Howard Sims, who was also arrested for the murder, with an unidentified man (probably an FBI agent). This section ends with a still of Lackey laying in the back seat of a car with his back to the camera. There is a short section that is black. The clips begin again with a shot of the "County Police Office" window (most likely an entrance to the Athens County Police department), followed by three shots of various men getting into the back of a car, which then drives away. The last series of shots is of the Guest Garage where Lackey worked as the night manager.Lemuel 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. Lackey was questioned until almost 10:30 pm by FBI agents Simpson and Brom at the federal building in Athens on August 1st. According to newspaper reports from the period, James S. Lackey, Joseph Howard Sims, Herbert Guest, and Cecil William Myers were arrested based on statements made by Lackey to FBI agents Simpson and Brom on August 6th.
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 P, c1981. "Georgia Moves to Prosecute 4 As Slayers of Negro Educator." New York Times. 8 Aug. 1964: 7. Web 4 April 2013.
Title supplied by cataloger. - External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/news/id:wsbn47036
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:ugabma_wsbn_wsbn47036
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: wsbn47036, Series of WSB-TV newsfilm clips of James S. Lackey in the custody of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Athens, Georgia, 1964 August 6, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1192, 11:39/13:15, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga
- Extent:
- 1 clip (about 2 min.): 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:
-
