3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

escalated . Rioting broke out. Then, as serious conflict seemed unavoidable, a bizarre
saga unfolded, causing Williams to flee Monroe and leave the country.
As night fell on Sunday, August 27, 1%1, carloads of whites began pouring into
Williams' neighborhood. Local blacks arnkd themselves . A white couple from nearby
Marshall drove within a block of Williams' house before they were stopped at gunpoint
and escorted to Williams' residence. What happened next is unclear . Authorities
charged that Williams kidnapped the couple, Mr . and Mrs. Bruce Stegall . Maintaining
his innocence, Williams claimed that he ushered the couple into his house for their own
protection during a firelight with the Klan, and in doing so saved their lives. Regardless,
on Monday, the Union County Grand Jury indicted Williams for kidnapping . Police
raided his home ; however, he and his family escaped to Cuba by way of Canada .~s
What happened in Monroe on August 27, 1%l, was so distorted by official
sources, as well as by various witnesses, that one person complained : "[T]he American
public needs to be informed of the facts in the case, for so rarely in the history of U . S .
journalism has such shameful treatment been given to a story ." ~6 A number of local
blacks and Freedom Riders were subsequently arrested, including John Lowry and Mae
Mallory, a mother from Harlem ; the group became knows as the Monroe Defendants.
Outrage among those who sympathized with Williams led to the formation of the
Committee to Aid the Monroe Defendants, an organization fomud to provide legal
~ SSee "Jury Indicts Williams on Kidnapping Charge," The Charlotte Observer (August
29, 1961) : 1 ; see also Williams, Negroes With Guns , 83-90.
~68erta Green, "Monroe Needs Help [letter to the editor],"~ [Baltimore] $~
~~ (October 21, 1%1): 4 .
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