Alleged Floggers on Trial for Burglary, July 17, 1923

Alleged Flogging to Face Trial Today on Charge of Burglary. . . Lawson, Brogden, Hedgepeth Alleged to Have Been Members of Flogging Party. . . Connected with Klan. . . Arrest of Taliaferro Recently, Causing Interest to be Centered Around Lumberton Trial

By the Associated Press

Lumberton, N.C., July 16—Mike Lawson of Fairmont, Jule Brogdon and John Hedgepeth of Proctorville are scheduled to go on trial here tomorrow in connection with an alleged hooded band raid resulting in the whipping of Mrs. ?tie Purvis and Mrs. Mary A. Wilson, near Proctorville, on April 14.

The men are charged with first degree burglary, kidnapping, secret assault and assault with a deadly weapon. First degree burglary is a capital offense in this state.

The prosecution charges that Lawson, who is the chief of police of Fairmont, Brogden, Hedgepeth and others entered the home of Mrs. Purvis and carried her and Mrs. Wilson to a negro churchyard where they were laid across a log and whipped. Mrs. Purvis testified at a preliminary hearing it was Lawson who applied the whip.

The defendants are now being held in jail.

H.L. Taliaferro, who claims he is an agent of the Ku Klux Klan, was arrested near here 10 days ago on charges of tampering with and attempting to intimidate principal witnesses for the state in this case. He also will be tried at this term of court.

From the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, July 17, 1923