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© 2020 Bell & Shivas, P. C. All Rights Reserved.

In the early evening of July 25, 1946, four Black farm-hands – two young married

couples – were ambushed by a mob of unmasked white men near a small wooden

bridge in Walton County, Georgia, dragged down to the river bank, and shot over

60 times.

One of the victims, George W. Dorsey, had just returned from serving two tours of

distinguished service in the South Pacific and African Theatres of World War II.

Local residents refused to cooperate with the FBI and local law enforcement.

Although a grand jury was convened in December, no one was ever indicted or

prosecuted for these grisly murders.

After the case went cold for more than 60 years, two best-selling authors wrote

books about the lynching. One of them, Anthony S. Pitch, reached out to me in

2013 to petition the District Court in Georgia for release of the grand jury

records. Last year, Moore’s Ford Historian Laura Wexler joined the appellate

case after Anthony Pitch died suddenly on June 29, 2019.

This is the story about a crime that rocked the nation in 1946, a brazen attempt to

cover it up, and how a best-selling author decided to challenge the federal law

governing grand jury secrecy in order to expose the truth behind America’s last

unsolved mass murder.

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Roger & Dorothy Malcolm Mae & George W. Dorsey

Joseph J. Bell, Esq.

In Brief

Post-War Georgia: A Racial Tinderbox

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JAILED MURDERED

A Racial Tinderbox … 4

Two Hours Before the Slaughter

▶ Roger Malcolm, his wife Dorothy, and another couple (George

and Mae Dorsey) were expecting to get a ride back to Loy

Harrison’s farm where they worked as field hands.

▶ After 11 days in jail, Roger Malcolm was bailed out by local farmer J. Loy Harrison … it is 4 pm on July 25, 1946

▶ Although Harrison employed many farmhands, he was known

to be a Klansman and was particularly brutal in his treatment

of Blacks.

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(Re-enactment photo) (Actual Associated Press Photo, 1946)

▶ Loy Harrison drove Roger & Dorothy Malcolm and their

friends George & Mae Dorsey toward his farm – but he did

not take the direct route home … instead he took a back road

leading to the desolate Moore’s Ford Bridge over the Apalachee

River.

▶ Just before the bridge, Harrison’s car was ambushed by a mob

of 25 – 50 unmasked white men.

▶ The mob dragged the two black men out of Harrison’s car and

hauled them off into the underbrush by the river bank

▶When Dorothy Malcolm called out the name of someone in the

mob, they grabbed her and Mae Dorsey and led them away

with their husbands.

The Lynching: July 25, 1946 … about 6 pm

The two young couples were shot more than 60 times,

shredding their flesh and cracking their skulls.

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(Re-enactment photo)

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Aftermath:Nationwide Outrage &“A Great Wall of Silence”

▶ The White House, Justice Dept. and FBI were flooded with

more than 30,000 angry letters and telegrams demanding the

immediate arrest of the lynch mob

▶ President Truman sent the FBI to Atlanta

▶Within 39 hours, 20 FBI agents arrived in Monroe

▶ By Aug. 1st, the reward for capture of killers totaled $ 32,000

Nationwide Outrage & Truman’s Response 8

▶ The crime scene had never been secured; by the time FBI

agents had arrived, hundreds of people had trampled through

the crime scene, some looking for bullets as “souvenirs.”

▶ FBI agents interviewed Monroe residents but received little

or no cooperation: there was a “great wall of silence” –

some residents were too afraid to talk while others may have

been involved with the cover-up.

▶ The lynching took place in broad daylight and the gunmen

were not masked yet no one came forward to help law

enforcement agents. “The best people in town won't talk,”

said Georgia State Patrol Major William Spence of the case

in a 1946 quote.

A “Great Wall of Silence” Goes Up in Walton Co. 9

In a photo taken the day after the murders, Loy Harrison (right) shows

Oconee County Sheriff J.M. Bond (left) and Walton County coroner

W.T. Brown (center) where they were taken from his car.

(Associated Press photo, 1946)

▶ The FBI had several problems as it got involved with the

case:

▷ the lead agent botched the job and had to be re-

assigned;

▷ there was a huge jurisdictional issue: murder is a state

crime, not a federal crime; and

▷ FBI agents were seen by the townspeople as

interlopers and were repeatedly stonewalled when

attempting to interview residents.

▶ After all initial investigative work, the FBI ended up with

about 150 suspects including roughly 2 dozen main suspects.

▶ The U. S. Attorney General suggested they convene a grand

jury in Athens, GA.

FBI & GBI Investigations 10

The 1946 Grand Jury

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▶ On December 3, 1946, District Court Judge T. Hoyt Davis

convened a grand jury. The grand jury met for 16 days.

According to one account, the FBI interviewed 2,790 people

and the grand jury subpoenaed 106 witnesses. Four months

after the massacre, however, none of the participants were

identified and no indictments were returned for the murders.

THE PROBLEM:

Witness testimony: No one knows what was actually

stated in the grand jury room: Why?

FRCP Rule 6(e), enacted into law earlier that same year,

states that Grand Jury records are confidential and carry

rigorous legal protections to ensure their privacy.

The Grand Jury: Athens, GA (Dec., 1946) 12

The Case Goes Cold…Until 2010

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▶ Anthony S. Pitch was a best-selling author & historian with

several books that made the New York Times best seller list.

▶ From meticulous research, he learned about the 1946

Moore’s Ford Lynching in Walton County, Georgia. The

case intrigued him: a 64-year-old mass murder that was

still unsolved … and one of the victims a decorated

WWII veteran!

▶ He sought and obtained nearly 10,000 documents from the

FBI & the National Archives through the Freedom of

Information Act (FOIA).

▶ He also spent time in Walton County, GA to see the annual

re-enactment of the lynching and visited homes & churches

of the descendants of both victims and suspects.

Anthony S. Pitch Starts Book on Moore’s Ford 14

Anthony S. Pitch

Pitch’s book about Moore’s Ford,

published in 2016

▶ The only way Pitch was going to get the truth about Moore’s

Ford was to see the original 1946 grand jury transcripts.

▶ But the sanctity of grand jury secrecy made that highly

unlikely.

▶ Only a handful of cases exist where courts have granted

access to grand jury records (President Richard M. Nixon,

Alger Hiss, Ethel & Julius Rosenberg, Jimmy Hoffa, etc.).

▶ Pitch knew he would need to engage the legal services of an

attorney who was familiar with the Federal Rules of

Criminal Procedure – especially Rule 6(e).

Pitch’s Problem: A Huge Legal Challenge

Rule 6(e)

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▶ In 2013, while researching his new book on the Moore’s

Ford Lynching, Pitch met Joe Bell in Washington, D. C.

during one of his “Lincoln Assassination Tours.”

▶ The men discussed the monumental challenges they would

face in getting access to sealed grand jury records

▶ Thus began a 7-year odyssey in the Georgia courts to

challenge the limitations of Rule 6(e).

The Legal Battle Begins: Pitch Meets Joe Bell

Joseph J. Bell, Esq.Anthony S. Pitch

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The Legal Battle Begins

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SUPREME COURT

CIRCUIT COURT

DISTRICT COURT

2013

6/04/2019: 11th Circuit Decides to re-hear

Pitch v. USA en banc

6/29/2019: Anthony Pitch passes away

7/31/2019: Author Laura Wexler agrees to

stand in for Anthony Pitch

10/22/2019: Oral Arguments for En Banc

Hearing – 11th Circuit (Atlanta)

3/23/2020: 11th Circuit REVERSES its

2/11/2019 Decision: Records

MAY NOT BE RELEASED!

8/31/2020 Joe Bell files petition to have

Supreme Court hear the case

Anthony

Pitch

meets

Joe Bell

1st

Motion

Filed in

District

Court

Motion

Denied

(No

Records)

2nd

Motion

Filed in

District

Court

Pitch

locates

records

at

NARA *

2nd

Motion

Granted

8/18/17

Gov’t

Files

Appeal

Case

Heard by

11th

Circuit.

10/3/18

7 years … and still going!

11th

Circuit

Affirms

District

Court

Decision,

2/11/19

A Case Timeline (2013 – 2020)

victory for Bell/Pitch

Gov’t

Files

Appeal

DISTRICT COURT: MIDDLE DISTRICT, GA 11th CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS, ATLANTA

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National

Archives &

Records Administration

*

▶The Supreme Court only hears about 1% of all of the

cases submitted to it in a given year.

▶Once the petition for a Writ of Certiorari is

submitted, if 4 of the 9 Justices decide they want to

hear the case, it is placed on their calendar.

▶The Supreme Court is inclined to hear cases involving

one or more of the following conditions:

1. The case is of great national importance;

2. The case involves a circuit court invalidating

federal law;

3. The case involves a split in the circuit courts

that have already dealt with the core issueThe Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS)

On to the Supreme Court ? … “The Rule of Four” 19

Media Coverage

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Media Coverage of the Moore’s Ford Case

CBS News’ Mark Strassmann

interviews Joe Bell on

July 11, 2019

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22Media Coverage of the Moore’s Ford Case

At the 11th Circuit Court, 10/22/2019 …

Directly after the “en banc” hearing

At the 11th Circuit Court, first oral arguments, 10/3/2018 …

Atanya-Lynette Hayes, right, granddaughter of Roger Malcolm

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Photograph by

Johnathon Kelso

The 1946 Moore’s Ford Lynching InfoCenter

Chronology of the Moore’s Ford Lynching Case

A Modern Legal Chronology of the Moore’s Ford Case

Presentation Slide Deck, PDF

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© 2020 Bell & Shivas, P. C. All Rights Reserved.

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