The national guard, under Major General Walter J. Hanna, took steps to disarm the citizenry and to close down gambling establishments and premises serving alcohol. By November, the national guard had restored order and helped to facilitate the first free elections in the city for decades. The state of martial law was lifted on January 17, 1955. After an investigation by the state's acting attorney general, Russell County's chief deputy sheriff was convicted for the murder of Patterson, whose son, John Malcolm Patterson, was later elected attorney general and then governor.
Background
Russell County within Alabama
The city of Girard, in Russell County, Alabama, was dependent upon the liquor trade, being home to two major whiskey warehouses. The state outlawed the sale of liquor in 1914 but it continued in Girard with local officials turning a blind eye.[1] In 1916 the Alabama State Attorney General Logan Martin intervened, sending armed deputies to the city and appointing a special prosecutor to take charge. A grand jury subsequently convicted the city marshal for accepting bribes, impeached Pal Daniel, the Russell County Sheriff, for conspiring with criminals and forced the resignation of the mayor and board of aldermen.[2] Martin's deputies carried out the largest liquor raid in the South at that time, disposing of 1,000,000 US gallons (3,800,000L) of whisky into the Chattahoochee River in a single day.[3] In 1918, just across the Chattahoochee, the U.S. Army opened Fort Benning, and hundreds of soldiers were soon travelling into Russell County to visit its brothels, liquor shops and gambling houses.[4] During the Roaring Twenties and under national prohibition of alcohol the criminal element in the county flourished; Daniel was even re-elected as sheriff.[2][5] An attempt to curb lawlessness by merging Girard with neighboring Phenix City failed with the new city authorities being corrupted.[5]
In the 1930s, the city authorities entered agreements with criminals to selectively enforce laws in exchange for contributions to the treasury. The numerous gambling halls and brothels would be raided to keep up pretences but faced only fines or 30-day suspensions of their licences.[5] The three-man city commission was in league with the local crime lords who ran the liquor, gambling and prostitution rackets.[2][6] Elections for the county sheriff, city police commissioner, and other offices were fixed with votes being bought for up to $10 each.[7][8] Criminal elements even took seats on the chamber of commerce and school and hospital boards. Many of these men were also members of the Ku Klux Klan, who held an annual torchlight parade and cross-burning in the city.[9] Jury selection was rigged with many deceased residents remaining on the lists; if called to serve, their places were taken by criminals.[10]
Despite widespread illegal lotteries being exposed in the 1938 Ritz Café disaster during which 24 people were killed after a gambling house collapsed, the state governor refused to intervene. Fort Benning was expanded during World War II and at one point housed 80,000 troops, boosting the illegal economy. An official army estimate reported that some 80% of the soldiers visited Phenix City and more than half of their pay was spent there.[11] The US Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson called Phenix "the wickedest city in America" and Major General George Patton, who was stationed at Fort Benning, proposed using his tanks to raze the city to the ground.[12] The Shephard-Matthews crime syndicate, which had controlled a significant part of the city's economy for years, moved out of illegal enterprise in 1951. This move was welcomed by reform campaigners but led to increased lawlessness as its place was taken by less restrained criminals.[13] By 1954, the illegal economy in the city was worth $100 million a year.[10]
Patterson murder and state response
A statue erected in memory of Albert Patterson
Ahead of the 1954 elections for the Attorney General of Alabama, Phenix City resident and lawyer Albert Patterson ran a campaign for the Democratic Party nomination on a platform of ridding the city of crime.[6] Despite voting irregularities, he won the primary election, but was assassinated by shooting shortly afterwards on June 18, 1954, near his offices in Phenix City.[6] Patterson's murder caused unrest in Phenix City, with the Citizen's Betterment Association informing Governor Gordon Persons that the city was on the verge of anarchy.[14] Despite having been reluctant to intervene in Russell County's lawlessness, Persons immediately ordered the state-controlled Alabama Highway Patrol into the city.[15] He also requested federal assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the reasoning that the murderer could have crossed state lines into Georgia.[14]
Persons also ordered Major General Walter J. Hanna, Adjutant General of the Alabama National Guard, to the city to assess whether troops were needed to keep the peace.[16] Hanna arrived in Phenix City in the early morning of June 19 with command over a number of locally-based troops and some brought from elsewhere in the state.[14] In theory, they were there to assist the local law enforcement, but he soon came to distrust them and suspect their involvement in illegal activities.[17][14] Hanna issued orders that all gambling was to cease and, two days later, led a force of state highway patrolmen and national guard on raids that seized almost 100 illegal gambling devices. As they had no legal authority, the force was unable to access private clubs or rooms or to make arrests.[14]
Hanna organized a counterintelligence operation by his guardsmen, partly undercover, to investigate the gambling syndicates. The operation determined that city police and county deputies were watching the guard's movements and tipping off gangsters as to the timing and location of raids.[18] At the same time, a local grand jury had failed to make any progress with the Patterson murder investigation.[17] Hanna recommended to Persons that martial law be declared to allow the national guard to take responsibility for law enforcement from the local agencies.[18] Hanna later said, "It was a whole damn town of ill repute. We uncovered 28 murders that had taken place in the previous four years, without even an indictment, much less a conviction. Much of the time, it was cheaper – and safer – to kill people than to buy 'em, because dead people stay dead."[17]
Declaration of martial law
Proclamation of martial law
Whereas, organized crime has for many years existed in Russell County, Alabama, particularly in Phenix City; and Whereas, a gang of men have conspired and are conspiring to thrive on the systematic exploitation of vice; and Whereas, the organized lawless activities of this gang continue to hamper the investigation of the murder and the ferreting out of the murderer of Albert Patterson and other crimes; and Whereas, there exists in said community a serious emergency, a defiance of the Constitution and laws of Alabama, a state of lawlessness, breach of the peace, organized intimidation and fear, and there is continued and imminent danger thereof, which the local peace officers are unable or unwilling to subdue: Now, Therefore, I, Gordon Persons, as Governor of Alabama and Commander in Chief of the Alabama National Guard, do hereby proclaim a state of qualified martial rule in Russell County, Alabama. I Further instruct the Adjutant General of Alabama, now actively on duty with units of the Alabama National Guard in Russell County, to take over, assume, supersede and exercise all the activities of the sheriff of Russell County, Alabama, the deputy sheriffs of said county, constable, Chief of police of Phenix City, Alabama, and all police officers of said city, and until further order from me to take and continue to take appropriate measures to suppress the state of lawlessness, intimidation, tumult and fear which reigns in said area.
On July 22, 1954, after liaising with US President Dwight Eisenhower and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Governor Persons proclaimed limited martial law in the city, allowing the national guard to take over law enforcement duties in Russell County.[17][6] It was reported that the national guard, armed with machine guns, shotguns and carbines, entered the sheriff's office and police department to disarm local law enforcement and confiscate their badges.[20]
Hanna voided all weapons permits, and by July 23, the troops had confiscated 40 pistols and a submachine gun from the citizenry.[20] Also on July 23, guardsmen checked all beer and liquor-licensed establishments in the city, as they had been known to be frequently flouted. Some of the beer establishments were found to be compliant and permitted to continue, but none of the liquor licenses were renewed. No new licenses were issued until at least 1955.[21] On July 24, Hanna ordered three days of raids on gambling establishments and gathered almost 500 indictments for a newly-reformed grand jury.[22] Hanna and his guardsmen virtually wiped out the local vice syndicate.[17]
Two weeks after the implementation of martial law, the mayor of Phenix City was jailed for neglecting his duties, and the city was administered by a group of military personnel chosen by Hanna.[17] In November 1954, when order in the city had been restored, the first free elections in decades were held, with armed guardsmen at each ballot box and supervising the count.[23] Having stabilized the situation, martial law was rescinded on January 17, 1955, and the city returned to civilian control.[24][25]
Aftermath
John Malcolm Patterson
With the state Attorney General Si Garrett having checked himself into a mental hospital after being twice questioned over election fraud, the investigation into Patterson's murder and other major crimes in the city was carried out by acting Attorney General Bernard Sykes Jr. with a staff of civilian investigators and attorneys.[26][27][28] Under Sykes' direction, a grand jury issued more than 2,500 subpoenas and returned 759 indictments on more than 150 individuals, which was then a record for any grand jury in Alabama. All but two of those indicted were subsequently found guilty.[17] Russell County's chief deputy sheriff, Albert Fuller; the Russell County circuit solicitor (analogous to a district attorney), Arch Ferrell; and the state attorney general, Garrett, were all indicted for Patterson's murder.[25][27] Fuller was found guilty and sentenced for life; Ferrell was acquitted; and Garrett, who remained in hospital, was never brought to trial.[26][27] One of the key eyewitnesses to the murder was stabbed to death after testifying in open court.[29]
During his election campaign, Patterson had claimed it might take ten years to rid Phenix City of its lawlessness. His death and the subsequent imposition of martial law had meant it was accomplished in just seven months.[27] In 1974, The New York Times described the campaign as highly successful and stated that it had led to 20 years of relatively-low crime in Phenix City.[30] The incident was then the only instance of martial law being declared in a US city since the Reconstruction era that was not for reasons of civil unrest or natural disaster.[17]John Malcolm Patterson, the son of Albert, was elected Alabama's attorney general in his father's stead in 1955 and held the post until 1959, when he became governor.[31]
General Hanna directed a National Guard officer, Major Hershel Finney, to write a history of the guard's activities in Phenix City. Hanna intended it solely as a historic record, to be used as a reference if a similar situation happened again. However, it found its way into the public sphere and became the basis for Edwin Strickland and Gene Wortsman's 1955 book Phenix City: The Wickedest City in America. A partly-fictionalized account of the incident appeared in the 1955 Allied Artists movie The Phenix City Story.[32]
Troops involved
A group of national guardsmen receiving news of their deactivation outside the city hall and police headquarters in Phenix City, early 1955
The troops involved were under the command of Major General Hanna, and numbered around 500 personnel at any given time.[24][33] The troops were drawn mainly from the Alabama Army National Guard, but some units of the Alabama Air National Guard were also used.[24] As part of the operation, Phenix City was declared off-limits to U.S. Army personnel stationed at Fort Benning, and additional military police were stationed on the 14th Street and Dillingham bridges to prevent a breach of that order.[33]
The Phenix City Civil Disturbance Medal was awarded to civilian and military personnel for service from June 18, 1954, to January 17, 1955, and was awarded to approximately 600 national guardsmen. In all, 1,000 medals were produced for the Alabama state government by the Medallic Art Company.[34]
The troops deployed were drawn from the following units:[24]
Russell County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 59,183. Its county seat is Phenix City. Its name is in honor of Colonel Gilbert C. Russell, who fought in the wars against the Creek Indians.
Phenix City is a city in Lee and Russell counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and the county seat of Russell County. As of the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 38,817.
Malcolm Rice Patterson was an American politician and jurist. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1901 to 1906, and as the 30th governor of Tennessee from 1907 to 1911. He later served as a circuit court judge in Memphis (1923–1934), and wrote a weekly column for the Memphis Commercial Appeal (1921–1933).
The 31st Infantry Division ("Dixie") was an infantry division of the United States Army National Guard, active almost continuously from 1917 to 1968. Composed of men from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Mississippi at various points in its existence, the division saw service in both World War I and World War II, and was mobilized during the Korean War, although it was not sent overseas in the latter.
Seth Gordon Persons was an American Democratic politician who was the 43rd Governor of Alabama from 1951 to 1955. A relative moderate, Persons provided reforms to the state prison system, and limited poll tax reform, while expanding highway spending and creating the state's educational television system. His term was relatively quiet, between the Dixiecrat revolt and the eve of the turbulent civil rights era.
John Malcolm Patterson was an American politician. He served one term as Attorney General of Alabama from 1955 to 1959, and, at age 37, served one term as the 44th Governor of Alabama from 1959 to 1963.
Albert Love Patterson was an American politician and attorney in Phenix City, Alabama. He was assassinated outside his law office shortly after he had won the Democratic nomination for Alabama Attorney General on a platform of reforming the rife corruption and vice in Phenix City.
The Phenix City Story is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Phil Karlson for Allied Artists, written by Daniel Mainwaring and Crane Wilbur and starring John McIntire, Richard Kiley, and Kathryn Grant. It had a triple premiere held on July 19, 1955 in Phenix City, Alabama, Columbus, Georgia, and Chicago, Illinois.
The West Virginia National Guard is a part of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. It comprises the West Virginia Army National Guard and the West Virginia Air National Guard. Unlike some states, West Virginia does not maintain a state defense force, nor is there a naval component to the state's military forces.
The State Line Mob was an association of criminal elements that operated in the 1950s and 1960s at the Mississippi–Tennessee state line in Alcorn County, Mississippi, and McNairy County, Tennessee, along U.S. Route 45. The State Line Mob was involved in bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, tourist fleecing, robbery, and murder. A few of the members were from Phenix City, Alabama, having been displaced from that town when martial law was declared by the Governor and the Alabama National Guard attempted to clean the town up.
Floyd Mann was an American law enforcement official, who served as Director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety between 1959 and 1963. He is best known for his interactions with the Freedom Riders who passed through Alabama in May 1961.
Thomas J. Sellers, Jr. was an American newspaper reporter, primarily for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and Sunday Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, Georgia (1950–1968). The Ledger-Enquirer received the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for exposing the corrupt government of Phenix City, Alabama. Sellers was among the first to report on events from Phenix City.
Girard, Alabama was a city in the far north-east corner of Russell County, Alabama across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia.
Henry Vance Graham was an American Army National Guard general who protected black activists during the civil rights movement. He is most famous for asking Alabama governor George Wallace to step aside and permit black students to register for classes at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1963 during the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" incident.
Joseph Alexander Cooper was an American farmer, soldier, and civil servant. A Southern Unionist, he fought for the Union Army during the American Civil War, commanding units at Mill Springs, Stones River, Chickamauga, Franklin, Nashville, Bentonville, and in the Knoxville and Atlanta campaigns. He had achieved the rank of Brevet Major General by the time he was mustered out in early 1866.
The Arkansas Militia in Reconstruction was deeply involved in the ongoing civil disturbances which plagued the state until the late 1870s. In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, the militia was first utilized by the white population to re-establish control over the newly freed black population. Radical Republicans seized control in 1867 and abolished existing state governments and militia organizations, and disenfranchised former Confederates. The new disenfranchised whites turned to the shadow Ku Klux Klan to attempt to maintain social order. The Reconstructionist government raised a new militia, primarily of black soldiers with white officers and utilized this new "Black militia" to put down the rising power of the Ku Klux Klan. Armed conflicts between rival parties continued in several counties and the militia was called to re-establish control in Pope and Scott Counties. The most severe conflict of this period occurred during the so-called Brooks–Baxter War with rival parties, with supporting militias, battling for control of the governorship. With the end of reconstruction one of the first acts of the new resurgent Democratic state legislature was to abolish the office of adjutant general in retaliation for the use of the militia to enforce the rule of the Reconstruction government.
Hugh A. Bentley (1909–1984) is known for launching a cleanup drive to get rid of crime and corruption in Phenix City, Alabama, in the early 1950s. He was beaten, and survived an assassination attempt with a dynamite bomb.
The 167th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Alabama National Guard.
Martial law in the United States refers to times in United States history in which in a region, state, city, or the whole United States was placed under the control of a military body. On a national level, both the US President and the US Congress have the power, within certain constraints, to impose martial law since both can be in charge of the militia. In each state, the governor has the power to impose martial law within the borders of the state. In the United States, martial law has been used in a limited number of circumstances, such as New Orleans during the Battle of New Orleans; after major disasters, such as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, or during riots, such as the Omaha race riot of 1919 or the 1920 Lexington riots; local leaders declared martial law to protect themselves from mob violence, such as Nauvoo, Illinois, during the Illinois Mormon War, or Utah during the Utah War; or in response to chaos associated with protests and rioting, such as the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike, in Hawaii after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and during the Civil Rights Movement in response to the Cambridge riot of 1963.
Silas Coma Garrett III was an American politician and attorney who served as Attorney General of Alabama for from 1951 to 1954.
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