On This Date in Minnesota History: August 30

August 30, 1963 – William D. Ware, the St. Paul Negro arrested in Gonzales, La., on August 2 for not leaving a segregated café as requested, was unable to attend his trial scheduled for August 31 because of a “police incident in Nachez, Miss.” According to Ware, he was “beaten by sheriff’s deputies in a confrontation involving the use of a [gas] station washroom near Natchez” as he drove back to Gonzales on this date for his trial.

Upon emerging from the Natchez gas station washroom, Ware said he was approached by three sheriff’s deputies and ordered into the back seat of a squad car. When he was slow in moving over in the back seat of the car, one of the officers struck him twice in the mouth with a night stick. He was then taken to the Natchez Jail, but denied an opportunity to call his attorney in Baton Rouge.

The FBI and an attorney from the U.S. Justice Department took statements from Ware on Saturday evening at a Baton Rouge motel. They were in Baton Rouge to observe the integration of four high schools slated for the coming Tuesday.

Minneapolis Sunday Tribune; “St. Paul Negro Misses Trial After ‘Beating’”; September 1, 1963; p. 8A

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