FBI Investigated Ga. Gov in Old Lynching

Coroner W.T Brown places a sheet over the body of one of four African American mob victims in a funeral home at Monroe, Ga., in a July 26, 1946 file photo. Newly released files from the lynching of two black couples more than 60 years ago contain a disturbing revelation: The FBI investigated suspicions that a three-term governor of Georgia sanctioned the murders to sway rural white voters during a tough election campaign. (AP Photo, File) (Associated Press)

Eventually, the FBI identified 55 possible suspects, including George Hester, but no one was ever arrested. After a federal grand jury in December 1946 could not identify any members of the mob, the FBI retreated from the case.

The case grew colder for years, until 1991 when Clinton Adams came forward, claiming he saw the lynching unfold when he was a 10-year-old while hiding in the bushes near the bridge.

While expressing some hope at the time, an FBI memo pointed to a nagging problem _ "finding anyone who is left alive to prosecute."

The FBI previously released a 500-page summary of the case file, but the full file was only released this week after the AP appealed to the Justice Department for more than two years.

The Moore's Ford lynching is among about a dozen other unsolved cases from the civil rights era that the FBI has recently reopened but the bureau refused to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Local activists weren't shocked to learn that agents investigated Talmadge and the possibility of state employees being involved.

"It would not surprise me if state officials at all levels were implicated, if not in the actual killings, at least in the cover-up that followed," said Rich Rusk, secretary of the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee. "The conspiracy of silence wasn't just the fault of the local farmers. It was the entire culture, from the top down."

The case file says more than 10,000 interviews were conducted and among the evidence were dozens of slugs, samples of torn shirts and pieces of rope. Investigators never detailed any proof of state involvement. They also found little hard evidence linking any of the suspects to the murders.

Local activists haven't given up hope. Some still search for aging witnesses. To drum up interest in the case, a protest march is held each April and a re-enactment is staged on the anniversary each July.

Bobby Howard, a local activist who's roamed the neighborhoods for decades in search of possible witnesses, said the key is getting past the crippling fear that still grips many in the community.

"They had a right to feel the way that they did," he said. "It's sad that today, it's still the same way, with all that fear in these people."