Word: byrds
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...summer of 1965, two Fort Worth gas-station attendants reported that a couple of Negro gunmen had robbed them of $3,000 in broad day light. Not until a month later did the city's undermanned police force pick up a suspect. Then Negro Truck Driver Ervin Byrd, 33, was nabbed on an anonymous tip. Though he loudly pro tested his innocence, the cops were satisfied, and the victims quickly picked Byrd out of a lineup...
...fact, Byrd was totally innocent: his accusers had pocketed their employer's cash; they admitted their crime after flunking a lie-detector test given by the oil company. After they made up the loss, the company filed no charges, and no one notified the police. Byrd, unable to make bail, stayed in jail for almost six months, vainly pleading for a session with a lie-detector test himself. Not until last Jan. 31 did the prosecutor finally permit the test, which the truck driver passed with flying colors; not until last month did the police finally erase Byrd...
...Byrd's machine stubbornly retained the poll tax to discourage voter registration; in 1961, only 17% of Virginia's voting-age population cast ballots in the gubernatorial election. The Organization-once described as "a molecular attraction of 18th century thinkers"-could never adjust to the complex needs of an increasingly urbanized state where Negroes in time became fully enfranchised, and the suburbs of Washington spread an ever-creeping tide of sophistication into the body politic...
...exigencies of change were clear to younger men. When Byrd retired and had his son, Harry Jr., 51, named to fill his Senate seat, he was criticized by Virginians for perpetuating his political dynasty. Young Harry markedly tempered his philosophy, is campaigning as a moderate, modern Democrat. He is considered a slight favorite to win on Nov. 8. And such is the continuing magnetism of the Byrd name that Harry Jr. will undoubtedly attract thousands of votes from Virginians who proudly uphold the memory, if not all the convictions, of Rosemont's old squire...
Died. Harry Byrd, 79, ex-U.S. Senator from Virginia; of a brain tumor; in Berryville, Va. (see THE NATION...