The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [76]
Agent Holly’s long pursuit of the Swasey brothers and Leroy Williams was praised by Assistant U.S. Attorney Merrins, who announced that Holly, 47, will soon take the position of Chief Investigator for that agency’s Southern Nevada Office. Captain Gilstrap announced that Sergeant Tedrow has been awarded the LVPD’s highest accolade, its “Medal of Valor,” for “conspicuous gallantry and bravery in his surveillance and subsequent deadly confrontation with three armed and dangerous narcotics pushers.”
Mrs. Tedrow is survived by one sister and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert D. Sproul, of Little Rock, Arkansas. Her body will be shipped to Little Rock for interment.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/26/64. Las Vegas Sun article.
GRAND JURY CLEARS POLICEMAN
The standing Clark County Grand Jury today announced that no criminal indictments will be filed against Las Vegas Policeman Wayne Tedrow Jr. for the deaths of three Negro dope pushers.
The Grand Jury heard six hours of testimony from members of the Las Vegas Police Department, Clark County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Bureau of Narcotics. Members were in unanimous agreement that Sergeant Tedrow’s actions were warranted and justifiable. Grand Jury foreman D. W. Kaltenborn said, “We believe that Sergeant Tedrow acted with great resolve and under all the due guidelines of the laws of the State of Nevada.”
A Las Vegas Police Department spokesman attending the grand jury proceedings said that Sergeant Tedrow had resigned from the LVPD that morning. Sergeant Tedrow could not be reached for comment.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/27/64. Las Vegas Sun article.
NO PROTESTS, NEGRO LEADERS SAY
At a hastily arranged press conference in Washington, D.C., a spokesman for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced that that organization and several other civil-rights groups will not protest the January 15th killings of three Negro men by a white policeman in Las Vegas.
Lawton J. Spofford told assembled reporters, “Our decision is not based upon the recent decree from the Clark County Grand Jury, which exonerated Sergeant Wayne Tedrow Jr. for the deaths of Leroy Williams and Curtis and Otis Swasey. That body is a ‘rubber-stamp’ implement of the Clark County political establishment and as such has no sway with us. Our decision is based on information we have received from a friendly anonymous source, who told us that Sergeant Tedrow, under great personal duress, acted in a somewhat heedless but recognizably non-malicious manner that did not include racist designs.”
The NAACP, along with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), had previously announced their intention to stage protests in Las Vegas, in order to “shed light on a horribly segregated city, where Negro citizens live in deplorable circumstances.” The killings, Spofford said, “were to have been our point of redress and overall explication.”
Other Negro leaders present at the press conference said that they did not rule out the possibility of future civil-rights protests in Las Vegas. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” spokesman Welton D. Holland of CORE said. “We do not expect Las Vegas to change its ways without some notable confrontations.”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 2/6/64. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request”/“Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director Hoover, Ward J. Littell.
JEH: Good morning, Mr. Littell.
WJL: Good morning, Sir.
JEH: You’ve been meeting some charming new people and rediscovering old friends. That might be a good place to start.
WJL: “Charming” might describe Mr. Rustin, Sir. “Old friend” would never describe Dwight Holly.
JEH: I could