be robbed. And he had a greater right to his reputation after his death."

A jury of 12 good men and true, Wm. Alexander Buchanan, Wm. Earl Crochet, Jr., Sidney J. Engeran, Edw. J. Koehl, John R. Fitzhugh, Edw. W. Stout, Jr., Carroll L. Wood, Jr., Thomas H. Mossgrove, Joseph K. Crombie, Nathan W. McKie, Joseph A. Milinary and Joseph V. Schmalz found the three defendants not guilty. Loud rejoicing in the courtroom, over three murderers exonerated and set free. Their guilt had been transferred to the consciences of 12 other men-plus the friend who criminally helped them destroy evidence, and advised them how to "fix" their testimony to get off. The District Attorney said they still may face a robbery charge.

How many more times must the innocent die and the guilty go free before the unsubstantiated claim of an "indecent proposal" ceases to be an alibi for robbery and murder?

A BIG LITTLE STEP

The following editorial appeared Dec. 13th in the Charleston, S. C., NEWS AND COURIER:

"In a trial at Charleston involving distasteful details of abnormality, a young airman has been acquitted of a charge of murder. On the same day that the jury brought in its verdict of not guilty, three other young men pleaded guilty to robbery in circumstances that they said also involved a homosexual.

"We are attempting to draw no other similarities in these two cases, nor to criticize the jury that acquitted the airman. It is not our purpose to cast aspersions at the young man who went free on a plea of self-defense. We only mention these two cases to bring up a dis-

agreeable subject that requires. sober consideration by the public.

"Regardless of a normal person's views about sexual deviations, citizens do not have a right to prey on them, as happens on occasion. If protection of the law were denied certain classes of people, the judgement of which persons fit those classes would be left to each individual. The subject is not well enough understood to be dealt with on any such basis.

"Young men should be warned against corrupting influence they are likely to encounter. They should know how to avoid them without resorting to violence. Greed and sadism also are vices that sometimes enter into such cases. They can lead to assault and even murder.

"We dislike to discuss a subject. in which it is difficult to make meanings plain without offending decent people. We do so today, in the aftermath of a sensational court case, because we are aware of a long existing problem that appears to be growing."

Without agreeing with some technical points included in this essay, I feel that the NEWS AND COURIER is to be warmly commended for this forthright editorial.

When Leo Anthony Mantha was ten, he learned in a heated family argument that his "sister" Edith was really his mother. At 31, a navy vet, Mantha was sentenced in a Victoria, B. C., court to hang for the knife murder of his friend, sailor "Bud" Jenkins. Jenkins' cousin, Donald Perry, said Mantha and Jenkins had been very "attached to each other," but had broken upJenkins was thinking of getting married. They had been drinking heavily earlier on the night when