Last night the Escambia Democratic Womens Club honored Rev. H.K. Matthews for his role in the Civil Rights history of Pensacola. Matthews talked about “Bloody Sunday.”
“Bloody Sunday” was depicted in the Oscar-nominated film “Selma.” On March 7, 1965, 600 marchers assembled in Selma, Alabama crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge en route to Montgomery to protest the denial of blacks of their right to vote. Television cameras captured state troopers and local police beating the men and women.
Matthews, who turned 89 a few weeks ago, talked about another anniversary which is this week. On Feb. 24, 1975, a group of protesters gathered in front of the Escambia County Jail. They were seeking an investigation into the killing of Wendel Blackwell and the termination of the deputy that shot him, Deputy Doug Raines .
The crowd chanted, “Two, four, six, eight, who shall we incarcerate? Untreiner, Raines, the whole damn bunch!â€
Claiming that the group was violating a peaceful assembly law, Sheriff Royal Untreiner and Deputy Jim Edson, head of the Sheriff’s Riot Squad, ordered the protesters to disperse. Ninety seconds later, Sheriff Untreiner ordered approximately 70 deputies armed with clubs to disperse the crowd with force.
In the ensuing melee, protesters were beaten and arrested. The total number of arrests was confirmed with 34 adults and 13 juveniles who were ultimately charged with unlawful assembly and malicious trespass.
Three days later, Rev. H. K. Matthews and Rev. B. J. Brooks, local Civil Rights leaders, were charged with felony extortion. The extortion charges were drawn from the misconception that the leaders had encouraged “assassination†instead of “incarceration.â€
At their trial, another protester, Jimmie Lee Savage, testified that he, not Matthews and Brooks, was the one that always led the chants. The tape which the accused were alleged to be encouraging the group to “assassinate†was grossly inaudible and from a completely different night of protest. Using only the testimony of deputies, namely Jim Edson, as their evidence, Matthews and Brooks were convicted of the extortion charges by an all-white jury. Brooks was sentenced to five years probation and Matthews to five years of imprisonment.
Last night, Matthews told how deputies tried to stage an escape attempt in order to shoot him. He was transported from the Escambia County Jail at 2 a.m. by two deputies. He was handcuffed to a white man whom he was thought was a prisoner. Before arriving at the state penitentiary, the deputies parked in front a dinner and went inside for breakfast. They left the doors to the patrol car unlocked.
The white prisoner tried to get Matthews to escape with him, but the pastor refused. He told the crowd last night that he told the man that he would have to carry him if he was going to make a run for it.
Matthews said he later found out that white man was not a prisoner but a plant.