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Z 190 Z chapter 19 “negrO Or whITe dIdn’T have a ThIng In The wOrLd TO dO wITh IT” Theron Lynd Takes the Stand The defendant himself was our final witness. John Doar examined Lynd, who told the court that he was fortyZtwo years old and had been president and general manager of Southern Machine Sales, Inc., when elected. When I first took office, Mrs. Massengale came to me and reZ quested that she not be required to deal with Negroes applying for registration, and so I talked to her about it, of course, because that was the first knowledge that I had that she did not care to do all of the duties. I was thrown in a position of having a chief deputy clerk leave my employ if I forced her to do something she had requested me not to be made to do. That was what I had in the back of my mind. And frankly I had just walked into the office cold, and I was interested in keeping experienced help for the court proceZ dure more than anything else, so I told her she wouldn’t have to be bothered with that, that I would handle it myself. And I told her that any white people that came in that in her opinion looked like could qualify, it looked like a good applicaZ tion, just for a matter of expediency and for political reasons, beZ cause I was faced with another election in less than a year’s time, I told her to go ahead and register them provisionally, subject to my approval. Theron Lynd Takes the stand Z 191 Z q. That’s white people? a. Yes, sir . . . q. Has she ever accepted any applications from Negroes? Lynd clarified that Mrs. Massengale gave out applications to African AmerZ icans who asked for them, but did not evaluate the applications they turned in. He conceded that she did process the applications of whites that looked properly filled out. Lynd did not recall if he discussed that procedure with Wilma Walley, but he did remember after two or three incidents had taken place in the office and due to the request of Mrs. Massengale, “I told them that I would handle the Negro applications for registration . . . the girls didn’t want to talk to them and I wasn’t going to force them to do it, so I done it myself.”1 Lynd conceded that he had destroyed application forms after the MissisZ sippi legislature, well aware of the records demand provisions of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1960, authorized destruction. But Lynd testified that, after Francis Zachary advised him to retain forms, he had done so. Lynd said he had not used the good moral character requirement to evaluate applicants. q. Mr. Lynd, what are the qualifications you require in order for a person to be registered to vote in Forrest County? Lynd replied with a calculated modesty: The only thing that I can say is that according to the law they are supposed to give me the information on that form there, and whatever section of the Constitution they happen to have. Well, I look it over and read that section and then read their answer to it and just give it a layman’s commonsense interpretation, because I am not versed in the Constitution of the State of Mississippi, or anywhere else. q. Let me ask you specifically do you require that the applicant be a resident of Forrest County? a. Yes, sir. And I might say that’s the reason for asking them a quesZ tion sometimes before I give them an application, because the law to the best of my knowledge, says they must be a resident of the State of Mississippi two years and the district in which they register one year, except for ministers, who must live in the State two years but can live in the district a period of six months. [3.138.125.2] Project MUSE (2024-04-20 00:08 GMT) Theron Lynd Takes the stand Z 192 Z They established that the applicants had to be twentyZone years old by the date of the next election. q. And do you require that the applicant not be convicted of certain crimes? a. That’s what it says there. q. If the applicant answers he has not been convicted of the crimes listed in question 14, do you go into the question of conviction...

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