New Agency Starts Secret Investigations of Recent Synagogue Bombings

Secret investigations into the recent bombings of synagogues, Jewish centers and Negro schools are being conducted by an agency formed following the conference here last Saturday of mayors and police officials of 29 cities in the South, it was disclosed today.

Capt. H. W. Branch, of the Jacksonville Police Department, who heads the new agency, said that he has information leading him to believe that one person, or one organization, is responsible for the 47 separate bombings and bombing attempts in the South since last year.

The Council of the American Jewish Congress in South Florida today published a statement calling for wide public support of a House of Representatives bill that would make it a Federal crime to possess or transport dynamite or other explosives in violation of any state law. The bill, introduced by Rep. J. Carlton Loser of Tennessee, grew out of the recent unsolved bombings in Jacksonville, Miami and other Southern cities. The measure is now before the House Judiciary Committee. Enactment of the bill into law would permit the Federal Bureau of Investigation to enter into all cases in which explosives are used unlawfully.

“We urge every citizen who supports law and order and abhors violence to write or wire his Congressman at once, asking that the bill be voted favorably out of Committee and brought to the floor of the House of Representatives, “the AJC statement said. “The longer the perpetrators of these bombing attacks go undiscovered and unpunished, the more outbreaks of violence may be expected. Thus far, not one arrest has been made in any bombing attack, despite the best efforts of local police.

“We are grateful for the prompt investigations launched by state and city police officers in Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville and other cities in which bombings have taken place or been attempted,” the statement continued. “We strongly believe, however, that in order to hunt down the criminals, bring them quickly to justice and halt the mounting wave of terror and intimidation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation must be permitted to bring its superior facilities and experience into play.”