$10,000 in Rewards Posted for Finding Nashville Synagogue Bombers

Rewards totalling $10, 000 have been posted for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the dynamiting of the Jewish Community Center of this city. Meanwhile, two new threats against the life of Rabbi William Silverman and against The Temple, a Reform synagogue of which he is the spiritual leader, have been reported.

The rewards reached $10, 000 when the center itself announced today a $3, 000 offer. Previously, the State of Tennessee had posted $5, 000–the maximum under state law–the city had offered $1,000 and a private source had put up $1,000.

The new threats against Rabbi Silverman and The Temple were made by telephone. An anonymous caller, unable to get Rabbi Silverman by telephone, insulted and threatened a Negro porter at the synagogue and warned him to leave the building because it would be blasted. The porter communicated with the Rabbi, who advised him to turn on the parking lights around the building and leave. Before the porter had completed this mission he received another call from the same terrorist again threatening his life and the synagogue. After turning on the lights, the porter left.

City police were guarding all Jewish institutions in Nashville today and private police guards were posted around The Temple and at Rabbi Silverman’s home.

When he posted the new reward, Sheppard Schwartz, president of the Jewish Community Center, thanked fellow citizens of all faiths for their expressions of sympathy and outrage over the bombing. "We know that our fellow citizens recognize that what has happened was an attack upon the Ideals of all American citizens. We join with the whole community in its determination that lawlessness and violence shall not be tolerated in Nashville, " he said.