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Two Youths Caught in Attempt to Blow Up a Synagogue in Texas

February 1, 1962
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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A county probation official said today that no decision would be made pending further study on whether charges would be filed against two juveniles who had planned to dynamite Congregation Ahavath Sholom here.

The boys, 12 and 14, come from middle class families. They were released to their parents while police complete their investigation of the case. Lynn Ross, County Juvenile Probation Officer, said that a hearing would be held in Juvenile court when the police investigation is finished.

Swift police action led to the seizure of the boys. Capt. W. M. Cole, director of the police youth activities division, said he had received a call that an attempt would be made to blow up the synagogue. A radio police car was detailed to the area and the boys were seized as they approached the synagogue, bearing a large bundle. The supplies included several large firecrackers, a glass jar filled with gunpowder, a can of liquid heat, some homemade fuses and a swastika arm band.

The two boys said during police questioning that the idea of attacking the synagogue came to them after reading about the Jerusalem trial of former Gestapo colonel Adolf Eichmann and from watching television programs in which some actors wore Nazi armbands. The youths said they meant no harm to Jewish people but were unable to explain why, if that was true, they wanted to damage the synagogue.

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