The revelation that an attempt is being made to inject the racial issue into the case of Libby Holman, Jewish actress, in connection with the death of her husband, Smith Reynolds, millionaire tobacco heir, is made by the “New York Journal.”
The paper sent a special reporter to Winston-Salem, located in the section known as the former stronghold of the Ku Klux Klan, who in a signed story reveals that J. Eric McMichael, the Assistant State’s solicitor, at the coroner’s inquest into Reynold’s death, repeatedly injected references to and questions regarding the Jewish origin of Miss Holman.
Benet Polikoff, counsel for Miss Holman, himself a Jew, will not, however endeavor to seek a change of venue for the trial, because of the race prejudice which has been stirred up.
“The Day,” commenting upon this phase of the case, says: “People are accustomed to crimes against human life and property. But they depend upon justice to punish the offenders. But if justice commits a crime against human life; if it is guilty of the unpermissible in order to end a life, then from whom can one await punishment for the guilty and protection for the innocent.
“This is the situation with regard to the trial of Libby Holman.”
Jacob Convisser of Newark, N. J., is the author of a new Yiddish volume, “Gems of the Bible,” containing a collection of sixty addresses and homiletic essays for bar-mitzvas and other stated occasions when reference is made to Jewish lore and ritual. Mr. Convisser is a former president of the Jewish National Fund Council of Newark, and active in the Order Sons of Zion.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
