1956: Fiery Cross is Planted in Local Yard​

BURNED CROSS Held by Officer Shaw

A 6-foot flaming cross was planted in the front yard of the Walter W. Whitson home at 2336 North Blvd about 8:30 PM Thursday.

Mrs. Whitson was one of the speakers for school integration at Monday night’s meeting of the Houston School Board. She said she spoke as a representative of the Houston Friends’ Meeting, a Quaker group.

MRS WHITSON, 50, was teaching a night class when the cross was burned, and Mr. Whitson 68, was at home alone. He is a retired director of the Family Service Bureau. He went outside and extinguished the flames with a garden hose.

A. B. Marshall, 62, a Police Department accountant who lives across the street at 2343 North Blvd, saw the burning cross and called police. Patrolmen D. M. Keith and R. B. Shaw responded.

The cross was made of 1×2-inch strips of wood that had been wrapped with burlap and soaked with kerosene. A broomstick torch also was found in the yard.

POLICE SGT H. P. Price and Mr. Marshall found a two-quart jar, which had contained kerosene, in a vacant lot about 90 yards west of the Whitson home.

Atty. Fred W. Moore, chairman of the Citizens League for School Home Rule and a leading anti-integration speaker at the School Board hearing, was called at home and asked for comment.

“It was a silly gesture – probably some childish prank,” he said. “I don’t think it is of any consequence.”