The following document is part of the official court transcript of the second Scottsboro trials of March 1933. The first trials had occurred in the spring of 1931, when the defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death. The executions were delayed as appeals to higher courts were made by the defense attorneys. Notice in the novel the similar expectation that appeals will be made after the jury finds Tom Robinson guilty. Atticus Finch tells his children the morning after the trial, "We're not through yet. There'll be an appeal, you can count on that" (213). After Tom has been shot, Atticus says, "We had such a good chance.... I told him what I thought, but I couldn't in truth say that we had more than a good chance" (235).

The Supreme Court of the State of Alabama upheld the convictions of the Scottsboro defendants, but the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and ordered a new trial on the grounds that the accused had not been adequately represented by legal counsel.

The mere fact of the Supreme Court decision was enough to enrage much of the populace as new trials were being planned. A large portion of the community, being only interested in seeing that another guilty verdict be reached as quickly and quietly as possible, were angry about another development: the arrival of a new lawyer for the defense, Samuel Leibowitz, a New Yorker (and therefore an "outsider"). Leibowitz had already demonstrated that he was sharp, tenacious, and at times abrasive; and he was planning to give his clients the best defense he could muster something that was missing from the first trial in Scottsboro in 1931.

The defense had asked that the trials be moved from Scottsboro, Alabama, to Decatur, Alabama. Even before the prisoners were moved to the new trial site on March 27, 1933, rumors circulated that mob violence was brewing-not only against the defendants but against their attorney, Sam Leibowitz. Other rumors had been circulating that attempts were afoot to intimidate or bribe the jury. On March 24 the sheriff had announced that National Guardsmen would be asked to preserve order at the trials, and the governor of the state had asked that thirty National Guardsmen be ready to go to Decatur to preserve order.

The proceedings began in Decatur, Alabama, on March 27. As rumors and tensions continued to escalate, judge James Horton responded with a stern address to those in the courtroom. His speech is included here because it invites comparison with Atticus Finch's behavior in the face of a lynch mob and his words, not only to the jury but also to his children.

FROM JUDGE JAMES E. HORTON'S ADDRESS FROM THE BENCH IN THE SCOTTSBORO CASE, MARCH 27, 1933

I have been judge of your court for a number of years and I feel I can say, with a degree of gratification, to the jurors of this county and others on my circuit that so far as I have been able to see, all the jurors who ever sat before me have tried each case as far as they were able according to the law and the evidence, and to render a true verdict in every case.

I never knew a juror in any case to come to me and tell me of influences brought to bear with the purpose of impeding the course of justice. I have every confidence that this venire will do the same. In my experience I have had occasion to preside at trials involving some who were rich and prominent and some who were not so rich or prominent; there were important cases and some that were not so important, but in all I have felt that true justice was meted out.

I have seen jurors with wet eyes and I have heard foremen read verdicts with a voice that quavered, showing the agony experienced in reaching a verdict. Never have I known of a juror who flinched at performing his duty, wherever it might lie.

So far as the law is concerned, it knows neither native nor alien, Jew or Gentile, black or white. This case is not different from any other. We have only our duty to do without fear or favor.

So far, order in the courtroom has been good. Our citizenry has been calm and quiet, but I feel I must tell all our citizens to abide calmly the decisions of the court. In no other way can we enjoy the fruits of liberty. You must follow out the law as it is laid down to you and obey the law as it is.

Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding To Kill A Mockingbird. The Greenwood Publishing, Inc. Wesport, CT:©1994.

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