Family Recalls KKK Attack 32 Years Ago

HATTIESBURG, Miss. —  Civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer braved a fire so hot it peeled the skin from his arms as he fought to save his wife and children from a Ku Klux Klan attack 32 years ago, his family testified Tuesday.

Hours after the firebombing, he died in the arms of his wife, Ellie Dahmer, she testified at the murder and arson trial of former Ku Klux Klan imperial wizard Samuel H. Bowers, now 73.

This is Bowers’ fifth trial in Dahmer’s death; the others, all held during the late 1960s, ended in deadlocked juries. Bowers served six years in prison for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers.

Prosecutors say Bowers and fellow klansmen were upset because Dahmer, a local NAACP official, had offered to make it easier for blacks to register to vote by letting them pay their $2 poll tax at his grocery store.

A jury of six whites, five blacks and one Asian will decide Bowers’ fate. If convicted, Bowers could get life in prison. A generation ago, blacks were prevented from registering to vote in Mississippi and were thereby kept from serving on juries.

Ellie Dahmer (pronounced DAY-mer) testified that klansmen drove up to their home and store about 2 a.m., honking a car horn. After the klansmen set the building on fire, Dahmer stayed behind, shooting at the attackers while his family escaped. She acknowledged that she didn’t see Bowers.

Bettie Dahmer, who was 10 at the time, told the jury that she later saw her father “with his skin hanging from his arms. He never complained, he just wanted to know if we were all right.”