The State of Florida has offered a $2,000 reward in the fatal bombing of a prominent Negro leader. At the same time, his injured wife said she had "a couple of ideas" as to who might be responsible. Federal, state, and Brevard County officials were probing the case with unannounced results as to what kind of bomb it was or who might have set it off.But this was generally accepted: The reason Harry T. Moore was slain and his wife hurt in the blast which shattered their isolated home near here Christmas night was his aggressive leadership in state Negro affairs. Gov. Fuller Warren said he would pay $2,000 for information bring about conviction of those responsible for the bombing and another $1,000 for information leading to conviction of those guilty of bombing and leaving explosives near Jewish, Negro, and Roman Catholic centers in Dade County (Miami).
In a Sanford hospital Mrs. More told a newspaper report: "I have a couple of ideas who might have done it, but when people do those kind of things, they have someone else do it."
Then she added: "I was asleep at the time and didn't see anything."
Leaders of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People in New York immediately said there was a connection between the Christmas night bombing and the widely known Groveland rape case and a series of attacks directed at Jews, Roman Catholics, and Negroes in Florida since last June.
Mary McLeod Bethune, president-emeritus of Bethune-Cookman College for Negroes at Daytona Beach, said Mr. Moore had spoken at several Florida meetings in connection with the Groveland case, and added: I think possibly the aggressiveness of Mr. Moore in pointing out to Negroes the opportunities of true citizenship may have been a reason."
BACK TO: H & H Moore Research Papers
BACK TO: Harry T. Moore Homesite HomePage