The Testimony of Victoria Price and Dr. R. R. Bridges 1931
APRIL 6, 1931
The nine Scottsboro defendants who were arrested on March 25, 1931, were swiftly tried in
April of the same year. They were represented by court-appointed lawyers. (In To Kill a
Mockingbird, Atticus Finch was also appointed by the court to defend a black man on a charge of
raping a white woman.) The presiding judge was A. E. Hawkins; the defense attorneys were
Steve Roddy and Milo Moody; and the prosecuting attorneys were Bailey, Thompson, Proctor,
and Snodgrass. All these major figures were replaced by others in the next round of trials in
1933.
The following includes an excerpt of the testimony of the chief accuser, Victoria Price, in the
first of several sets of trials of the defendants. The manner of her testimony helps establish her
character. The reader can also discern whether her later testimony is consistent with what she
swears to here in the first trials, and whether other witnesses corroborate her testimony. The
defense probes the truth of her marital status, her physical condition just after the rape, her
character and past life, and her description of the rape. Some of the cross-examination by
prosecuting attorney Bailey concludes her testimony.
The excerpts conclude with the testimony of a physician, Dr. R. R. Bridges, who examined
Victoria Price and Ruby Bates shortly after the alleged attack.
Price and Bridges would remain the most important witnesses throughout the five years of trials.
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF VICTORIA PRICE AND DR. R. R. BRIDGES IN THE SCOTTSBORO TRIAL,
SPRING OF 1931
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT, JACKSON COUNTY, ALABAMA.
Spring Term 1931
STATE OF ALABAMA
(287)
Vs
CHARLEY WEEMS,
CLARENCE NORRIS.
Appearances:
Attorneys for State.
H.G. Bailey, J.K. Thompson, Proctor & Snodgrass
Attorneys for Defendants. Milo Moody, Steve Roddy
This cause coming on to be heard was tried on this the 6th day of April 1931, before his honor .
E. Hawkins judge presiding, and a jury, when the following among other proceedings were had
and done, to wit.
Defendants Charley Weems and Clarence Norris arraigned and plead not guilty.
Indictment read to the jury by Solicitor and the defendants by their counsel plead not guilty
there-to.
Official Stenographic Report of the Oral Proceedings Had in the Case of State of Alabama vs.
Charley Weems, Clarence Norris, in the Circuit Court, Jackson County, Alabama, Special
Session 1931, Case No. 2402, Hamlin Caldwell, Official Reporter Ninth judicial Circuit,
Scottsboro, Alabama. Taken down on April 6, 1931. Case No. 2402.
Examination of Victoria Price by Mr. Roddy.
Q: Where did you get on the freight train?
A: Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Q: Who was with you when you boarded that freight train?
A: Ruby Bates.
Q: Is she married or single?
A: Single.
Q: Are you married or single?
A: Single, I have been married.
Q: Are you and your husband divorced?
A: No sir.
Q: Where is he?
A: I don't know.
Q: When did you last see him?
A: I have not seen him in nearly a year.
Q: Where was he when you last saw him?
A: In Huntsville.
Q: Is he there now?
A: I don't know.
Q: Did you leave him at Huntsville?
A: Yes, Sir.
[State Objects to that.]
THE COURT: Yes, I sustain the objections to that.
[Defendant Excepts.]
Q: When were you married?
A: I married the 18th, of last December a year ago.
Q: And you haven't seen your husband in a year?
A: I have seen him once.
Q: Where was that?
A: In Huntsville.
[State Objects to that Question.]
THE COURT: Let her answer.
Q: How long ago?
A: I have not been keeping up with the days.
Q: Have you any idea when you saw your husband last?
A: It has been two or three months-about a month I reckon, not hardly a month, he was leaving
for New Orleans the last time I seen him.
Q: From Huntsville?
A: Yes sir, his home was in New Orleans.
Q: You have not seen him since?
A: No sir.
Q: You don't know where he is now?
A: No sir.
Q: He is not in Huntsville?
A: No sir, I don't reckon he is.
Q: You were not hurt, were you?
A: I must was, I wasn't well, I was pretty sick and you would have been too.
Q: You were not torn?
A: Oh no, I wasn't torn.
Q: Have you been married?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: How many times?
A: How many times I have been married?
[State Objects to how many times she has been married.]
THE COURT: Let her answer.
A: I have been married twice.
Q: re both husbands living?
A: What do you think-no.
Q: Either one?
A: No, sir.
Q: Are both dead?
A: No.
Q: Do you know where they are living?
A: I just told both were not living, how could they be living when one is dead.
Q: Are you divorced?
[State Objects. Court Sustains. Defendant Excepts.]
Q: Did you ever practice prostitution?
[State Objects. Court Sustains. Defendant Excepts.]
A: I don't know what you are talking about.
Q: You say you don't know what prostitution means?
A: Why, no.
Q: Haven't you made it a practice to have intercourse with other men?
A: No sir, I absolutely haven't.
Q: Never did?
A: No sir, only with my husband.
[State Objects. Court Sustains.]
Q: And with no other white men?
A: No sir, but with my husband, I want you to understand that, to distinctly understand that.
Q: Were you struck about the body or head?
A: My back was bruised up; I was choked and everything else.
Q: Did they have to knock you down?
A: He knocked me to my knees.
Q: Get you entirely down?
A: Sure, he asked me to lay down, he threw me down.
Q: He had to throw you down?
A: He must have did.
Q: Do you know whether he did?
A: Sure, do you think I am crazy?
Q: Were you beat up about the body?
A: My back was beaten up.
Q: Which one bruised you up?
A: The one that had a knife on me.
Q: Did you say anything to the boys?
A: Yes sir, we was begging them to quit and they wouldn't do it.
Q: You were begging them to quit?
A: Yes sir.
Q: And they beat you unconscious?
A: No sir, they did not beat me unconscious, I did not say they beat me unconscious; I was
unconscious when I got off the train at Paint.
Q: Do you remember getting off the train at Paint Rock?
A: No sir, when I came to myself I was sitting in a store, I don't know who took me off.
Q: Do you know where you were taken from the grocery store and who took you?
A: Yes sir, I was taken to the jail at Mr. Wann's.
Q: Here in Scottsboro?
A: Yes sir.
Q: And have been there ever since?
A: Yes sir. I have been there ever since.
Q: You don't know who took you off the train?
A: Yes sir, I took myself nearly off it and fell the rest of the way.
Q: Did the officers come in this gondola and get you?
A: No sir, I climbed up on the side of the gondola myself with Ruby's help and when I got to the
last step I fell and when I came to myself I was sitting in a store.
Q: Do you know where you were taken from the store?
A: Sure, I was taken to the jail; you have repeated that three times.
Q: You have been in jail since?
A: Yes sir, I have been in jail since.
Q: Were you ever in jail before?
[State Objects. Court Sustains. Defendant Excepts.]
Q: Do you know any of the police officers in Chattanooga?
A: No sir, I don't.
Q: Do you know the police matron at Chattanooga?
A: No.
Q: You are not acquainted with any of the officials among the police in Chattanooga?
A: No.
[State Objects.]
THE COURT: I sustain the objection for the present.
MR. RODDY: We will make it competent later if the Court please.
Q: You were beaten up?
A: No, I did not say I was beaten, I said I was bruised up right smart.
Q: You had never known the white boys till, you got on the train with them?
A: That is what I said.
Q: You have not been in trouble in Chattanooga?
A: No sir, I haven't.
Q: Were your clothes bloody?
A: No, my clothes wasn't bloody; I wasn't cut up.
Q: Were you suffering?
A: Well, I wasn't easy, I must have been hurting.
Q: Were you torn or lacerated about your privates-did you have a doctor examine you?
A: Yes sir.
Q: He told you, you were all right, didn't he?
A: He did not tell me whether I was or not.
Q: He did not tell you anything was wrong?
A: I did not ask him.
MR. RODDY: All right.
THE COURT: Is that all?
MR. RODDY: I think that is all.
Redirect Examination: Examined by Mr. Bailey.
Q: Did the doctors make an examination of you after this affair there?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Where were you when they examined you?
A: I was at their office.
Q: Here in Scottsboro?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Do you know how long after this occurrence?
A: Just about an hour I reckon; yes, just about an hour and a half after it happened.
Q: You came from Paint Rock up here?
A: They brought me to the jail.
MR. BAILEY: That is all.
Examination of Dr. R. R. Bridges, witness for the State, by Mr. Bailey.
Q: Doctor, are you a practicing physician in this county?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Of what medical institution are you a graduate?
A: Vanderbilt.
MR. RODDY: We admit his qualifications.
Q: Doctor, do you know this witness just on the stand, Victoria Price?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Along about the 25th of March last here in Scottsboro, did you make an examination of her
person?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Where was she when you made that examination?
A: At my office.
Q: About what time of the day was it?
A: About four o'clock or a bit after, I don't remember exactly.
Q: Was there any other physician present?
A: The county health doctor, Dr. Lynch.
Q: Now doctor, did you find any bruises on her body anywhere?
A: A few bruises in the lower lumbar region, down about the top of the hips behind, about here
(indicating), and there was a few minor scratches on the left arm, I believe, on one of the arms,
just short scratches.
Q: Any other bruises anywhere else on the body?
A: No sir.
Cross-Examination: Dr. Bridges Is Examined by the Defense.
Q: These girls had no bruises on them?
A: The Price girl had a few little blue places on the back and lower down in the lumbar region.
Q: Large or small?
A: Small.
Q: She was not lacerated at all?
A: No sir.
Q: Was she bleeding?
A: No sir.
Q: Was the other girl?
A: No sir.
Q: Neither one was bleeding?
A: No sir.
Q: And the discoloration you speak of was very small?
A: Yes sir.
Q: The girls were not hysterical?
A: Not at the office on that examination.