44. They Were Tortured To Elicit False Confessions
In 1921, two members of the posse that the sheriff organized, H.F. Smiddy and T.K. Jones, swore in an affidavit that they and other whites had tortured the African Americans that were being held in the Helena jail. They wanted the African Americans to admit that they had been planning a revolution so that those confessions could be used against them at the upcoming trials, which would be a complete sham.
Attorney John Elvis Miller was appointed to preside over the prosecution at the upcoming trials. To represent the African Americans, the city of Helena appointed white attorneys. One of those attorneys, Jacob Fink, later admitted that he did not interview any witnesses.
