Alabama National Guard In Phenix City-A High Watermark, The

Army, Aug 2005 by Allen, Richard F

After the two lawyers thoroughly trashed Albert Patterson, they suggested to the chairman that if he ran a tape and retallied the votes, he might find that the vote count was off by about 2,000 votes that should have gone to Patterson's opponent. When the committee chairman resisted, the state's chief legal officer showed him the door, keeping the tabulations so he could "study" them.

Later that day, the young chairman was informed by the attorney general and Russell County district attorney that they only needed 600 votes in Jefferson County since other counties would be making adjustments in their totals. Over the course of the weekend, the two state law enforcement officials persuaded the county party chairman that, to defeat the gamblers, he had to turn in tabulations that had been doctored to show Patterson's opponent receiving 600 more votes in Jefferson County than he actually received. The fraudulent tally sheets were turned in on Monday, suspiciously, three days late.

When the votes were tabulated in Montgomery, however, not enough votes had been changed or stolen, and Albert Patterson won the Democratic nomination by a mere 804 votes. Nevertheless, the uproar that erupted in the press because of the late report and changed vote totals in Jefferson and other counties convinced the Jefferson County district attorney to ask a sitting grand jury to investigate whether election fraud had occurred. The grand jury began taking testimony immediately.

On the morning of Friday, June 18, Attorney General-elect Patterson was in Montgomery telling friends that he would be going before the Birmingham grand jury the following Monday and that he "had the goods" on Garrett and Ferrell. Returning to Phenix City that afternoon, Patterson went by his office to work on thank-you notes to his supporters around the state. About 9:00 P.M. he walked out of the building to his car parked in the adjoining alley. As he opened the car door, three shots rang out. Albert Patterson staggered from the alley and fell dead on the sidewalk. One of the bullets had been fired into his mouth as a warning to others who might be tempted to talk.

As news of Albert Patterson's assassination ricocheted around the state and nation, all hell broke loose. The governor, Gordon Persons, quickly dispatched Maj. Gen. Walter J. (Crack) Hanna, Adjutant General of the Alabama National Guard, to Phenix City. The governor knew that only one organization in the state had the unquestioned integrity, will and discipline to handle Phenix City-and that was the Alabama National Guard. Gen. Hanna, accompanied by his senior military police officer, Col. Jack Warren, was in the city before daylight the next morning, and National Guard troops were on the streets by that afternoon, initially with the mission of just keeping the peace and preventing further bloodshed.

Shortly after the shooting, Phenix City police officers were dispatched to warn gamblers, thugs, prostitutes and con men to get out of town, and they began bailing out of Phenix City by every mode of transportation available.