Mock Scottsboro Trial
Below are summaries of testimony from
the characters in the Scottsboro Trial.
I have modified some characters and
testimony to simplify the classroom
activity.
Testimony of Victoria Price
I jumped on a freight train in Tennesse
with my friend, Ruby Bates. I met Ruby
at the mill we both worked in. We were
with a couple of men--Charles Lester and
Jack Tiller--guys I met when they were
working on a chain gang. Don't
worry--it is ok for me to date--I am
single now. I was married before--twice
actually. My first husband died. My
second husband? I don't know what
happened to him; last I heard he was
somewhere in Louisianna.
Anyway, we were riding on this train,
and these black boys raped me--six of
them raped me and six more raped Ruby.
They held a knife to me. I fought them,
and they bruised my back up real bad. I
kept fighting them until they hit me in
the head with a gun--split my head wide
open--I passed out.
When I got off the train at Scottsboro,
some cops told me it was illegal to
hobo--hop on freight trains and ride
like we did. They took me right to
jail. When I told them what the black
boys did, they took me to see a doctor.
He examined me. He never said whether I
was ok or not.
Some dirty-minded people say I am a
prostitute, but I am not.
Testimony of Ruby Bates
I met Victoria Price at work in
Tennessee--she is older than I am and
leads a very exciting life. She has a
different date every night of the week!
I wanted to be friends with her so I
could be popular too.
I've always been a good girl, a decent
girl. I've never done anything
wrong--until Scottsboro I had never even
seen the inside of a jail!
One night Victoria and I went down to
the chain gang to talk to the boys
there. Victoria wanted to introduce me
to some guys she met when she was in
jail--Charles Lester and Jack Tiller.
They were real nice boys.
When Lester and Tiller got out of jail,
they asked us to go out with them. We
were so excited. We hopped a train to
Scottsboro. It was so romantic--we were
in an open rail car--it had no roof, and
we could see everything. It was a bit
uncomfortable, full of sharp little
rocks that scratched me up a
bit.
A bunch of Negros were in the next box
car. Lester and Tiller started fussing
with them and almost got in a fight.
They went over to talk to them. That
was when some of the black men came over
to our car and raped us. I don't really
remember much about that.
Testimony of Mrs. Jones
I received the following letter from
Ruby Bates.
Dear Mrs. Jones,
Oh Mrs. Jones, I don't know what to do!
I hopped on a train with some friends of
mine. When the train stopped, some cops
arrested us for hoboing. When we were
in the jail, my friend Victoria Price
said we should make up a story about
being raped. She said that way they
would drop the hoboing charge, and we
would get out of jail.
Now the men we accused of raping us are
going to trial, and I have to testify.
I am going to have to stick to my story,
or they will throw me back in jail.
Please keep my secret--I don't want to
be in any more trouble.
Your friend,
Ruby Bates
Testimony of Mrs. Smith
I lived next door to Victoria Price in
Tennessee. She is white trash!
Everyone in town knows she is a bad
girl. Heavens, they throw her in jail
every month or so for prostitution. She
is always making friends with young,
innocent girls, trying to get them to
join her in her "business."
I hate Victoria Price. She seduced my
husband and broke up our marriage,
leaving me and my tow babies to fend for
ourselves! I wouldn't trust anything
she said.
Testimony of Charles Lester
I met Victoria when I was in jail. I
met Jack Tiller there too. After we all
got out of jail, Victoria introduced us
to Ruby.
I liked Ruby, so Ruby and I paired up
and Victoria and Jack paired up. One
day we decided to jump a train. We had
a nice time. The car we were
riding in wasn't too comfortable though.
It was an open car full of jagged
little rocks. My hands and ankles were
kind of scratched up from riding in
those rocks all night. The view was
sure pretty though.
We were with the girls all night. We
only left them for about five minutes to
talk to the black men in the other car.
Testimony of Jack Tiller
After I got out of jail, Victoria and I
started going out together. One night
we decided to jump on a train. We had
fun--Victoria always knows how to have a
good time. We did run into a little
trouble with some black men in the next
car--even had to go over and talk to
them a bit to avoid fighting them. We
were gone about five minutes or
so.
Victoria and Ruby never said anything
about being raped. I guess they were
afraid to tell us. Maybe they thought
we would get in a fight with the
men.
Testimony of Dr. Bridges
I am a medical doctor. I graduated from
Vanderbuilt. I examined Victoria Price
one and a half hours after she got off
the train. She said she had been raped.
Another doctor, Dr. Lynch, was present
during the examination and will verify
my findings.
I noticed she had a few bruises about
the size of a dime on her back and some
small scratches on her hands and arms.
She had no other marks on her body. I
could find no physical evidence that she
had been raped.
I examined Ruby Bates too, and she had
no marks or bruises and no signs of
being raped. Her hands were a bit
scratched up though.
The women were quite calm when I
examined them.
Testimony of Haywood Patterson
I jumped the train with a bunch of other
black men. We were all looking for
work; we decided to go to Scottsboro to
see if we could find work there.
In the middle of the night some of the
black men and the white men in the next
car started fussing at each other. I
thought sure there would be a fight.
The white men even came over to our car;
I thought we would fight for sure.
After about five minutes, they left
though
When we got to Scottsboro, we were all
arrested for hoboing. The next day the
jailer came in and said we were going to
be charged with raping two white women
who were on the train we were riding the
night before.
The women were lying--none of us ever
even left the car we were riding in.
Mock Trail Requirements
Each legal team must complete the
following steps:
1. Look at the witness list and decide
which witnesses to interview. Ask
questions to find out what they know.
Do not look at their testimony summary
sheet. You must ask questions to find
out all information. After each
interview, write a brief summary of the
details you discovered. You will have
to turn these summaries in. Each
witnesses summary should be on a its own
sheet of paper. Make sure to write the
witness name at the top of each
summary.
2. After you interview each witness,
construct a list of questions to ask
each witness during the trial. Be sure
to construct your questions to present
your witnesses in the best possible
light so you can win your case. Each
set of questions should be on its own
sheet of paper. Make sure to write the
witness name at the top of each set of
questions. Write your team name at the
top of the paper. Give each set of
questions to each witness. At this
point, the legal teams' work is done
until the actual trial begins.
3. Each witness will receive a list of
questions from the legal teams. On a
different sheet a paper, write your
character's name and answer each
question posed by the legal teams on the
question sheets. Return the list of
questions--but not the answers--to the
legal team that gave you the questions.
4. Jurors will wactch the mock trial.
Then each juror will decide whether the
black men are innocent or guilty. Each
juror will then write a paragraph stating
the verdict and explaining why they
reached that verdict.
To summarize, the legal teams will turn
in a written summary of each witnesses
testimony and a list of questions to ask
during the trial; the witnesses will
turn in written answers to the questions
posed by the legal teams; and the juror
will turn in a paragraph explaing the
verdict they reach.
