Meridian 29 December 1944 YOUTHS UNDER HEAVY GUARD

Meridian (Mississippi) Star
29 December 1944
YOUTHS UNDER HEAVY GUARD
Joseph Leemon, Maylene Ala., and Maurice Shimniok, Madison, Wis., executed at Waynesboro shortly
after midnight Friday for the murder of ex-Sheriff Tom S. Boykin of Wayne county.
The youths were moved from the Lauderdale county jail to the Wayne county jail in charge of Sheriff
William Bankston, with Fred Todd, chief of the highway patrol, providing the patrol escort.
Three patrol cars were used in transporting he boys from Meridian to Waynesboro. In the first patrol
car were Highway Patrolmen Herrington and Hughes and the Rev. Vernon V. Hosey, of the Christian
Missionary Alliance, who is head of the East End Radio Gospel Tent here, and offered spiritual aid to the
youths the past months and up until the last minute before they died.
In Second Car
In the second highway patrol car were Highway Patrolmen Gray and Neal, Sheriff Bankston, and the two
youths. In the third car were Chief Todd and news representatives of The Meridian Star, the Associated
Press and the Commercial-Appeal.
The trip, as a precaution, was made via Highway 11 to Laurel, and thence to Waynesboro. The three
cars arrived between 9 and 10 p. m. and there was at least three hours’ wait before Leemon walked into
the courtroom in a nonchalant manner, flipped a cigaret aside and sat in the chair as one might take a
seat at a table to eat dinner.
The Rev. Mr. Hosey said that he sat in the cell with the two youths, reading to them the 23rd Psalm.
Leemon and Shimniok, and the Rev. Mr. King, of Waynesboro, joined in singing “Amazing Grace.”
Leemon requested of the Rev. Mr. Hosey, that when the latter holds funeral services over his body at
Bessemer, Ala., Sunday, that he, the Rev. Mr. Hosey, sing “Death Is Only a Dream.”
Joke During Trip
It was stated that as the youths were in the patrol car en route from Meridian to Waynesboro, they
joked with each other, taking turns at playing the part of the preacher, one being the preacher one time
and the other the condemned man.
As the boys were in a cell on the top floor of the Wayne courthouse, they took turns looking out the
window and asking each other if they saw anything. The Rev. Mr. Hosey said he believed the youths
were prepared to meet their Master, but that possibly as a front, or pretense, they wise-cracked and
acted indifferent.
Highway patrolmen said that both Leemon and Shimniok manifested the same 100 per cent courage
that Grady White manifested when he was electrocuted at Philadelphia some four years ago. There was
no weakening on the part of either boy. It was as if they knew they must pay the penalty and it was the
last step in a series of experiences merging with the period after they went AWOL from the naval station
near Pensacola.
Keep Plans Secret
Persons going from Meridian traveled via Highway 45 directly to Waynesboro, as Chief Todd did not
announce until after the cars left Meridian that Sheriff Bankston had requested the journey be made via
Laurel.
Excepting for highway patrolmen stationed here, no officers from Meridian were at the scene. Three
officers from Laurel attended, including Wayne Valentine, traffic director and policeman for many
years.
It was stated that following the executions there was a slight mix-up in regard to the bodies. One
undertaker was to take the Alabama youth and another the Wisconsin boy. For a minute or so, the
undertakers had the wrong remains, but the mistake was rectified quickly.
The courthouse was brightly lighted and a considerable number of cars were parked about the building,
but for the most part there was not much attention paid to the circumstances. An incident of the night
was that an hour or so before the executions, the dynamo which furnishes the electricity was started up
and played a gruesome tune as perhaps from 90 to 100 persons were about the building.
Everything was orderly, managed with skill and courtesy, and only a number of young boys were
restricted from witnessing the executions.