July 23, 1962 - Chief Judge Elbert P. Tuttle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed today to review the legality of a restraining order barring Negro demonstrations in Albany, Ga. The order was handed down last Friday night by another member of the Federal bench, District Judge Robert Elliott, at the request of Albany city officials. Judge Tuttle ordered Albany Mayor Asa D. Kelley and other officials to appear there tomorrow and show cause why the restraining order should not be dissolved. He acted in response to a petition filed by lawyers representing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and some other Negro leaders. Dr. King sent a telegram today to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. In it, he said a pregnant Negro mother carrying a 3-year-old child had been knocked down and kicked by two unidentified peace officers in Mitchell County, Georgia. He identified the woman as Mrs. Slater King, wife of a leader in the Albany Movement. Dr. King, who is not related to the woman, asked “prosecution of the guilty parties under the Federal police brutality act.” The Mitchell County sheriff could not be reached immediately for comment.
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