The Catonsville Nine's invasion and burning of the Catonsville draft board files: an interview with Jean S. Walsh given on March 30, 1973.

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Collection: Friends of Catonsville Library Date: 1973-03-30 Date of Digitization: 2004-03-31 Source: Catonsville Library Original Dimensions: 28 x 22 cm Creator: Walsh, Jean S.

Description:
A transcript of a recorded interview with Jean S. Walsh, the editor of Catonsville's local newspaper, the Catonsville Times. She was present at the scene after the burning of draft records in Catonsville on May 17, 1968.

Transcription:

to the scene of the fire on the parking lot and I took a picture of the remnants 
of the files and then I entered Lt. Scannell's police car and we drove to Wilkens 
Police Station.

Interviewer:  To what degree was your involvement at the police station?   Did 
                 the group appear happy?  Or just how did they appear?

Interviewee:  Well, I was taken by Lt. Scannell into a very large room there
                 which is used by the police force for making reports and having 
roll call and so forth, and there were seated and standing about, the nine 
individuals.  Seven of them were men and two were women.  I learned later that 
the two who were women were Sisters of the Catholic denomination.  The others 
were either priests in their clerical collars or they were Catholic laymen who 
had been involved in this because of their commitment for doing something to 
alert the nation to what they thought was the immorality of the United States in 
the Vietnam War.  When I came in and said I wanted to take their picture, they 
seemed pleased.  They were smiling.  They were happy.  The women were evidently 
a little bit nervous.  They were not in religious garb.  They were in sleeveless 
dresses because it was a very warm, bright, sunny day.  The two men in clerical 
collars were brothers, the Rev. Philip Berrigan and the Rev. Daniel Berrigan.  I 
know that Philip, who evidently was the spokesman for the group, had loosened his 
clerical collar and it was askew and so when I said I wanted to take their pictures, 
his brother Dan, a dark-haired man said to Philip, "Come on Phil, put that collar 
on properly.  You don't want to look unkempt for the picture in the paper.  Fix 
it."  So he fastened his collar and they asked me, "Now how do you want us to 
stand?"  This seemed all very strange for people who had just been arrested by
the police, because most times those who are arrested by the police prefer to 
hide their heads.  But these people were adamant and eager to be in the limelight. 
That was the purpose of what they had done - to bring attention to their act.  So 
I said, "Let's have the two priests, Fr. Berrigan and you Fr. Berrigan, stand in 
the center in the back, the women sit and the others group around."  So they did. 
As far as I know that is the only picture of the nine taken on that day.  I've 
never seen another one taken of the nine taken on that day. So it was a unique 
experience.  I was writing down the names of those in the picture so the cut line
for the newspaper could be made and I still had to find the names of the two last 
men - which were which - and before I had a chance to do that, FBI men came into
the room and said, "All right, we don't want anyone else in here.  Everybody else