Page 129 - Meredith News Today

Come of this." >> on the side of opposing james meredith, you had people flooding in from alabama and other states who have nothing to do with the university of mississippi. >> literally hundreds of outsiders came pouring into the campus armed with shotguns, pistols, clubs. it was like a nazi rally. >> the mood was total anarchy. i was the first black woman, full time reporter, at "the washington post." i was not part of the team that was covering the events on campus. there is no way. as black ...

Coming in. >> the federal marshals had seized control of the lyceum which was the chief administrative office on campus. it was where we assumed that meredith would come to register as a student. so a crowd of several hundred people gathered in front of the people gathered in front of the lyceum. >> the first arrival on the campus was greeted without incident, but then when word spread that negro air force veteran james meredith was on the campus, the fighting started. >> it developed into this ...

>> on the side of opposing james meredith, you had people flooding in from alabama and other states who have nothing to do with the university of mississippi. >> literally hundreds of outsiders came pouring into the campus armed with shotguns, pistols, clubs. it was like a nazi rally. >> the mood was total anarchy. i was the first black woman, full time reporter, at "the washington post." i was not part of the team that was covering the events on campus. there is no way. as black reporters, we w...

The hope is that meredith signals the coming of the light for all of them. the fear is that the inevitable changes will bring further death, destruction and repercussions. >> go home. go home. >> reporter: what can the past tell us about the future? >> this city is run by criminal -- >> were not nonviolent, well kill these people if we have to. >> nazis, go home! nazis, go home! >> go home! >> reporter: as writer william faulkner said, "the past is never dead." >> ill shoot you! you want to play...

I love, and i respect our heritage. >> mississippi had always been just a place apart to me. it was the south africa of america. it was a place you didnt really want to put your foot. >> now, a civil rights maverick would strike at the venerable all white university of mississippi known as ole miss. >> university of mississippi had not had any black folks as students ever. an extremely single-minded young veteran, james meredith, decides hes going to go to ole miss and will not be deterred. >> i...

And she called me and said, meredith didnt show to work. mare tij always went to work. >> reliable meredith wasnt where she was supposed to be. she called the sheriffs office and then she and other meredith friends assembled a search party. maybe she got hurt. do you know where eye im going hiking" would be? >> we had a few ideas. we had books she had, places she highlighted and kind of just started driving. >> the friends split up, looking for merediths car at trailhea s shed marked in her hiki...

In an attempt to thwart investigators, he decapitated and poured bleach over the body. this is gruesome beyond belief. >> yes. >> for what reason? >> i dont know. >> hilton had confessed to killing meredith emerson. but what about those other cases in the national forest? a woman in florida, the elderly couple in north carolina. >> he would not talk about anybody to us other than meredith. >> because you have to wonder when the switch was thrown in this man. >> i know. how many decades does this...

Saw it, he only had one option, repugnant as it was with, and that was to cut a deal with gary hilton. >> sunday morning we got him a lawyer and i went up and had a talk with the lawyer and essentially laid out our case. >> hiltons lawyer then conferred with his client. the district attorney was brought into the loop and a deal went down. hilton would plead guilty to murder, because that is what it had been, and then he said he would lead investigators to merediths body in exchange for taking th...

And he hung up. >> hilton called from a pay phone at a convenience store near where merediths dog had turned up. you have a living pet, a missing owner and a phone somewhere in the vicinity of this guy you believe is her abductor. >> yes. while the agents are searching in the area of the convenience store, they look in a dumpster. it was in the dumpster we found merediths identification, her purse, bags of bloody clothing. at that point, we felt that this was not going to turn out as we had hope...

That we have to embrace this family and tell them everything, even though what we were telling them was not good news. >> hilton, meredith, her lab ella. the tip line kept ringing with leads good and bad. then four days in, a friday afternoon, a shopper called to say that shed found a black lab mix wandering around a supermarket parking lot. >> surprised to see any dog running loose in the parking lot. then to find out its the one that meredith was -- it was her dog, you know, was a pretty big s...