Accused Klansman breaks legs while logging

JACKSON, Miss. – Edgar Ray Killen, the reputed Klansman accused of killing three civil rights workers in 1964, broke both legs in a logging accident Thursday, his attorney said.

A tree fell on the 80-year-old former lumber mill operator from Union, knocking him out and shattering both his femurs, lawyer Mitch Moran said.

Moran said Killen would be moved by Friday to University Medical Center in Jackson after being treated Thursday night at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, in east-central Mississippi.

A Rush Hospital spokeswoman contacted late Thursday denied Killen was being treated there.

Moran said Killen was talking but was on medication. He had no condition report for his client, but said that despite Killen’s age, “he is in pretty good shape.”

The accident happened when a tree Killen had cut fell onto another one, Moran said. As Killen cut the supporting tree, the top tree fell onto his head and drove him into the ground. People nearby called for help.

“It kind of drove him in the ground like a pile driver,” Moran said.

Killen was indicted in February on three counts of murder. He is accused of orchestrating the murders of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman in rural Neshoba County. A 1967 federal trial revealed that the killings were part of a Ku Klux Klan conspiracy.

Killen is scheduled to stand trial April 18.

Asked about the trial, Moran said his first concern is for Killen’s health.

District Attorney Mark Duncan, contacted at his home, said, “We can be ready for trial at any time, but obviously if it’s some kind of serious injury, it may affect the scheduling of the trial.”