c. 1998 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ A federal grand jury has begun hearing evidence in the infamous 1963 bombing that killed four girls at a Baptist church here and altered the course of the black civil rights struggle.

The grand jury heard testimony Thursday (Oct. 22) from the Rev. John Cross, the pastor at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church at the time of the bombing.

In an interview afterward, Cross said he testified about where he was when the bomb exploded, what he saw and what he did after the blast that took the lives of Denise McNair, 11, and Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson, all 14.

U.S. Attorney Doug Jones escorted Cross, 73, into the Birmingham federal courthouse but would not comment.

Asked about the grand jury investigation, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jimmie Brown said Thursday the agency is “hopeful that it is beneficial.”

“We feel pretty good about” the case, Brown said. “We think this is the best opportunity we’re ever going to have to solve it.”

He declined comment on how long the grand jury investigation might last or how many witnesses may be called before the panel, which hears evidence and decides whether prosecution is warranted.

The bombing of the church changed the course of civil rights history in Birmingham and beyond.

At the time, the city was the scene of much civil rights activity, including economic boycotts and marches aimed at desegregating public places and improving employment opportunities for blacks. The Sixteenth Street church was the site of many meetings on voter education and other aspects of the civil rights effort.

Birmingham _ known for its Police Commissioner”Bull”Connor and its all-white police department that used dogs and water cannons against nonviolent black protesters _ became more accepting of desegregation after the church bombing. The bombing also marked a turning point in gaining national support for the civil rights movement.

Time has been both ally and foe in the investigation, which was reopened more than a year ago, Brown said. Witnesses have died and memories have faded, but the hostilities of the 1960s also have waned and some people’s fear of testifying may have eased, he said.

“And there are people who may have had a change of heart, who weren’t necessarily fearful of talking, but as time passes, their feelings about things have changed and they have a different mindset,” Brown said. “They may be inclined to talk and do the right thing, when they might not have been willing to 35 years ago.”

Cross, who now lives in Decatur, Ga., said he has no trouble recalling that Sunday morning 35 years ago when the bombing occurred. He was upstairs in the church where he had stopped by a women’s Bible class, he said.

“Ironically, the subject of the lessons that day was `A Love That Forgives,”’ he said.

He heard a blast and thought the water heater in the kitchen below had blown, “but instead of smelling gas, I got fumes,” Cross said.

He told the Bible class to leave the church and went downstairs to check on the youth. Most had escaped, he said.

He then helped find the five who didn’t.

“I crawled in the space where the crater was made and we dug down in the debris and pulled out four bodies.,” he said. “Then we heard a groan.”

They found Addie Mae’s sister, Sarah, in a restroom stall. The doors and plumbing were twisted all around her, Cross said. Sarah, then 11, was severely injured but survived.

Cross said he was elated when he heard last year that the FBI was reopening the investigation. “It’s very important to me,” he said.

Robert Chambliss was the only person convicted in the church bombing. He was convicted of murder in 1977 and died in prison in October 1985.

Cross said he believes Chambliss was “one of many” people involved in the bombing.

FBI officials have said they reopened the case after finding “new and credible” information. Bob Eddy, a former state investigator who has consulted with the FBI on the current investigation, said last year that the suspects are the same as they were in 1963 and 1964.

The suspects then were Chambliss, Tommy Blanton, Bobby Cherry and Herman Cash.

Cash died in 1994. During his lifetime he told FBI investigators he was innocent and he also passed an FBI lie detector test. Blanton, who lives in the Birmingham area, and Cherry, who lives in Texas, have denied involvement in the bombing.

IR END SANFORD