Sammie Lee Williams

Original case-file folder cover or divider identifying the Williams matter.

Executive case summary for the Sammie Lee Williams investigation.

Typed police case-summary memorandum noting Williams's shooting by M.A. Weeks, death at Hillman-Jefferson Hospital.

Timeline of the case separating established facts from reported, disputed, incomplete, and missing information.

Official incident report

Cross-Reference Note: See 09. Digital and Documentary Evidence for The Birmingham News article, “Three Negro Men Hurt in Altercation With Streetcar Man,” published November 21, 1949. The article contains contemporaneous reporting concerning the location and circumstances of the shooting and the initial police investigation.

Photograph depicting the interior of the streetcar associated with the Sammie Lee Williams shooting investigation. The image documents the passenger area and interior configuration of the vehicle and was preserved as part of the investigative case file.

Summary of biographical and family information concerning Sammie Lee Williams, including birth and death details, family relationships, marriage, employment, residential history, and next-of-kin records.

Original Certificate of Death, recording gunshot injuries and cause of death.

Certificate of Death

Hillman Hospital Admitting Report to the Jefferson County Coroner

Jefferson County Coroner record documenting the death of Sammie Lee Williams, including identifying information, date and place of death, circumstances of injury, investigating officer, and preliminary findings.

Coroner of Jefferson County, Admitting Report, November 20, 1949

Marriage License Record, State of Alabama, Jefferson County, Pages 314-315

Archivist Note: The surviving reproduction is of limited legibility. Handwritten entries that cannot be read with reasonable confidence have not been transcribed or interpreted. Information derived from this record should be corroborated with additional civil, census, or vital records where possible.

D.S.S. Form 1 Registration Card, Sammie Lee Williams

Archivist Note: The bottom of the surviving D.S.S. Form 1 is marked “(over),” indicating that information continued on the reverse side. No scan or reproduction of the reverse side is present in the surviving case file available to this repository. The document is therefore incomplete as preserved, and no attempt has been made to reconstruct the missing reverse-side content.

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of Lola Blair, November 23, 1949

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of Thomas Edgar Glover, November 25, 1949

Archivist Note: Page 2 of the statement of Thomas Edgar Glover is not present in the surviving case file. The document therefore appears to be incomplete, and no attempt has been made to reconstruct or supply the missing page.

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of Eugene Huggins, November 22, 1949

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of Ella Langdon, November 22, 1969

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of Lloyd Edgar Murphy, November 28, 2026

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of H.D. O'Donnell, December 19, 1949

Archivist’s note: The first page of the December 19, 1949 police statement renders the surname “O’Donald,” while the continuation page renders it “O’Donnell.” “O’Donnell” is treated as the preferred form based on the internal evidence of the statement.

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of Mrs. J.R. (Lillian) Praytor, December 21, 1949

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of Mrs. Robert H. Steading, December 19, 1949

Birmingham Police Department, Statement of Johnnie Watts, November 22, 1949

The Statement of Mody Andrew Weeks is archived in 06. Suspects and Persons of Interest. He was also an interviewed witness which this cross-reference document documents.

Mody Andrew Weeks DD Form 1130, March 5, 1964

Biographical Memoranda In Reference To Mody Andrew Weeks, September 9th, 1921

Cross-Reference Note: See 09. Digital and Documentary Evidence for The Birmingham News article, “Three Negro Men Hurt in Altercation With Streetcar Man,” published November 21, 1949. The article includes Mody A. Weeks’s contemporaneous account of the confrontation and shooting, including his claim that he acted in self-defense.

Cross-Reference Note: See 09. Digital and Documentary Evidence for The Birmingham Post Letter to the Editor, “Wants Sunday Amusements to Help Birmingham,” published April 22, 1932. The letter includes Weeks contribution to civic life in Birmingham, Alabama.

Map of Lamar County, Alabama, preserved as biographical materials concerning Mody Andrew Weeks. The accompanying biographical memorandum identifies Weeks as having been born in Pharos, Alabama, in Lamar County. The map depicts Pharos and surrounding communities, including Sulligent, Vernon, Millport, and other locations, and appears to have been retained to provide geographic context for Weeks’s birthplace and family background.

Statement of Mody Andrew Weeks, Nov. 28, 1949; formal Birmingham Police Department interrogation concerning the confrontation with Williams and shooting.

December 10, 1949 article from the Alabama Citizen reporting that the Birmingham streetcar conductor charged in the fatal shooting of Sammie Lee Williams was free on $1,500 bond. The article states that Williams died on November 28, summarizes an account of the confrontation aboard the streetcar, notes that two other passengers were struck by gunfire, and references the enforcement of segregation laws on Birmingham buses and streetcars.

Maps and aerial imagery documenting the location of the Sammie Lee Williams shooting and the Birmingham streetcar system associated with the incident, including an annotated incident-location map and historical streetcar route maps.

Birmingham Police Anatomical Report showing entry and exit of bullet wounds.

**Description:** November 21, 1949 article from *The Anniston Star* reporting the shooting of Sammie Lee Williams and two other passengers aboard a Birmingham streetcar. The article identifies conductor M. A. Weeks as the shooter, states that the incident followed a dispute over segregated seating, describes Williams as having sustained a serious abdominal wound, and notes that police were continuing to investigate the incident.

November 22, 1949 article from The Birmingham News reporting that police obtained warrants charging both Mody A. Weeks and Sammie Lee Williams with assault with intent to murder following the streetcar shooting. The article states that Williams remained hospitalized in serious condition, notes that Weeks had been placed under bond, identifies two additional passengers wounded by gunfire, and summarizes Weeks’s claim that he acted in self-defense after a confrontation that began when Williams sat in the section reserved for white passengers.

January 7, 1950 article from The Birmingham News reporting that a Jefferson County grand jury returned a no-bill in the case of M. A. Weeks, the Birmingham streetcar conductor accused of fatally shooting Sammie Lee Williams. The article states that Williams was shot following a dispute over segregated seating on the streetcar and notes that two other passengers were also wounded. The article also reports a no-bill in an unrelated homicide case considered during the same grand jury session.

Archivist Note: The version preserved in the research file does not contain publication metadata. A separately retrieved Newspapers.com copy confirms that the clipping appeared in The Birmingham News on November 29, 1949, page 4, under the headline “Gunshot Wound—Negro Dies of Trolley Conductor’s Bullet.” The Newspapers.com copy was used to establish descriptive metadata and is not treated as the archival original.

February 9, 1938 feature article from The Birmingham Post profiling Mody A. Weeks and recounting his World War I military service. The article describes Weeks’s participation in combat operations in France, including an account of crossing the Meuse River under fire while helping establish a pontoon bridge, and reports that he received decorations for his wartime service. The article also includes a portrait photograph of Weeks.

November 29, 1949 article from The Birmingham News reporting the death of Sammie Lee Williams from injuries sustained in the November 20 streetcar shooting. The article states that M. A. Weeks had admitted shooting Williams, notes that Weeks was free on $300 bond after being charged with assault with intent to murder, and reports that police would file no additional charges because the matter was to be investigated by a grand jury. It also notes that two other passengers sustained minor injuries from stray bullets.

Newspaper obituary for Mody Andrews Weeks, age 68, documenting his death at a local hospital and summarizing his personal and occupational history. The notice identifies Weeks as a native of Lamar County and longtime Birmingham resident, notes his 41-year career with the Birmingham Transit Company, and records his World War I service, membership in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, church affiliation, funeral arrangements, burial at Crews Cemetery, and surviving family members. The clipping bears a February 22, 1964 date stamp, but the newspaper of publication is not identified on the surviving copy.

November 22, 1949 article from The Birmingham Post reporting that Mody A. Weeks, a Birmingham Electric Company streetcar operator, had been charged with assault with intent to murder and released from the Jefferson County Jail on a $300 bond following the shooting of Sammie Lee Williams. The article also reports that Williams had been charged with assault with intent to murder and summarizes Weeks’s account of the confrontation aboard the streetcar.

April 8, 1919 article from the Birmingham Post-Herald reporting that Private Mody A. Weeks received the Distinguished Service Cross for actions during World War I. The article describes Weeks’s service with Company F, Seventh Engineers, including his role in placing cables across the Meuse River for a pontoon bridge while under German fire, and reproduces portions of a letter Weeks sent to his brother describing combat operations in France. The article also identifies Weeks as a son of C. M. Weeks of Crews Depot, Lamar County, Alabama, and includes a photograph of Weeks in military uniform.

April 3, 1940 feature article from The Birmingham Post profiling Mody A. Weeks, then identified as a streetcar conductor, and revisiting his World War I combat service. The article recounts Weeks’s experience under machine-gun fire and reflects on his wartime service through the question, “Was It Worth It?” The clipping includes a contemporary photograph of Weeks.

November 21, 1949 article from The Birmingham News reporting the shooting of Sammie Lee Williams and two other men aboard a Birmingham streetcar. The article includes an account attributed to streetcar conductor Mody A. Weeks and information concerning the initial police investigation.

November 29, 1949 article from The Birmingham Post reporting that the question of further charges against Birmingham streetcar conductor M. A. Weeks would be referred to a grand jury following the death of Sammie Lee Williams. The article notes that Weeks was under $300 bond on a charge of assault with intent to murder, reports that Williams died from injuries sustained in the November 20 streetcar shooting, and states that two other passengers received minor wounds from stray bullets.

November 21, 1949 article from *The Birmingham Post* reporting the shooting of Sammie Lee Williams aboard a Birmingham streetcar. The article identifies Mody A. Weeks as the conductor who fired the shots, summarizes Weeks’s account of the confrontation, identifies two additional men who were wounded, and notes that other passengers gave an account that conflicted with Weeks’s version of events.

January 29, 1932 letter to the editor published in The Birmingham Post and attributed to Mody A. Weeks. In the letter, Weeks reflects on World War I, European war debts, American involvement in the conflict, and his own military service. He refers to having been decorated by France with the Croix de Guerre and by the United States with the Distinguished Service Cross, while also commenting on his postwar experiences and views concerning Prohibition.

April 22, 1932 letter to the editor published in The Birmingham Post and signed by M. A. Weeks. Weeks argues that Birmingham should permit Sunday amusements, including baseball games and motion pictures, contending that residents were traveling to other Alabama cities for recreation and spending money that could otherwise remain in Birmingham.

December 2, 1949 article from The Weekly Review reporting the death of Sammie Lee Williams from injuries sustained in the November 20 streetcar shooting. The article states that streetcar conductor M. A. Weeks had been charged with assault with intent to murder and was free on $300 bond, reports that a grand jury investigation was planned, and notes that two other passengers suffered minor injuries from stray bullets.

Internal case-file note summarizing the shooting and death of Sammie Lee Williams and documenting that the matter was placed on the grand jury docket.

Birmingham Police Department, Disposition of Felony Arrest, January 9, 1950

Letter Hilderbrand to Smith Regarding Perform Autopsy of Sammie Lee Williams, November 28, 1949

15 Birmingham Police Detective Division Disposition of Felony Arrest for M.A. Weeks on the murder charge; records “No Bill” by the grand jury.