| Summary: | Jones, president of the Birmingham City Commission, had beaten Tom Skinner with his cane after an dispute over a new tobacco tax. (When the commission rejected Skinner's petition requesting a referendum on the tax, he distributed a cartoon depicting Jones as Adolf Hitler and Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor as Benito Mussolini.) This image was published in the Birmingham News on May 24, 1939, with the following caption: "Whacker and Whackee - City Commission President Jones (top, above) as he appeared on the witness stand In Judge H. B. Abernethy's court to defend himself against assault with a weapon charges for the cane whacking of Atty. Tom Skinner (below). The charges grew out of an incident at the City Hall when Jones whacked Skinner after the latter had circulated a cartoon depicting Commissioner Jones as Adolf Hitler." (The image is damaged due to deterioration of the original negative.)
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