Civil Rights: A Little Abnormal

Byron De La Beckwith fancied himself a real Southern gentleman. He dressed with casual care, always bowed deeply from the waist when passing friends, punctuated his drawl with soft "suhs." It therefore came as a consider able shock to some of his Greenwood. Miss., acquaintances when "Delay" (after his middle names) Beckwith, 42, was charged last week with the slaying of N.A.A.C.P. Leader Medgar Evers. Said Greenwood's Mayor Charles E. Sampson: "We are just stunned. I don't think he's the type. He would always greet you with a smile."

Yet others, who...