This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

Samuel Bowers, 82, Klan Lea^r Convicted in Fatal Bombing, Dies - N^v York Times Page 1 of 2
HOMEPAGE ! MY TIMES ! TODAY’S PAPER j VIDEO I MOST POPULAR j TIMES TOPICS
Subscribe Now Log In; Register Now
Sl)f iN’cUJ ijork (times
U.S.
U.S. 1 All NYT
WORLD U.S. N.Y./REGION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HEALTH SPORTS OPINION ARTS STYLE TRAVEL JOBS REAL ESTATE AUTOS ELECTION 2006 WASHINGTON EDUCATION
fc X
rnn —*: —:	tr. r.r
run cuia nsuL.*
•..•rsa : r*.
I UiUL.1
uiuiui.tliestaclcreporl.cofn
Advertise on NYTimes.com
Samuel Bowers, 82, Klan Leader Convicted in Fatal Bombing, Dies
More Articles in National »
By JENNIFER 8. LEE Published: November 6. 2006
SIGN INTO E-MAIL THIS
Pogelio Solis/Associated Press
Samuel H. Bowers Jr. in 19S8.
Advertise on NYTimes.com
Samuel H. Bowers Jr., the imperial wizard of a Ku Klux Klan faction who was found guilty in 1998 in the firebombing murder of a Mississippi shopkeeper 32 years earlier, died yesterday in a prison hospital in Parchman, Miss.
He was 82. The cause was a heart attack, according to Tara Booth, the spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Mr. Bowers had been ill and in the Mississippi State Penitentiary Hospital in Parchman, in the Mississippi Delta, for some time before his death, which was recorded at 11:30 a.m.
Mr. Bowers was the charismatic leader of the most violent and secretive division of the Ku Klux Klan, the Mississippi White Knights, which at its peak had up to 10,000 members by law enforcement estimates. The F.B.I. attributed nine murders and 300 beatings, burnings and bombings to Mr. Bowers and the group.
He was convicted eight years ago for the 1966 firebombing of the home of the shopkeeper, Vernon F. Dahmer Sr., 58, who had allowed fellow blacks to pay their poll taxes and register to vote in his store.
Mr. Bowers sent two carloads of Klansmen with 12 gallons of gasoline, white hoods, and shotguns to the Dahmer house near Hattiesburg, Miss., on a cold January night. The burning gasoline was tossed into the house; Mr. Dahmer, whose lungs were seared, held attackers at bay so his family could escape, then died later in the arms of his wife.
Mr. Bowers was brought to trial five times in the Dahmer killing. The first four trials ended in hung juries, but in 1998 he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Previously, he had served six years in federal prison for the killings of Andrew Goodman, Michael H. Schwerner and James Earl Chaney, the civil rights workers who were murdered in Neshoba County, Miss., in 1964.
“Sam Bowers lived a life consumed with hate for African Americans,” said Mr. Dahmer’s son, Vernon Dahmer Jr., in a telephone interview from his home in Hattiesburg. “He caused a lot of pain, suffering and death for many individuals and families in my race. During his life, he never apologized or asked for forgiveness for his actions. Apparently, he felt justified in what he did to his many victims. Now that he has passed from his life, God will be the judge.”
MOST POPULAR E-MAILED BLOGGED SEARCHED VIEWED
1.	Well: Cheating Ourselves of Sleep
2.	Firebrand for Science, and Big Man on Campus
3.	N.Y.U. Gives Its Stars Loans for Summer Homes
4.	DAVID BROOKS: Beyond the Brain
5.	The Stone: The Faulty Logic of the ’Math Wars’
6.	Well: When the Bully Is a Sibling
7.	Where Corn Is King, a New Regard for Grass-Fed Beef
8.	W'ell: The Heart Perils of Pain Relievers
9.	Anxiety: I Know What You Think of Me
10. Architecture Review: Celebrating a Poet of 3 Dimensions
Go to Complete List A»
House hunting on ... the Cote Basque
ALSO IN REAL ESTATE »
Explore a town house on the Cote Basque Lake-view living at the House of Glass
nytxmes.com
REAL ESTATE
http://www.nytimes.eom/2006/l l/06/us/06bowers.html? r=l&
6/18/2013