June 8, 1921

Scipio Jones and Edgar McHaney filed, in a Little Rock (Pulaski County) court, a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of the Moore defendants, six of twelve African-American men convicted and sentenced to die for their supposed roles in what is now known as the Elaine Massacre. Judge John Martineau signed the writ and set a hearing on the petition. Ultimately, on January 14, 1925, Governor Thomas McRae ordered the release of the Moore defendants by granting them indefinite furloughs after they had pled guilty to second-degree murder. In the interim, Jones had secured the release of the other Elaine defendants.