The Scottsboro Boys case began on March 25, 1931, when nine young black men and boys hopped aboard a Southern Railway train in search of work in Memphis, Tennessee. The youngest were 13-year-olds Eugene Williams and Roy Wright. The other seven were Charlie Weems, 19; Andy Wright (Roy’s brother), 19; Clarence Norris, 19; Haywood Patterson, 18; Olen Montgomery, 17; Willie Roberson, 17; and Ozie Powell, 16. Patterson, Williams, and the Wright brothers traveled together; the others were Georgia natives unknown to each other. As the train passed through northern Alabama, a fight broke out between the young black men and a group of white youths. One of the white men, walking atop a tank car, stepped on the hand of Patterson, who was hanging from the side. After an exchange of angry words, the whites jumped off when the train slowed and began pummeling Patterson and the others with gravel before jumping back on. The fight began anew near Stevenson, Alabama, with the black youths prevailing and throwing all but one of the white antagonists off the train. Meanwhile, several of those forced to jump off had run back to the Stevenson depot and accused the black youths of assaulting them. A posse of armed men met the train when it pulled into the Paint Rock, Alabama, station. They quickly boarded the train, rounded up the nine black youths, and took them off to the Scottsboro jail.