Florence Mars Dies

Florence Mars, whose book about the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers won praise from many but made her the target of the Ku Klux Klan, has died, a relative said Monday. She was 84.

Mars suffered from Bell's palsy and other ailments and died Sunday, said her godson, Mark Howell.

Mars was one of the few residents of rural Philadelphia, Miss., to cooperate with
FBI agents who investigated the disappearance of three civil rights workers during the Freedom Summer in 1964.

Her book, "Witness in Philadelphia," was published in 1977 and chronicled the turbulent struggle to register black voters and the brutal slayings of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman.

Rest In Peace, Florence.