What if I told you that a vaudeville performer who was quite popular is buried in an unmarked grave in Monroe, Louisiana. You might find it hard to believe. But then you may find the circumstances of the death even more intriguing!

So yes, a lady by the name of Blanche Clyfton is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Monroe, Louisiana. This cemetery is where a larger portion of the wealthy and successful black early population of Monroe are buried. The particulars of how she ended up in Monroe are not exactly known. She had been traveling with the Vaudeville performances for many years. And it would seem that her friends and neighbors knew little about her background until her untimely death.

On the evening of December 1, 1924, a very nervous woman named Gracie McDaniels hailed a cab from the Endom Cab Company and had the driver wait for her outside. According to the testimony of the witnesses (servants of Mrs. Clyfton and the cab driver), apparently Mrs. Clyfton was expecting the arrival of Gracie McDaniels. When she knocked, Blanche called out: “come in Mrs. Mack!”

As Blanche approached her, Gracie McDaniels drew a pistol and fired twice. Blanche Clyfton died of her wounds on the floor. The driver was alarmed by the situation but drove a very disturbed Gracie McDaniels back to her home where her husband was. As the evening wore on, despite never revealing to her husband that she had killed a woman, he began to realize that his wife was suffering some sort of nervous break down. He carried her to the St. Francis Sanitarium where she tearfully confessed. The police had already been alerted and were looking for her.

To be honest, it is hard from the vague newspaper reports to piece together what actually happened. But one paper hinted that the husband of Mrs. McDaniels and Blanche were having an affair. This would be rather scandalous for the time as McDaniels was white and Blanche was black (albeit very light complexioned and said to be able to pass as white). Apparently for some time, Mrs. McDaniels had insisted that Mr. McDaniels move to Texas with her. They did but Blanche continued to write letters to Mr. McDaniels and eventually he convinced his wife that they needed to move back to Monroe as he could find no work in Texas.

Upon Blanche’s death, it was discovered that Blanche had kept a detailed scrapbook full of articles detailing her performances! The astounded officers read page after page and learned that Blanche had been part of a duo act with a man named Robert “Bob” Shaw who was billed as her husband. And they were quite good and in high demand. They had performed shows all over the continent. The police noted that Blanche had been dressed in fine clothes at the time of her murder and according to her meticulous records, she had been well-educated. She had been born under the name Ethel Geddis in Nevada. However the actual date of her birth is somewhat mired in mystery as Blanche kept her true age a well guarded secret!

The police began to set about to look for relatives to send her home to be buried. It is unknown just who was financing Blanche’s lifestyle as she did not seem to have any accounts. They finally located a sister named Ruth in California but Ruth sadly told the police that she had no money to have her sister’s body transported such a long distance. It seemed that the fabulous Blanche Clyfton would be buried in the potter’s field.

But then a group of friends of Blanche stepped in! Women both black and white set about raising money to give Blanche a proper burial. Within days the ladies had collected $150 and the Peters mortuary was able to give her a fine funeral, although it seems that no stone was ever placed in her memory.

So I did some more digging to see if I could figure out what happened to Gracie McDaniels and I just turned up nothing! Where she ended up and what happened to her and the philandering Mr. McDaniels, I could not tell you! If I had to guess, I figure she ended up in Pineville but that’s pure speculation. This story leaves one with more questions than answers.

On September 18, 1913, George McCormick was in a foul mood. He had been drinking heavily for the last several weeks and he was sick, frustrated and hungover. It did not help matters that he was the part owner of a bar and had plenty of alcohol around to fuel his rage. For some several days he had been quarreling with his business partner Jack W. Smith at the saloon that they jointly owned on Desiard Street in Monroe, Louisiana.

George apparently felt that Jack was not doing his share of the work at the saloon so he spent his time brooding and drinking. Jack was somewhat bewildered by this but kept on doing his job as he always had. Typically he deflected the statements that George ranted at him.

September 18, 1913, George arrived to relieve Jack for the afternoon shift at the saloon and was raging drunk at the time. He immediately started to argue with Jack. At some point, George became violent. He picked up a double barrel shot gun from behind the bar and shot Jack first in the arm and then in the chest. Jack was able to stumble out of the front doors before collapsing on the sidewalk out front and dying in front of two woman and a baby who had narrowly been missed by the pellets themselves. Anyone who was in the saloon at the time came barreling out and George holed himself up inside of the bar, threatening to kill anyone who came inside.

Officer Tom McElwee was about 2 blocks away when the commotion started. He walked up on the bar and entered to see if he could talk some sense into George. He was unaware of the threats nor of the trouble between the two men. George was a casual acquaintance but not a close friend. He calmly spoke to George. George McCormick returned with rage and said: “I’m going to kill you!” George reached for some shells for the shotgun. As he was reloading, Office McElwee pulled his pistol. He asked George to set his weapon down but George raised the shotgun again and having no choice, the officer fired two rounds into the chest of George McCormick who fell dead behind the bar.

The spectacle drew a large crowd of people who stopped traffic and gawked at the dead bodies. Both men were married and had children. It was a sad situation.

We know for certain that George McCormick is buried in the Old Monroe City Cemetery as he does have a monument there. According to the papers, Jack Smith is also buried somewhere in the Old Monroe City Cemetery as their funerals were set for September 20, 1913…at different times of course to prevent any anguish to the families. But Jack’s grave seems to be unmarked.

The citizens of Rapides parish were outraged in September 1906, when a young woman named Laura Belle Warren was sexually assaulted by career criminal named Thomas Brady (also alias Thomas Braden). And they were insistent on seeing justice served.

Laura Belle was around 17 years old when the incident occurred. She was traveling to visit relatives in Columbia when she did not make it to her connecting train. Since no other train would be departing that night from Lecompte, Louisiana, Laura Belle decided that it was best to stay at the local boarding house. It was by pure misfortune that Brady happened to have been on the same train that she was on earlier that day. He realized that she was somewhat of a naive young woman. Several newspapers noted her to be a “cripple.” Thomas Brady would underestimate her.

He approached her and told her he was a police officer and that she needed to come with him. Laura Belle did so. At this time she didn’t really know what a police officer looked like. She hadn’t traveled from home much so she was a bit unworldly. When he had led her to a field, he assaulted her. I believe that Thomas thought her to be unintelligent and therefore unable to tell anyone what had happened.

Laura Belle waited until she was safely back at the boarding house, fearing that Thomas might kill her if she caused a commotion. Once there she told the boarding house owner, Mrs. Mason what had happened. Mrs. Mason took one look at the girl’s bruised body and called the real police. Amazingly, Thomas Brady was arrested shortly thereafter in a saloon where he was soundly drunk. He was taken to the boarding house and identified as the attacker.

An initial trial ended in mistrial as one lone juror held out for acquittal. The second trial ended in his conviction and this time Judge Blackman sentenced him to hang. He pointed out that if Thomas had hanged for a previous sexual assault that he had committed in Indiana, then Laura Belle would not have suffered.

Thomas Brady was hanged on December 7, 1906 in Alexandria, Louisiana. His was only the fifth legal execution which had occurred in the Parish since the end of the Civil War. He issued quite a lengthy statement about his past and what led him into his life of crime.

The floor dropped at exactly 12 pm, December 7. It was a perfectly executed hanging as he dropped precisely 6 feet and his neck broke. He was cut down at approximately 12:45 pm and his body hurriedly prepared to be shipped to his family in Indiana.

Now I have some speculation about Thomas. He was known to do a lot of traveling by railroad, he worked railroad jobs all over the country. It is likely that there were many more victims.

Laura Belle Warren eventually married. She did not ever have any children. She is buried with her husband in the Cryer Cemetery in Oakdale, Louisiana having lived to be 88 years old.

I hope her later years were happier ones.

Sometimes when I come across a story, it doesn’t seem like anything more than a sad death. But some families seem to carry a burden far worse than most. For some families in the world, untimely and bizarre deaths seem to hound them throughout generations. Such it would seem with the Banister family of Monroe, Louisiana.

On February 9, 1925, 12 year old Troy Banister and his friend George Howell were out being Boy Scouts and walking around downtown Monroe, not far from their homes. As they walked along the street, Troy was playfully smacking the sides of things. At the corner of Layton and Jackson Street, he slapped a chain which was hanging on the telephone pole there, he probably never knew what hit him. The chain had been thrown across an electric cable and was electrified. Troy was electrocuted. Several grown men that witnessed the incident picked up Troy and carried him down the street to the St. Francis Sanitarium but he had died within minutes, there was no saving him. His father was a police officer, William Henry Banister. The family lived near where the incident had occurred. A few days later, the funeral was held at their home where Troy was laid out in his Boy Scout uniform. The news reports of the day state clearly that the child was buried in Columbia where the family was originally from. I don’t know if that is mistaken or if he was later moved because his current stone is at Riverview Cemetery in Monroe. But that is just the beginning of the misery for the Banister family.

It is inferred in some articles that Troy’s father may have started to drink heavily after the death of the boy. He did had a fair number of automobile accidents. In 1939, he was hurt nearly fatally in a wreck and spent several months recovering only to crash his car again on Halloween Night, 1940. And even though it looks like he could have easily gotten out of the car… he drowned! He drove off the road into a barrow pit next to (what is now) old Sterlington road. The driver’s side door was open and the front of the car was submerged but the lights were still on which alerted passing vehicles to the car. William Banister was buried at Riverside. (Perhaps this was when the body of Troy was moved).

The next to die would be Troy’s older brother Dr. Ray Gregory Banister in 1946. Or rather he disappeared but was certainly deceased.

Dr. Ray was an adventurous sort of fellow. He had attended medical school and made his home in Seward, Alaska. He held a private pilot’s license and used his plane to make visits to patients in rural areas where they would otherwise be inaccessible. It was during one of these visits that Dr. Ray encountered a raging winter storm and the plane vanished. Dr. Ray and his passenger were presumed dead. His wife refused to give up hope that he was alive. In 1947, a piece of the landing gear washed ashore from a lake near Cain’s Head, and it as then that his widow accepted that he was gone. She eventually settled in Montana but made drives to and from Monroe to bring their four children to visit with their grandmother. Dr. Ray has a marker in the family plot as well.

Next to go was Banister Brother Roy who dropped dead of a massive heart attack in 1950 at the age of 42. He joined the rest of the family in the plot.

In 1952, the only Banister daughter died in Memphis, Tennessee of renal failure at the age of 47. She was Ellie May Banister Jordan. She was buried in Riverview next to her siblings.

The next decade would pass without a death of a sibling. But the next to go was a fellow surrounded in controversy. That would be Williams Guy Banister. And if you know a good bit about the events of the 1960’s, then the name might ring a bell. Banister has been referenced in several movies regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

So let’s start with the known facts: William Guy Banister was an FBI agent and a private investigator in New Orleans. His private detective agency: Guy Banister Associates was in the Balter building, around the corner but in the same building was the address, 544 Camp Street which is the address that was on the “Fair Play for Cuba” flyers handed out by Lee Harvey Oswald. So Oswald was known to Banister.

Now Banister was alleged to have been involved in some very shady things. Among them: a raid on a munitions depot in Houma, Louisiana which in turn he was alleged to have used to help supply ammo and guns to the “Bay of Pigs” invasion in 1961. He was heavily involved in extreme anti-communism. Was he keeping an eye on Oswald or was there deeper involvement? There is much speculation.

On the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Guy Banister and Jack Martin (an investigator employed by Banister) were seen together drinking heavily at a local bar. Once they returned to the office, the two of them got into a physical fight. Banister pulled a .357 and Martin asked him, “what are you going to do? Kill me like you did Kennedy?” Banister beat Martin with the pistol so severely that Martin had to be treated at the charity hospital in New Orleans.

Martin would testify to authorities over the next few days that a man named David Ferrie had been involved in the assassination. That Ferrie’s whereabouts could not be accounted for and that he (Martin) knew that Ferrie had driven to Texas early on the morning of November 22, 1963. The New Orleans district attorney, Jim Garrison became increasingly convinced that Banister, Ferrie and a man named Clay Shaw were involved and had set Oswald up as a patsy. You may recall that Shaw was the only person ever brought to trial for involvement in the JFK assassination. Shaw was tried and acquitted in 1969, he was dead by 1974. If you want to go down that rabbit hole, be prepared to learn some things that you did not know about the JFK assassination.

Banister himself did not even live a year after the Kennedy assassination. His official cause of death was a massive heart attack on June 6, 1964. The have been rumors that he was taken out by a hit man, but he did drink a lot and he smoked a lot and he obviously had a family tree that was given to early death. Banister was a relatively old man (compared to his family members) at the age of 63 when he died. And his secrets went to the Riverside Cemetery in Monroe with him.

David Ferrie died in 1968 of an aneurysm. He was under investigation at the time. In his apartment there was found two typed, unsigned suicide notes. Jim Garrison maintained that Ferrie’s death was a suicide.

The Banister’s mother Aline would only outlive one of her children: State Representative Donald Ross Banister who was born two years after his brother Troy had died. He lived until 1996, He spent most of his career as the legal advisor for the Louisiana State Highway Department. He is the only one not buried with the family in Monroe with the exception of a stillborn baby which was the second born child.

There’s so much speculation and rumors that remain to this day regarding this connection to the JFK assassination. What is known is that Banister did know Lee Harvey Oswald. Was the connection purely coincidental or was there more to the story? To say I was unprepared to learn what I did was an understatement!

I’ve touched on this story a couple year ago and promised to come back to it sooner but I haven’t had a good chance to do it until now. Charles Dewing could be a character right out of any respectable old western novel. But the fact that so few people ever heard of him kind of astonishes me. The fact that I had not heard of him until a couple years ago surprises me. He was one of the toughest, most dangerous, blood thirsty men to ever live in Louisiana. The amount of people he killed both legally and illegally is insane. The killers you’ve heard legends about in the old west? They’ve got nothing on this dude!

Dewing’s actual date of birth is not known. Possibly documented as 1841 also as 1845. He was rumored to have been born on Bloody Monday in Louisville, Kentucky August 6, 1855 but it is more likely that he participated in the riots on Bloody Monday.

Dewing claimed to have served with Morgan’s raiders during the Civil War. Morgan did have quite a few bands which were bloody groups indeed, guerrilla warfare being their specialty. Dewing and three other guerrillas were captured in Louisville and held in jail for several days. They were told they would be hanged. When the day of the hanging was to occur, the other three men were led out and Dewing was spared. He was held for a few more months and miraculously was freed. He only stuck around Louisville for a couple years and then he headed south where he landed in Shreveport around 1870 and became a lawman.

Around 1874, he was made the Chief of Police of Shreveport and he could be a brutal one. But he always had the backs of his deputies! In one instance, Dewing came under fire due to the killing of a man named Edward Pagan. Pagan was a well known member of the community. Pagan and a deputy named Boles had gotten into a fight and Pagan beat Boles mercilessly with a club. Dewing asked the doctor if Boles would live and the doctor said he did not think so. Dewing went down to the jail and opened the door for Edward Pagan and told him to run. Pagan did and Dewing shot him down as he was running away. Dewing was arrested and charged with murder, thrown into his own jail.

He argued with the judge constantly about getting a bond set which the judge refused so Dewing hatched a plan to escape! He was able to his brother and sister in law to sneak him in a gun and some bullets. Dewing then sent word to the judge that he would kill the jailer when the jailer brought him a meal if he did not get bond. Amazingly the judge set his bond and he was released! When the hearing was conducted, he was cleared of any wrong doing. Dewing bragged about this entire situation!

Another adventure was when three men from Texas were captured near Shreveport for a murder that occurred near Grosbeck, Texas. The sheriff of that community wanted to transport the men back as soon as possible. Dewing agreed to go with them. Just as they were entering Waskom, Texas, one of the prisoners went for the Sheriff’s gun and shot the Texan through the heart, killing him instantly. Dewing was shot through the leg but in the scuffle he forced the horses to run with the wagon. This left Dewing afoot but prevented the prisoners from taking the wagon. They were later hunted down and killed and were said to have been buried near the site of their execution along the old Texas trail.

Another time, Dewing was involved in the investigation of a couple of evil men who ran a saloon on the old Texas road. Their names are recorded as Oliver Hill and Doc Jones. Oliver had been traveling with the circus when it arrived during the yellow fever epidemic of 1873. When most of the circus folks died, he needed to find another method of income, that’s when he became the accomplice of Doc Jones who had a habit of murdering patrons of his saloon, robbing their bodies and throwing the dead men into a well behind the saloon. Eventually the two were arrested for the murders and locked up in Shreveport. They were removed from the jail and hanged on the courthouse lawn in a couple of chinaberry trees. Dewing was involved in this lynching (and probably planned it).

Dewing was involved in the lynching and burning of a rapist near Doyline. A person at the scene took a photograph which (thankfully) is no longer in existence in which it was described that Dewing was smiling as he watched the body burn. This rapist was said to have been chained to a tree and set on fire while he was alive.

Charles Dewing had seizures, probably brought on by a number of head injuries that had occurred to him in his past. He was unafraid of a fight. Once, he had a seizure and fell off of a train while he and other officers were transporting prisoners. They later found him bloody and bruised but walking down the track, having survived the incident!

He eventually became the official executioner of Caddo Parish. He had no remorse about his job and said it was a pleasure to hang a man that he knew was guilty. At the same time, Charles Dewing was known for his kindness to the prisoners who were in his care. He often told the condemned that he would be with them until the end, and he was true to his word. He kept them company and read to them, making sure they had some comforts in their final days.

Over the years, Dewing collected quite an assortment of macabre souvenirs of his days in law enforcement and especially from the days as a hangman. Portions of rope and the masks that shut out the last light of doomed men. Some of these items he had sewed into a coat that he wore. It was said that he would sit around touching these items and smiling as if he were remembering a fond memory. He treated his ropes and hoods with the gentlest of care as they were prized possessions.

Most interestingly, in his elderly years, after his retirement, he spent a great deal of time on his porch. He visited and reminisced with anybody would wanted to listen. But he was terrifying to many people in the community. He could not hire a driver for any amount of money as nobody was brave enough to be around him for long. Except for one person, Alice Clark, a black house keeper who was his only true companion. She alone was unafraid of the old killer. She cared for him daily until his death in 1908. He left her $500 in his will, around $18,000 in today’s sum, he also left her all of his personal property! Which I guess meant she also got to keep his collection of oddities. I understand that she also inherited his home. At any rate, the public as well as Dewing’s few remaining relatives felt that Alice had earned every penny.

Charles Dewing is buried within the confines of the Forest Park Cemetery in an unmarked grave. I am told that a select few know where it is but I doubt that’s true. I understand that when they buried him, he was unmarked for many reasons, mostly being that there was a lot of people that did not like him, many that were scared of him. If I had to guess, I believe that he would have been buried close to the yellow fever victims as he spent a great deal of his time helping bury the dead from the epidemic. (The official mound from the Yellow Fever Epidemic is located in Oakland Cemetery but there were many other yellow fever dead who were buried at Forest Park).

Charles’ brother William is said to be buried at the Oakland Cemetery in Shreveport, also apparently unmarked. William was generally well liked and decidedly less blood thirsty than his brother.

By the time Dewing died, he had been shot 4 times, had a skull fracture, been cut and stabbed more times than anyone could count, had several ribs fractured from the misfire of a cannon and had lost one eye…all of these things he had survived. He died quietly at home, at peace with the life he had lived.

And to be honest, this account probably isn’t even half of what he was involved in!

August 28, 1913: Wilkie Miller was at work at the steam mills of George Edwards between Marion and Farmerville, Louisiana. The regular fireman had not shown up for work that day (which was good luck for him) and Wilkie had picked up the slack that day by stoking the boiler.

Now this boiler had just recently been patched. Wilkie was very close to the weak spot when the dilapidated machine finally blew out. The fresh patch gave way and Wilkie Miller was hit with pressurized steam. The actual explosion sent him flying out of the side of the boiler room.

But Wilkie was not dead. He was burned all over his body, to the point of having skin peeled off, much his clothes his clothes were blown away and his was in severe pain in the Louisiana sun. Wilkie got up and began to walk.

He walked over a quarter of a mile to a nearby home where the horrified occupants took one look at him and brought him in to start helping him. It is not recorded whose home that he arrived at that day but they were most kind to him. The explosion happened at around 8 am…Wilkie died at the home of the good samaritans at around 2 pm that afternoon.

It is recorded that the funeral took place the following afternoon at 5 pm and was attended by many. He was buried at the Liberty-Taylor cemetery near Farmerville, Louisiana where his woodman of the world monument is still seen today.

Buried near Wilkie is his father Leonard Miller. Leonard died 13 years before Wilkie at the age of 53 also in a peculiar way. Leonard was apparently riding home from Monroe when he got into a race with another unnamed fellow. Important to know is that Leonard was riding bareback that evening. I’m sure Leonard had spent his life on the back of a horse but racing bareback is more dangerous than most races!

The one remaining article from the time period is faded and difficult to read but it appears that he collided with a tree and hit it with such force that the impact crushed the entire side of his face and skull. And unfortunately for his family, he was just as reckless with his business and the family had to settle several suits brought against the estate due to him owing people money. It is my understanding that the Judge mostly ruled in favor of the widow Nannie Miller as much of Leonard’s business was conducted with verbal agreements.

In November 1912, a murder occurred in Webster parish that was so twisted that my jaw literally fell open several times while reading the testimony given in the case. Justice was not exactly served in this instance, either.

In the early morning hours of November 23, 1912, the conductor of a train spotted a man laying on the tracks in the path of the train that he was driving. Unable to stop, the train passed over the man’s body and mangled him severely. This occurred near the community of McIntyre which is around 5 miles west of Minden, Louisiana. It seemed at first to be an accident, but the sharp-eyed coroner discovered that Hugh Hammer had been dead before he was placed on the train track! Despite the damage caused by the train, there were telltale signs of buckshot. The engineer reported that the man never moved, never indicated that he saw the approaching train.

Sheriff AH Phillips had a suspicion of just who was behind the incident. Mrs. Sue Hammer (Hugh’s wife) had recently been keeping company with a younger fellow named McIntyre “Mack” Hadley. The pair had been seen often enough together that some people had admonished them from being around each other so much, especially since Sue Hammer was married with children. They seemed so enamored with each other that Mack’s boss was annoyed because Sue would show up at the store Mack worked at several times a day…and just sort of hang around visiting with him. Mack was especially close to his brother Monroe Hadley.

After some questioning, the Hadley brothers and Sue Hammer were all arrested and awaited the Grand Jury decision about indictment. The hearing was absolutely scandalous!!

Testimony was heard from a 15 year-old admitted “peeping tom” who peered through the keyhole of the Hammer’s home not once but twice to see Mrs. Hammer in the arms of Mack Hadley! Until the time of the murder, the boy had reportedly only confessed this situation to another boy about the same age. Multiple witnesses testified during the hearing that Mack Hadley has professed his love for Mrs. Hammer and was actively seeking work in Chicago where he planned to move with her. During the course of this testimony it was revealed that a Mr. Dyer, who owned the dry goods store where Hadley worked, had confronted both Mrs. Hammer and Hugh Hammer regarding the improper situation. Apparently, Hugh stood by his wife and refused to do business with Dyer anymore!

A neighbor of the Harley’s revealed that he had heard two gunshots in the vicinity of the Hadley home on the night of the murder. Mrs. Sue Hammer took the stand and was quoted as being “a cool and deliberate witness.” She soundly denied any improper relations between herself and Mr. Hadley. She testified that her husband drank a lot and treated her poorly when he was drunk. Several local women said that Mrs. Hadley had openly wished that Hugh would die and even said that she had prayed that he would die.

Mrs. Hammer said that on the night in question, her husband had gone to gamble with some friends. He had arrived home around 9 pm, intoxicated and in a bad mood. He had also retrieved a pistol that she said she had begged him not to take with him. (Noted in one newspaper article is that a pistol was located near the body but was not admitted as evidence in the trial).

Now there is some confusion in the newspaper articles as some state that Hugh was shot with a shotgun but discussion of pistols seemed to be brought up as well. Wadding from shotgun ammunition was found near the Hadley residence. The Hadley’s very aged father reported that he knew nothing of any shooting near his home that night and denied that his sons could have been involved.

The closest anyone came to confessing was Monroe Hadley’s testimony. He reported that he was near the scene of the train tracks where the body was found. He stated that he had gone to a dance that evening to get some whiskey. He said that he had been hit on the back of the head and robbed but it did not deter him from returning to the dance. He said he woke up in the home of some local neighbors that he had been at the party with. The residents of the that household did not testify (possibly because they were black). And it seemed that nobody could actually say that they saw Monroe Hadley there!

The backbone of the state’s case, which was circumstantial, was that Sue Hammer and Mack Hadley had compelled Monroe Hadley to shoot Hugh Hammer and then they placed him on the railroad tracks to destroy the evidence. But again, it was all circumstantial. There was no actual eye-witness testimony nor were they able to positively put them at the scene of the crime.

The grand jury elected not to indict the Hadley’s nor Sue Hammer for the murder. They were freed after several months in jail. Hugh Hammer rests in the Crowe Cemetery near McIntyre. His epitaph reads: A loving father, a husband dear, a faithful friend lies resting here.

Sue Hammer remarried around two years later, not to Mack Hadley but to a much older fellow. She eventually ended up in San Bernardino, California where she died and is buried.

Mack Hadley moved to Monroe, Louisiana and married. He and his wife raised several children and he lived a long life.

Monroe Hadley never married. He remained on the family farm caring for his aging mother. But something was troubling Monroe Hadley. For on May 1, 1932, Monroe Hadley laid down on the train tracks in nearly the same spot where Hugh Hammer was mangled. Monroe Hadley was also run over by a train. Oh, the newspapers said it was an accident…seems difficult to believe that a person would accidentally lay down on the train tracks to take a nap. I don’t agree with the “official” report which was likely to spare his poor mother any further suffering. I believe that poor Monroe Hadley went to the tracks that night and set his burden down for the last time. Curiously, Mack’s name was omitted from Monroe’s obituary although the obituary had referenced 3 brothers.

In July 1934, prohibition had just ended but the best place to get your alcohol was still your local moonshine brewer. But that liquor more often than not, brought trouble with it. Roy Gorham would learn that lesson too late to save his young life.

On a hot summer evening in July 1934, Roy Gorham (age 23) and his friends Eugene “Jabbo” Woods, Raymond Gordon and OV Hicks decided to go get wasted. They piled up in Roy’s car and rode down to the local moonshiner near the airport in Winnfield. After they had purchased two bottles of moonshine, they spent the evening happily intoxicated. Late that night when they were severely drunk, they all split up and went their separate ways to stumble home. Roy would never make it home. At some point during his walk home, he was stabbed in the gut and had his throat cut.

Several days went by without him returning home, his parents became concerned. They started asking around and looking for him. In the meantime, a neighbor’s cattle had wandered off. The farm workers looking for the cows made a horrifying discovery: Roy Gorham’s badly decomposed body being picked over by the buzzards!

The sheriff and the coroner arrived on the scene and despite the disgusting nature of the body, it was easy to tell that the young man had been murdered. Also, strangely, his pants were missing.

The men he was last seen with began to scatter like ants. But the police turned their attention to Jabbo Woods, the last guy he had been seen with. After a long period of questioning, Jabbo finally admitted to killing Roy Gorham. Jabbo’s story went like this: he and Roy were stumbling along together to walk home and they began to argue. Roy pulled out a knife and threatened to stab Jabbo and they began to wrestle for the knife. Jabbo grabbed it when Roy dropped it and came up and stabbed Roy in the neck. He then stabbed him twice more. Roy’s pants fell down and Roy stumbled over his pants and fell. Jabbo, for some unknown reason, grabbed Roy’s pants and stuffed them into a hollow stump. Then he ran back and told OV Hicks what he had done. OV and Jabbo went home to sleep off the alcohol but Jabbo couldn’t sleep. He had lost his hat in the struggle and wanted to go back and find it! He and OV then went back to where they thought the fight had happened but in their stupor could find neither the hat nor Roy. Perhaps hoping Roy had not died, they went back home and decided not to talk about it.

The police were on the trial of the other two. They eventually arrested Raymond Gordon and OV Hicks as well as Jabbo for involvement in the crime.

Now understand, this trial was going to be a big one because Jabbo and OV were black men. Jabbo had initially recanted his first confession but later confessed the entire story as above telling the police that he had neither been able to sleep or eat after the murder of his friend. It did not help Jabbo that he had several previous run-ins with the law and his brother was also in the state pen for cutting someone.

The trial for Jabbo Woods ended in conviction but without capital punishment which was impressive considering he had the youngest most inexperienced lawyers that the state could find to represent him. Jabbo was remanded to the state penitentiary for manslaughter. By the 1950 census, he had been released and was living with an Aunt and her family.

The other two: OV Hicks and Raymond Gordon were tried separately from Jabbo Woods. They were found guilty of manslaughter as well and were sentenced to prison terms. As of the 1940 census, OV Hicks was serving time at Angola. I believe that he was out by 1950 and appears to have settled in the Baton Rouge area and married. Raymond Gordon followed a similar path, settling in south Louisiana after serving his time. The family of Roy Gorham went on to say that they felt that the sentences were fair, especially since they never really believed the accounts that these men gave of the events that happened. Because Roy Gorham was not just missing his pants when he was found, he was wearing only his boxer shorts. At least what was left of him was.

In 1916, being there was no telephone, nor internet and the mail was really slow, it was not uncommon for a group of family to load the wagon up and go visit with another group of family for a few days! Sometimes it was even just to help each other out with farming tasks but it was generally a good time for all. Sadly, one such visit would end in a major tragedy at Black Lake.

On July 26, 1916, a group of about 12 family members were returning from a visit in Castor with other relatives. The families including members of the Wiggins, Adams and Kolb families of which were all extended family: in-laws, married couples, kids and a couple of cousins. This particular wagon was drawn by a large mule. The family was on what was known as the 3/4 mile crossing of Black Lake when the mule balked at crossing the wooden bridge. Now I don’t know a whole lot about bridges back then but apparently guard rails were not a common feature. The mule began to back up and eventually the wagon toppled over the side of the bridge…bringing the mule with it.

Mr. Willis Wiggins, Mrs. Maggie Wiggins and Mr. Mannie Kolb were the only ones to escape harm by jumping free of the accident. The mule fell atop the crowded wagon and two children were killed outright. The news reports were very confusing but it was reported that David Adams aged 12 and Annie Wiggins aged 6 were the ones who died at the scene. However, David Adams age may have been reported inaccurately but I’ll explain that shortly.

The mothers of the young children were severely injured. None was worse than 24 year old Callie Wiggins Adams who suffered a spinal fracture and became paralyzed. The injured were first brought by wagon to Mr. And Mrs. Jim Weaver and their son Marion Weaver’s homes. The Weavers were noted by the Wiggins/Adams/Kolb families for their kindness and hospitality by opening their home and caring for the injured and sick while going to fetch doctors and any neighbors who could assist. In fact, it is likely because of their care that some of the injured were able to survive. Mrs. Rachel Kolb had several broken ribs and made a full recovery. Her son JT (age 1) had a crushed arm. The child lived a couple of days but the arm surely needed to be amputated. Infection set in and the child died on July 28, 1916.

Callie Adams was eventually very carefully transported to the doctor at Ringgold. Realizing she was in need of surgery, he telegraphed the surgeons in Shreveport at the Schumpert Sanitarium. Callie was then transported there and underwent what must have been an excruciating spine surgery. She did well in the initial days after the surgery but the injuries were too much for her to overcome. She was the final victim of the tragedy on August 24, 1916, having survived almost a month, which is really a testament to the valiant attempt that the Weavers and their neighbors made to help them.

I was unable to find the final resting place of Annie Wiggins. I am unsure of her exact age as the papers reported it as either 3 or 6. Either way she would not likely have been on census records. If I were to guess, I would say she is buried at the Old Castor Cemetery, I believe that she would have been Callie Adams’ niece.

Callie’s son David died in the accident. The papers have him listed as 12 years old but his headstone says he was only a year old. So possibly it was a miscommunication error with the local papers and they meant to relay 12 months old. As Callie was only 24, it would have been unlikely for her to have had a 12 year old son. David is buried at the Old Castor Cemetery in Bienville, Parish.

JT Kolb, the one year old son of Mamie and Rachel Kolb is buried in what is referred to as Rachel’s Cemetery in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. He survived only a couple days and died due to the crush injury of his little arm.

His parents are buried at Delhi at the Masonic Cemetery. Incidentally, his younger brother Allison Kolb grew up the become the Louisiana State Auditor and made an unsuccessful bid to become the Louisiana State Treasurer. If my calculations are correct, then little Allison was the 6 month old baby which survived a broken leg in the incident.

Callie Wiggins Adams, who was the final victim, is buried in Old Castor Cemetery, her simple head stone is weathered away and barely able to read anymore. Without old stories and old newspapers, we would not be able to know the sad story of her final days.

We should not forget to mention the Weavers whose quick thinking and care helped the family tremendously, possibly even saving lives that day!

(Incidentally, I did notice that the papers mentioned the mule survived the accident.)

On May 14, 1913, James Allen was on top of the world. He was set to marry his beautiful sweetheart the very next day. But it was not to be.

James had been born and raised in Gibsland, Louisiana. He was the oldest son of Chesley and Eleanor Allen and he had gone into the world to seek his fortune! He had become a railroad man and in early 1913, he was working in Atlanta, Georgia as a flag man for the railroad. As we well know, railroad work was dangerous work in those days. One small mistake could have terrible consequences. But he was very happy. He had found himself a boarding house to stay in while in Atlanta and had met a suitable young woman named Irene Stanley. They were very much in love. He had written to his parents and told them of his intent to marry Irene. Once his father gave his blessing, James stretched the truth a little and told them that he had already married her!

But on (or around) May 14, 1913, the train that James was aboard suffered a mishap and James Allen was scalded to death by hot water from the boiler of the steam engine. His fiancé was the first to arrive at the undertaking establishment of Greenberg and Bond, which was on Houston Street, just down the road from where she and James were neighbors. While looking through the old records, I was unable to find the exact wreck in which he died but apparently there had been several incidents with that particular line caused by issues with the tracks themselves. The train was known to jump the tracks and did so with such regularity that passengers had demanded that the train company do something about the dangerous stretch.

The train company had notified Mr. Chesley Allen of his son’s death. Mr. Allen in turn had wired Miss Stanley to have her to accompany her “husband’s” body home. In a strange twist of fate, the telegram arrived at near the same time as Miss Stanley did. According to witnesses, she sobbed over the lifeless body of James Allen and said, “oh God, how I wish it were true! He wanted to marry me right away but I wouldn’t allow it and now I’ll never get to marry him.” Once she had composed herself, she went to the telegram office to send a letter in which she revealed the truth to James Allen’s parents.

I don’t know if she accompanied James’s body back to Louisiana, but I would like to think she did. James Allen was laid to rest in Gibsland Cemetery a few days later. His simple monument notes that he was the son of the Allen’s rather than the husband of Irene. I think it’s very sad that he did not get to live the life he had planned with his soon-to-be bride.

As for Irene, it was near impossible to track where she ended up. And as it is pure speculation and there’s no way for me to confirm her actual identity, I will say that I found an Irene Stanley that would have been fit the profile of her age and date range. If that was the correct Irene Stanley, then she married a few years later and lived to be over 100 years old! But Atlanta was a big place even back then, so I can’t be certain. Hopefully poor Irene did live long and happy despite the tragedy in her life.