[2] After one of the subjects lit a match, the shop caught fire; Morris was still present in the building. They quickly gave chase, pursuing the yellow Pontiac for several miles before Duncan watched their headlights start fading away. In three interviews conducted by FBI investigators, Morris stated that "he saw a man pouring gasoline around the place [] another man had a shotgun and told him 'to get back in there, nigger'". The group is also suspected in the disappearance and murder of an African American employee of the Shamrock Motel, Joseph Edwards. Published: Sep. 11, 2019 at 7:15 PM PDT. "He has confessed to killing the five victims," Ard said. That was not the only time Whatley helped an imprisoned black man in Ferriday. The sheriff's office says the incident is being investigated as a murder-suicide and that there . Authorities in Concordia Parish say they are investigating the murder of a man recently named Teacher of the Year. [according to whom?] Before those killings, Dakota Theriot allegedly killed Summer Ernest, 20, her father Billy Ernest, 43, and her brother, Tanner Ernest, 17. More:Sons of Klansmen tied to Louisiana murder haunted by sins of their fathers. On May 20, 2005, the decomposed body of 28-year-old Loretta Lynn Chaisson Lewis was fished out of a canal on the outskirts of Jennings, in the Jefferson Davis Parish of southwest Louisiana. "We dont know if we will ever have a motive exactly why this happened.". [6] Although people generally thought highly of Morris, black residents thought Morris was too shocking to white residents. The group is also suspected in the disappearance . Concordia Parish authorities investigating suspected murder-suicide, West Monroe man arrested after allegedly raping adopted daughter, Monroe duo arrested for alleged sex trafficking of minor, 10-year-old shot during argument, Marion man arrested, 2 Winnfield residents arrested following death of 3 year old, One lucky winner in Arkansas is about to become $2.338M richer, La. Devils Walking: Klan Murders along the Mississippi in the 1960s. Two suspects were identified in FBI documents as members of the Silver Dollar Group, a Klan offshoot believed responsible for Morris murder and seven others in Louisiana and Mississippi over a three-year period. [1][pageneeded] The shop was also his residence. Authorities in Louisiana will seek to extradite Theriot from Virginia, Webre said. When Theriot arrived at the home, deputies were already there. In October 2008, Congress passed the Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, to provide the Department of Justice and FBI millions of dollars to investigate these cases. According to police, the man shot his girlfriend and then shot himself. [2] The FBI investigators believed that Morris knew his attackers, but was unwilling to divulge their identities. Ard has said that Theriot left the Ernests' home in Livingston Parish in Billy Ernests pickup truck on the morning of the killings and that he was in the same vehicle when he was arrested in Virginia. Mr. McCrays zeal for education, infectious smile, gentle personality, fashion sense, and love for children will be missed by all of us at Natchez-Adams School District. All games are FREE. He told the FBI in 1965 that though he was not a member, Deacons had sought his advice and counsel. Harp's new information regarding Morris shed doubt on the story concerning DeLaughter. It was kind of a barbershop-type of thing where you sit around, you talk about what has happened, who did this and who did that and what to expect next, Whatley recalled. The main force that we had was marches, he said. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Natchez pastry chef Molly Manning Robertson in bake off for last spot in Spring Baking Championship finale, VIDEO: Funeral procession for long-time sheriff Tommy Ferrell passes by Adams County Sheriffs Office, Calm, focused and ready: The role of an ER nurse, A Team Sport: Emergency medicine, first-responders share common goal of saving lives, 2023, Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper. Theriots grandmother was worried he would be headed her way and asked Richmond County, Virginia, sheriff's deputies to go to her home, Sheriff Stephan Smith has said. One such informant, known as Orvin C. "Coonie" Poissot, was a Klansman from Texas who had a relationship with a local sheriff's deputy named Frank Delaughter, whom Poissot implicated as a conspirator in the murder of Frank Morris. IE 11 is not supported. NATCHEZ, Miss. He was killed when the shop burned down in 1964. He was convicted at that time of killing his parents and a teenage friend of his. Part 2:In Bogalusa, the Deacons fought violence with violence. When Jones was interviewed on September22, he stated that "if he was arrested for this crime, officers also would have to arrest DeLaughter". The 2020 Ferriday crime rate rose by 14% compared to 2019. The Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office was called to the home at around 8:47 a.m. that morning, he said. Autopsies for Theriots parents were scheduled for Tuesday, Webre said. Part 3:In Homer, the Deacons defied Willie Rainachs segregation. "We just know what he did. They were identified as 65-year-old Mark Clark and 49-year-old Donna R. Clark, both of Ferriday. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Morris opened the front door of the shop, where he was met by two men in their thirties, one of whom was armed with a shotgun. Law officials said deputies responded to a report of a. The Deacons believed that arming themselves was the only way to hold off the Klan and protect their homes, neighborhoods and the white and black civil rights workers who came from across the country to help achieve equality. Morris opened Frank's Shoes Service in the late 1930s, in his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana. The Natchez-Adams School District released the following statement: Mr. Frank Morris's mother, Charlotte, died shortly after his birth. A black businessman was burned to death in tiny Ferriday, La., in 1964. In December 1964, Frank Morris' shoe shop was set ablaze in the middle of the night. Frank Morris fathered one child, and had two grandchildren. [2] All four men were questioned and denied any involvement in the arson and murder. "By the time the neighbors called 911, the incident in Ascension was already happening," Ard said. The newspapers the bourbon was wrapped in had no signs of burning, indicating tampering with the scene. The population of Adams County was split roughly in half between blacks and whites. [5], Following the bombing, the FBI launched operation "WHARBOM"[5] and placed multiple informants within Klan groups surrounding Natchez. No subscription required to play. "So, this is a monster.". He was also named 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year. Battered and ostracized while he attended Ferriday High, Whatley would go on to serve in Vietnam. FERRIDAY, La. Dec 16, 2020. Courtesy of the Concordia Sentinel and William Brown The 2020 crime rate in Ferriday, LA is 192 (City-Data.com crime index), which is 1.3 times smaller than the U.S. average. The sheriffs office said the incident happened on June 23 in the Ferriday area in northeast Louisiana. Ku Klux Klan (KKK) activity was exceptionally high during the Civil Rights era. At approximately 1:00a.m., Morris was awakened in a back room of the shop by the sound of glass breaking. One of the men who was attacked, Michael Clurman, told the Concordia Sentinel in 2007 that his co-worker, Mel Atcheson of Iowa, was beaten and kicked in the face by a white man on the streets of Ferriday in July 1965. Updated: Aug 18, 2021 / 01:29 PM CDT. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Natchez pastry chef Molly Manning Robertson in bake off for last spot in Spring Baking Championship finale, VIDEO: Funeral procession for long-time sheriff Tommy Ferrell passes by Adams County Sheriffs Office, Calm, focused and ready: The role of an ER nurse, A Team Sport: Emergency medicine, first-responders share common goal of saving lives, 2023, Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper. The project reporters have already produced information in high-profile cases that prosecutors have used to build criminal cases against killers and conspirators who had walked free for more than 40 years. We do feel this is isolated to those individuals and we dont feel the community is in any danger at this point.. Duncan and a few other young, armed Deacons piled into his brothers canary yellow Pontiac to rescue Lewis, who also received help from a white bondsman from New Orleans. According to authorities, McCray was a teacher in Natchez with two degrees. [2] The informant, fearing for his life, did not share this information with the FBI until two years after the arson. The expiry of the grand jury looking into the civil rights era murder of Frank Morris in the small town of Ferriday, Louisiana, has prompted expressions of anger and frustration from those . Klansmen took advantage of this, throwing a bomb just outside Whatleys bedroom window. Later on, Anthony Lucky McCraneys gas station was firebombed, marking the sixth act of racial violence in Ferriday within a two-month period, according to CORE documents. [2], By the fall of 1967, E.D. Morace, Tommie Lee Jones, Thor Lee Torgersen, and James Lee Scarborough were the primary suspects in the murder of Frank Morris. Much like the Morris case, witness accounts were not corroborating, and in August 1968, the investigation was closed. Carl Ray Thompson, then 26, spotted his cousin's two-toned. According to the Concordia Sentinel, the Ferriday Police Department began investigating the deaths of two people who were killed Wednesday afternoon. Ferriday Police investigating suspected murder-suicide, West Monroe man arrested after allegedly raping adopted daughter, Monroe duo arrested for alleged sex trafficking of minor, 10-year-old shot during argument, Marion man arrested, 2 Winnfield residents arrested following death of 3 year old, One lucky winner in Arkansas is about to become $2.338M richer, La. [2] During this investigation, the FBI re-interviewed the living witnesses who had first-hand information about the arson, as well as "family members, business owners and neighbors in the vicinity of the shoe shop, law enforcement officers, community members, and former KKK members". Once their mission was complete, members quietly returned to their modest lives. (KTVE/KARD) On Wednesday September 15, officers with the Ferriday Police Department arrested 19-year-old Denzel Washington for 2nd Degree Murder. According to FBI documents, Ferriday Deacons included David Whatley, Leo Graham, Victor Graham, Herman Brown, Levado Brown, Richard Thompson, Samuel White, Frank Fleming, James Fleming, Fred Brown, Shine Calhoun, Stafford Redvine, FNU Jones, Anthony Lucky McCraney, Simon Smith, Antonne Duncan, Lionel Hooper, Vernon Smith, Anthony White, Joe Davis, Jeffrey Scott, Mack Moore and Johnny Lloyd. FERRIDAY, La. -- David Whatley, the first black student to integrate Ferriday High in 1966, returned from tortuous days at school only to face just as many threats outside his home. The sheriffs office says the incident is being investigated as a murder-suicide and that there are no suspects at large. Two suspects have. David Whatley, who was a CORE member himself while a student at Ferriday High School, confirmed in a recent interview that the Ferriday Deacons were armed. All rights reserved. After a false KKK rumor that he had flirted with. The preliminary investigation concluded that Morris had not been involved in any racially motivated activities. ranks 6th in nation for best home security, SPD reports low home burglary count, Louisiana Cancer Research center expanding its research opportunities, KNOE Monday Evening Forecast with Chief Meteorologist Marcus Walter. Later that week, officers Frank DeLaughter and Bill Ogden intimidated Kelly and forced him out of town. Our effort here, as it is everywhere, is to try and uncover the truth. Dakota Theriot was taken into custody in Virginia after killing five people in Louisiana on Jan. 27, 2019. A handful of members throughout the state also served as deacons within their churches, while others made their livings as teachers, construction workers, farm hands and general laborers. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. King thanked Concordia Parish Sheriffs Office and its deputies who worked jointly with Ferriday Police in this investigation, he said. In February1968, the second investigation was closed when the FBI determined that there was insufficient evidence to charge any of the suspects. Ridgen, a filmmaker from Toronto who reported this story for NPR, helped to spearhead the project with Vancouver-based Paperny Films, and the Berkeley, Calif.-based Center for Investigative Reporting. Now, 46 years later, Stanley Nelson, the editor of the Concordia Sentinel newspaper, says he has found information that may implicate a man as a member of a Klan "wrecking crew," which is said by sources Nelson has interviewed to be responsible for burning down the shop. In the last 5 years Ferriday has seen decreasing violent crime and decreasing property crime. Nelson interviewed witnesses to uncover unknown facts and haunting recollections about the racially-motivated murders around Ferriday. Concordia Parish had 14 recorded racially-motivated murders between 1964 and 1967.[4]. Two white CORE members, who practiced the non-violent approach championed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were beaten. The City of Ferriday hit a dead end with the case, and the sheriff's Department expressed no interest in taking it over.[6]. The FBI concluded the investigation in 2016 when investigators determined there was insufficient evidence to charge any individual with any federal crimes; furthermore, important witnesses, suspects, and informants were dead. ( KTVE/KARD) According to the Concordia Parish Sheriff's Office, on Monday, May 16, 2022, deputies received information from Monroe Police Department detectives about a person. Ferriday Police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide that happened Wednesday afternoon. [5] Jackson had recently been promoted to a position never before held by an African American. (See pages 14-16 of this PDF.). All rights reserved. [3][4], In 2007, Silver Dollar Group member James Ford Seale was charged and convicted for the May 1964 kidnapping of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, two African-American young men in Meadville, Mississippi.[5]. So when there was a problem, there was a way of communicating to them what was going on.. A Ferriday man shot a Vidalia woman before killing himself with the same gun Tuesday afternoon in Ferriday. (KNOE) - Authorities are investigating what they believe to be a murder-suicide in Concordia Parish. Cynthia Deitle, the chief of the FBI's civil rights unit, sent the Concordia Sentinel newspaper an e-mail with this response: "I am convinced that there are individuals alive today who know who killed Mr. Morris. The Silver Dollar Group was an offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan white nationalist terrorist group, composed of cells that took up violent actions to support Klan goals. A Louisiana man accused of shooting to death five people, including his parents, at two locations last week has confessed to the killings, but the motive is still unknown, authorities said Tuesday. No charges have been brought despite three FBI investigations. According to the L.A. County . He would return home wounded physically and confounded mentally over how he could have been considered good enough to risk his life for his country in Vietnam but not good enough to attend the local high school. Nelson published the story Wednesday morning outlining the the allegations against Spencer. Police say it happened on Johnson Street around 5 p.m. Officials had said that Theriot was believed to have been Summers boyfriend, but her family strongly denies that they were dating. FERRIDAY, La. [2] A few days after the arson, the informant was approached by Morace who stated that if "he, Jones, Torgersen, and Scarborough were arrested, the source should get them out of jail". "Weve got a better picture on how this happened," the sheriff said of the five killings. Lewis later told the Concordia Sentinel that it was a dreaded thing for a black man to be placed into a police car and taken to jail. Although acknowledging he was hesitant, Judge John Reeves recused himself Thursday from conducting a hearing for a convicted Ferriday murderer who has spent the past 10 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The shop was very successful and was known by the tag line, "Open every day and half the night", in its ads in the Concordia Sentinel. Morris had a shoe repair shop in Ferriday, and died after his shoe repair shop was burned. ", Courtesy of the Concordia Sentinel and William Brown, Concorida Sentinel: Rayville Man Implicated In Morris Case, Concordia Sentinel: Feds Vow To Solve Morris Murder, Civil Rights Cold Case Project: Frank Morris Case, Civil Rights Cold Case Project: Frank Morris Case Archives, 2010 Report: Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007. Blacks also became deputies and police officers. [2] Three new subjects were identified, but the investigators did not uncover any credible physical evidence supporting the allegations. [2] In 2008, the FBI, through local media, informed the public that they were offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the Morris case. This went on month after month while I was in this school system.. CPSO says upon arrival, they found two bodies with fatal gunshot wounds. In 2007, Ridgen published a documentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that led to the federal trial and conviction of Seale, for the 43-year-old murder of African-Americans Henry Hezekiah and Charles Eddie Moore, two 19-year-olds from the Meadville, Miss., area. 2021-09-07. Nelson, Stanley. This business serviced both black and white customers. He was killed when the shop burned down in 1964. His daily tasks included repairing shoes and saddles, selling jewellery, hats, and clothing, and dyeing purses. Despite the damage the bomb caused to his home and the threat it posed to his family, Lewis was handcuffed by Ferriday police and charged with aggravated assault, according to FBI and CORE documents. They knew Klansmen would await Lewis release and that deputies would notify the Klan that a black activist was being released from jail. As far as why this happened, that motive is still unclear," Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre said at the news conference. Ferriday Police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide that happened Wednesday afternoon. With five children at home, Lewis kept the weapon unloaded. According to Ferriday Police Investigator Sean Sublett, Wilbert Henderson, 42, arrived at his home on Fifth Street and Tennessee at 12:44 a.m. Saturday when a man approached him from the side of . Whatley contacted COREs central office after the attack, sparking an FBI investigation. Every murder is a senseless murder and this one certainly fits those criteria. Until now, the case has gone unsolved. "[6][pageneeded], Ferriday locals thought highly of Morris, who was a community-centric man who gave many young black men their first paying job; Morris also hosted a radio gospel program. No one was ever arrested for the killing. No one was ever arrested for the . Two killed in Ferriday . Frank Morris was a 51-year-old black businessman in Ferriday who ran a shoe shop and repair store, where he served both black and white customers. He said the bureau concluded that if the bombs two sticks of blasting powder would have ignited, the house might have been destroyed. [4] Multiple disappearances and murders in the Natchez, Mississippi, area were connected to both the KKK and the SDG. Violent Klansmen had long been embedded with corrupt cops, some of whom wore robes themselves. There have been allegations of witness intimidation, evidence tampering, and involvement by local law enforcement. Justice may finally be served, thanks to the reporting of Stanley Nelson of the weekly Concordia Sentinel. The group killed an African American man, Frank Morris, by arson in Ferriday, Louisiana, and is suspected in two car bombings of NAACP leaders in Natchez, Mississippi, George Metcalfe and Wharlest Jackson. Ferriday police responded to shots fired at approximately noon Sunday and found a man deceased with gunshot wounds upon their arrival. According to LSP,. All games are FREE. Natchez Democrat. Morris was taken to the hospital by two Ferriday police officers and was able to speak to FBI investigators. [2] Scarborough, while under investigation for both Jackson's and Morris's murders, denied any involvement, stating that "every time something happens to a Negro it is immediately blamed on white people.

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