1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Morris, a black man who had . Police say the couple was at the woman's mother house at the time. James Poissot of Baton Rouge never knew his father, but knew he was a violent man who beat James' mother so severely . His daily tasks included repairing shoes and saddles, selling jewellery, hats, and clothing, and dyeing purses. McCray drove the suspects to a location around Bayou Drive in Ferriday, where the suspects pulled out a gun and shot him. Read full article on original website. All rights reserved. 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. 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. Donnie. We will continue to update this story with more information as it develops. Two others from Ferriday Dantreze Scott, 24, and Deandra Griggs, who will be 23 in April are each charged with accessory after the fact to second-degree murder. This business serviced both black and white customers. 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'". No subscription required to play. According to the Concordia Sentinel, the Ferriday Police Department began investigating the deaths of two people who were killed Wednesday afternoon. Robert Lewis, whose home was bombed by Klansmen, drew inspiration from the sacrifices of the CORE workers. According to the L.A. County . The creation of the Deacons groups is outlined in a 606-page FBI file released through the Freedom of Information Act to the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Cold Case Project, which investigates Klan activities. The sheriffs office said the incident happened on June 23 in the Ferriday area in northeast Louisiana. Soon, Lewis was back in his Ferriday home and reunited with his wife and children. 2023 www.theadvertiser.com. The Department of Justice and the FBI say they are conducting ongoing investigations into the Morris case. According to investigators, on the night of the murder Frederick McCray Jr. gave a ride to the two suspects. Morris was taken to the hospital by two Ferriday police officers and was able to speak to FBI investigators. We spent all those years hating each other for reasons we dont know, Whatley said. So far no charges have been filed. 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. Nelson investigated rumors that police officers possibly committed the arson; according to Della Mae Smith, "Deputy Frank DeLaughter had organized the arson" and local police had set the home ablaze. All games are FREE. When Theriot arrived at the home, deputies were already there. Theriots parents, Keith and Elizabeth Theriot, were killed at their home in Ascension Parish and Keith Theriot gave information to investigators before he died that pointed to his son as the suspect, the sheriff of that parish has said. FERRIDAY, La. [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. He was killed when the shop burned down in 1964. (KTVE/KARD) On Tuesday August 17 shortly after 2:00 a.m., troopers from Louisiana State Police Troop E responded to a fatal crash on . The men broke multiple shop windows and proceeded to "spread a flammable liquid around the outside of the shop, and evidence indicates that the subjects may have spread the flammable liquid inside of the shop". 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. FERRIDAY Concordia Parish Sheriffs Office deputies investigated two shooting deaths in the area of Lake St. John Sunday night. [2] This witness also received death threats, and his home was fired upon on multiple occasions. 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. According to the sheriff's office, it happened on June 23, 2019, in the. He was able to escape the shop but sustained burns on 100% of his body. He had previously dedicated songs to white women on his radio show and would lean into their cars and occasionally sit in their passenger seats. We will continue to update this article as more information becomes available. 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. Updated: Aug 18, 2021 / 01:29 PM CDT. Nelson published the story Wednesday morning outlining the the allegations against Spencer. "We dont know if we will ever have a motive exactly why this happened.". (KTVE/KARD) On Wednesday September 15, officers with the Ferriday Police Department arrested 19-year-old Denzel Washington for 2nd Degree Murder. 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. We worked into the night (Sunday). Ferriday Police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide that happened Wednesday afternoon. Two killed in Ferriday . He was targeted by the SDG. "He has confessed to killing the five victims," Ard said. Autopsies for Theriots parents were scheduled for Tuesday, Webre said. Copyright 2019 WLBT. [2], On August 3, 1967, a confidential informant, who was a high-ranking officer of the KKK, told the FBI that a few days prior to the Morris arson, E.D. Morace approached the informant regarding an African American, referred to as "Old Frank", whom Morace said "had been flirtatious with white women". The single-engine Air Tractor 502 crashed around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday along Louisiana 425, about five miles south of Sicily Island, according to a news release from the Northeast Louisiana. FERRIDAY, La. They handed out flyers and leaflets to local congregations and spoke at churches. More history:Woman works to preserve Bogalusa home turned headquarters of civil rights group. In his first year of teaching at Morgantown, Mr. McCray was named the 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year. Nelson, Stanley. Investigators say the people involved were 19 and 20-years-old. Part 2:In Bogalusa, the Deacons fought violence with violence. Harp and colleagues also found a "slightly scorched" suitcase filled with fourteen and a half pints of bourbon. [1][pageneeded] The shop was also his residence. When Lewis was released after serving two weeks, Whatley and Antonne Duncan were part of a Deacon team organized to get him home safely. The main force that we had was marches, he said. 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. Delaughter lied about his location during the arson, claiming that he was out of the jurisdiction on a non-emergency call. Later that week, officers Frank DeLaughter and Bill Ogden intimidated Kelly and forced him out of town. McCray drove the suspects to a location around Bayou Drive in Ferriday, where the suspects pulled out a gun and shot him. Davis furnished the bureau a list of Ferriday Deacons, and he identified former Harlem Globetrotter Johnny Lloyd, who was a four-sport coach at the local black school Sevier High, as a Deacon. In February1968, the second investigation was closed when the FBI determined that there was insufficient evidence to charge any of the suspects. FERRIDAY Concordia Parish Sheriff's Office deputies investigated two shooting deaths in the area of Lake St. John Sunday night. Harp described Morris as an alcoholic and had two confrontations with him during 19631965, as well as a small argument outside of the courthouse. On February 27, 1967, Wharlest Jackson, an employee at Armstrong Tire & Rubber Company in Natchez, Mississippi, was killed when a bomb exploded under the hood of his car while he was driving home. At approximately noon Sunday, Grant Dunbar, 24, was found dead at a residence in the area of Fifth Street and Georgia Avenue in Ferriday, said Ferriday Police Chief Sam King. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considered the SDG to be a highly-dangerous domestic terror cell, and conducted multiple investigations into its activities. 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. Although both the Deacons and its younger subgroup were secretive, they let members of the black community know they would protect them from the Klan and law enforcement. Had Duncan and the others not rescued Lewis, the police might have dropped him off at the railroad crossing in Vidalia, where Klansmen often waited when black people were released from the jail. All rights reserved. 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. Frank Morris (in the apron and visor) is seen standing in front of his shoe shop in Ferriday, La., in the 1950s. "1970 Census: Population & Housing, Procedural History", "Cold Case: Silver Dollar Group linked to attacks Edwards, Morris, Jackson, Metcalfe", "Wharlest Jackson - Notice to Close File", "Cold Case: Silver Dollar Group Linked to Attacks Edwards, Morris, Jackson, Metcalfe, List of lynching victims in the United States, William "Froggie" James and Henry Salzner, Elijah Frost, Abijah Gibson, Tom McCracken, Thomas Moss, Henry Stewart, Calvin McDowell (TN), Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, National Museum of African American History and Culture, "The United States of Lyncherdom" (Twain), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Frank_Morris&oldid=1147937870, December 1964 events in the United States, Racially motivated violence against African Americans, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from July 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. The newspapers the bourbon was wrapped in had no signs of burning, indicating tampering with the scene. 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. Authorities in Louisiana will seek to extradite Theriot from Virginia, Webre said. Dakota Theriot, 21, fled to his grandmothers house in Virginia after the killings in Ascension and Livingston parishes Saturday morning, and he was arrested Sunday outside his grandmother's home by deputies who were already there, authorities have said. 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. Morris had a shoe repair shop in Ferriday, and died after his shoe repair shop was burned. This was of interest to the FBI, as multiple informants stated that the Concordia Parish Sheriff's Department had prior knowledge of the coming attack on Morris, and was told to "be on the other side of the parish". Concordia Parish had 14 recorded racially-motivated murders between 1964 and 1967.[4]. (KNOE) - Authorities are investigating what they believe to be a murder-suicide in Concordia Parish. 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. Another has been arrested on a second-degree murder charge Tuesday in relation to a fatal shooting that took place Sunday afternoon in broad daylight in Ferriday. (See pages 14-16 of this PDF.). They knew Klansmen would await Lewis release and that deputies would notify the Klan that a black activist was being released from jail. [2] After one of the subjects lit a match, the shop caught fire; Morris was still present in the building. These men had long been outraged by one horrid memory the 1964 arson murder of Ferriday shoe shop owner Frank Morris. The state of Mississippi in the Jim Crow era was infamous for racially-fueled lynchings. Frank Morris (in the apron and visor) is seen standing in front of his shoe shop in Ferriday, La., in the 1950s. FERRIDAY, La. Cold Case: James Ford Seale: A sheriff's election, nine deaths and a silver dollar, Cold Case: Who killed Joseph Edwards? FERRIDAY, La. FERRIDAY, La. FERRIDAY, La. [2] The FBI had received information that local law enforcement officials had been involved. The Natchez-Adams School District released the following statement: Mr. Dakota Theriot was taken into custody in Virginia after killing five people in Louisiana on Jan. 27, 2019. In December 1964, Frank Morris' shoe shop was set ablaze in the middle of the night. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. "As far as why this happened, that motive is still unclear.". So when there was a problem, there was a way of communicating to them what was going on.. Cops are investigating a double shooting -- including one fatality -- in the now-famous L.A. neighborhood where the movie "Friday" was filmed. At the time of his death, Morris owned the land his shop was on, and he was seen as an honest man who paid his bills on time. Wed walk nights with rifles on our shoulders like you would see in some foreign countries, Whatley said. CONCORDIA PARISH, La. Before those killings, Dakota Theriot allegedly killed Summer Ernest, 20, her father Billy Ernest, 43, and her brother, Tanner Ernest, 17. [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". Whatley said it was important for Deacons and activists to demand change in lawful yet effectiveways during the civil rights era, and he said that still holds true for the nationwide protests against police abuses today. That was not the only time Whatley helped an imprisoned black man in Ferriday. He was also named 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year. [1] The group formed in 1964 at the Shamrock Motor Hotel in Vidalia, Louisiana by Raleigh Jackson "Red" Glover,[2] amidst dissatisfaction at the lack of forceful action by Klan groups in the region. According to the Concordia Sentinel, the Ferriday Police Department began investigating the deaths of two people who were killed Wednesday afternoon. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CPSO says upon arrival, they found two bodies with fatal gunshot wounds. Our sincere condolences are offered to his family, friends, and coworkers.. A Ferriday man shot a Vidalia woman before killing himself with the same gun Tuesday afternoon in Ferriday. (WLBT) - According to Gray station KNOE, authorities in Concordia Parish, Louisiana are investigating the murder of a man recently named Teacher of the Year. 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. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Friday morning. 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. "[2] The FBI collected evidence at the crime scene and conducted interviews with local law enforcement, local Klan leaders, and witnesses. Every murder is a senseless murder and this one certainly fits those criteria. No one was ever arrested for the . These men had long been outraged by one horrid memory - the 1964 arson murder of Ferriday shoe shop owner Frank Morris. Who would you like to see as our next U.S. president? ( 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. The following day Morris's shop was attacked. Klansmen took advantage of this, throwing a bomb just outside Whatleys bedroom window. During the 1960s, the area was a strictly segregated society. After a false KKK rumor that he had flirted with. On December 10, 1964, two unidentified white men set fire to the shoe repair shop owned by Frank Morris. Every journalism student in America should be making a pilgrimage to Ferriday, Louisiana, on this date to sit at the feet of and learn from Stanley Nelson, 59-year-old Editor of the Concordia Sentinel, a small weekly newspaper (circulation about 5,000) that serves up mostly local news, wedding announcements, obituaries and sports to the residents of According to the Concordia Parish Sheriffs Office, on April 25, 2021, at around 9:30 p.m., they were called to a residence on Lake St. John about a shooting. Ferridays population of more than 4,500 residents was roughly half black and half white in the mid-1960s, a time when black citizens quietly celebrated civil rights wins and white supremacists desperately tried to halt legislative and social change. 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. 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. "So, this is a monster.". IE 11 is not supported. Harp's new information regarding Morris shed doubt on the story concerning DeLaughter. One night in January 1966 as Whatley slept, his first cousin and fellow Deacon, Joe Davis, fell asleep during his shift to guard the Whatley home. "Cold Case: Morris' Granddaughter Says FBI $10,000 Reward Gives Her New Hope". [5] Jackson had recently been promoted to a position never before held by an African American. When the group began to phase out in Ferriday and the other towns by 1966, the FBI stopped keeping close tabs on the Deacons. If youre thinking of altering your workout routine, youre probably looking for new exercises and equipment to help you reach your fitness goals. Six decades after a Louisiana man's disappearance and presumed murder, his family is still looking for answers and a body to bury. According to authorities, McCray was a teacher in Natchez with two degrees. 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. CONCORDIA PARISH, La. 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. Police investigating Labor Day homicide in Ferriday. There were two children, ages 1 and 7, in the Ernests home when the killing occurred, but they were unharmed and eventually went to a neighbors home for help, Ard said. Nelson interviewed witnesses to uncover unknown facts and haunting recollections about the racially-motivated murders around Ferriday. Blacks also became deputies and police officers. Law officials said deputies responded to a report of a shooting at approximately 9:30 p.m. at the 3000 block of U.S. 569 on Lake Saint John. Investigators say the people involved were 19 and 20-years . 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. The investigation revealed new allegations that local police officers were tampering with the investigation by threatening witnesses. According to police, the man shot his girlfriend and then shot himself. The Frank Morris case is just one of many civil rights era cold cases that journalists like Stanley Nelson and David Ridgen are investigating as part of The Civil Rights Cold Case Project, which is an unprecedented collaboration of journalists from across the media spectrum, created in the aftermath of the trial of former Klansman James Ford Seale. A 20-year-old male and 26-year-old female were killed by apparent gunshot wounds. 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. Donnie Sanders III, 24, is charged with second-degree murder. [2], Stanley Nelson, an award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist, published Devils Walking: Klan Murders along the Mississippi in the 1960s, after a series of articles in the Concordia Sentinel. We do feel this is isolated to those individuals and we dont feel the community is in any danger at this point.. [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]. The population of Adams County was split roughly in half between blacks and whites. The Concordia Parish Sheriff's Office (CPSO) is leading the investigation into the shooting at 106 Gremillion Street. 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. Born in Jonesboro before spreading most notably to Bogalusa, Homer and Ferriday, the Deacons main purpose was to fight fire with fire and to protect their communities. Whatley contacted COREs central office after the attack, sparking an FBI investigation. Police say the bodies were found just before 2:30 p.m. at a home on Johnson Street. The Natchez-Adams School District said he taught 8th grade at Morgantown Middle School. FERRIDAY, La. The preliminary investigation concluded that Morris had not been involved in any racially motivated activities. 4/23/2021 7:14 AM PT. He told the FBI in 1965 that though he was not a member, Deacons had sought his advice and counsel. Who would you like to see as our next U.S. president? A preliminary FBI investigation began immediately after the arson; its goal was to "determine if any federal laws had been violated, specifically whether Morris had been involved in voter registration or other civil rights activities and whether any subjects had connections to any racist organizations. A local black teacher claimed that after the arson, a rumor was spreading that Morris was facilitating interracial liaisons. "We just know what he did. No one was hurt during the arrest, Ard said. The group is also suspected in the disappearance and murder of an African American employee of the Shamrock Motel, Joseph Edwards. Part 3:In Homer, the Deacons defied Willie Rainachs segregation. Police say it happened on Johnson Street around 5 p.m. [citation needed], Ferriday is located in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, across the Mississippi River from Adams County, Mississippi. Another has been arrested on a second-degree murder charge Tuesday in relation to a fatal shooting that took place Sunday afternoon in broad daylight in Ferriday. Courtesy of the Concordia Sentinel and William Brown He said the bureau concluded that if the bombs two sticks of blasting powder would have ignited, the house might have been destroyed. Published: Sep. 11, 2019 at 7:15 PM PDT. Lewis raced outside with a shotgun. COREs main task was to test whether the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were being implemented, and for this their workers suffered in Ferriday. The suspects then drove the body to an old food plant, where they hid it under plywood and garbage. Ferriday, La. There have been allegations of witness intimidation, evidence tampering, and involvement by local law enforcement. He killed five people," Webre said. We know that [Morris] was the victim of a brutal murder and we want to figure out who did it and we want to figure out why they did it," Tom Perez, assistant attorney general who runs the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, said in an interview last week. Preliminary autopsy results show the three members of the Ernest family were each shot one time in the head with the handgun that was recovered, Ard said. Whatley said Deacons held meetings at Mercy Seat Baptist Church, where shoe shop owner Frank Morris had served as an usher, as well as Mount Olive Baptist Church and St. Charles Catholic Church. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. If they can summon the moral fortitude and courage to contact the FBI and tell us what they know, they will be heroes who will change history. FERRIDAY, La. READ:George Floyds killing resurrects nightmares for families of civil rights martyrs. We believe there had been some type of verbal altercation from maybe an ongoing dispute. These men had long been outraged by one horrid memory the 1964 arson murder of Ferriday shoe shop owner Frank Morris.No one was ever arrested for the killing. . Morris, in particular, is featured in this text. In an interview with Nelson, Spencer denies those allegations. Atcheson, who was familiar with the Deacons for Defense and Justice, later told FBI agent Don McGorty that Ferriday resident Victor Graham had contacted the Jonesboro Deacons and that a month later, in August 1965, the Ferriday chapter was formed. Sons of Klansmen tied to Louisiana murder haunted by sins of their fathers. [6] Although people generally thought highly of Morris, black residents thought Morris was too shocking to white residents. Once arrested himself on a false claim and held in the local jail for two weeks, Whatley said a primary function of the Ferriday Deacons was to protest the unlawful arrests of local black men. antarctica missing documentary crew,

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