He was killed when the shop burned down in 1964. The Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office was called to the home at around 8:47 a.m. that morning, he said. 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. They handed out flyers and leaflets to local congregations and spoke at churches. They also stated that Morace described a battery-powered device which could "spray five gallons of gasoline in five minutes". "We are actively, as we speak involved in this investigation. According to the Concordia Sentinel, the Ferriday Police Department began investigating the deaths of two people who were killed Wednesday afternoon. By Sabrina Simms Robertson. 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. [2] According to these informants, Morace was the primary conspirator in the murder of Morris; however, the FBI could not find any physical evidence corroborating their witnesses. "[2], On November 1920, 1967, two confidential sources described the same November meeting in which Morace, Jones, Torgersen, and Scarborough implicated themselves in the murder of Morris. His father, Sullivan, operated a shoe shop in Natchez, Mississippi. According to investigators, on the night of the murder Frederick McCray Jr. gave a ride to the two suspects. (See pages 14-16 of this PDF.). No one was ever arrested for the . "He gave up," and authorities were able to place him under arrest, he said. Our sincere condolences are offered to his family, friends, and coworkers.. [2] The FBI had received information that local law enforcement officials had been involved. The investigation revealed new allegations that local police officers were tampering with the investigation by threatening witnesses. FERRIDAY, La. 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. 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. Harp's new information regarding Morris shed doubt on the story concerning DeLaughter. The preliminary investigation concluded that Morris had not been involved in any racially motivated activities. [6] Ferriday Police officer William Howell Harp Jr. alleged that Morris was a bootlegger and sold narcotics. There have been allegations of witness intimidation, evidence tampering, and involvement by local law enforcement. Like many Southern crimes against blacks in the 1960s -- an era of racial strife dominated by criminal activities by the Ku Klux Klan -- the incident went unsolved, despite an FBI investigation at the time. 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. [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". [3] Much like the other Mississippi counties, law enforcement and the courts were run by whites. 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. 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. CONCORDIA PARISH, La. The Concordia Parish Sheriff's Office (CPSO) is leading the investigation into the shooting at 106 Gremillion Street. Luckily, only the detonator exploded, not the bomb itself, sparing the family from tragedy. Nelson, Stanley. Jonesboro Deacon and evangelist preacher Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick told the FBI they chose to call the group the Deacons because that indicated it was for the good of all people. "Weve got a better picture on how this happened," the sheriff said of the five killings. They were identified as 65-year-old Mark Clark and 49-year-old Donna R. Clark, both of Ferriday. The group is believed to have had only some twenty members. 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. Lewis raced outside with a shotgun. We spent all those years hating each other for reasons we dont know, Whatley said. Upon their arrival, the bodies of Mark Clark, 65, and Donna Clark, 49, of Ferriday, were discovered with fatal gunshot wounds. 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. We expect more arrests to be made in relation to this case. Beloved Mississippi school bus driver killed during crash with 18-wheeler, Eleven players with Mississippi ties selected in 2023 NFL Draft, Truck possibly connected to Hinds County jail escape found in Newton County, Paraplegic fisherman speaks to Beulah Baptist Church, Belhaven football puts a smile on the face of little girl, City of Byram awarded thousands of state dollars for infrastructure projects, Request a First Alert Weather School Visit, Advertising Non-Discrimination Certification. 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 . [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. The main force that we had was marches, he said. Ferriday Police are investigating a suspected murder-suicide that happened Wednesday afternoon. Morris, a black man who had . Their only protection came from the Deacons, he said. To date, every civil rights murder case that has been reopened and successfully prosecuted was the direct result of an investigation initiated by a journalist. . 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. [2] Three new subjects were identified, but the investigators did not uncover any credible physical evidence supporting the allegations. Our effort here, as it is everywhere, is to try and uncover the truth. 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. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot dies at 84, Met Gala: Tennis star, supermodel reveal pregnancies, Man who lost wife, son in Texas mass shooting tells, Few leads, false alarms as search for Texas gunman, US to lift most federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Meteorologist Walker Snowden says goodbye to the, Grambling State Trevor Hatton Homers Twice as the, Lady Techsters Softball drops weekend series to Charlotte, ULM Softball Ashland Ard two-run homer lifts Warhawks, Hatton Homers Twice as Grambling State Routs Prairie, NBC 10 Evening Sportscast Sunday, April 30th, TWIN CITY OUTDOORS YARD OF THE WEEK 2023, Louisiana Living: Louisiana Delta Community College, Louisiana Living: Northeast Louisiana Sickle Cell, EPD confirm warning of gun violence over the weekend, Conexon Connect to deliver high-speed fiber internet, Sponsored Content: Magickal Mystic Moments of Mindfulness, Sponsored Content: Wound Ostomy Care Clinic, Le Creuset just launched a dreamy new color for spring, Our fitness expert weighs in on this years top spring, Bernice Police Department locates juvenile that went, 7 bodies found in search for two missing OK teens, US tracking balloon spotted off coast of Hawaii, DeSantis board approves suing Disney in latest tug-of-war, Your Arklamiss in 60 seconds: May 1, 2023, Multiple fatalities on Illinois highway following, West Monroe Police searching for an individual who, ROAD CLOSURE: N. Monroe Street in Ruston to experience, Yellen says drop-dead date for debt ceiling is June, El Dorado School District announces special education, American Airlines, seeking new contract, vote to, West Monroe man accused of raping his adoptive daughter, Reward offered in search for TX mass shooting suspect, West Monroe man arrested after issuing threats of, BestReviews.com - Top gifts to make everyone happy this spring, Surprise your mom with one of these Mothers Day, Mothers Day inspo: This foot massager has 20,000, Drew Barrymores Walmart collection is perfect for, Best Mothers Day gifts for the budding plant mom, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. There have been allegations of witness intimidation, evidence tampering, and involvement by local law enforcement. No one was hurt during the arrest, Ard said. We were able to get a dying declaration from the dad before he expired, Webre said. We would make it known that we were alert and we were awake, and they would flee, Whatley said. He said anyone who wants to resolve racial injustices and divisions should do so legally, rather than violently. So far no charges have been filed. 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. However, Poisott was eliminated as a potential witness due to his erratic amphetamine use and difficulties differentiating between personal knowledge and hearsay. The Department of Justice and the FBI say they are conducting ongoing investigations into the Morris case. 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. Much like the Morris case, witness accounts were not corroborating, and in August 1968, the investigation was closed. Dec 16, 2020. 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 In addition to each member owning his own weapon, the agent wrote, the unit allegedly possessed three semi-automatic carbines and two walkie-talkies used when patrolling. IE 11 is not supported. Not far from Lewis home lived Antonne Duncan, who days later ran through a Klan roadblock when he and other African American men transported Lewis home after his release from jail. Courtesy of the Concordia Sentinel and William Brown 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 . Stanley Nelson is editor of the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, Louisiana. 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 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". Police investigating Labor Day homicide in Ferriday. That continues today, and even now.. Blacks also became deputies and police officers. This went on month after month while I was in this school system.. The sheriff's office said the suspect allegedly pointed a gun out the window of his vehicle causing deputies to seek cover, and that he was ordered to drop his weapon and was arrested without incident. The following day Morris's shop was attacked. 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. Police say it happened on Johnson Street around 5 p.m. (KNOE) - Authorities are investigating what they believe to be a murder-suicide in Concordia Parish. According to the Concordia Sentinel, the Ferriday Police Department began investigating the deaths of two people who were killed Wednesday afternoon. When he saw one of the perpetrators fleeing the scene, he instinctively raised his gun and pulled the trigger, only to hear an empty click. Once their mission was complete, members quietly returned to their modest lives. 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. Authorities in Louisiana will seek to extradite Theriot from Virginia, Webre said. We do feel this is isolated to those individuals and we dont feel the community is in any danger at this point.. He was able to escape the shop but sustained burns on 100% of his body. Kelly later told Rosa Williams, Morris's granddaughter, "I know what happened to your grandfather You don't have to look no further than the police department. Duncan was at the wheel, and when they reached the tracks with Lewis in the car, they bolted past Klansmen waiting there. FERRIDAY, La. 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. The suspects are identified as Jimmy ONeal Lewis and Cedric Tennessee. Two killed in Ferriday . The group is also suspected in the disappearance . 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. Morris opened Frank's Shoes Service in the late 1930s, in his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana. Two suspects have. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Dakota Theriot was taken into custody in Virginia after killing five people in Louisiana on Jan. 27, 2019. All rights reserved. Who would you like to see as our next U.S. president? 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. All rights reserved. McCray drove the suspects to a location around Bayou Drive in Ferriday, where the suspects pulled out a gun and shot him. Wed march on the jail. -- 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. "We dont know if we will ever have a motive exactly why this happened.". 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. CPSO officials said the incident is being investigated as a murder-suicide and there are no suspects at large. Carl Ray Thompson, then 26, spotted his cousin's two-toned. The population of Adams County was split roughly in half between blacks and whites. In a report from the Concordi 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. The SDG regularly committed arson, bombings, and murder. 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. Devils Walking: Klan Murders along the Mississippi in the 1960s. His daily tasks included repairing shoes and saddles, selling jewellery, hats, and clothing, and dyeing purses. He was killed when the shop burned down in 1964. No subscription required to play. McCray drove the suspects to a location around Bayou Drive in Ferriday, where the suspects pulled out a gun and shot him. Frank Morris (19141964) was an American businessman who died as a result of arson to his shoe shop in Ferriday, Louisiana, a city with a history of racial violence. This page was last edited on 3 April 2023, at 04:13. 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. 0. "As far as why this happened, that motive is still unclear.". Morris was taken to the hospital by two Ferriday police officers and was able to speak to FBI investigators. 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. 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. He told the FBI in 1965 that though he was not a member, Deacons had sought his advice and counsel. Part 1:A half-century ago in Jonesboro, armed black men fought back. King said the investigation is still ongoing and more arrests are anticipated. [according to whom?] 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. He was targeted by the SDG. "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. Virginia online court records do not list an attorney for Theriot. Ferriday policemen, including "DeLaughter, Bill Ogden, and Ferriday Police Chief Bob Warren", had ordered an unidentified witness to "keep his mouth shut", and later told him to "get out of town". 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. The sheriffs office said the incident happened on June 23 in the Ferriday area in northeast Louisiana. In Homer, the Deacons defied Willie Rainachs segregation, the 1964 arson murder of Ferriday shoe shop owner Frank Morris, In Bogalusa, the Deacons fought violence with violence, the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Cold Case Project, Woman works to preserve Bogalusa home turned headquarters of civil rights group, Sons of Klansmen tied to Louisiana murder haunted by sins of their fathers, A half-century ago in Jonesboro, armed black men fought back, Here are 19 of the most influential civil rights leaders of today, George Floyds killing resurrects nightmares for families of civil rights martyrs, the nationwide protests against police abuses today, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Sons of Klansmen tied to Louisiana murder haunted by sins of their fathers. He was also named 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year. The first full investigation of the Frank Morris murder began in January 1965, at the request of then-Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, Burke Marshall. Ferriday, La. Nelson interviewed witnesses to uncover unknown facts and haunting recollections about the racially-motivated murders around 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. 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.