49. Pfeifer, interview by Stanley Nelson, 2011.
50. Ibid.
51. Noah Cross “Thank You” advertisement, Concordia Sentinel, December 20, 1967, 9A.
52. “McKeithen Asks for Recommendations to Determine Status of Clerk, Deputy,” Concordia Sentinel, March 7, 1966, A1.
53. FBI Report on Concordia Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff’s Election, November 4, 1967, FBI Civil Unrest, Wharlest Jackson file 44-JN-2044, NARA.
54. Pfeifer interview by Stanley Nelson, 2011.
55. United States v. Noah W. Cross (U.S. Federal Court, Alexandria, LA, May 1972).
56. Federal Grand Jury Proceedings, 1972, obtained by author from an anonymous source.
57. Pfeifer interview by Stanley Nelson, 2011.
58. United States v. Noah Cross (1972).
59. “Cross Takes Oath,” Concordia Sentinel, July 5, 1972, A1.
EPILOGUE
1. Donald Washington, interview by Stanley Nelson, August 23, 2014.
2. Thomas Moore and David Ridgen, interviews by Stanley Nelson, February 17, 2012.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. “Cold Case Reporting: Revisiting Racial Crimes,” Nieman Reports 65, no. 3 (Fall 2011): 5–23.
6. Stanley Nelson, “Silver Dollar Sons: Klansman’s Children Say Their Father Was Livid over Morris Murder,” Concordia Sentinel, December 31, 2008, A7.
7. “Cold Case Reporting: Revisiting Racial Crimes.”
8. Ben Greenberg, “Decades after Slaying, Mississippi Family Seeks Justice,” Clarion-Ledger, July 22, 2012.
9. Stanley Nelson, “Rev. Lee Celebrates 100th,” Concordia Sentinel, September 4, 2013, A1. Rev. Lee died in January 2014.
10. Anonymous source, interviews by Stanley Nelson, August 7, 2009, and November 20, 2012.
11. John Pfeifer, interview by Stanley Nelson, June 17, 2011.
12. Anonymous call to Stanley Nelson, February 16, 2012.
13. Thomas Perez, interview by Stanley Nelson, January 6, 2011.
14. Stanley Nelson, “Man Implicated in Frank Morris Arson Dies,” Concordia Sentinel, May 22, 2013, A1.
15. Jerry Beatty, interview by Stanley Nelson, October 17, 2008.
16. Anonymous sources, interviews by Stanley Nelson, 2010 through 2013.
17. Anonymous source.
18. Cecil Mayo Peoples, interview by FBI Special Agents Thomas J. Connolly and Robert F. Boyle, March 27, 1967, FBI Civil Unrest, Wharlest Jackson file 44-JN-2044, NARA.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMARY SOURCES
ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS
FBI Records
FBI Civil Unrest Archives, National Records and Archives Administration, College Park, MD
Avants, Ernest. File 157-HQ-3701.
Edwards, Joseph. File 44-NO-2293.
Glover, Jackson. File 157-JN-2444.
Head, Kenneth Norman. File 157-HQ-3435.
Hodges, Earl. File 157-JN-3830.
Jackson, Wharlest. File 44-JN-2044.
Jones, Tommie Lee. File 157-HQ-3552.
Lee, James Frederick. File 157-HQ-4490.
McDaniel, E. L. File 157-HQ-2156.
Morris, Frank. File 157-HQ-2311.
Parker, Ernest. File 157-HQ-3437.
Seale, James Ford. File 157-HQ-3769.
Seale, Myron Wayne “Jack.” File 157-HQ-3769.
Silver Dollar Group. File 157-HQ-4717.
Watkins, James. File 44-NO-3364.
White, James. File 157-NO-9951.
White Knights. File 157-HQ-1552.
House Un-American Activities Committee Records
Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC
Records of the U.S. House of Representatives. Record Group 233.
Shamel, Charles E. Records of the House Un-American Activities Committee, 1945–1969/House Internal Security Committee, 1969–1976. July 1995.
Additional Government Records
McCain Library and Archives Digital Collections, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg
Civil Rights Collection.
Freedom Summer 1964 Collection.
Mississippi Department of Archives and History Digital Collections, Jackson, Miss.
Series 2515: Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Records.
COURT CASES
Thomas Moore and Thelma Collins v. Franklin County, August 5, 2008 (U.S. D.C. S.D. MS-WD).
United States v. J. D. Richardson, Monroe, LA, January 20–21, 1971.
United States v. James Ford Seale, March 14, 2008 (U.S. D.C. A 5th D).
United States v. Noah W. Cross, Alexandria, LA, May 2, 1972 (U.S. D.C. W. D. LA-A.D.).
INTERVIEWS AND PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE
All interviews are with Stanley Nelson unless otherwise noted.
Beatty, Rae. Ferriday, LA, October 17, 2008.
Blunschi, John. Ferriday, LA, July 3, 2013.
Byrne, Tony. Natchez, MS, May 21, 2014.
Casper, Meg, Press Secretary, Louisiana Secretary of State. Phone interview, May 6, 2013.
Crawford, Vic. Natchez, MS, April 13, 2009.
Curtis, Mary. Natchez, MS, August 18, 2009.
Davis, Woodie. Ferriday, LA, March 2008.
Deitle, Cynthia. Statement to Chief of FBI Civil Rights Cold Case Unit, published in Concordia Sentinel, January 6, 2011.
Drane, Lee. Phone interview, January 6, 2010.
Ferrell, Tommy. Phone interview, October 10, 2013.
Fitzgerald, Paige, U.S. Department of Justice, to Rosa Williams. Frank Morris Case Closed Letter, 2014.
Gardner, Ted. Phone interview, May 16, 2012.
Graves, Max. Meadville, MS, June 26, 2013.
Hodges, Keith. Phone interview, January 19, 2013.
Ingram, Jim. Phone interview, October 13, 2008.
Lee, Rev. Robert, Jr. Ferriday, LA, January 3, November 12, 2008.
Lewis, Robert “Buck.” Ferriday, LA, August 6, 2014.
Mitchell, Jack. Phone interview, 2013.
Nichols, Cherish Jean. Jonesville, LA, April 10, 2014.
Pfeifer, John. Phone interviews, March 16, April 2, April 8, June 2, 2011.
Robinson, Ed. E-mail to Stanley Nelson, April 28, 2014.
Thompson, Carl Ray. Ferriday, LA, December 13, 2007.
Thompson, Father August. Pineville, LA, January 29, March 11, 2011, April 29, 2012.
Vernon, Helen Hodges. Phone interview, January 25, 2013.
Williams, Billy Bob. November 8, 2009, December 10, 2013, January 25, May 24, 2014.
———. Interview by Bryan R. Holstein, February 13, 16, 2007. Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, Inc.
NEWSPAPERS
Atlanta Journal
Baltimore Afro-American
Chicago Sun-Times
Clarion-Ledger
Concordia Sentinel
Daily News
Jackson Free Press
Meridian Star
Natchez Democrat
New York Times
New York Tribune
Tuscaloosa News
Washington Post
OTHER PRIMARY SOURCES
Town of Ferriday. Minute Book. November 1954, April 1960, August 1963. Town Hall, Ferriday, La.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Armstrong, Mary G. Memoirs of George W. Armstrong. Self-published, 1958.
Bragg, Marion. Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi River. Vicksburg, MS: Mississippi River Commission, 1977.
Calhoun, Robert Dabney. “A History of Concordia Parish (1768–1931).” Rpr. from Louisiana Historical Quarterly, January 1932.
Dundy, Elaine. Ferriday, Louisiana. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1991.
Faircloth, Adam. Race and Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915–1972. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995.
Foner, Eric. Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction. New York: Vintage, 2008.
Griffin, John Howard. “Journal of a Trip South.
” Ramparts, Christmas 1963.
Higgins, Chester. “Report on Bomb Killing of Miss. NAACP Leader.” Jet, April 27, 1967, 16–24.
Holmes, Jack D. L. Gayoso: The Life of a Spanish Governor in the Mississippi Valley, 1789–1799. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1965.
“Introducing the F.F.M.,” FFM newsletter, August 15, 1965, 1. Father August Thompson Personal collection.
Jessey, Cornelia. “Contemporary Spirituality.” The Way International, December 1977.
Jet, July 7, 1966, 15.
Kurtz, Michael. “Political Corruption and Organized Crime in Louisiana: The FBI Files on Earl Long.” Louisiana Historical Association Quarterly 29, no. 3 (Summer 1988): 229–52.
Lynch, John Roy. Reminiscences of an Active Life: The Autobiography of John Roy Lynch. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.
Mars, Florence. Witness in Philadelphia. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1977.
Mills, Frances Preston, ed. The History of the Descendants of the New Jersey Settlers of Adams County, Mississippi. Vol. 2. Jackson, MS: Hederman Bros., 1981.
“The Mob.” Life, September 1, 1967.
“My Problems: How Much Should a Family Knuckle Under.” Good Housekeeping, June 1965, 62.
“Negro Natchez Boycott Hurts White Merchants.” Jet, November 11, 1965.
“Nobody Turn Me ’Round.” Time, October 15, 1965.
Rowland, Dunbar. Encyclopedia of Mississippi History. 2 vols. Madison, WI: S. A. Brant, 1907.
Scott, Stanley S. “Natchez Bomber Strikes Again.” Crisis, April 1967, 133.
Shapiro, Joseph. “Justice in the Segregated South: A New Look at an Old Killing.” National Public Radio. Aired May 3, 2013.
Snyder, Granville. “When Civil Rights and Social Action Became Personal.” Rev. Granville Snyder Personal Recollections (unpublished), 2012.
Whitehead, Don. Attack on Terror: The FBI against the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1970.
INDEX
Acme, La., 27
Adams, Pres. John, 36
Adams County, Miss., 8, 28, 30–33, 35–40, 42, 46–47, 59, 66, 68, 78–79, 81, 96, 108, 110–11, 129, 131–32, 167, 169, 228
Adams County Civic Betterment Association, 68, 80
Adams County Sheriff’s Office, 132, 168, 171
Aggarwald, Sumi, 214
Airways Motor Inn, 165
Alcorn A&M College, 41
Alexandria, La., 4, 91–92
Allen, Louis, 24, 214
American Bandstand, 14
Americans for the Preservation of the White Race, 70
Amite County, Miss., 24, 145, 204
Anders, Sheriff Odell, 31–33, 35, 42, 47, 79–80, 96, 111, 130, 170, 180
Anniston Star, 202
Arcade Theater, 145
Armstrong, Judge George, Sr., 46–47
Armstrong Tire & Rubber Company, 13, 29, 33–36, 60, 78, 101–6, 109, 112, 178, 180–83, 186, 189, 192, 228, 232–33
Associated Press, 215
Atcheson, Mel, 144
Aunt Cheney, 107
Aunt Polly, 89
Austin, Roy, 214
Avants, Ernest, 35, 48, 78–79, 108, 140, 166, 170–73, 231
convicted in White murder, 228, 231
suspect in Hodges’s murder, 228, 231
Bahin, Charlie, 75, 180
Baker, Ella, 78
Baldwin, La., 143
Ball’s Drug Store, 133
Barlow, George, 16–17
Barnard, Jesse, 71
Barnett, Gov. Ross, 19–20, 77
Barnette, Marion, 147, 194
Barnidge, Matt, 204
Baroni, Marge, 110, 206
Baskin, La., 187, 191
Bastrop, La., 151–52
BBC Radio, 215
Beason, Roy J., 33–35
Beatty, Jerry, 217
Bedford, Willie, 45
Benoist, Ed, 139–40, 172
Berry, Dan, 216
Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church, 63
Billsup Service Station, 93, 95
Birmingham church bombing (1963), 65, 67, 83
Birth of a Nation (Griffith), 21, 129
Black Muslims, 5, 29, 40–41
Black River, 9, 27, 106, 160
Black River Klan, 27–28, 142, 234
Black River Lake, 27
Blankenstein, Kathie, 74
Blankenstein, Rawdon, 74
Bloody Sunday, 105
Blue laws, 12
Blunschi, Johnny, 96
Bogalusa, La., 56
Bonanza Club, 192
Bosanquet, Nick, 78
Bowers, Sam, 32–33, 46, 48, 55, 67–68, 83, 160, 217
Boyd, Earcel, Sr., 60, 103
Boyd, Leland, 103, 203
Boyd, Marjorie, 103
Boyd, Sonny, 60, 103
Brady, John, 188
Braswell Store, 171
Briggs, Rev. Clyde, 41–42
Brookhaven, Miss., 8, 15, 22, 28, 30, 79, 135, 187
Brown, H. Rap, 177
Brown, Robbie, 216
Buckley’s Café, 63
Bude, Miss., 136, 138
Bunkley, Miss., 201
Bunkley Baptist Church, 40, 42
Bunkley Road, 137–38
Burbank, Superintendent Thomas, 157
Burchfield, Jasper, 35, 131–34
Burget, Brad, 215
Bush, Pres. George, 197–98
Butler, Donald, 139
Butler, Richard Joe, 46–47, 64, 70, 77, 79, 81, 132, 168
Byrd, Douglas, 22, 24, 32, 35, 39, 168, 225
Caldwell Parish, La., 24
Calhoun, Robert Dabney, 86–87
Callon, June, 167
Cameron, Link, 42, 137–38
Campbell, Bill, 138
Campbell, Sheriff Eugene, 10
Campbell, Victor, 194
Cario’s Drive-In, 68, 93
Carmichael, Stokely, 177
Carter, James, 171
Carter, Pres. Jimmy, 218
Case, Sen. Clifford, 90
Caston, E. L., 24
Catahoula Parish, La., xvii, 29, 106, 108, 113, 158
Catholic University, 199
Cecil Beatty’s Gulf Station, 1
Center for Investigative Reporting, 201–2, 211
Ceppos, Jerry, 205
Chaney, James Earl, 44, 56, 193
Chef Truck Stop Café, 185
Chicago, Ill., 12, 31–32, 40, 105, 178, 193, 200
Chicago Sun-Times, 71, 74, 93
Christian Youth Administration, 14
Civil Rights Act of 1964, 23, 44, 57, 80, 112, 177
Civil Rights Cold Case Project, 202, 211, 214
Civil Rights Commission, 55, 78, 96
Civil War, 9, 20, 85, 106
Civilian Conservation Corps, 102
Claiborne Parish, La., 14
Clarion-Ledger, 201–2
Clark, Atty. Gen. Ramsey, 180, 191
Clark, Ernest, 62
Clayton, La., 42, 59, 61, 93, 150, 153
Clear Springs Recreation Area, Miss., 102, 105
Clurman, Michael, 144
CNN, 215
Cold Case Justice Initiative, 198, 216
College Park, Md., 205
Columbia, La., 24
Columbus, Miss., 165
Colvin, Charles, 4, 7, 8, 202, 236
Concordia Ministerial Alliance, 142, 195
Concordia Parish, La., xix, 8, 11, 14, 20–21, 28, 30–31, 31, 36, 44, 47, 56, 58–59, 61, 63–64, 68, 72, 76, 80–84, 86, 88, 91, 92–93, 106–8, 112, 142, 147, 150, 152, 160, 182, 184, 189, 193–94, 213, 217
and gambling and prostitution, 9–13, 80, 157–58, 164, 166, 194, 197, 202, 204
and lawlessness, 9
Concordia Parish Courthouse, 16
jail at, 17
Concordia Parish Hospital, 3–5, 90
Concordia Parish School Board, 148
Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office, 1, 9, 24, 64, 88, 96, 143, 146, 182, 187, 205, 208, 229
Concordia Sentinel, xvii, xviii, xix, 7, 8, 14–15, 20, 22, 35, 40, 57, 64, 66, 68, 72, 88–90, 92, 94, 132, 134, 142, 144, 146, 149–50, 157, 161, 169, 179, 197–98, 200, 203, 205, 206, 208, 210–11, 214–16, 226–27, 231, 235–36
Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), 39, 56, 143–47, 159
Conner, Bernice, 58
Consolers, 5
Conway, Preston, 185
Costello, Frank, 12
Cothren, Johnnie Lee, 136–37
Cottonmouth Moccasin Gang, 169, 231
Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), 81, 104–5, 145
Cowan, Ike, Jr., 16–17, 62, 162–63, 229
Cross, Iola, xvii
Cross, Noah (sheriff), xvii, xviii, 9, 27–28, 30–31, 58, 62, 88, 93, 142, 149–51, 164, 207, 229
arrest of four youths, 10
early life, 10
elections, 10, 12–14, 31, 194–95
federal trial and conviction, 194–96, 209, 228
and gambling and prostitution, 13, 153, 157–58, 160–63, 186, 194–95
hires DeLaughter, 17
as Kingpin, 14
and Klan support, 164, 182, 194
and protection money, 12, 161
as Reverend Foxworth, 14
Curtis, Archie, 34–35, 37, 48, 132, 178, 181
Curtis Funeral Home, 180–81
Dahmer, Vernon, 160
Daily Mail, 218
Daniels, Walt, 151–52
Davenport, Charlie, 85–86
Davidson, Charles, 129
Davidson, William Bryant, 48, 79
Davis, Frances, 137
Davis, Gov. Jimmie, 20
Davis, Jefferson, 36, 46, 183, 186–87, 246n21
Davis, Mayor L. W. “Woodie,” 6, 14–16, 87, 90, 94, 96, 109, 164
Davis, Rosia Roland, 137, 139–40
Davis, Roy K., 19
Davis, W. H., 137
Davis, William Cliff, 149–50, 151, 153–54, 182, 184, 193, 196
Davis Island, Miss., 43–45, 79, 225, 234, 246n21
Dawkins, Judge Ben C., Jr., 148–49
Dawson, John, 80, 129, 172
De La Beckwith, Byron, 23
Deacons for Defense and Justice, 112, 147–48
Dee, Henry Hezekiah, 7, 40–45, 48, 55–56, 64, 77, 80–81, 107, 129, 136, 138–40, 190, 196, 201, 217, 219, 225, 227, 234–36
Deer Park, La., 160
Deer Park Lake, 64
Deerfield Plantation, 46
Deitle, Cynthia, 8, 199, 214
DeLaughter, Frank, xviii, 4, 18, 24, 27, 58, 62, 64–65, 68, 91, 92–96, 144–45, 147, 151, 153–54, 159, 161–62, 164, 168, 184–86, 193, 229, 231, 234–35
and beating of Davis, 149–50, 193, 194, 204
and beating of Harris and Henderson, 16–17
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