Duson, C. C. (Hon.);  St. Landry (Acadia) Parish, Louisiana
Submitted for the LA GenWeb Archives by Mike Miller.


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Duson, Hon. C. C., famous criminal-hunting peace officer of Southwest
Louisiana, later state senator, United States marshal and large industrial
promoter, was born in St. Landry (now Acadia) parish, La., August 31, 1846,
and died at Crowley, Acadia parish, La., Oct. 20, 1910.  His father, Cornelius
C. Duson, was born at Point Levis, opposite Quebec, Canada, on the St.
Lawrence river, June 8, 1819, and was the youngest of 6 sons.  At the time of
the outbreak of the French, in 1837, he was the only member of his family to
join the French revolutionists, and he did so under the protests of the
family.  His brother, John, had been appointed to watch for all persons
suspected of treasonable designs and to report all such to the higher
officials.  In the face of this opposition, however, he joined S. Lambert and
8 others and started on an expedition up the Ottawa river for the purpose of
raising forces among the woodsmen and trappers. Eight of this party were
subsequently captured and confined in prison at Ottawa.  Duson escaped capture
and as soon as was possible made his way to the jail wherein his companions
had been temporarily confined, with the object of attempting their release. 
He succeeded in getting into conversation with the jailer and tried to engage
him in a drinking "bout," hoping to get the jailer intoxicated and then effect
the release of the prisoners, but the jailer became suspicious and this plan
failed, the jailer ordering him away.  Previously Duson had thrown his
hunter's cap upon a pile of wood near by, and when ordered to leave reached
ostensibly for his cap, picked up a stick of wood and knocked the jailer down,
secured the keys and released his comrades.  The party immediately decided
upon attempting to make their escape to the United States, and making their
way to the river they cut loose a ferry boat and succeeded in crossing the
river to the United States, although they were hotly pursued by British
soldiers and were repeatedly fired upon while the river, several members of
the little party being killed and others wounded, Duson, among the latter,
receiving a musket ball shot through his thigh.  He secreted himself in the
hut of a woodsman until he had recovered from the effects of his wound
sufficiently to travel, and then made his way to the City of Boston, Mass.,
where he found that the British government had offered a reward for his
capture.  Upon making this discovery he determined to travel south, and
pursuant to this idea, ultimately landed on the banks of the Mermentau river
in St. Landry parish, La., near Lake Arthur.  Here he formed the acquabitance
of a sea captain, John Webb, a native of Essex, England, and a pioneer in
Southwest Louisiana.  Remaining in this locality, some time afterward
Cornelius Duson was married to Sarah Ann Webb, the sea captain's daughter,
when she was only 15 years old.  Five children, of whom C. C.  Duson was
eldest, were born to this marriage.  After his marriage Cornelius Duson
settled down in the locality and devoted his energies to the occupation of a
tanner and saddler.  In later years he removed to St. Martin parish and there
continued his trade.  In 1884 C. C. Duson, with his brother, W. W. Duson,
elsewhere referred to in this work, visited their father's old home in Canada,
and were much surprised by the difficulty they experienced in finding anyone
who had ever known or heard of their father, Cornelius Duson, but after
extended and diligent inquiry finally located S. Lambert, with whom the father
had been associated during the revolution, and through Lambert learned that
their father's real name was Comielius Duson McNaughton, and that instead of
being of French descent he was pure Scotch, his father, William McNaughton,
having been a native of Scotland who settled in Canada.  Cornelius Duson had
dropped the use of his last name because of the reward offered for his 1880,
capture, although, unknown to him, this had long been unnecessary.  C. C.
Duson was reared on a farm, and received a common school education.  At the
beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in support of the cause of the Southern
states under Capt. James G. Hayes, as a member of a body of home guards whose
duties were confined to Southwest Louisiana.  This company, together with
Capt. Hayes, was ultimately captured and held at New Orleans until the close
of the war, when they were released by order of Gen. N. P. Banks.  Shortly
afterward, in 1866, C. C. Duson began his remarkable career as a deputy
sheriff of St. Landry parish, under Sheriff Hayes, who had been captain of the
company in which Duson served during the Civil war.  He served as a deputy
sheriff until 1873, when he was elected sheriff of  Landry parish, and in the
latter capacity served during 14 consecutive years, when he resigned to accept
the office of state senator, to which he had been elected.  The men of his
parish showed their appreciation of his valuable services in his last election
to office, when he was opposed by a strong and popular candidate for the same
office.  In this election he received a majority of 1,843 votes out of a total
of 6,200.  It seems highly probable that no other man ever gained the
reputation as a sheriff, in Louisiana or elsewhere, that was established by C.
C. Duson during his nearly 20 years of service as a deputy, and later during
14 years as sheriff.  His record shows conclusively that he was entirely
fearless, relentless and untiring in pursuit of criminal characters.  One of
his early accomplishments as a deputy sheriff was the breaking up of organized
bands of outlaws who had for years scourged the state and section in which his
activities fell, baffling all attempts to execute the law and defying its
representatives.  He pursued criminals to the borders of Mexico, into the
mountains of the Indian territory and north to Illinois.  He engaged in
desperate fights in his efforts to capture these outlaws, and was many times a
target for the bullets of those whose only chance of escape lay in his removal
from their path.  While serving as a deputy under Sheriff Hayes in 1872 he,
with two other deputies, tracked the Guilroy brothers, noted criminals who had
long defied the law, to Catahoula parish, where a desperate fight of short
duration ensued.  Three shots were fired by the Guilroys and five by the
deputies, and the encounter terminated in the death of both the Guilroy
brothers.  August 3, 1875, Sheriff Duson captured Louis Rousseau, guilty of
murder in the Creek Nation.  In the same year, after pursuing John Slade,
wanted for a heinous crime, for 21 days, he was caught in Western Texas, near
San Saba.  In 1879 he pursued 2 horse thieves 15 days and captured them at
Bonham, Tex.  One of these men was wanted for murder in Texas, and was under
indictment in Arkansas for mail robbery.  The other had just been tried in
Rapides parish for the murder of a negro.  Many fruitless efforts at the
capture of John Sonnier had been made by other officers.  He was under
indictment for murder in both St. Landry and Calcasieu parishes, and had long
been a fugitive from justice since July, 1871, in fact.  In March, 1880, a
requisition was issued for his arrest.  He was regarded as one of the most
wild and dangerous criminals who had ever operated in Southwest Louisiana. 
Sheriff Duson finally learned that John Sonnier was in Brazoria county, Tex.,
and at once started to capture him, dead or alive.  In company with Sheriff
Noble and Deputy Faunt of Harris county, Texas, he traced Sonnier to a convict
camp, where he was guarding prisoners under the name of Miller.  He was
captured by being grappled before he could use his arms and afterward served a
life sentence in the penitentiary at Baton Rouge.  In March, 1881, a
requisition was issued by Governor McEnery for the arrest of John Fahey, who
had murdered and robbed a fellow workman on the Payne plantation.  Sheriff
Duson located Fahey in Illinois, went there and captured the man and returned
him to Louisiana, where he was given a life sentence.  In April, 1881,
Governor McEnery issued a requisition for the arrest of Rhett Clark, charged
with murder, and within 15 days Duson had Clark a prisoner at Fort Graham,
Northwest Texas.  The last important arrest made by Sheriff Duson was that of
Lane and Brown, wanted for the murder of a man by the name of Nuby, on the
Payne plantation.  This arrest involved a desperate fight, in which 32 shots
were exchanged.  Sheriff Duson received 2 bullets from Lane's pistol and
killed Lane in a hand-to-hand contest.  Brown was captured and sentenced to
life imprisonment.  As previously stated, the famous sheriff resigned from
that office, after having served about 5 years as a deputy, followed by 14
years as sheriff, to enter upon his duties as a member of the Louisiana state
senate.  He served in the senate with conspicnous ability and when his term in
that office had expired he voluntarily retired from the field of politics and
thereafter, in association with his brother, W. W. Duson, devoted his means
and unusual abilities to the industrial development of Southwest Louisiana. 
One of his first large enterprises was the surveying of a railroad route from
a point on the Southern Pacific main line at what is Midland Junction, Acadia
parish, passing through what are now the towns of Morse, Gueydan, Kaplin,
Abbeville and New Iberia, and from Midland Junction north through what are now
the towns of Egan, Iota, Frey, in Acadia parish; Eunice, in St. Landry parish,
and Mammou, in Evangeline parish.  He persevered in this great undertaking
until it had been carried to successful fruition-the railroad built and
operated, and all the towns and mentioned, from Gueydan to Mammou, inclusive,
made thriving and prosperous communities, and the development of a vast and
rich section of country made possible and initiated.  Senator Duson was born
12 miles from the town of Crowley, and resided there until the time of his
enlistment in the Confederate service.  After his parole he took up residence
in Opelousas, the parish seat of St. Landry, and remained resident there
throughout his incumbency as deputy sheriff, sheriff and senator.  Following
his retirement from the latter office he removed to Crowley and resided there
during the earlier part of his railroad and town development activities.  In
1894 he took up residence at Eunice, continuing there about 3 years pending
the completion of his plans for the further extension of railroad lines.  In
1897 he returned to Crowley, which was thereafter his home.  Senator Duson was
in all respects fully entitled to regard as one of the foremost and most
valuable men who have ever lived within the bounds of the State of Louisiana. 
Among his many, varied, important and valuable activities, he was a prime
mover in the organization of Acadia parish, and was one of the largest land
owners and rice growers in Southwest Louisiana.  In 1906 Senator Duson was
appointed United States marshal by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, and was incumbent
of that office at the time of his death.  In 1867 C. C. Duson was married to
Miss Isora A. Andrus, who was born in what is now Acadia parish, La., and 8
children, as follows, were born to their union:  Morton E. (deceased),  Walter
W.,  Rodney R. (deceased),  Clayton C. (deceased),  Jesse (deceased),  Meta, 
Lola (deceased) and  George.  His first wife died July 17, 1892.  Some time
after the death of his first wife Mr. Duson was married to Miss Eunice Pharr
of Iberia parish, and 2 children were born to this union, these being 
Cornelius P. and  Herbert W.  The second Mrs. Duson died Sept. 2, 1907. 

Source:  Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp.
131-134.  Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century
Historical Association.

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