MURDER  IN  THE  MUSKRAT  CAMP
History; Cameron Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Kathy LaCombe-Tell
Source: W. T. Block, Historian
Submitted: July 10, 2004

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MURDER  IN  THE  MUSKRAT  CAMP
By  W.  T.  Block

	Surely no other crime affected the citizens of Cameron Parish, La., 
as did that of a brutal double slaying on the edge of Sabine Lake at 
Johnson's Bayou on New Year's Day of 1925. It occurred during the heyday 
of the fur-trapping years, when one could have run from Blue Buck Ridge 
to Grand Chenier, stepping only on the tops of muskrat beds.

	The victims were Archie A. Byrd of Nederland, Tx. and John Springer 
of Lake Charles, both of them respected fur buyers and officials of the 
Brown-Rosenthal Fur Company of New York. Byrd was also a former city marshal 
at Taylor, Tx. In 1924 the fur company leased 15,000 prime trapping acres of 
the Stark interests 62,000 acres of marsh lands in Cameron Parish, and it 
built a number of cheap "trapper shacks" near the edge if the lake.

	The mid-1920s was an age of no improved roads into Cameron, and no 
shelled roads or mechanical devices elsewhere, such as marsh buggies in use. 
A trapper lived of necessity near his traps, either in a houseboat or a shack 
in the marsh, from whence he could carry his traps into the marsh or his 
rat catch out of the marsh on his back. Each man in camp trapped on "shares," 
the fur company claiming every third rat caught on their lands, and it held 
the option to buy all fur  caught by its trappers. And each trapper was 
assigned a tract of land in the marsh, its size dependent upon the number 
of traps he owned.
 
	One of the Brown-Rosenthal trappers was a quarrelsome man from 
Orange, named Ned Harvey, who was well-known in Cameron for his violent 
nature. On the day of the murders, Harvey had quarreled with Springer 
over a choice tract of marsh land, that Springer had assigned to another 
trapper, named Otto Sykes. Springer fired Harvey and told him to pack his 
gear and leave.

	Harvey left and returned to his shack, where a French couple, Mr. 
and Mrs. Adonile Schexsnaider, cooked meals for the camp. Harvey loaded his 
double-barreled shotgun with buckshot and returned to the headquarters 
building, where Byrd and Springer were eating supper. Harvey fired his 
first shell at Springer through the screen door, and before he left, he 
fired two rounds of buckshot into each victim's body. Apparently Harvey 
planed to kill Sykes too, but upon hearing the shots, the latter hid in 
a clump of sea cane, while Mrs. Schexsnaider hid under her cabin.
 
	For a week Johnson's Bayou was an armed camp, the posse of officers 
being unaware that Harvey had escaped to Orange, where he later surrendered 
to the sheriff, who was a close friend of Harvey. The latter waived 
extradition and 2 weeks later he was locked up in the Cameron jail to 
await trial. His trial lasted all day and until midnight of Feb. 11, 
1925, in Judge Thomas Porter's court.

	Harvey's trial and subsequent execution 2 years later attracted 
the biggest throngs of people that Cameron had ever seen up to 1927. 
Jurors arrived from outlying areas on ox-drawn sleds, on horseback, and 
passage on the Calcasieu River steamer Rex Boreallis was sold out weeks 
in advance.

	Harvey took the stand, pleading self-defense.  "Men of the jury," 
he appealed. "I did not want to kill that man Springer!"

	"Then why did you do it?" shouted G. T. Hawkins, the prosecuting 
attorney.

	"I did it because they would have killed me if I hadn't killed 
them first!" Harvey declared.

	In the end, the shot through the screen door and other evidence 
and testimony convinced the jury of Harvey's premeditation and guilt. 
About midnight they returned a verdict of guilt and punishment to be 
death by hanging.

	However, two long years expired while Harvey's lawyers appealed 
to the Louisiana and United States Supreme Courts, the guilty verdict and 
sentence being upheld in each case. Harvey had spent the time in the 
Calcasieu Parish jail, and eventually a judge decreed that Harvey should 
hang on Feb. 25, 1927.

	Because the Rex Boreallis had been booked to capacity, officers 
had to engage a private launch to bring Harvey from the Lake Charles jail 
back to Cameron, where Sheriff John Miller had constructed a gallows 
outside the courthouse. Accompanied to the site by Rev. R. H. Wynn of 
Lake Charles, Harvey professed a religious experience. As he approached 
the gallows, he appeared quite pale and limp, and he had to be assisted 
up the steps. After the noose was drawn tight around Harvey's neck, the 
sheriff sprung the trap door, thus swinging the murderer into eternity. 
His body was interred in the Jett Cemetery in Orange County.