Newspaper: Archie Duckworth Killed, 1931  Franklin Parish, LA,
Submitted Sept. 2009 by: Glenda Warner Boyd

*************************************************

Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives

************************************************

Copyright. All rights reserved.

http://theusgenweb.net/copyright.htm
http://theusgenweb.net/la/lafiles.htm

--------------------------------------------------------
The Franklin Sun     Winnsboro, LA     January 29, 1931

Baskin Farmer Accidentally Shot Last Sunday
 
Farmer Shot By Companion On Bird Hunt
Archie Duckworth Killed By Baskin Postmaster's Gun
 
One of the members of a hunting party of five was mortally wounded
at Gillis lake near Baskin Sunday when the shotgun of a companion
was accidentally discharged.
The victim was Archie Duckworth, 35. He died at 8 p.m. Sunday 
night, about five hours after he was shot.
Harry Mock, postmaster at Baskin, was climbing through a barbed
wire fence when the trigger of his shotgun, which he was carrying
in his hand, was pulled back by a strand of wire.
The muzzle of the weapon was pointed up, and as the pun (sic gun)
discharged the load of shot struck Duckworth in the face, tearing 
away the left side of his face and part of his skull bone.
Duckworth slumped forward, bleeding profusely from his badly 
wounded face and head. When Mock reached his side, however, 
Duckworth was still breathing, and in the hope of saving his life, 
the Baskin postmaster, assisted by other members of the party,
Robert Anderson, Jackson Anderson and a youth named McDaniels,
carried him to the nearby farm home of Jack Anderson and summoned
a Baskin physician.
Reaching the scene a few minutes after he received the call, the 
physician administered first aid treatment to the wounded man, but 
announced that there was no hope for his recovery.
Duckworth was then removed to the home of his brother, Floyd
Duckworh, where he died early Sunday night.
The victim of the hunting tragedy was employed as a share cropper
on the plantation of Mock's father, near Baskin. He was unmarried.
His parents are dead and his only surviving relative is his brother.
Funeral services were held at the Baptist church in Baskin, and his 
remains were interred in the Coax cemetery Monday afternoon at 
4:00 o'clock. Rev. J.H. Keys conducted the funeral services.
-----------------------------------------------------