Law & Order: A Horrible Fratricide, Henry D. Preuette, 1916 Submitted to USGENWEB by: Al Vinson ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The following is an Article from The Colfax Chronicle, Dated Feb 28, 1916 TITLE: A HORRIBLE FRATRICIDE BY LINE: Emery Preuette Kills His Aged Father Instantly, Discharging 54 Buckshot in Body. Henry D. Preuette, aged 68 years, was shot and instantly killed by son, Emery Preuette about 1 o'clock Monday Afternoon, Feb. 28 (1916). The parties lived within 300 or 400 yards of each other several miles east of Colfax, and had been at outs with each other for the past two or three years. The feud between them originally grew out of the criticisms of the elder Preuette of the conduct of his granddaughters, the daughters of Emery Preuette. This was about September 1914; at which time two of Emery's brothers became involved in a shooting affray with a young man named Grant. At the time of this affray the elder Preuette had made charges against the character of his granddaughters which caused the shooting between the young men, in which all three of them were wounded. Following this incident the family was divided. Thus matters have smoldered until the outbreak last Monday, resulting in Emery shooting his Father three times with a pump gun, at a distance of 20 or 25 feet. Two charges lodged in the right side and one in the left side, each charge containing 18 buckshot, all taking effect. Emery Preuette was lodged in the Colfax jail about 5:30 p.m. Monday. He said his father had cursed him and abused his family in the morning. About 1 p.m. he came back to Emery's house with a posthole digger on his shoulder and a shotgun in his right hand, and threatened Emery and abused him and his family, and his wife and children became frightened and ran into the house. Emery said he remained and pleaded with his father to let him and his family alone. The old man left and went to a cotton house near by where two of his boys were, but returned in about ten minutes and stopped in front of the gate about twenty feet from the house, and asked, "When are you going to move away from here?" Emery said, " I don't think I have done anything to move for." Other remarks passed and the old man told Emery he had to leave, and raised his gun, when Emery says he shot him three times with a pump gun. The day after the elder Preuette was killed, an affidavit was made before Magistrate J.O.Long against Jim, Tom, George and Henry Preuette Jr., charging them with making threats to kill the wife and children of Emery Preuette and to burn his house. Another affidavit was made Wednesday against Jim Preuette for shooting three times with a Winchester rifle into the house occupied by the family of Emery Preuette, with the other three boys as accessories. The parties were arrested Wednesday and put in jail. Judge W. F. Blackman was communicated with about the matter, and he instructed Sheriff Perkins to lock all the parties in jail and to keep them there until he comes to Colfax next Monday when he will give them a preliminary hearing. Results of the Trial From the Colfax Chronicle Emery Preuette charged with the murder of his father, Henry D. Preuette. The following Jury was empanelled: C.O. calk L.D. Woodruff J.W. Wooly W.W. Grear A.J. Bilbo J.A. Childers J.W. Murrell Arthur Dean B.J. Robinett W.T. Linder G.D. Smith E. Williams Hon. T.W. Perrin and wife, and Attorney C.H. McCain defended Emery Preuette, while District Attorney John R. Hunter was assisted by Attorney Cecil Whitehead in the prosecution. Mrs. Perrin occupied a place within the bar railing as one of the counsel for the accused, taking notes and holding consultations with the associate attorneys and made a strong plea of abut fifteen minutes to the jury in behalf of the accused. She is the first woman that ever appeared in the Colfax courthouse as counsel in a criminal case. The trial of this case extended over four days, being Submitted to USGENWEB to the jury about 6 o'clock Thursday evening. Agreat deal of interest was taken in the trial and the courtroom was packed every day with persons interested in the proceedings. The jury remained locked up over night and came into court at 8 o'clock Friday morning and rendered a verdict of "Not Guilty." The grand jury handed in their final report Thursday evening, having examined 88 cases and found 40 true bills. No truebills were found in 88 cases, which were read in open court. Four of the true bills found were in cases previously presented and brought over. Three cases were carried over for further investigation, and some left in the hands of the district attorney. Assume the Following is comments from the Reporter covering the Trial or the Editor? Justified in Killing His Father. When Emery Preuette shot and killed his aged father Feb. 28, 1916, a shudder of horror passed over the citizens of Grant parish at the unfortunate fratricide. Since then various sensations have developed upon which we refrained to comment lest we impede the cause of justice and fuel to a smoldering flame. This case, however, has now been tried by a jury of twelve men who have justified the act of the son in taking his father's life in the most sanguine manner we have ever known. It was the culmination of a family feud of two or three years standing, the particulars of which are too long and improper for us to recount in our limited space. The father was literally filled full of shot from a pump gun in the hands of this son, who fired three cartridges each loaded with 21 buckshot into his father's body, killing him instantly; and this bloody deed is justified in a court of justice after a jury of twelve men have heard all the facts and weighed the law and the evidence of the case. Oh, the pity of such a case. In nearly forty years experience recording the sorrows and tragedies of Grant parish, we never knew of one more heart rending.