William Spencer Lisonbee - Submitted for the USGenWeb Archives by Florence Krueger Muller 3/19/05

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William Spencer Lisonbee - Madison Parish, Louisiana 
From Madison Journal, April 16, 1970
TALLULAH - A Tallulah man was killed and two others injured, one critically, in a shooting 
at Williamson Grocery on West Green Street about 8:00 p.m. Sunday.
Pronounced dead on arrival at Madison Parish Hospital was William Spencer Lisonbee, 61, 
night watchman for Chicago Mill & Lumber Co. 
Jack McLaughlin, 43, owner of the store where the shooting occurred, was taken to 
Vicksburg Hospital, where he is still listed in satisfactory condition from wounds received 
in the shooting.
Critically injured by a gunshot wound to the head was Charles Ballet, 15-year old Negro 
youth from New Orleans.  He was taken to E.A. Conway Hospital in Monroe and then 
transferred to Charity Hospital in New Orleans.
Police Chief Zelma Wyche said Lisonbee, on duty as a night watchman for Chicago Mill, 
across the street from the store, was in the store talking with McLaughlin when the youth 
entered the store and purchased a five-cent candy bar.
Ballet then started backing out the front door and began firing a .22 cal. pistol.  
Five shots were discharged from his pistol and one shot from a similar pistol belonging to 
Lisonbee, officials said.
Mclaughlin was said to have had a gun under the counter but officials said it was not 
used in the altercation.
The one shot fired by Lisonbee struck the youth in the head.  There was no apparent motive 
for the shooting, Wyche said, but they learned that Ballet had been treated for mental 
disturbance.
No one heard any words exchanged before the shooting occurred, officials said.  McLaughlin 
was said to have waited on the boy for the candy bar, which he paid for, then began firing 
on the men as he left the store.
Funeral services for Mr. Lisonbee were held Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Crothers Funeral Chapel 
in Tallulah with the Rev. Billy Wray Smith officiating.  Burial followed in Silver Cross 
Cemetery.