The Ouachita Telegraph - John J. Cramer Killed in Prison Escape Date: Oct 2000 Submitted by: Lora Peppers ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The Ouachita Telegraph Sunday, May 30, 1886 Page 1, Column 5 A white convict was shot and killed and a negro wounded Monday night by guards near Quebec, some eight miles west of Tallulah La. The facts are as follows: Monday morning three convicts escaped from the force employed on the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific railroad near Tallulah. They were hunted all day and about 11 o’clock Monday night two guards who had been hunting for them met them on a railroad bridge near Quebec and called on them to surrender. Instead of doing so, however, the three convicts rushed upon them. They were all three known as desperate characters, the two white men having been sent up for highway robbery from Calcasieu parish. One of them – John J. Cramer – was armed with an axe. The two guards opened fire upon them with guns when Cramer fell and was captured and expired in half an hour. The negro is known to be wounded, but he and the other white man escaped, hotly pursued through the swamps. The coroner’s jury justified the guards in the killing. # # #