Obituaries: Mr. Reese J. McAlpin, Sabine Parish M-241 Source: Sabine Index, Many, La., Jan 25, 1929 Submitted by: Tammy D. Larche tammy@cp-tel.net ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The Sabine Index - Mr. Reese J. McAlpin 25 Jan 1929 - Mr. Reese J. McAlpin was waylaid and killed last Saturday near Hutton, Vernon Parish. He was a resident of Many, being engaged in the insurance business. He was a brother of ex-Sheriff Lee and Dr. McAlpin of Vernon Parish and was about 60 years of age. The story of the killing is gleaned by the Index from dispatches and reports from Leesville. McAlpin has a reputation as a fearless and efficient officer and during his eight years in office as deputy sheriff had engaged in many gun fights with suspects. It is said in Leesville that he had killed five or six men while in office and it is believed that a friend of one of his victims gained revenge Saturday. A coroner's jury investigating the crime returned a verdict that McAlpin had been "murdered and presumably robbed" by a person or persons unknown. The jury and sheriff's officers then organized a posse and started a hunt for the murderer. McAlpin had been a deputy under Sheriff D. F. Turner until two years ago. At that time the Sheriff was re-elected but failed to reappoint McAlpin. the latter had first operated out of the Leesville office, but later was transferred to Hutton, where he operated for two years until his commission expired. Jackson, the man who found the body, stated that the door of the coupe in which McAlpin had been riding was open and the engine was running when he investigated. McAlpin was slumped over the steering wheel. Jackson went to Leesville, 32 miles distant, and reported the crime to the sheriff. Reports from Vernon parish indicated that circumstantial evidence gathered by the sheriff indicated that McAlpin was killed with his own pistol, after he stopped on the highway two miles southwest of Hutton. The slain man, who had a commission as a special deputy to the sheriff had been a law officer for about 20 years and had incurred the enmity of the law-breaking element of Vernon parish. McAlpin always had a pistol lying on the seat beside him while traveling in his small coupe and when his body was found Saturday the pistol was in its usual place. It is believed that the killer ran up beside the car, after McAlpin had stopped at his signal, reached through the door and snatched the pistol. The first shot went behind McAlpin, who dodged, the buttel breaking the glass in the door beside him. The second shot went through McAlpins body below the heart and tore through the door. The killer, it is presumed then jumped from the car, the engine of which he left running. The motor was still running when the body was found some time later by Lewis Jackson of Simpson, a town near Hutton. R. L. Whitman, superintendent of the state bureau of identification and investigation, with an investigator, S. J. Navo, went to the scene of the killing Sunday and took photographs of five sets of fingerprints in the automobile. The murder and robbery theory, as advanced by a coroners jury, was practically cast aside Sunday. A watch which McAlpin was supposed to have been wearing was found at home. However, when he left his home to go to Simpson to get his nine-year-old daughter, Loe, attending school there he took with him a sum of money. Before getting his daughter he intended collecting some money from a debtor at Kisatchie, and the absence of the money with which he left home, together with the money he is believed to have collected, still gives some credence to the robbery theory. Although McAlpin's relatives admitted that he had killed several men, including at least one white man, such actions were in the line of duty. His dislike for bloodshed is illustrated by the fact that while constable at Leesville a desperate man, flourishing a pistol, swore he would kill McAlpin. The constable walked up to him and reasoned with him until another man came and took the fellows gun away. McAlpin later said he would rather risk his own life than kill a man. Funeral services for McAlpin were held Tuesday morning at the Baptist church of Leesville, in interment in the Leesville cemetery. Surviving are the widow, who was his third wife, and his young daughter, Loe. Monday's report from Leesville were that while Sheriff D. F. Turner stated that he was certain he had the right clues to the identity of the slayers of Reese J. McAlpin, no arrest had been made and the sheriff would reveal no names. Floyd McAlpin, city marshal of Leesville and nephew of the slain man said himself and other members of the family "knew who had killed Mr. McAlpin, but that arrest had been made as they were awaiting developments." What these developments were Mr. McAlpin refused to state.