The Ouachita Telegraph 1871 Obits Ouachita Parish La This information generously donated to the La. Gen. Project African American archives by the Ouachita Parish Gen. Project and Ms. Lora Peppers. African American records extracted by S.K. Martin-Quiatte ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** ***************************** TIPS FOR SEARCHING RECORDS ON THE INTERNET Netscape & Ms Explorer users: If you are searching for a particular surname, locality or date while going through the records in the archives or anywhere....try these few steps: 1. Go to the top of the report you are searching. 2. Click on EDIT at the top of your screen 3. Next click on FIND in the edit menu. 4. When the square pops up, enter what you are looking for in the FIND WHAT ___________blank. 5. Click on DIRECTION __DOWN. 6. And last click on FIND NEXT and continue to click on FIND NEXT until you reach the end of the report. This should highlight the item that you indicated in "find what" every place it appears in the report. You must continue to click on FIND NEXT till you reach the end of the report to see all of the locations of the item indicated. If your obituary is not found here and you would like a special look up, you may send $5.00 and an self-addressed stamped envelope to: Lora Peppers - Phone (318) 327-1490 Reference Department Fax (318) 327-1373 Ouachita Parish Public Library 1800 Stubbs Ave. Monroe, LA 71201 These newspapers are on microfilm at NLU. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, January 14, 1871 Page 3, Column 2 One negro stabbed and shot another, killing him in Murder Bend on Saturday. The offender has been arrested and is in jail. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, February 4, 1871 Page 2, Column 6 MISCELLANEOUS. NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 30. - E.H. Moss, colored, under indictment for outraging the daughter of C. Courtois, was shot and killed by the father of the girl last night while prowling around Courtois' house. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, February 25, 1871 Page 3, Column 1 One negro stabbed and killed another on the place of J.D. McEnery, Esq., last night. A few days ago a negro was killed on the D'Arbonne, and Zack Johnson and two negroes have been arrested and charged with the offense. - Daily, 20th The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, April 22, 1871 Page 2, Column 6 CONCORDIA On Sunday last on the Surgett Ashley plantation, a woman by the name of Serena Minner was shot and killed by another named Adeline Foreman. Coroner Randall held an inquest on the body of deceased. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, April 29, 1871 Page 3, Column 1 Drowned. About ten o'clock Monday night the cries of some one calling for help, were heard in the river in rear of Sanders's saloon and Rauxet's store. A few persons in the vicinity, hearing the cries, ran to the river bank and could see the struggling man in the water not more than fifty feet from the bank. As hastily as possible they loosed a dug-out near at hand, but the fastenings were so stubborn that enought time elapsed before getting the boat loose for the drowning man to cease his groans and struggles, and finally to sink forever. It was not until next deay that the anxiety to know who it was that was thus hurried into eternity, was almost definitely relieved. A negro man names Scott, who lived just across the river, had been in town Monday and got very drunk. He has since been missing, and the belief is that he fell into the river from his boat, or in trying to get in it, and being drunk, although a good swimmer, was drowned as stated above. All doubt will be settled when the body rises. To those who witnessed the drowning man's struggles and heard his appeals, the occurrence was a very sad one. It is a wonder that cases of drowning are not more frequent at this stage of the river. Men throng the stage planks of boats, pushing and elbowing each other; boys, with reckless daring, ride old logs along the water's edge; men cross the river in frail boats, some of which are mere boxes, and yet this is the second case of drowning we have had to chronicle in over five years. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, May 6, 1871 Page 3, Column 3 CONCORDIA The discordant females of the colored race in Concordia persist in slaying each other. Here is another outrage chronicled by the Herald: A colored woman by the name of Becky Allen, living on the Pittsfield plantation in this parish, while standing in the door of her house on Sunday last, in apparently good health, fell dead. Coroner Randall held an inquest, and from certain facts illicted there was a presumption that her death was caused by a blow received at the hands of one Celia Smith, who is now confined in the parish jail awaiting the arrival of witnesses previous to preliminary examination before Judge Reber. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, May 13, 1871 Page 3, Column 2 First Man Executed in Ouachita. Two weeks ago we stated, upon information, that a man named Leslie was the first victim of the halter in the parish. The person thus distinguished in our local annals was not named Leslie but Russel Brooks, which we have ascertained by consulting the records in the Clerk's office, assisted by Major Bry the attentive incumbent. Brooks was sentenced at the October term, 1822; but the day of his execution does not appear, as the Governor fixed that in his warrant which is not on file. Jas. Dunlap was presiding Judge, and Jno. H. Overton, District Attorney. Brooks had no money, and the Court appointed H.A. Bullard and Dan'l I. Sutton as his counsel. As a matter of interest to old settlers we append the names of the Grand Jurors who found a true bill against Brooks, and also the names of the Petit Jurors who found Brooks guilty: GRAND JURY. Foreman - Ferd Morgan, John M. Fenner, George Hamilton, Frederic Lowe, Jno. M. Fonts, Robt. J. Knox, Jas. Huey, Jr., Ebenezer Lane, Wm. Weathersbee, Jno. Huey, Lawchlin McLawchlin, Wm. Birvey, Grammont Filhiol, Joseph Wilds and Jno. Liles. PETIT JURY. J.R. Dewitt; Eli K. Ross, Brutus Larche, Abraham Scriber, Phillip Hook, Wm. Trent, Jno F. Ailes, Jno. Dyson, Richard Ballew, Jno. Perkey, Sylvanus Bascom and Robert Bandy. It is said Brooks was executed for shooting a thief who had stolen his (Brooks') horse, the thief being on the horse when killed; but the indictment not being among the papers we have examined, we are unable to state whether or not this statement is correct. Brooks, we are informed, was buried near the residence of Col. McEnery. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, May 27, 1871 Page 3, Column 3 A negro man was brutally murdered back of Trenton a few days ago. His wife makes affidavit that another negro, against whom the murdered man was a witness in a case of larceny, committed the murder. The alleged murderer is in jail, at present. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, June 3, 1871 Page 2, Column 5 Dr. James J. Madison, a colored physician, of Madison, administered one pint of strong tobacco tea to Lizzie Young. The Doctor is in jail, and Lizzie is in her grave. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, August 19, 1871 Page 3, Column 1 Colored Coroner Thomas held an inquest upon the body of a young man named Belknap, last Saturday, who clearly had died of congestion and in his mother's house. But as he had fallen down from faintness in trying to walk and had received a slight wound on the forehead it was thought necessary, in spite of the mother's protestations, to hold an inquest. This inquest business appears to be carried a little too far. The Coroner has some discretion in the matter, and it is expected (newspaper is illegible) the parish to foolish and unnecessary expense. Had he consulted either Dr. Calderwood or Dr. Aby, the attending physicians in this case, he could not have lawfully held an inquest. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, September 2, 1871 Page 3, Column 3 BOSSIER. We find the following in the Banner: MURDER. - Robert Jennings, a freedman, was killed by John Thompson, another freedman, on Maj. Irwin's place on the night of the 19th inst. A great excitement spread among the colored population. Thirty or forty freedmen, armed with double-barrel guns, joined a posse to search for Thompson, who had fled. The posse did not succeed in making the arrest but Thompson was seen by the laborers of a plantation some ten miles from the scene of his crime and was run down and arrested. His is now in our jail. The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, September 16, 1871 Page 3, Column 3 A little negro boy was instantly killed a few days ago, on Mr. Jno. Corcoran's place, by a lick from a ball. Another boy had struck the ball and landed it plump in the other boy's stomach, and, as his mother remarked, it "killed him as dead as he will ever be killed again." The Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, September 23, 1871 Page 3, Column 2 Negro Man Killed. A negro man, living three miles west of Trenton, was fatally shot a few nights ago while drinking water from a bucket in front of his cabin. He lived but a short time after receiving the wound. No clue has been discovered by which the perpetrator of the murder can as yet be identified. NOTE: The following article appeared in the Saturday, September 30, 1871 edition of the Ouachita Telegraph, Page 2, Column 6: In reference to the killing of the negro, west of Trenton, last week, we have to state that Judge Caldwell issued a warrant for the arrest of two men named Brown and one named Boyd as guilty of the murder. Ouachita Telegraph Saturday, November 4, 1871 Page 3, Column 2 Notable Instance of Gratitude by a Former Slave. An incident, worthy of note, has occurred in this city illustrating very forcibly the inhumanity of African slavery when that institution flourished at the South' but it is not such an incident as will very likely meet with applause at the hands of many of our Northern brethren. The case is the more notable, because the old master, long since dead, was a member of the United States Senate when that body had among its members, Clay, Calhoun and Webster and other men as great in intellect, but of lesser fame and not so brilliant in debate. This Senator was the Hon. S.W. Downs of this State and parish, who died in 1854. Mr. Downs, though an able lawyer, was also a successful planter, who owned a number of slaves. Among his slaves, was Richard Barrington, the present Grand street barber, who was the Senator's confidential servant and attended him in all his travels and during his stays at Washington. Devoted to his master in life, Richard has given proof that with gratitude he remembers him in death. No memorial tablet marks the grave of the dead Senator, but the faithful old servant is soon to see erected over his old master's grave, a neat headstone, purchased with his own hard earnings, from Mr. D.C. Sparrow who has kindly furnished us with these facts. The stone is of Italian marble, four feet high, sixteen inches wide, and two inches thick. Within a wreath, near the top, two hands clasped are engraved, with the saddest of all words, "FAREWELL," above them. Below, in a plain border, is the epitaph, which reads as follows: S.W. DOWNS: Died August 13, 1854; Aged 53 yrs., 11 mos., and 18 days. _______ "Peace to his Ashes!" _______ ERECTED BY HIS OLD SERVANT, RICHARD, AS A SMALL TOKEN OF HIS GRATITUDE. Here is not only gratitude, but courage and fidelity. Richard is growning old; has several children, and has but lately been able to purchase a small home; but faithful to the memory of his benefactor, he takes from his earnings the money to acknowledge his gratitude in monumental marble, and exhibits the moral courage to perpetuate, at the same time, the rememberance of the lowly station he occupied, even that of a slave! We do not hesitate to express our great admiration for this singularly modest, but eloquent act of gratitude, and to commend to the colored people the cultivation of the spirit here exemplified in imperishable marble. It is a lamentable fact, they should own with humiliation, that they rarely speak or think of their old masters, except in disparagement; when old master was once the only friend they had to whom they could look for protection and succor, and when but for slavery, if living at all, they would now be living as savages in the seserts or jungles of Africa, where many of their most pretentious friends, as friendship now goes, would wish them to-day, if they were not serviceable in a cause involving the future ruin of the country. - There were, we know, thousands of happy slaves, with kind and indulgent masters and sympathetic mistresses; they were cared for better than they now care for themselves; but how long has it been since the reader has met a freedman who spoke with kindness and in grateful rememberance of those who had thus laid him under such weighty obligations? The happy darkies of "Reb times," as we now hear that period called, are all gone. The old "mammies" and "uncles" - the venerable oracles - of the plantation and the kitchen fire, are no more. The rollicking, trusty boy, who had for play-fellows the sons of his master, has wandered off, and now spouts politics, rides a () and drills with the militia. The happy little negroes who were wont to run in droves to tell young mistress good bye when she left home, or push each other down in the struggle to welcome her back - have disappeared, and their places taken by educated idlers who are daily learning the precepts of hatred and fanaticism. - Without homes, without attachments, without a disinterested friend to rely on, with no care for the future and no concern for adversity or affliction, the successors of the old plantation darkies are working out their darksome destiny.