Constable J. N. Ferguson's Assassins Convicted of Murder in 1898, Union Parish Louisiana

Submitted for the Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by T. D. Hudson, 12/2006



************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************
 



==================================================================================
==================================================================================
Constable J. N. Ferguson's Assassins Convicted of Murder in 1898, Union Parish Louisiana

From the Farmerville "Gazette"; issue of Wednesday, 9 November 1898, page 3, column 3
==================================================================================
==================================================================================


                                 Penitentiary for Life.
                                      -------------

   On Monday afternoon Columbus Straughter and Wiley Brag, both negroes, were 
sentenced to life terms in the penitentiary at Baton Rouge, for the killing of 
Constable Ferguson near Mt. Tabor on December 16, 1887.

   Thus ends a murder case that for over a decade was shrouded in the deepest mystery. 
Mr. Ferguson was shot and instantly killed on the public highway while returning from 
Stein's Bluff to Shiloh. A rigid investigation was made at the time of the assassination, 
but no satisfactory clue to the perpetrators of the crime was then obtainable.

   Through the disagreement of the negroes who committed the crime, some important 
facts lately leaked out regarding the murderers. Mr. S. D. Nutt, a prominent citizen 
of Shiloh ward, heard of those reports and he at once determined to ferret out the case. 
One of the negroes implicated in the killing, Wiley Bragg, had gone to Arkansas, and 
Mr. Nutt went up there and saw Bragbg. Upon being confronted with the reports charging 
him with the deed, Bragg made a confession involving himself, Columbus Straughter and 
John Neal Johnson.

   The three negroes were arrested, and on the trial Bragg pleaded guilty to murder 
without capital punishment. The jury acquitted Johnson, but failed to agree as to 
Straughter. Subsequently the latter was permitted to share the same fate as Bragg, 
his co-partner in the crime. This consigns both Bragg and Straughter to the penitentiary 
for life.

   After their sentence a GAZETTE representative visited the jail with the view of 
getting a strue statement of the killing from the prisoners. Struaghter charges Bragg 
with doing the shooting, and Bragg lays it on Straughter. They both, however, admit 
being present, and say the party who did the shooting intended to kill Mr. Ferguson, 
and not Mr. Moore as has been reported. Bragg and Straughter both assert that John 
Neal Johnson, who was acquitted, was a party to the killing, while the latter states 
that another negro, tom Johnson, who is now dead, was also there. 

   The truth of these conflicting statements may never be known, but it is quite 
certain that both Bragg and Straughter deserve their fate.

   Mr. S. D. Nutt deserves the thanks of Mr. Ferguson's family and friends, as 
well as of all good citizens who feel interested in seeing assassins brought to 
justice, for his successful work in ferretting out th eperpetrators of this 
cold-blooded murder. 



###############################################################################