Obituaries: Mary D. Alexander, 1964, Winn Parish, LA
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: January 20, 1964 Winn Parish Enterprise News-American

Negro Woman Slain, Two Men Shot Saturday

A young Negro mother died of a gunshot would here Saturday night and
authorities captured a Negro man accused of firing the shot which killed her,
wounded her father, and a friend.

Chief Deputy J. J. Crippen and Police Chief Percy Roberts identified the
dead woman as Mary D. Alexander, about 30.

Wounded are her father, B. G. Alexander, and a visitor in the Alexander home,
Walter Mitchell.

Mitchell was shot in the right side and is reported in good condition.  The
woman's father was shot in the back.  The .25 caliber bullet punctured a lung. 
His condition is critical but he is reported to be improving.

Matthew Lomas, Winnfield Negro man, has been arrested in the case.

Crippen and Roberts said that Lomas walked nearly 20 miles along the Louisiana
and Arkansas Railroad Saturday night immediately after the shooting before
they arrested him about 10 miles northwest of Calvin on the Goldonna Highway
at 3 a.m. Sunday.

The two lawmen and other officers had been searching for Lomas since the 10:30
p.m. shooting at the Alexander home just off the Atlanta Highway behind the
Skelly Oil Company Bulk Station.

Roberts and Crippen waited at a rail crossing near where they picked up Lomas
and it was after they decided to turn back toward Calvin that they met him
coming down the highway which runs alongside the track.  Lomas gave no
resistance.

A jury acquitted Lomas here in 1962 when he was tried for attempted murder
following the shooting of a Winnfield Negro woman and her child.