Obituaries: William Clyde Sheffield, 1947, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: July 27, 1947 Winn Parish Enterprise and a July 31, 1947 issue of an unlabeled paper, probably the Winnfield News-American No. 1 Winn School Board Member Is Victim Clyde Sheffield And Ervin Dyson Fatally Shot In Gun Battle Clyde Sheffield, 37, Winn Parish School Board Member from Ward 5, and Ervin Dyson, 65, a lifelong resident of near Montgomery in Grant Parish, shot each other to death in a shooting fracas which originated from a heated political argument in downtown Montgomery about 11:45 Wednesday night, July 23. Witnesses to the argument and shooting said that both men had been drinking and had become involved in an argument over state political issues earlier Wednesday night. Both men left the scene of the argument and supposedly went to get their guns. Whey they met in front of the Kaiser-Fraser Motor Company at about 11:45, they began shooting at close range. Sheffield, who used a .32 caliber pistol, shot six times, emptying his gun. All bullets struck the body of Dyson, who died almost instantly. Dyson, using a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver, shot only twice. One bullet struck Sheffield in the body, the other entering the head. Sheffield lived about 40 minutes after the shooting but died before Dr. Matt Brian of Montgomery, arrived. Witnesses reported to Sheriff Gillis Bowen of Grant Parish that both men apparently began shooting at about the same time at a distance of only a few feet. Both bodies were powder burned. S. W. Johnson, Grant Parish Deputy Sheriff, and R. Downs, Montgomery Town Marhal, arrived within a few minutes after the shooting and immediately notified Sheriff Bowen, who drove to Montgomery to investigate. Sheriff Bowen said investigation showed that no one else was involved in the shooting. Ernest Loupe of Montgomery and several other residents of the community were witnesses to the shooting, Sheriff Bowen reported. Dr. D. V. Donaldson, Grant Parish coroner, held a coroner's inquest into the deaths of the two men about 1 a.m. this morning (Thursday). Witnesses testified at the inquest, telling in detail just how the shooting came about. Mr. Sheffield was well known in Winn and Grant Parishes. He lived in Winn and was a citizen of Ward 5. He was serving his first term as Winn Parish School Board member of that ward. Mr. Sheffield operated a mercantile business in Montgomery. Mr. Dyson lived on a farm near Montgomery and was well known in Grant Parish. Funeral services for Mr. Sheffield will be held at 4 o'clock Friday afternoon at the Mt. Zion Church and burial will follow in the Mt. Zion Cemetery. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Gracie Johnson Sheffield, and two children. Also surviving are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Sheffield, and a number of other relatives in Winn and Grant Parishes. Mr. Sheffield was born at Verda on April 28, 1910, and had lived most of his life in this section of the state. Pallbearers had not been selected at the time the Enterprise went to press, but members of the Winn Parish School Board have been named as honorary pallbearers. Arrangements are under direction of Edmonds Funeral Home, Jonesboro. Further details were not available. Information on the funeral arrangements of Mr. Dyson were not available at this time. No. 2 W. Clyde Sheffield Buried At Mt. Zion Cemetery Friday Funeral services for W. Clyde Sheffield, School Board member from Ward Five, Winn Parish, and owner and operator of the Sheffield Grocery Store at Montgomery, La., were held at the Mt. Zion Methodist Church at 4 p.m. Friday, July 25, with the pastor, Rev. Lula Wardlow, former Mt. Zion pastor, Rev. M. B. Adkins, Baptist pastor, and Judge Cas Moss, of Winnfield, assisted in the services. Interment was in the Mt. Zion Cemetery with services at the grave conducted by the Montgomery Lodge of Masons, No. 168, of which the deceased was a member, serving as secretary of the Lodge at the time of his death. Mr. Sheffield was also a member of the Natchitoches Chapter, Royal Arch Masons and of the Knights Templar Commandry of Winnfield. Mr. Sheffield was born in the Mars Hill Community of Winn Parish in 1910 and united with the Verda Baptist Church at an early age. The large attendance of both friends at the funeral and the bountiful floral offerings attest the high esteem in which he was held by those who knew him. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Gracie Johnson Sheffield, and two small children, Julie, five, and William Clyde, Jr., two, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Sheffield of Montgomery. Pallbearers were F. J. McMurry, Lee Grigsby, R. C. Bartlett, Julian McCartney, W. E. Higgs, Frank Carpenter, Fred Mixon, L. M. Thompson, members of the Winn Parish School Board. Honorary pallbearers were Superintendent R. L. Terry, Sheriff Bryant Sholars, of Winnfield; Sheriff Gillis Bowen of Grant Parish; H. O. Schwartz, Marvin Wyatt, Harry Fuller, D. L. Durrett, Kenneth Watts, Louis Kolb, C. L. Shell, John Y. Bell, Winnfield; H. A. Keiffer of Montgomery and Cheston Stevens of Route 1, Atlanta. The Edmonds Funeral Home of Jonesboro, La., was in charge of the funeral arrangements.