Sussex-Southampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives News.....Shootings, 1921 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ "Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch," July 30, 1921, p. 3, col. 1 NEWS GATHERED FROM ALL PARTS OF VIRGINIA WAKEFIELD IS SCENE OF BATTLE WITH HOBOES Negroes, Beat Ride on Freight, Shoot Down Town Sergeant From Train. OFFICER SERIOUSLY WOUNDED Is Rushed to Richmond for Treatment, While Posse Scour Country for Men Responsible for Attack. [Special to The Times-Dispatch.] PETERSBURG, VA., July 29. - The entire town of Wakefield and surrounding county has been aroused by the shooting of Town Sergeant Harry L. Harris, of that place, this morning about 9 o'clock by one of a gang six negro hoboes, and practically every man in the village is fully armed and searching for the desperadoes. Tonight the negroes had not been apprehended, but bloodhounds are being used by the pursuers and the capture of the men is expected momentarily. Harris is now in a Richmond hospital, suffering from a bullet wound in the abdomen. He was rushed to Richmond shortly after the shooting, and at that time was believed to be probably mortally wounded. One of Negroes Wounded. One of the negroes was wounded when the fire was returned by Harris and townsmen who joined in the pitched battle, and this is expected to aid the posse in trailing the fugitives, who are believed to be hiding in the woods between Wakefield and Waverly. Harris was shot when he attempted to arrest the gang of negroes for shooting at W.D. Purcell [sic; D.P. Pursell] at Ivor only a few minutes before. The negroes had fired at the Ivor man, who is telegraph operator at Wakefield, as the freight train passed by that station. He was not wounded, but the Wakefield authorities were notified to arrest the men. Open Fire on Officer. As the freight pulled into Wakefield, the negroes jumped to the ground, but upon the approach of Harris they again boarded and opened fire on the town officer. He returned fire before falling with the bullet in his abdomen and the firing was taken up by persons in the railroad station and near-by stores. The negroes fired from the moving freight, but one was struck by a bullet from a townsman's gun. The freight train was again stopped, and at this the desperadoes alighted and took to the woods, pursued by the infuriated citizens. While feeling is running high in the village and countryside, county officials express little fear for the safety of the men, but express their ability to handle the men in the event of their capture. Shooting is Mystery. Why the negroes fired at Purcell is not known. He was standing near the station at Ivor when the negro opened fire from the passing freight. The shooting in Wakefield occurred near the station and in the main street of the village. The identity of the negroes is not known, they being strangers who were beating their way on the freight train. HARRIS IN HOSPITAL HERE IN CRITICAL CONDITION Harry L. Harris, town sergeant of Wakefield, Sussex County, is in a serious condition at St. Elizabeth's Hospital as the result of a bullet wound in the abdomen. Harris was shot about 9 o'clock yesterday morning at the Wakefield station while attempting to arrest five negroes riding on a Norfolk and Western train. ****************************************************************************** "World News" (Roanoke, VA), Vol. 38, No. 26, July 30, 1921, p. 2, col. 2 Posse Trailing Five Negroes Near Wakefield Richmond, Va., July 30. - Reports from Wakefield today are that 300 men, heavily armed, with bloodhounds, are trailing the five negroes who yesterday shot at a railroad telegrapher and then severely wounded Town Sergeant Harris, of Wakefield, when he tried to arrest them. Officers say they will protect the men when caught. ****************************************************************************** "Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch," Aug. 1, 1921, p. 4, col. 1 CONDITION OF HARRIS IS SAID TO BE SATISFACTORY The condition of Harry L. Harris, town sergeant of Wakefield, Sussex County, who was shot in the abdomen when he attempted to arrest five negroes who were riding on a Norfolk and Western train Friday, for firing at a telegraph operator at Ivor, was reported by physicians at St. Elizabeth's hospital last night as satisfactory. They stated that he was rapidly gaining strength. Though the shooting occurred early Friday and posses of Sussex County men, aided by blood hounds and reinforced by police from Petersburg, have scoured the woods within a radius of several miles of the village where the negroes are said to have left the train, a dispatch from the scene this morning stated that the men were still at large. Though the whole countryside was considerably wrought up over the pitched battle staged by the men atop the moving train, fears for the safety of the fugitives in the event they are captured are not further entertained. A strong guard of the Norfolk and Western tracks is being maintained, as authorities believe the men will attempt to leave the neighborhood by train. ****************************************************************************** "Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch," Aug. 6, 1921, p. 4, col. 5 HARRIS FAILS TO IDENTIFY NEGRO AS ASSAILANT [Special to The Times-Dispatch.] PETERSBURG, Aug. 5. - That Will Elmore, the negro held in the Richmond jail in connection with the brutal murder of T.W. Elmore, postmaster and storekeeper at Tobacco, Va., on Monday night, and Lem Johnson, the negro lynched by the Brunswick and Dinwiddie Counties mob Wednesday morning, may have been two of the six negroes who shot W.R. [sic] Harris, town sergeant of Wakefield, last week, when he attempted to arrest them, is the belief held by the police here. Harris has about recovered from the bullet wound in his abdomen and is on duty again in Wakefield. He came to this city today with the hope of identifying as one of his assailants a negro held here as a tramp. He failed to do so and the negro was ordered to leave the city at once. Additional information: "Harry" Henry Lee HARRIS, Deputy Sheriff of Sussex Co., was killed in a single-car wreck on Hwy. 460, near Waverly. His obit ("Suffolk News- Herald," 29 Mar 1950) is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/sussex/obits/h620h1ob.txt Harry is buried in Wakefield Cemetery, as are his parents, John Henry & Lucy Ann (COX) HARRIS, and telegrapher D'Arcy Paul PURSELL. Wakefield list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/sussex/cemeteries/wakefd.txt Wm. Tignal ELMORE, merchant & postmaster at Tobacco, was murdered at his store, Aug 1921. Coverage ("Richmond Times-Dispatch," Aug. 3, 1921, p. 3, &c.) posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/brunswick/news/19210803td.txt Will ELMORE was convicted & sentenced to hang 30 Sep. No one was indicted for the lynching of Lem JOHNSON. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/sussex/news/19210730td.txt