The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-10-05
A FRATRICIDE
HORRIBLE CRIME COMMITTED
AT DIXIE SATURDAY.
DEAF TO PLEA FOR LIFE


In the store of the Douglass Sentell
Company at Dixie, in CaddO parish,
about fifteen miles from Shreveport.
Saturday evening, William Ballard was
shot and killed by his brother, Calvin
Ballard, in the presence of crowd OF
people.
William Billiards. home was near
Mooringsport. He was married. hav-
ing a wife and child On Saturday he
visited his brother. Calvin Ballard who
was the oversecr on the D. Dixon
plantation near Dixie. Before or dur
ing the time they were dining, William
Ballard excepted to some remarks of
a young negro and slapped his face for
his impertinence. One report is that he
grabbed the boy and threw him out of
the window or door The boys mother,
a negress, a cook for Calvin Ballard.
resented this assault and urged him to
action. In moment the brothers were
struggling desperately and after an in
terval William Ballard left the house.
He had been shot in the arm and was
going to Dixie to have his wound
dressed.
Against the .negress, Lizzie Wright
who it is said was intimate with Calvin
Ballard, there is charge that she aided
Calvin Ballard i'll the fight and that she
secured and handed him the pistol with
which he shot his brother
Not satisfied with the result of this
encounter. Calvin Ballard followed his
brother to Dixie. He was thoroughly
aroused when he reached and entered
the store of the Douglas Sentell Com
pany. and renewed the difficulty His
brother was unarmed and begged for
his life. There was an attempt by Mr..
Douglas and others to disarm Calvin
Ballard, but he jeried away from them
and before they could intercede he had
fired the fatal bullets Not only was he
deaf to the appeals of his brother for
his life, but he would not heed the
pleadings of others who would stay his
hand in this horrible fratricide.
Immediately following the killing,
Calvin Ballard was arrested and con-
veyed by Deputy Sheriff Hood to
Shreveport, where he was jailed on
charge of murder. and the body of his
brother was taken to his home near
Mooringsport Among the mourners
was the wife Of William Ballard and
white woman, said to be one of his
friends. The burial took place Sunday.
How shocking to the father was this
homicide may be imagined, but who
could describe his emotions He was
overwhelmed and almost struck dead by
the shock of this crime
THE PLEA OF SELF DEFENSE.
The plea of self defense will be urged
to relieve Calvin Ballard from the
clutches of the law. The sentimental
lists declare that a decision must now
rest with the unfortunate father of two
sons. One being dead his sympathy
must go to the living. In urging the
plea of self defense it is said that Will
liam Ballard was more powerful in
physique than his brother and that he
was desperate man. This is the usual
pretext. The man killed is the bad man
who was trying to do the other In this
case comment is unnecessary. The facts
as related should be sufficient, and cou-
pied with the plea for his life and the
appeals of those who interceded and
did their best to avert this crime, the
reader may reach his own conclusion
unbiased It is deplorable, horrible, and
little can be offered in extenuation of
the deed.
On Monday Mr. Ballard and his wife,
the father and the step-mother, visited
Calvin Gel Ballard i il a4tii 4ti There here was pres
ent Hon. John R. Land who, will de-
fend the prisoner Whatever was said
between father and son is not for the
public The Caucasian entertains for
Mr. Ballard, the father the fullest Of
sympathy He has been for years a
reader Of the Caucasian and is held in
the highest esteem by his neighbors and
| friends