Evening star., 1922-12-20
4 Quarter-Century Feud.

The feudsl fight was said to have
been brrWinf; for Il quarter of a CEN
tury. involving som" of the leading
families of Mer Rouge and other parts
! of M"reh"use parish. A climax was
reached on August "a when j. =.
Daniels. seventy years old, former
prominent M"r E"uge merchant: Watt
Daniels, his son; Thomas f. Richards
Watt Davenport. SCION of a leading
Louisiana family. and W. &. Andrews
Il planter. Were kidnapped by forty or
ti:ty masked men on their way from
BaStr"p To their respective homes in
Mer Rouge.
n big highway celebration and
festival was held at Bastrop on Au-
/ gust II. and thousands OF people from
/ all parts Of northeast Louisiana at
tended. Th" five victims of hooded
riders attended the celebration. wit
messed the base ball gam. between
Monroe and EaStr"p and then started
home in the twilight in two automo-
hii"s. When they We're midway be
tween EaStr0p ana Mer Rouge thu.
hooded men galloped UP on horse
! back or appeared on the highway in
automobiles and seized the five MeT
Rouge citizens
Watt Davenport was released with
in an hour after lie was taken. and
! the rumor became current that the
masked men We're ''miSt;lken as to his
identity" The day following the
elder Daniels and Andrews found
:helr way back to their homes in a
serious condition.
For a while neither. Daniels nor An
drewS would discuss the case. but
they finally told of how they were
kidnapped on their way to Mer Rouge
by masked men and severely beaten
Neither Daniels nor Andrews was
able to identify a single person in the
, mob. nor could they give any in
formation in regard to Daniels son
Watt and Richards
Jury Probe Fails.
Daniels declared he recognized Ar
kansas and Mississippi automobile Ii
cenSe tags.
Following the kidnapping the More
house parish grand jury was organ
lied at Bastrop. the parish seat
of Morehouse parish. and made a
thorough investigation of the kid
naping, but no indictments were re-
turned. Many witnesses were exam
ined. but it was claimed many people
in Il position to testify were afraid
to submit testimony.
GOV. Parker then announced his de-
termination to use all the power of
the state in the case. The governors
investigation and those of ATTORNEY
General Coco have been shrouded in
much mystery and directed from the
state capital at Baton Rouge
For the past three months there
have been detectives and other in
vestigators in Morehouse parish. in
terrogating citizens and making
searches for the bodies of Richards
and Daniels. which. according to some
persons. We're believed to have been
cast into a lake in the Vicinity of
Mer Rouge.
That the bodies of both of the miss
inc to,
port current in northeast Louisiana,
The finding is said to have been the
cause for the sending of the National
Guard into Morehouse parish.
May Drag Lake.
tnconfirmed reports reaching here
declared detectives to have discover
ed the bodies bound down by heavy
wagon wheels in one of the lakes
near Mer Rouge. and soldiers were
sent to guard the work of dragging
the lake for the bodies.
Petty jealousies among influential
families. arising through trade rival
ries and social conditions. are believ-
ed to have been the origin of the
trouble between various Morehouse
parish clans. Recently DIR. B. NJ Nc
koin, prominent physician and then
| mayor of Mer Rouge, sought to clean
up" Mer Rouge. Mayor McKoin, it is
claimed, aligned himself with one
faction. and served notice on a num-
Der of alleged lawbreakers that he
and his officials proposed to enforce
the law. Mckoin received warnings
by letter that if he did not cease, he
would be assassinated. Later he was
called from his home at midnight os-
tensibly to go see sick patient, and
his automobile was riddled with
buckshot, but he escaped. Friends
advised Mckoin to leave the commu
njfy and he did 40