Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-12-26
FIRST ARREST IS MADE IN
LOUISIANA MOB MYSTERY
E7-DEPUTY SHERIFF ]
HELD FOR MURDER;
GUNS PROTECT JAIL!

BASTROP, La, Dec. 29.-With a
tenseness unequalled so far in the
Kaleidoscope developments of the
last few days, citizens of this COM
munity tonight awaited further de-
velopments in connection with the
death of two men presumably at
the hands of white-robed masked
mob.
T. J. Burnett, of Spyker, La, on
the Morehouse-Ouachita boundary
line, was arrested late today by
Sheriff Fred Carpenter and placed
in the Morehouse parish Jail hers
on q charge of murder. Burnett is
a former Morehouse deputy sher.
| iff.
The attorney general intimated
| this was the first of the many ar
| rests promised in the states eff
forts to sjft the Mprehouse parish
kidnapping mystery of last August.
The official was quoted as saying
other arrests will follow as the in
Vestigation proceeds.
Machine Guns at Jail
Machine guns were mounted on
the Jail this afternoon.
Those arrested will face the open
hearings ordered today by the at
torney general to begin in the par
ish courthouse on January 5, UNI
der guard of state troops.
The Monroe national guard, on
duty at Mer Rouge in connection
with the efforts to locate the bodies
of Watt Daniels and Thomas Rich
ards, alleged victims of the mob,
folded their tents this afternoon and
are en- route here to join the New
Orleans machine gun company and
| the Alexandria infantry company,
| tented on the court house and Jail
| square.
An inquest was conducted behind
closed doors at Mer Rouge this aft
ernoon over the bodies cast up by
Lake Lafourche yesterday after I'M
Identified dynamiters had made an
| effort to remove them from their
| Watery grave of four months.
| The findings at the inquest was
not announced.
Officials declared they were satie-
| fled with the Identification of the
| bodies as that of Daniels and Rich
ards. The bodies were viewed by
| dozens of relatives and friends dur.
| ing the day
q, New Orleans Psychologists conduct
ed an autopsy to determine how the
| men came to their deaths. They de-
clared the examination revealed that
the men had been flogged and some
bones broken before they died They
| refused to reply to the question
whether the men were killed before
bound with wire, weighted down and
thrown into the lake, or whether
they were thrown into the lake alive
and died of strangulation.
That the autopsy was considered OF
most vital importance in the prose-
IjcutIons of those who will be charged
with the murder was indicated by the
attorney general, who declared that
every scar and mark counts"
Department of justice investiga-
tors have frequently declared they
had list of the names of those con-
nected with the kidnapping tragedy.
Governor Parker has indicated hood.
ed men of Mississippi and Arkansas
as we'll as Louisiana were implicated.
To Hold Funerals Sunday
The bodies were turned over to
committee composed of relatives and
friends late today. The funerals were
scheduled for tomorrow The dead
men were members of families who
were pioneers in this parish and their
/ acquaintanceship is numbered by the
hundreds.
Many believe the surrender of the
bodies to the kin and the departure
of the troops may kindle the outs
break between the hostile camps ere
ated at Mer Rouge since the August
kidnapping.
Department of justice agents and
state officials have, during the past
four months, under the personal dir
rectiOn of Governor Parker, prepared
chain of circumstantial evidence
outlining events preceding the kid
naping as we'll as the movements of
the mob on the fatal night which will
be the basis of the prosecution, it
has been reported.
Trouble started in Morehouse last
summer, when an alleged ATTEMPT
was made to assassinate DR.. B. M.
Mckofn, former mayor of Mer
Rouge.