The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-01-22
THIRD WEEK BEGINS

BASTROP, La, Jan. 21.-The third
week of the open hearing into the
activities of lack-hooded bands in
Morehouse parish will begin tomor-
row, the state attempting TO learn
the identity of more OF the masked
men alleged to have been implicated
in the kidnapping of Watt Daniel and
T. +. Richard on August "a.
Two mutilateo bodies found in
Lake La Fourche on December %
were identified as those of the miss
ing men and Psychologists who per-
formed an autopsy have testified
that in their opinion the victims were
tortured to death after one of them
had been subjected to a painful sur
gical operation.
A barbecue was held in Bastrop
August "a, and residents of the ter
ritory for miles around attended the
event. Many homeward bound auto
mobiles and wagons late in the day
were held UP by black hooded men
stationed on the Bastrop- Mer Rouge
highway two miles from this place
and searched. Daniel and Richard.
lniels father, J. l.. Daniel. Tot"
NEWPORT and w. c. Andrews were
ade prisoners.
Captives Blindfo1ded
Inc CaDLlNeS were
cir hands tied, bundled into a small
otor truck and driven away. ]. L.
4niel and w. c. Andrews were
ogged and released at Colllnston,
.a ght miles from here, early in the
ening. after they had been ques-
,ned concerning an alleged attempt
4 assassinate Dr. B. NJ. Mckoin, for
er mayor of Mer Rouge. Davenport
y as released unframed ana without
questioning.
Watt Daniel and Richard never
were seen alive again.
All persons held up on the high
way, who have testified thus far,
have agreed that the masked party
numbered between 10 and Is men.
Witnesses have declared that they
recognized five of them as follows:
E. N. C'Newt'D Gray, deacon of Lit
tie Fellowship Missionary Baptist
church of the Thompson section,
about four miles from Mer Rouge;
oliver Skipwith, son of Capt. J. K.
skipwith, leader of the Ku Klux
Khan in Morehouse parish; T. Jeff
Burnett, formerly parish deputy
sheriff at liberty under $4,000 bail,
after having been arrested on an af-
, fidavit charging murder; Smith Stew
enson, Bastrop blacksmith. md a
man known as BLACKSMITH" Smith
of Bastrop.
The name of Captain Skipwith also
was mentioned yesterday by a wit
ness, having testified that he saw
the khan leader in conversation with
masked man at the fork of the
Monroe Collinston road the evening
of the KIDNAPPING. Captain Skipwith
as not masked, the witness testi-
& 3D.
Attorney General Coco and his as
+. stants have interrogated witnesses
at length concerning the plant of the
southern Carbon company at Spyker.
40 miles south of here, the pera-
ton of the plant, equipment and the
duties of certain employees.
The bodies CT Daniel and Richard
wera supposed to have been weighted
and east Into Lake La Fourche.
Around each was galvanized wire, be-
lieved to have been used as an at
tachment for the weights. On the
night of December 81 unidentified
persons fired large charge of dyna-
mite in the lake, and it is believed
the conclusion caused the bodies to
break loose from the weights and
Else to the surfase. professional
diver arrived here December 81 for
the announced purpose of exploring
the bottom of the lake for the bodies.
and some officials entertain the
theory that the slayers fearing their
discovery. exploded the dynamite in
an attempt to bring them to the sur