Information taken from death certificate #32434; information given by Anna Mae Clement, 248 West Campbell Street, Biardstown, TX:
Gender: Female
Color or Race: Colored
Residence: Blossom, Texas
Occupation: Housewife
Marital Status: Widowed
PARENTS: ROBERT WHITE and ISABELL PATTERSON
Cause of Death: Acute abdomen mesentive thrombosis ?; gunshot wound (homicide), public place.
Physician: M.A. Walker, Jr., M.D., Paris, Texas, from June 19, 1937 to June 22, 1937.
Undertaker: I.T. Moody, 137 North 23rd Street, Paris, Texas
Burial: June 24, 1937
NOTE: Name reflected on Death Certificate is "Leta" Williams. Husband, Frank Ellis, is also named as the suspect in the murder.
The following is an article published in The Paris News on June 20, 1937, Page 1:
"JUNETEENTH HERE MARRED BY COUPLE'S FIGHT OVER CHILD
"Juneteenth sob story.
"Negro woman shoots Negro man over custody of child. He, no piker, shoots back. Both wounded, both in hospital.
"It all happened, you see, on 'Mancipation Day here. Frank Ellis, estranged from his wife, Letha, decided he'd free his daughter of her mammy on Freedom Day.
"But mammy had another idea. Furthermore, she wielded a gat. And Frank didn't.
"Late Saturday afternoon, on North Twenty-first Street, the fracas reached the breaking point. The small child wasn't sure which of the parents she should accompany, but when they were taken to Lamar Hospital, a few minutes after, she was likely glad she didn't accompany both of them of necessity.
"Letha, she told Sheriff J.H. Ratliff, investigating the case, didn't want Frank to have the child. So she blazed away with what the sheriff called Saturday night a 'Sattidy Special,' shooting Frank in the groin. Injured and angered, he seized the gun and turned it on her. She then took a blasting in the leg. Both were carried to Lamar Hospital for treatment.
"Save for this affray however, things were running comparatively quiet for a June 19 observance here. Officers reported just before the shooting occurred, the Negro section was as quiet as a cemetery at two in the morning. At midnight Saturday, no further trouble had been reported."
Gender: Female
Color or Race: Colored
Residence: Blossom, Texas
Occupation: Housewife
Marital Status: Widowed
PARENTS: ROBERT WHITE and ISABELL PATTERSON
Cause of Death: Acute abdomen mesentive thrombosis ?; gunshot wound (homicide), public place.
Physician: M.A. Walker, Jr., M.D., Paris, Texas, from June 19, 1937 to June 22, 1937.
Undertaker: I.T. Moody, 137 North 23rd Street, Paris, Texas
Burial: June 24, 1937
NOTE: Name reflected on Death Certificate is "Leta" Williams. Husband, Frank Ellis, is also named as the suspect in the murder.
The following is an article published in The Paris News on June 20, 1937, Page 1:
"JUNETEENTH HERE MARRED BY COUPLE'S FIGHT OVER CHILD
"Juneteenth sob story.
"Negro woman shoots Negro man over custody of child. He, no piker, shoots back. Both wounded, both in hospital.
"It all happened, you see, on 'Mancipation Day here. Frank Ellis, estranged from his wife, Letha, decided he'd free his daughter of her mammy on Freedom Day.
"But mammy had another idea. Furthermore, she wielded a gat. And Frank didn't.
"Late Saturday afternoon, on North Twenty-first Street, the fracas reached the breaking point. The small child wasn't sure which of the parents she should accompany, but when they were taken to Lamar Hospital, a few minutes after, she was likely glad she didn't accompany both of them of necessity.
"Letha, she told Sheriff J.H. Ratliff, investigating the case, didn't want Frank to have the child. So she blazed away with what the sheriff called Saturday night a 'Sattidy Special,' shooting Frank in the groin. Injured and angered, he seized the gun and turned it on her. She then took a blasting in the leg. Both were carried to Lamar Hospital for treatment.
"Save for this affray however, things were running comparatively quiet for a June 19 observance here. Officers reported just before the shooting occurred, the Negro section was as quiet as a cemetery at two in the morning. At midnight Saturday, no further trouble had been reported."
Information taken from death certificate #32434; information given by Anna Mae Clement, 248 West Campbell Street, Biardstown, TX:
Gender: Female
Color or Race: Colored
Residence: Blossom, Texas
Occupation: Housewife
Marital Status: Widowed
PARENTS: ROBERT WHITE and ISABELL PATTERSON
Cause of Death: Acute abdomen mesentive thrombosis ?; gunshot wound (homicide), public place.
Physician: M.A. Walker, Jr., M.D., Paris, Texas, from June 19, 1937 to June 22, 1937.
Undertaker: I.T. Moody, 137 North 23rd Street, Paris, Texas
Burial: June 24, 1937
NOTE: Name reflected on Death Certificate is "Leta" Williams. Husband, Frank Ellis, is also named as the suspect in the murder.
The following is an article published in The Paris News on June 20, 1937, Page 1:
"JUNETEENTH HERE MARRED BY COUPLE'S FIGHT OVER CHILD
"Juneteenth sob story.
"Negro woman shoots Negro man over custody of child. He, no piker, shoots back. Both wounded, both in hospital.
"It all happened, you see, on 'Mancipation Day here. Frank Ellis, estranged from his wife, Letha, decided he'd free his daughter of her mammy on Freedom Day.
"But mammy had another idea. Furthermore, she wielded a gat. And Frank didn't.
"Late Saturday afternoon, on North Twenty-first Street, the fracas reached the breaking point. The small child wasn't sure which of the parents she should accompany, but when they were taken to Lamar Hospital, a few minutes after, she was likely glad she didn't accompany both of them of necessity.
"Letha, she told Sheriff J.H. Ratliff, investigating the case, didn't want Frank to have the child. So she blazed away with what the sheriff called Saturday night a 'Sattidy Special,' shooting Frank in the groin. Injured and angered, he seized the gun and turned it on her. She then took a blasting in the leg. Both were carried to Lamar Hospital for treatment.
"Save for this affray however, things were running comparatively quiet for a June 19 observance here. Officers reported just before the shooting occurred, the Negro section was as quiet as a cemetery at two in the morning. At midnight Saturday, no further trouble had been reported."
Gender: Female
Color or Race: Colored
Residence: Blossom, Texas
Occupation: Housewife
Marital Status: Widowed
PARENTS: ROBERT WHITE and ISABELL PATTERSON
Cause of Death: Acute abdomen mesentive thrombosis ?; gunshot wound (homicide), public place.
Physician: M.A. Walker, Jr., M.D., Paris, Texas, from June 19, 1937 to June 22, 1937.
Undertaker: I.T. Moody, 137 North 23rd Street, Paris, Texas
Burial: June 24, 1937
NOTE: Name reflected on Death Certificate is "Leta" Williams. Husband, Frank Ellis, is also named as the suspect in the murder.
The following is an article published in The Paris News on June 20, 1937, Page 1:
"JUNETEENTH HERE MARRED BY COUPLE'S FIGHT OVER CHILD
"Juneteenth sob story.
"Negro woman shoots Negro man over custody of child. He, no piker, shoots back. Both wounded, both in hospital.
"It all happened, you see, on 'Mancipation Day here. Frank Ellis, estranged from his wife, Letha, decided he'd free his daughter of her mammy on Freedom Day.
"But mammy had another idea. Furthermore, she wielded a gat. And Frank didn't.
"Late Saturday afternoon, on North Twenty-first Street, the fracas reached the breaking point. The small child wasn't sure which of the parents she should accompany, but when they were taken to Lamar Hospital, a few minutes after, she was likely glad she didn't accompany both of them of necessity.
"Letha, she told Sheriff J.H. Ratliff, investigating the case, didn't want Frank to have the child. So she blazed away with what the sheriff called Saturday night a 'Sattidy Special,' shooting Frank in the groin. Injured and angered, he seized the gun and turned it on her. She then took a blasting in the leg. Both were carried to Lamar Hospital for treatment.
"Save for this affray however, things were running comparatively quiet for a June 19 observance here. Officers reported just before the shooting occurred, the Negro section was as quiet as a cemetery at two in the morning. At midnight Saturday, no further trouble had been reported."
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