Negro Sheriff’s Deputy Murdered in Louisiana

June 3, 1965 - Washington Parish’s first two Negro sheriff’s deputies were ambushed and one, Deputy O’Neal Moore, was killed last night in Louisiana, increasing tensions in this racial trouble spot. (Pictured below are Deputy Moore’s widow and children.)

Ernest McElveen, a white paper-mill employee, was picked up and charged with murder a short time later, 45 miles away at Tylertown, Mississippi.

Federal, state, and local authorities began an intensive investigation. It was assumed that several persons were involved. All windows were broken in the deputies’ patrol car, indicating a heavy volley of shots.

Deputy Moore died of a high-powered rifle shot in the head while driving the car on State Highway 21 seven miles north of Bogalusa. His partner, Creed Rogers, was struck in the shoulder by a shotgun blast. He was reported in good condition today at a Bogalusa hospital.

Governor John McKeithen condemned the shooting and promised swift action by the state. 

Colonel Tom Burbank, head of the State Police, said, “No stone will be unturned.”

McElveen, 41 years old, was arrested an hour after the ambush as he drove through Tylertown in a 1954 pickup truck bearing a Confederate flag bumper emblem.

Vern Brumfield, town marshal of Tylertown, made the arrest on the basis of a description of the vehicle given by Rogers in a hurried radio alarm during the attack.

Officers questioned McElveen and reported that he was “not talking.” He refused to waive extradition.

McElveen had two pistols when arrested and one, a .45 caliber, appeared to have been fully loaded, according to Sheriff Knippers of Tylertown. 

Sheriff Dorman Crowe of Washington Parish (county) hired the two Negroes a year ago in fulfillment of a pledge to Negro political leaders during his last election campaign. The deputies patrolled Negro areas.

Their hiring had angered the Ku Klux Klan, which is strong in Washington Parish.

Racial feeling has moved to the boiling point in Bogalusa in recent weeks. The Congress of Racial Equality moved in early this year for a drive to improve Negro job opportunities and to desegregate public facilities.

The town has two heavily armed groups, the Klan on one side and a Negro organization called the Deacons for the Defense of Justice on the other.

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