Bloodstained Louisiana

Historian Alan G. Gauthreaux chronicles 12 homicide cases from late 1800s and early 1900s Louisiana—where “unwritten law” justified jilted women who killed their paramours, and police took measures to protect defendants from lynch mobs. Stories include the 1907 kidnapping of seven-year-old Walter Lamana by the New Orleans “Black Hand,” the 1912 acquittal of Zea McRee (a woman of “good reputation”) in Opelousas, and the 1934 trial and execution of Shreveport’s infamous “Butterfly Man.”

Alan G. Gauthreaux is an adjunct instructor of history at Nunez Community College in Chalmette, Louisiana. He has written numerous historical articles in the true crime and military history fields. He lives in Kenner, Louisiana.

Alan G. Gauthreaux
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 202
Bibliographic Info: 23 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7216-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3083-0
Imprint: Exposit Books

Acknowledgments ix

Foreword by Florent Hardy, Jr. 1

Preface 3

Country Murders 5

The Cotton Farm Murders (1896)  5

A Massacre at Minden (1916)  11

“He’s murdering me for nothing!” (1903) 25

The Business of the “Black Hand” (1907) 48

Hell Hath No Fury 75

The Death of Hugh Smith (1910)  76

The Strange Case of Kate Fretsch (1910–1911)  84

Question of Honor (1911)  88

A Woman Scorned (1913)  98

The Stalker (1913–1915) 104

The Tale of Sara Kellaway (1928) 119

Bodies in the Trunks (1927) 128

The “Butterfly Man” (1934) 155

Notes 171

Bibliography 187

Index 191

• “I applaude Alan Gauthreaux for his attention to detail and facts. A writer should drag the reader back in time so they can be a witness, albeit, years later. If that is accomplished, the writer has done his job. In Bloodstained Louisiana, the writer has done his job impeccably. I am familiar with some of the cases discussed, but after reading those cases, I learned things I haven’t known until now. Great job! Thank you.”—Sal Perricone, former FBI agent, retired federal prosecutor, writer
• “A bedtime read that turns into an all-night captivator because it is impossible to put down. This page-turning work of nonfiction is the product of a lifelong historian possessed of the ability to turn a compilation of events into a compelling story… Spine-tingling.”—City Social

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