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
Foreword by Florent Hardy, Jr.
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

“As a former FBI agent and retired federal prosecutor, and now a current writer, I am a slave to facts. Facts tell the story as it should be told. I applaude Alan Geautreaux 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

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