Amite City Democrat, Sept 4, 1875 " Black Man Murdered His Daughter"

James LaVace, a black man, was brought up to Amite City from Hammond by Deputy Sheriff Wilks and lodged in jail for the murder of his own child, a little girl of 7. He beat the child nearly to death with a board when the girl's mother said the girl had not given her 10 cents worth of crackers the man has brought for her. The man then bound the beaten child with a rope and dunked her head first into a deep well until she drowned. Allegedly, there were several witnesses to his horrific crime, but no one intervened. At inquest, it was learned that the child had indeed given the mother the crackers, and that the mother lied about it.


Source: Amite Genealogy Library
             Published by Yvonne Lewis Day