Mississippi conjures many different images in people’s minds.  Some people think about the wonderful authors and artists from here, some think of the Civil Rights movement, some people think of The Blues, some people think of beauty queens and lately we have all been thinking about heat and humidity.  This year though we have had three books published  about MURDER!   These are murders you might not know about even though when they occurred  they were national news but they are part of  local folklore to this day in their respective counties of Attala, Holmes and Jones.

One Night of Madness by Stokes McMillan

Stokes McMillan is fourth generation born and raised in Attala County, Mississippi.  His mother had collected together his father’s photos and articles about this crime but never had a lot of interest in it until 2001 when one of his own children wanted a copy of the award winning photographs his grandfather had taken of  the capture of the two killers.  Mr. McMillan decided to also give some of the more interesting information along with the photograph.  He read over the scrapbook and realized that this was a story that deserved to be told so he wrote One Night of Madness.

It’s 1950 and Mary Ellis Harris is struggling to care for her five children by sharecropping alongside her husband who loves to drink and gamble.  One night, Leon Turner, a white man her husband drinks with, corners her in her house and refuses to take no as an answer.  He is arrested for attempted rape and when he gets out of  jail comes back for revenge on the Harris family.  The scene at the Harris house is horrific and bloody and a manhunt led by the Sheriff of Attala County, Roy Braswell, with the help of Hogjaw Mullen and his tracking dogs ends in a shootout and the arrest of Leon Turner and two accomplices.  The trial began but not only where these men on trial but the State of Mississippi itself.  The eyes of the nation where watching  and when the controversial jury decision is made the public’s outcry for punishment is heard through out the United States.

The Time of Eddie Noel by Allie Povall

Allie Povall was 12 years old in 1954 in Holmes County where the events of The Time of Eddie Noel took place.  This is the story of how a black man, Eddie Noel, shot and killed a white honky-tonk owner, Ramon Dickard.  One of the largest posses in Mississippi history was formed and they hunted Eddie Noel.  Eddie Noel killed two more white men and wounded three others before disappearing into the the woods of southwest Holmes County.  This is the story of how a black man, a three time murderer, in Mississippi could beat the lynch mob, beat the posse, beat the system and avoid almost certain death?  Eddie Noel, though he confessed to the murders was never tried or convicted and he spent the last 22 years of his life living peacefully with family in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Allie Povall interviewed many people, read newspaper accounts and court records and relied on his own memory of this event.  This story has almost reached mythic status in Holmes County but there are still those who will not talk about it for example Eddie Noel’s family in Indiana promised his mother that they would never discuss it outside of the family.  Allie Povall has done a great job in gathering this information to tell us a story of a time in Mississippi that was full of  bootlegging and moonshine, gambling and juke joints and the time of Eddie Noel.

The Legs Murder Scandal by Hunter Cole

In 1935, Ouida Keeton is arrested in Laurel, Mississippi for the murder of her mother, Daisy Keeton.  Ouida shot her, chopped her up and disposed of the body parts by flushing them down the toilet and burning them in the fireplace.  That is all but her mother’s legs.  She tried to dispose of them on a isolated country road but they were soon found by a hunter and his dogs.  After her arrest while police were interrogating her she incriminated her wealthy business man lover, W.M. Carter.  While this murder is almost completely forgotten today, it was touted as Mississippi’s most sensational murder of the time.  Hunter Cole through researching countless trial transcripts, courthouse records, medical files and endless newspaper coverage gives detailed accounts of the separate trials of Ouida Keeton and W.M. Carter and also reveals new facts that have been distorted by hearsay and misinformation about “Mississippi’s Lizzie Borden” throughout the years.

by Kelly Pickerill

As CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch covered the Katrina aftermath on the Gulf Coast, she made a promise to the hurricane victims in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The day she left, she told them, “I promise I won’t let anyone forget what happened here.”

Rising From Katrina is not just a story of destruction and disaster; it’s a tale of the kindness of strangers, of minor miracles—and, above all, of how communities rolled up their sleeves and rebuilt. It tells of the bravery and resilience of Gulf Coast residents, who—when no help came—helped each other restore their homes, their towns, and their lives.

Kathleen explores how the hurricane changed not just the landscape, but also the people. It is a story of loss, transformation, and resurrection that resonates in these tough economic times.

As Kathleen wrote Rising From Katrina, she kept a brick from her former Bay St. Louis house on her desk. It was her way of staying connected with home and the people she loved. One corner was broken off, and the brick was speckled with mortar, but it was still solid and strong, just like the communities that build up the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Rising From Katrina is their story, one that Kathleen calls the most important she’s ever covered.

(from the Press Release for Rising From Katrina by Kathleen Koch, John F. Blair, Publisher)

Kathleen Koch will be signing and reading at Lemuria Tuesday, August 10th, starting at 5 p.m.

The following is an excerpt from an article Kathleen wrote for CNN during the fourth of July weekend, about the oil spill and its effects on an already disaster-weary coast. Her new book, Rising From Katrina, is a tribute to the Gulf Coast victims of the hurricane.

I grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It was a place of pristine, natural beauty. Miles of soft, sandy beaches. The gentle, warm waters of the Mississippi Sound. The bays that cut inland to rivers and streams lined with grassy marshes and bayous that served as nurseries for tiny crabs, shrimp and all manner of fish and marine life.

The people of the Gulf Coast are a hardy bunch. They already faced the worst nature could dish out when Hurricane Katrina hit. And just as they were getting back on their feet after years of heartache and struggle, the worst man-made environmental disaster in U.S. history smacks them back down.

That is what makes this such a difficult time for my family, friends and neighbors on the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina left them with a new sense of vulnerability. Its scars are deep. And they are tired to the bone.

If you cannot attend the event but would like to reserve an autographed copy, call 601-366-7619 or click here.

It is a sad fact that many churches in Mississippi have met their untimely ends in tornadoes, fires, hurricanes, and – most frustratingly – at the jaws of bulldozers.  Luckily for those churches, Richard Cawthon has beautifully preserved their legacies in his new book,  Lost Churches of Mississippi.

This book is stunning.  Cawthon, an architectural historian (he was the chief architectural historian for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for twenty years), has done such a great job of assembling photos and information that his passion for the subject is contagious.  It’s a beautiful book, but also maddening; if a church wasn’t destroyed by some sinister natural disaster, it was simply ‘replaced’.  It’s almost criminal that some of these structures were demolished.

It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to know a thing about architecture to appreciate Lost Churches.  It is primarily a photographic book, and while Cawthon’s descriptions of the 110 churches he documents are brief, they’re engaging.

I’m sure many Mississippians will remember these buildings; a good number of them were still standing less than fifty years ago.  This book will be a treasure not only for those who are familiar with these ‘lost’ churches, but also for those, like me, who knew nothing of them.

We were pleased to have Richard in the store earlier today for a signing, so come and pick up a copy!  Also have a look at Historic Churches of Mississippi while you’re here – he worked with photographer Sherry Pace on that book and credits it as being the inspiration for Lost Churches.

Susie

The great majority of the South’s plantation homes have been destroyed over time, and many have long been forgotten. In Lost Plantations of the South, Marc R. Matrana weaves together photographs, diaries and letters, architectural renderings, and other rare documents to tell the story of sixty of these vanquished estates and the people who once called them home.

From plantations that were destroyed by natural disaster such as Alabama’s Forks of Cypress, to those that were intentionally demolished such as Seven Oaks in Louisiana and Mount Brilliant in Kentucky, Matrana resurrects these lost mansions. Including plantations throughout the South as well as border states, Matrana carefully tracks the histories of each from the earliest days of construction to the often contentious struggles to preserve these irreplaceable historic treasures. Lost Plantations of the South explores the root causes of demise and provides understanding and insight on how lessons learned in these sad losses can help prevent future preservation crises. Capturing the voices of masters and mistresses alongside those of slaves, and featuring more than one hundred elegant archival illustrations, this book explores the powerful and complex histories of these cardinal homes across the South.