Wyatt Luther Nugent
| Wyatt Luther Nugent, Sr. | |
|---|---|
| Sheriff of Grant Parish, Louisiana | |
|
In office 1928 – April 21, 1936 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 30, 1891 Colfax, Grant Parish, Louisiana, USA |
| Died | April 21, 1936 (aged 44) Grant Parish, Louisiana |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Lydia Ann Rosier Nugent |
| Children | Eleven children |
| Occupation | Public official |
| Religion | Baptist |
Wyatt Luther Nugent, Sr., also known as W. L. Nugent (October 30, 1891 – April 21, 1936), was a sheriff of Grant Parish in north central Louisiana, who with a deputy, Delmer Lee Brunson, was slain in the line of duty. The crime, stemming from a dispute over the enforcement of the state's tick eradication law, is still considered the worst in Grant Parish history. Nugent, a Democrat, had been elected to a third term in the general election held on the day he was slain.
A former clerk of court in Grant Parish, Sheriff Nugent was the son of Matthew Columbus Nugent (1868–1955) and the former Lucy E. Walker (1873–1909). He was married to the former Lydia Ann Rosier (1895–1976), daughter of Dan E. Rosier. The couple had eleven children, deceased sons and daughters, Herschel, Herman, Harold, John, Lucy Hargis, Thelma King, Doris McGinty, and Frances N. Petrus (1927-2014), and surviving sons, as of July 2014, W. L., Jr., Herbert, and O. D. "Pop" Nugent. Frances Petrus was the widow of Alfred Joseph Petrus (1920-2009), a superintendent of water distribution for his native Shreveport prior to a political and legal dispute in 1977 with then Public Utilities Commissioner Billy Guin. Thereafter, Petrus worked in the private sector and was a long-term champion of veterans causes.
Nugent and Brunson were killed by Walter Johnson (born ca. 1894), a farmer from the Aloha community, who was charged with double murder in the slaying. After the murders, Johnson fled into the dense Lake Iatt swamp. Sam Johnson, Walter Johnson's 84-year-old father, was taken from Colfax, the parish seat, to an undisclosed place of incarceration and held under a $1,900 appearance bond as a material witness in the case. Louisiana state police and local law enforcement officers, armed with guns, tear gas, bombs, and bloodhounds, combed the wooded area where Walter Johnson fled.
The two Johnsons claimed that dipping cattle causes the animals to become ill. Sheriff Nugent came to serve an order from the 8th Judicial District Court upon Walter Johnson to compel him to have his animals dipped. Nugent and two other officers then began loading some of Johnson's cattle onto a truck to transport them to the dipping vat. Perched in a wooded area, Walter Johnson fired on the officers with a rifle. Brunson and Nugent were found an hour later. The Grant Parish coroner, Dr. J. H. Sandifer, determined that the pair was killed by No. 6 buckshot slugs fired from a shotgun. Walter Johnson was thought to have used a .30-.30 calibre rifle. It was then believed that Johnson had two weapons.
...
Wikipedia