Life History

Notes

• Louis Lafayette Terry was born in February 1880, a few weeks before the 1880 census.  He is recorded with his family in Scott County, Arkansas.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Scott County, Arkansas, 5 June, Lafayette, District 172, page 10B, Hse/Fam #89
  Terry, Delayafette W M 26 Head  Farmer Born in Georgia, parents born in South Carolina
  Terry, Harriet W F 21 Wife  Keeping House Born in Louisiana, parents born in Tennessee
  Terry, Louis W M 5mos born  Feb 1880  Son At Home AR GA LA
  
  "My grandmother is Hettie Maye Terry Mosley Trotter [daughter of Duncan Lafayette Terry and Harriet Sliger].  Her siblings were Ola, Donnie, Louis Alexander and William Lafayette.
  --  pjsj1970juno.com, Anonymous comment on genealogy
  
  In 1910, both Louis (Lewis) and his wife Sarah are "servants" working as farm laborers for a family named Rose.  This may be a kinsman, but the relationship has not been determined.  They have been married for 3 years but have only one child, a new daughter, 5 months old.
  
  1910 Federal Census, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 14 May, Shady Point, District 161, page 12A, Hse #210, Fam #213
  Terry, Lewis A  servant M W 30 Married for 3yrs AR GA AR Farm Laborer
  Terry, Sarah  servant F W 18 Married for 3yrs AR USA AR
  Terry, Jessie M daughter [of Lewis and Sarah] F W 5mos OK AR AR
  
  In 1918, he is living back across the border in Bates, Scott County, Arkansas, and working as a carpenter for a company in Hartsford, Sebastian County, Arkansas.  We get this and other details from Louis' WWI draft registration card.
  
  Louis Alexander Terry
  Born 9 January 1880
  Residence Bates, Scott County, Arkansas
  Occupation Carpenter, employed in Hartsford, Sebastian County, Arkansas
  Eyes Blue, Hair Dark
  Wife Sarah Terry
  Registration Waldon, Arkansas, 12 September 1918
  
  In the 1920 census, he was reported as the City Marshall of Panama, Oklahoma, where he was living.
  
  1920 Federal Census, LeFlore County, Oklahoma, 2 January, Panama, District 116, page 3B, Country Roads, Hse #14, Fam #16
  Terry, Lewis A Head Owns M W 39 Married GA GA GA City Marshall [b abt 1880]
  Terry, Sarah Wife F W 27 Married AL GA GA [b abt 1892]
  Terry, Jessie Dau F W 11 Single OK GA AL [b abt Sept 1908]
  Terry, Louise Dau F W 1yr4mos Single OK GA AL [b abt Aug 1918]
  
  A news story reports that by 1921 he was a peace officer in Poteau, also in LeFlore County, Oklahoma.  The article is somewhat ambiguous, but it appears that Louis, also known as Luke, is a deputy sheriff.  This appears to be a county position, since the illegal still they busted is northwest of Spiro:
  
  ===================
  The Poteau Weekly Sun, September 15, 1921
  
  "Officers Capture Still.
  
  "Wednesday morning of this week Deputy Sheriff Costello, assisted by Officers Luke Terry and Oscar Krebs, captured a still of twenty-gallon capacity that was running full blast when the officer made the raid.  G. R. Herriott and Leon Kellam were arrested and brought to Poteau and lodged in jail, charged with operating the still, and one gallon of hooch was brought in as evidence against them.  The still was located about six  miles northwest of Spiro and the officers consider it a good haul."
  --  http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ok/leflore/newspapers/news94.txt
  ===================
  
  Luke is still active with the Sheriff's Department in 1922 against moonshiners.  Stories in the papers indicate there was a lot of public outcry over the drunkenness and social disorder in LeFlore County, and dissatisfaction with the small fines ($5) given for the too-common public drunkenness.
  
  ===================
  The Poteau News, June 15, 1922
  
  "Sheriff's Force Round 'Em Up.
  
  "John Hunt and his force have been on some mighty big still hunts for the past two weeks..., and several men are out on bond waiting county, state and federal judges.
  
  "Last week a man named John Jones at Shady Point, and his still were captured.  This went to the federal court and the commissioner at Sallisaw put him under a bond of one thousand dollars.
  ...
  "Sunday night, Hunt, Ruyle, Terry and Hardesty made a raid three miles west of Wister and picked up a man named Maxwell with the goods.  Ruyle first bought a quart from him and the boys succeeded in getting him on three charges.  He is under bond.
  ....
  "John Hunt and Luke Terry went to Monroe last Monday and raided a house, capturing some jake and other stuff."
  ===================
  
  Luke was later either still with the sheriff's office or already a US Marshall in Spiro, Oklahoma.  The following story is unclear exactly what his office was.  He is not referred to as a U S Marshall but was given responsibility by the US Marshall's office for a prisoner.  He could have been still a Sheriff's deputy but had official authority under the marshall's office for the man he was to apprehend.
  
  In the course of his duty, he shot a man named Hal Evans and was charged and convicted of manslaughter.  Here is a copy of the court ruling on his appeal of his conviction on manslaughter in the first degree.  This document recounts a summary of the event and the testimony.
  
  ===================
  Terry v State
  1926 OK CR 368
  249 P. 1113
  35 Okl. Cr. 229
  
  Decided 10/23/1926
  Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
  Cite as: 1926 OK CR 368, 35 Okl. Cr. 229, 249 P. 1113
  Appeal from District Court, LeFlore County; E. F. Lester, Judge.
  
  Luke Terry was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree, and he appeals. Affirmed.
  
  Sam A. Neely, W. D. Wooley, and W. C. Peters, for plaintiff in error.
  George F. Short, Atty. Gen., for the State.
  
  BESSEY, P. B. The plaintiff in error, Luke Terry, was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree, with his punishment fixed by a jury at confinement in the state penitentiary for a term of ten years.
  
  Page 230
  
  No briefs have been filed in support of this appeal, and from this the court may assume that the appeal is without merit, or that the same has been abandoned. This being a homicide case, the court has examined the record with care, and finds that the information sufficiently charged the crime of murder, and that the evidence amply supports a conviction for manslaughter and included offense. The instructions of the court fairly stated the law of the case, and that the plaintiff in error in all respects was accorded a fair trial.
  
  The evidence shows that Hal Evans, the man slain, was one among many others who had left the employment of the railway company on a strike; that the plaintiff in error, Luke Terry, was posse comitatus under the United States marshal for the Eastern district of Oklahoma; that the deceased, Evans, and others engaged in the strike had been enjoined by the United States court of the Eastern district from in any manner interfering with the operation of the railroad or its employees, and that there may have been a hostile feeling between the former employees then on strike and the officers, whose duty it was to see that the provisions of the injunction should not be violated. Other than this, the evidence shows that there had been no personal controversy or animosity existing between the plaintiff in error and the deceased.
  
  The tragedy took place at a railway station in the presence of many witnesses, several of whom testified that the plaintiff in error assaulted the deceased without just cause or provocation, and, in the course of the altercation, fired the fatal shot. The evidence would have sustained a verdict for murder. The verdict for manslaughter will therefore not be disturbed.
  
  The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
  
  DOYLE and EDWARDS, JJ., concur.
  ===================
  
  There is an oddity about reports concerning Marshall Luke Terry.  Family and public sources, and the associated dates, confirm that Louis Alexander Terry and Luke Terry are the same person.  The oddity comes in another court trial in 1932.  Marshal Luke Terry, still (or again) on duty in Spiro, Oklahoma, is again on trial for killing a suspect in Spiro.
  
  The date of the offence is uncertain but a news story during the trail is dated 17 October, and references to another incident mentions December 1931.  The victim this time is name Charlie Lemons, who was shot in alleged resistance at the time of an attempted arrest.  In a news story during the trial he is referred to as "Night Marshall Luke Terry."
  
  The date of the news article during the trial in 17 October [1932].  But in 1926 he was convicted to ten years for manslaughter.  So this next killing was only 6 years into the ten years term, yet he is again functioning as a Marshall in the same location.  In early November 2007, I found a blog of a nephew of Louis "Luke" Terry with some comments.  This is the person who had constructed the Terry Family History website a few years ago.  He comments that Luke was tried for murder after he had served time for manslaughter.  This confirms that the two trials are for the same Deputy Sheriff Luke Terry.  This would mean that he did not serve the full term for the first conviction.  I still have not discovered whether he was convicted in this second trial.
  --  http://bottlecapnapkin.blogspot.com/2005/11/great-grandpa-was-convict.html#links
  
  He comments in this same posting that his great-grandfather Duncan Lafayette Terry was convicted and served time in the Ohio State Penitentiary for selling liquor to the Indians.
  
  It seems odd, that, even if he was released early, the US Marshall would have rehired him as a marshall, being a convicted killer.
  Info from :
  --  Lawmen and Outlaws, OKGENWEB, http://marti.rootsweb.com/law/pic/lterry.htm
  -- Terry Family Historian, actual clipping, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~troy/terry/luke_jury.html
  
  I found also that on his son's birth certificate in 1922, Luke's occupation at that time is Guard, Oklahoma State Penitentiary.  Louis A Jr was born on 23 June 1922.  This is just 8 days after Deputy Luke is reported (above) as involved in the arrests and confiscation of the stills in the county!  Perhaps the sheriff's officers alternated in field duty and as guards at the prison.
  
  1940 Federal Census, LeFlore County, Oklahoma, 2 April, Spiro, District 10-33, page 1A, Euclid Avenue, Hse #4, rent $6
  Terry, Louis A Head M W 60 Married Grade 4 b Arkansas Same Place in 1935 City Power Plant Mechanic, Engineer [b abt 1880]
  Terry, Sarah E Wife F W 48 Married Grade 7 b Arkansas Same Place in 1935 [b abt 1892]
  Terry, Louise A Dau F W 21 Single Grade 7 b Arkansas Same Place in 1935 Maid [b abt June 1919]
  Terry, Louis A Jr Son M W 17 Single Grade H2 b Oklahoma Same Place in 1935 [b abt 1926]
  Terry, Wanda M Head F W 15 Single Grade 7 b Oklahoma Same Place in 1935 [b abt 1925]
  
  U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
  Louis Alexander Terry
  Age 62, Birth 9 Jan 1880 Scott County, Arkansas
  Residence 1942 Spiro, Leflore County, Oklahoma, USA
  Contact Mrs Sarah Terry, Spiro, Oklahoma
  Employer Municipal Light Plant, Spiro, LeFlore, Oklahoma
  (back)
  6' 2" 175 lbs, Blue Eyes, Gray Hair, Light Complexion
  Registered 25 April 942 Poteau, LeFlore County, Oklahoma
  Signed Luis [sic] Terry

Sources

• 1. Poteau (Oklahoma) Weekly Sun
  • 15 September 1921
• 2. The Poteau News, June 15, 1922
• 3. Terry Family
• 4. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 5. Lawmen and Outlaws, RootsWeb
  • Name: Name: http://marti.rootsweb,com/law/pic/lterry.htm;;
  • Newspaper unknown (probably Poteau, Oklahoma, Sun)
• 6. Terry Family Historian
  • Trial report 17 October 1932: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~troy/terry/luke_jury.html
• 7. Terry Family -- History
  • Name: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~troy/terry/terry_family_history.html;;
• 8. 1880 Federal Census, Scott County, Arkansas
• 9. 1910 Federal Census, Le Flore County, Oklahoma
  • 14 May, Shady Point, District 161, page 12A, Hse #210, Fam #213
• 10. 1920 Federal Census, LeFlore County, Oklahoma
  • 2 January, Panama, District 116, page 3B, Country Roads, Hse #14, Fam #16
• 11. 1940 Federal Census, LeFlore County, Oklahoma
  • 2 April, Spiro, District 10-33, page 1A, Euclid Avenue, Hse #4, rent $6
• 12. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
• 13. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
• 14. 1880 Federal Census, Scott County, Arkansas
  • 5 June, Lafayette, District 172, page 10B, Hse/Fam #89
• 15. Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
  • 1926 OK CR 368, 35 Okl. Cr. 229, 249 P. 1113 (page 230)
• 16. Ancestry Comments
• 17. Terry Family Historian, Dec 1982
  • Name: Name: http://www.terry-family-historian.com/TFHDEC1982.html;;
  • p. 113
• 18. Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957
• 19. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
• 20. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
• 21. U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-2018
• 22. 1940 Federal Census, LeFlore County, Oklahoma
  • 22 April, Spiro, District 10-33, page 1A, Euclid Avenue, Hse #4, rent $6
• 23. U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
• 24. Washington, Death Index, 1940-2014
• 25. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990
• 26. Terry Family Historian, Dec 1982
  • Name: Name: http://www.terry-family-historian.com/TFHDEC1982.html;;
  • p 113