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 Parish Sheriff’s Had Interesting Careers

BOBBY ARDOIN

Editor/Contributing Writer

Since the early 1800’s. elected and appointed sheriffs who once brought horseback justice to St. Landry Parish often became entangled in high-level political intrigue, while others experienced violent deaths sometimes at the hands of their opponents, Sheriff Bobby Guidroz told an engaged audience Thursday night.

Guidroz, who recently began researching the lives of every top parish law enforcement official, provided colorful details and anecdotes that tinged the colorful administrations of his predecessors during a twilight, front lawn speaking appearance at the historic Michel Prudhomme Home in Opelousas.

As part of his research, Guidroz is also locating and documenting the cemeteries where many of the sheriffs have been buried since the start of the 19th century.

The speaking event which included refreshments and social engagement, was the second of a quarterly speaker series hosted by The Preservationists of St. Landry, Inc., a non-profit group that oversees the maintenance for the Prudhomme Home, constructed during the late 1790’s.

Guidroz reminded his guests that several sheriff campaigns during the 1890’s became quite volatile and occasionally fatal.

Hayes Administration

James G. Hayes, an Opelousas bank owner and an apparently skillful parish politician, resigned as a state representative in 1865 to run for parish sheriff the following year.

Hayes though was prevented from becoming sheriff by Louisiana governor Henry Clay Warmoth, after Warmoth determined Hayes had not properly filed his required oath of office with the state.

However, that was only the beginning of multiple issues surrounding Hayes’ tragic political career.

Hayes ran again for sheriff in 1870,, but several months before that election, Hayes, supposedly after a political argument, fatally shot a deputy sheriff presumably tied to his opponent, James Thompson, a former police jury president.

The death of Thompson-aligned deputy Edward Sebastien Mayo on Bellevue Street in Opelousas, then resulted in severe political payback, according to Guidroz.

Hayes died in office after the Mayo shooting when Theo Evans fired a lethal shot through an open window, Guidroz revealed from his research.

Evans, Guidroz recounted, was later hung publicly on the Courthouse Square in connection with Hayes’ death.  

Swords Is Shot

Sheriff Marion Swords was also killed 16 years after being elected in 1900, Guidroz recalled.

Swords and a deputy.

A rifle shot fired in the Mallet area by a dangerous fugitive, Hilaire Carriere, fatally wounded Swords and injured a deputy, Charles Chachere and several trackers during an incident which involved the pursuit of Carriere.

After his death, Swords was viewed prior to burial at his home on the corner of Liberty and Vine streets, Guidroz said, while Carriere, who had escaped from the Mallet woods, was caught several parishes away and brought to the state penitentiary which was then in Baton Rouge.

Carriere, who was successfully prosecuted and sentenced to hang, attempted to cheat his executioner by slitting his wrists with a razor blade secretly introduced into the prison by his mother.

It was then that the impending death of Carriere entered a macabre phase, said Guidroz.

Guidroz maintained that it is still unclear whether Carriere died by hanging or the loss of blood caused by the razored slashes.

“The guards at the prison brought Carriere to the gallows anyway. It seems that dead or alive, the prison officials were determined to hang Carriere,” Guidroz said.

Doucet And Others

Guidroz said out of respect for surviving family members, that he wasn’t going to detail some of the more colorful incidents surrounding Sheriff D.J. “Cat” Doucet, who was first elected sheriff in 1936, following a runoff with Simon Stelly and Dudley Briley.

Doucet won the 1936 election, but later lost to Stelly in a 1944 contest.

However eight years later, the extended administration for Doucet began in 1952, when he won that election and served until 1968 when he was defeated by Adler Ledoux.

Guidroz praised Howard Zerangue, a popular sheriff who died in 2005, as a law enforcement officer who began recognizing the need for technology in order to help with combating crime.

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