[Granville-Hough] 24 Aug 2009 - Disgraceful Killings

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Disgraceful Killings. 

During the 1930 era, times were hard, and men 
looked for easy money. There were several killings which were not 
matters of honor or revenge. They were simple killings for cash. One of 
these happened in the Merry Hell area, where Dewey Sullivan, killed G. 
E. Smith for $250.00 in cash. This put the community into an uproar, as 
that was not the way it was done. A jury of his peers sentenced Dewey 
Sullivan to a long term, which he had to serve at Parchman, working on 
the State Prison Farm. No Sullivan would come to his aid. They all 
remembered the commandment from Moses in Deuteronomy 27:25, “Cursed be 
he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people 
shall say Amen.” At least all the Sullivans said “Amen.”
One of the rumors which circulated through the area was that Dewey 
Sullivan had become a trusty at Parchman, and that he was one of the 
most feared of all those who held that position. It was said that a 
trusty who killed an escaping prisoner would get parole. They were 
mounted on mules or horses with loaded shotguns to expedite that work. 
After many years, Dewey Sullivan did get parole, and the reasons behind 
his parole may explain why his family lived in fear as long as he was 
alive. Prisoners who got shot trying to escape also had families who 
were not above taking vengeance on those doing the shooting.
I did not personally know Dewey Sullivan, though I believe I had a 
schoolmate, and one-year classmate, who married one of his daughters. 
People spoke of him with fear and abomination, but his wife had friends 
who were afraid to visit her after Dewey was paroled..

Dewey's brother, Harve, got into the New York Times with his 
pronouncements of what he was going to do if the WW II nigger veterans 
got too uppity. There was a black community and church up near the 
railroad several miles from Harve, and I have another story about it. I 
think Harve was interviewed by some Yankee journalist by chance and he 
took the opportunity to sound big and brave. He lived far enough away so 
that he was pretty safe from any danger. This was some time after the 
War, and it may have coincided with increased Ku Klux Klan activity led 
by one of my Magee High School schoolmates.

This Simpson County Klan leader had been an obsequious but cunning sort 
of fellow who might have made an excellent procurer for a whorehouse. 
The next fellow I met with that sort of personality was in the Army, but 
that had been his occupation. We always referred to our fellow student 
behind his back as "Fatso." He became the "Grand Cyclops," or whatever 
the Klan leaders were called, and found his glory there. May God rest 
his soul, and that of Dewey and Harve, as well.