Earll family murders

On February 14, 1902, six members of the Earll family — L.S. Earll, Mrs. Earll, and their children Ward, John, Lemuel, and Fay — were found dead in a cabin near Welsh, Louisiana. All victims had been shot or bludgeoned and had their throats cut, with cloth wrapped around the wounds; the bodies showed significant decomposition, indicating they had been dead for several days before discovery. Two family members, Fred and Maude Earll, survived because they were not present.

The Earll family had relocated from Iowa to Louisiana around 1890 to farm rice, later opening a store in Welsh before returning to farming around 1900. Albert Edwin "Ed" Batson, a itinerant farm worker born in Spickard, Missouri, had come to Welsh in 1901 and was employed by Ward Earll, living alongside him in a homesteader's cottage. Ward Earll was last seen alive on February 11, 1902.

Following the murders, a man later identified by witnesses as Batson traveled to Lake Charles attempting to sell Ward Earll's livestock and pawning his shotgun and watch, using aliases including "C.R. Batson" and identifying himself as "A.E. Batson." He mailed a package containing only rice to his mother in Missouri. Suspicions arose among Earll acquaintances, prompting Maude Earll to check on her family, leading to the discovery of the bodies. A letter signed by Batson, ending "ha ha bye bye I'm gone" — dubbed the "Ha-Ha letter" — was found in Ward Earll's buggy. Batson was arrested in Princeton, Missouri, the same day the bodies were found and was returned to Louisiana to face charges.

At trial, presided over by Judge E.D. Miller, defense attorneys Paul Sompayrac and Winston Overton argued Batson had no motive and pointed to two unidentified strangers seen in the area as possible perpetrators. Prosecutor Joseph Moore argued Batson killed the family, sold their mules, and fled to Missouri. Batson was convicted and sentenced to death in April 1902, but the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered a new trial on a technicality. A second trial in March 1903 again resulted in conviction and a death sentence, followed by a series of procedural suspensions and re-sentencings, resulting in four total death sentences. Throughout, Batson maintained his innocence and did not testify. Louisiana's State Pardon Board sought commutation of his sentence, but Governor William Wright Heard declined to intervene after Judge Miller refused a request to discuss the case. Batson was hanged at the Lake Charles jail on August 15, 1903.

The case became a cause célèbre in Louisiana, with contemporaries divided over Batson's guilt. Associated Press reporter Charles Dobson published a book in 1903 arguing two unidentified men were responsible. The case later inspired the folk/blues murder ballad "Batson," most famously recorded by Wilson Jones ("Stavin' Chain") in 1934 and transcribed in the Lomaxes' 1941 book "Our Singing Country." In 2014, a book titled "Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead: The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson" revisited the case and raised further questions about the certainty of Batson's guilt.