Without the contributions of hundreds of individuals, this book, long in the making, would have been incomplete. I appreciate each one.
I’m going to reverse the usual order of acknowledgments and first name my agent, Mickey Novak of Writers House, for his enthusiasm, support, friendship, and skills. I also want to shine the spotlight on my editor, Pegasus Books associate publisher Jessica Case, and Pegasus publisher Claiborne Hancock for their enthusiasm (that word again!) and good deeds. Michael Fusco produced a splendid jacket design.
Of the major contributors, Tillman Johnson deserves to be singled out. We often talked till two or three in the morning as we pondered both major and minor evidence and documents. He was mentally alert until his death at age ninety-seven. Jerry Atkins repeatedly answered questions as I reconstructed the times, especially the tragic night when Betty Jo Booker last played in his band. Georgia Daily generously shared audio taped recordings of interviews she’d conducted with J. Q. Mahaffey and Bessie Booker Brown, as well as clippings from a variety of newspapers.
I thank Les Minor, editor of the Texarkana Gazette, for his goodwill in use of microfilmed copies of the Gazette and Daily News. Bill Maddox, a previous editor of the Gazette, had opened the newspaper’s old copies to me earlier. Grace Guier shared photographs and other material related to Betty Jo Booker and her family.
Billie Presley Edgington provided memories and photographs of her father, Bill Presley, and other events, as did her late husband, Don Edgington. I interviewed Max Tackett at some length and later talked with his son John Haynie Tackett and daughter Sandra Tackett Zaleski and nephew Boyd Tackett, Jr.
Peggy Gastineau Francisco shared James Hollis’s manuscript account of his night of terror. Paul Burns told of the Frederick, Oklahoma, flight for Lucille Holland’s interview with Mary Jeanne Larey.
My cousin Billie Hargis House and Heather McEntee, then with the Shreve Memorial Library in Shreveport, guided me in genealogy. Wayne Beck shared genealogical data and postings on his website.
Mark McClish, in his book I Know You Are Lying, helped me understand Statement Analysis®, adding his to my interpretation. Dr. Shervert H. Frazier gave insights from his work with killers, as did Dr. Jack Levin and Sheila Kendall. Robert Stevens was helpful with photographs.
I am grateful to Clarence Swinney for providing correspondence about the case. His sister, Joyce Ward, was similarly helpful. Judge Jack Carter recalled his representation of Youell Swinney during the evidentiary hearing. Reconstructing the events in Cass County, I thank Paul W. Boone, Ralph Allen, Ollie Jaynes, and Nancy Partain. Nancy particularly helped correct an old error related to the arrest photo.
Juanita Bloodworth helped bring order to my office, while Auzie White maintained my work environment in good repair. Jane and Pat Davitt and their staff, particularly Robbie Bowers, were helpful when I needed copies and reproductions.
Librarians and archivists played major roles: Alice Coleman and her staff at Texarkana Public Library, especially Roann Moore and Lesley Sandlin. Texarkana College’s Palmer Memorial Library produced newspaper files on microfilm. The Moss Library at Texas A&M University at Texarkana also was helpful, as were the Frederick, Oklahoma, High School staff, Dallas Public Library (Rachel Garrett Howell, history and archives division), Fort Worth, Texas, Public Library, Frederick, Okla., Carnegie Library, Shreve Memorial Library, Sheryl Spencer at Sam Houston University Library Archives in Huntsville, and Gayle Brown at Amarillo (Texas) Public Library.
County clerks and their staffs over a broad reach of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma spent considerable time responding to my many requests. I must single out Velma Moore and her capable staff in Bowie County, Texas, Ann Nicholas and staff in Miller County, Arkansas, and Texarkana, Texas, city secretary’s staff. Bowie County District Clerk Billy Fox and her staff, especially Dean Maddox and Martha Roberts, dredged up old criminal files, as did Carolyn Williams in the civil section. On the Arkansas side, Circuit Clerk Mary Pankey and staff helped me find old records. The county clerk’s and circuit clerk’s offices in Union County, Arkansas, supplied records, Linda Hinson shouldering the major burden. In Louisiana I benefited from clerks and clerks of court in Caddo and Bossier Parishes; in Texas, in Cameron, Cass, and Dallas Counties; and in Oklahoma, McCurtain, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Johnston, and Tillman Counties. Oklahoma State Health Department and Arkansas State Health Department provided death certificates, as did Texarkana, Texas.
Other organizations include Pioneer Heritage Town Site, Frederick, Oklahoma; Tillman County Historical Museum (Jimmy Espinosa, director); Waynoka (Oklahoma) Historical Society (Sandie Olson, director); Pioneer Telephone Company; Texas Prison Museum (Jim Willett, director). There is no way I can enumerate the cold calls, made virtually all over the country, from California to Virginia, from Texas to Montana, in tracing individuals of interest.
The Texas State Library and Archives, the keeper of old state records, including prisoners’ rolls, provided transcripts of Youell Swinney’s evidentiary hearings and related papers. Tony Black and Laura Saegert especially made the search easier, as did Robert Tissing at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library at The University of Texas at Austin.
The Arkansas State Police responded ably to my FOI requests. I thank Ron Stovall, Miller County sheriff and former Arkansas State Police supervisor, for advice on finding the documents and Tina Witt in the file room for locating and copying them.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice at Huntsville, in the persons of Jason Clark, Michelle Lyons, Patricia Fleming, and Rachel Williams, responded to my Freedom of Information requests. The Federal Bureau of Investigation responded fully to my FOI requests as I sought rap sheets and other documents related to the murders.
Men I interviewed earlier but who were dead when I began the book provided information I otherwise might never have learned. These include Max Tackett, Bill Presley, J. Q. Mahaffey, and Calvin Sutton. I interviewed Louis F. Graves, Sr., after undertaking this book; he, like others, did not live to see its publication. Prudence Macintosh and John Mahaffey helped add to their father J. Q. Mahaffey’s story.
Thanks to Andrew Lusk for his map of the Spring Lake Park crime scene.
Finally, I thank the families of the victims, who have been victims themselves, deprived of the lives and company of their murdered relatives. Almost everyone I talked to was helpful in telling family stories, enabling me to recreate the historical and emotional environment. These include Richard Griffin’s brothers Welborn and David Griffin, and other members of the Griffin family, especially nieces Ruth Proctor Mahoney and Andrea Anderson; Polly Ann Moore’s brother, Mark Melton Moore; Paul Martin’s sister-in-law, Margaret Martin; and Katie Starks’s second husband, Forrest Sutton. Of the victims who survived but died before my research, I found their survivors helpful: James Hollis’s widow Peggy, his niece Diana Burris, his son by his second marriage David Hollis and daughter Rebecca Wivagg, and former sister-in-law, Mary Ann Williamson, and children by last marriage (with Peggy) son James Hollis, Jr. and daughter Cherie Lydick; and Mary Jeanne Larey’s niece Luann Cate.
Others who contributed in various ways include: The Rev. A. M. Adams, Milam Albright, Tom and Pat Albritton, Sybil Alexander, Ralph Allen, Ted Asimos, Sonny Atchley, Charles Raymond Barlow, Gene Barlow, Tom Binger, Patti Bishop, Barry and Lyn Blackmon, Charlsie Boyd, Edward Brettel, Jr., Byron Brower, Jr., Doris Brower, Sandie Burnett, Diana Burris, Dale Buster, Oran Caudle, Don Coleman, Wanda Evaige, P. H. Fairchild, Joe Forgy, Herbert G. Freeman, Sidney Fricks, Javier Garcia, Howard K. Giles, Frances Goodknight, J. C. and Ruth Gray, Earl F. Greene, Neoma Guyton, Cecil Harris, William Carson Harris, Mark Hazel, Noah H. Hilliard, Ernest Holcomb, Bill Horner, Dorothy Humphrey, Henry Jackson, Wynnell Jackson, Laverne Jester, Robert Kerr, Betty King, Jackie Larey, James Larey, Tony Leal, Mara Leveritt, B. C. Lyon, Frances Machette, Wanda Mapp, Ray and Bettye Matthews, Robert E. Matthews, Sue McCrossen, Ruth McCutcheon, Stuart McDonald, Roy John McNatt, Evelyn Anne Minor, Richard Moores, Robert Morris, James A. Morriss, Archie Munn, Wayne Murdock, Sally McClure Patton, Norman Powell, W. Dewey Presley, Don Preston, Sophia Anne White Redditt, Casey Roberts, Willie Marie Robinson, Traci Russell, Bill Sharp, D. Henry Slaton, Ellen Stewart, Ken Stewart, Marie Tammen, Alfred A. Tennison, Jr., Bill Thomas, Brad Thomas, Gwen Tice, Thomas Torrans, Richard Tuck, Darlene Vanderpol, Haskell Walker, Tammie Watson, Evelyn Miroir West, Laverne Wilson, Ann Winger, and Herbert Wren.
Tillman Johnson read the first third of an early version before a health crisis led to his death. Billie Hargis House also read the early first half. James Williams, a retired newspaper editor with a special interest in true crime, read the entire manuscript. He was particularly helpful in suggesting shorter chapters. Katie Grimm read the manuscript and offered helpful comments. My son, Dr. John F. Presley, read the manuscript in its entirety twice, resulting in changes in organization and emphasis. John was a mainstay in many ways, throughout encouraging and providing feedback. My daughter Ann and wife Fran, though not devotees of the true crime genre, were supportive and read portions of the book, to my benefit.
Any errors, oversights, or misinterpretations are mine.
JAMES PRESLEY