This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: charbmoore1 Surnames: McCoy, James, Ward, McCormick, Rogers Classification: biography Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.ethnic.afam.ms/1489/mb.ashx Message Board Post: >From the Mobile, Alabama Newspaper September 1936 . "(From Laurel, Miss.) Kidnapping charges were filed tonight against Leroy Rogers, 32, Jasper County farmer who was alleged to have abducted four Laurel negro boys and to have forced them at gun point to pick cotton on his 14-acre farm. Rogers was put in the Jones County jail. District Attorney Jack Deavours said the four boys at first went to work for Rogers voluntarily but became dissatisfied and quit. When they left, Rogers was said to have trailed them with a dog and gun to a negro house where they sought refuge. Officers said one of the boys was dragged from under a bed where he hid. All four boys were forced to return to Rogers' farm, officers said, where they picked cotton in the daytime and were locked in a corn crib at night. Rogers denied he forced the boys to work. 'They have been working for me all week and I kept them on the place,' he said. Deavours was reticent regarding possible motives for a kidnapping. There is a general labor shortage in this area but it was not regarded as alarming. The four boys were: Cleo McCoy, 16; Manning James, 12; Sears Ward, 14, and Robert McCormick, 14. They had been reported missing and Deputy sheriffs, sent to look for them, found them on Rogers' farm." Not my line, just sharing. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.