Bloodstained Louisiana

Historian Alan G. Gauthreaux chronicles 12 homicide cases from late 1800s and early 1900s Louisiana--where "e;unwritten law"e; justified jilted women who killed their paramours, and police took measures to protect defendants from lynch mobs. Stories include the 1907 kidnapping of seven-year-old Walter Lamana by the New Orleans "e;Black Hand,"e; the 1912 acquittal of Zea McRee (a woman of "e;good reputation"e;) in Opelousas, and the 1934 trial and execution of Shreveport's infamous "e;Butterfly Man."e;