John Harris was murdered in cold blood on the stormy night of July 3, 1951, in central Mississippi. His lifeless body was found the next morning in the bed of a farm wagon which was deeply mired in the roadside mud adjoining the county-line spring. The sheriffs of both counties refused to investigate the killing because of what was referred to as 'jurisdiction issues'. The residents of the county-line community were not fooled, however. John Harris and his neighbors were all blacks. John's wife, Mary, was left with absolutely nothing; not even the wagon. It belonged to the landowner of the...