Louisiana: Bleeding Bogalusa

In Louisiana, the paper-mill town of Bogalusa has been teetering for a long time on the verge of bloody race vio lence. The Ku Klux Klan is active there, while the Negroes themselves have formed a vigilante group called the Deacons for Defense and Justice.

When Sheriff Dorman Crowe appointed two Negroes as deputies last year, the move seemed to please the Negro community. The deputies, O'Neal Moore, 34, and Creed Rogers, 42, mostly patrolled the Negro area and were welcomed there.

All the same, Bogalusa remained a sleeping volcano. Last week it...