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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name= William Edward "Willie" Waggonner |office=Sheriff of Bossier Parish, Louisiana |term_start=July 1, 1948 |term_end=May 9, 1976 |preceded=L..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name= William Edward "Willie" Waggonner
|office=[[Sheriff]] of Bossier Parish, [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=July 1, 1948
|term_end=May 9, 1976
|preceded=Louis H. Padgett, Sr.
|succeeded=Vol Sevier Dooley, Jr.
|birth_date=August 7, 1905
|birth_place=Plain Dealing<br>
Bossier Parish, Louisiana
|spouse=Nell Evans Waggonner
|children=Jacqueline Waggonner Gore
|parents=Joseph David Waggonner, Sr.<br>
Elizzibeth Johnston Waggonner
|relations=[[Joe Waggonner]] (brother)
|residence=Plain Dealing, Louisiana
|death_date=May 9, 1976 (aged 70)
|death_place=Plain Dealing, Louisiana
|death_cause=Heart attack
|resting_place=Plain Dealing Cemetery
|party= [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]
|occupation=Law-enforcement officer
|religion=[[Southern Baptist]]}}
'''William Edward Waggonner''', usually known as '''W. E. "Willie" Waggonner''' (August 7, 1905 – May 9, 1976), was from 1948 until his death in office the [[sheriff]] of Bossier Parish in northwestern [[Louisiana]], located across the Red River from [[Shreveport]] on the west. A native and resident of Plain Dealing near the [[Arkansas]] state line, he was the older brother of [[U.S. Representative]] [[Joe Waggonner]], who held Louisiana's 4th congressional district seat from 1961 to 1979.<ref name=stimes>"Bossier Sheriff Waggonner Dies", 'The Shreveport Times'', May 10, 1976.</ref>
==Career as sheriff==
The son of Joseph David Waggonner, Sr. (1873-1950), and the former Elizzibeth Johnston (1882-1957),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/bossier/cemeteries/plndecem.txt|title=Plain Dealing Cemetery interments|publisher=usgwarchives.net|accessdate=February 7, 2014}}</ref> Waggonner was a deputy under Sheriff Louis H. Padgett, Sr (1883-1955), from 1936 to 1948, when he was elected sheriff at the time that [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] returned to the Louisiana [[governor|governorship]] after an absence of eight years. Waggonner was a president of the Louisiana Sheriff's Association and a member of the Louisiana Peace Officers and the National Sheriff's associations. He was affiliated too with the Masonic lodge, Lions International, and the [[Chamber of Commerce]].<ref name=stimes/>
Early in 1954, ''The Shreveport Times'' published a picture taken by its chief photographer, [[Henry Langston McEachern]], entitled, "The Sheriff Weeps", depicting a heartbroken Waggonner mourning the deaths of two law-enforcement officers. One of Waggonner's deputies, Maurice M. Miller (1912-1954) was shot to death when he confronted a suspect, Ed "Man" West (1918-1954) in West's residence in Taylortown in Bossier Parish. West then shot to death Shreveport Police Chief Edward Gaston Huckabay (1906-1954), when Huckabay attempted to retrieve Miller's body. Other officers then killed West.<ref>''The Shreveport Times'', February 27, 1954.</ref>
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=Maurice&gsln=Miller&msddy=1954&msdpn__ftp=Bossier+Parish%2c+Louisiana%2c+USA&msdpn=343&msdpn_PInfo=7-%7c0%7c1652393%7c0%7c2%7c3246%7c21%7c0%7c343%7c0%7c0%7c&cpxt=0&catBucket=rstp&uidh=upc&cp=0&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=10243&recoff=7+8+9&db=OfficerMemorials&indiv=1&ml_rpos=3|title=Deputy Sheriff Maurice M. Miller: Officer Down Memorials|publisher=search.ancestry.com|accessdate=January 16, 2015}}</ref>
On December 5, 1959, in his successful bid for a fourth term, Waggonner was handily reelected as sheriff in the same election in which his brother, Joe Waggonner, was an unsuccessful candidate for Louisiana state comptroller. Willie Waggonner defeated fellow Democrat Joe B. Mason, a native Arkansan, by a five-to-one margin.<ref>''The Shreveport Times'', December 6, 1959.</ref>
In 1967, Waggonner, along with his chief deputy and subsequent successor as sheriff, Vol Sevier Dooley, Jr. (1927-2014), were accused of collusion with then Judge Oscar Ewing Price (1924-2006) and District Attorney Louis H. Padgett, Jr. (1913-1980), of the 26th Judicial District, who was the son of the sheriff whom Waggonner had succeeded, to rig the double murder trial of Jack Favor (1911-1988), a rodeo star from [[Fort Worth]], [[Texas]], who was falsely accused of shooting to death an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Richey, who operated a bait and tackle business near Haughton in south Bossier Parish. Waggonner believed the false testimony of Favor's accuser, Floyd Edward Cumbey.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/16846793/|title="Legal Blotch", January 6, 1982, p. 20|publisher=''The Paris (Texas) News''|accessdate=February 7, 2014}}</ref> After his conviction was overturned Favor sued for wrongful conviction and imprisonment but settled for only $55,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19760317&id=jxFXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WUMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6270,4230032|title=Jack Favor, rodeo star ...|publisher=google.com|accessdate=February 6, 2014}}</ref> The actor Robert Norsworthy, under the fictitious name "Sheriff Gerker," played Waggonner in the 1998 [[television]] film, ''Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138340/|title=''Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack|publisher=Internet Movie Database|accessdate=February 17, 2014}}</ref>
On February 1, 1968, Waggonner hired Wilbert Anderson, the first [[African-American]] deputy sheriff in Bossier Parish. Anderson was also the first black licensed bail bondsman in the parish. He retired as the first black detective in the department.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blackdigitalnetwork.com/bct/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=30&limit=1&limitstart=2|title=Significant People|publisher=blackdigitalnetwork.com|accessdate=February 7, 2014}}</ref>
In 1973, outgoing [[Bossier City]] [[Mayor]] George Leon Nattin, Sr. (1918-2002), was charged by a [[grand jury]] under then District Attorney Charles Allen Marvin (1929-2003) of three counts of public bribery. Waggonner booked Nattin, his son, George, Jr. (1940-2014), and three other suspects but refused to fingerprint them or take their mug shots.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/34965302/|title=Former Mayor Indicted On Bossier City Corruption Charges|publisher=''The Camden (Arkansas) News'''|date=July 3, 1973|accessdate=December 21, 2014}}</ref> Ultimately, Nattin was acquitted of two charges, and a third was dropped.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrt.com/import/article_ab13b936-ac7a-5805-af4f-1fab64358698.html|title=
Former Bossier City mayor dead at 83|publisher=''Midland (Texas) Reporter-Telegram''|date=April 26, 2002|accessdate=December 21, 2014}}</ref>
==Death==
Waggonner died at the age of seventy at his home of an apparent heart attack, the fourth that he had sustained in the last part of his life. He and his wife, the former Nell Evans (1907-1989), had a daughter, Jacqueline Waggonner Gore, known as "Jack" Gore (born 1940), the widow of the farmer Odie Lee "Sonny" Gore, Jr. (1940-2016), also of Plain Dealing, who died from complications of a tractor accident.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=ol-gore-sonny&pid=181059327&fhid=14924|title=O. L. "Sonny" Gore, Jr.|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|accessdate=August 16, 2016}}</ref>
Sheriff Waggonner had a sister since deceased, Mrs. Susie W. Carroll of Dickinson in Galveston County, Texas. He was preceded in death by a second brother, Johnnie J. Waggonner (1908-1968). Services were held at the First [[Baptist]] Church of Plain Dealing, with interment in the family plot at Plain Dealing Cemetery. One of his pallbearers, [[James Cathey]], was a former deputy who was from 1973 to 1977 the mayor of Bossier City.<ref name=stimes/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waggonner, Willie}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Sheriffs]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Baptists]]
|name= William Edward "Willie" Waggonner
|office=[[Sheriff]] of Bossier Parish, [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=July 1, 1948
|term_end=May 9, 1976
|preceded=Louis H. Padgett, Sr.
|succeeded=Vol Sevier Dooley, Jr.
|birth_date=August 7, 1905
|birth_place=Plain Dealing<br>
Bossier Parish, Louisiana
|spouse=Nell Evans Waggonner
|children=Jacqueline Waggonner Gore
|parents=Joseph David Waggonner, Sr.<br>
Elizzibeth Johnston Waggonner
|relations=[[Joe Waggonner]] (brother)
|residence=Plain Dealing, Louisiana
|death_date=May 9, 1976 (aged 70)
|death_place=Plain Dealing, Louisiana
|death_cause=Heart attack
|resting_place=Plain Dealing Cemetery
|party= [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]
|occupation=Law-enforcement officer
|religion=[[Southern Baptist]]}}
'''William Edward Waggonner''', usually known as '''W. E. "Willie" Waggonner''' (August 7, 1905 – May 9, 1976), was from 1948 until his death in office the [[sheriff]] of Bossier Parish in northwestern [[Louisiana]], located across the Red River from [[Shreveport]] on the west. A native and resident of Plain Dealing near the [[Arkansas]] state line, he was the older brother of [[U.S. Representative]] [[Joe Waggonner]], who held Louisiana's 4th congressional district seat from 1961 to 1979.<ref name=stimes>"Bossier Sheriff Waggonner Dies", 'The Shreveport Times'', May 10, 1976.</ref>
==Career as sheriff==
The son of Joseph David Waggonner, Sr. (1873-1950), and the former Elizzibeth Johnston (1882-1957),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/bossier/cemeteries/plndecem.txt|title=Plain Dealing Cemetery interments|publisher=usgwarchives.net|accessdate=February 7, 2014}}</ref> Waggonner was a deputy under Sheriff Louis H. Padgett, Sr (1883-1955), from 1936 to 1948, when he was elected sheriff at the time that [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] returned to the Louisiana [[governor|governorship]] after an absence of eight years. Waggonner was a president of the Louisiana Sheriff's Association and a member of the Louisiana Peace Officers and the National Sheriff's associations. He was affiliated too with the Masonic lodge, Lions International, and the [[Chamber of Commerce]].<ref name=stimes/>
Early in 1954, ''The Shreveport Times'' published a picture taken by its chief photographer, [[Henry Langston McEachern]], entitled, "The Sheriff Weeps", depicting a heartbroken Waggonner mourning the deaths of two law-enforcement officers. One of Waggonner's deputies, Maurice M. Miller (1912-1954) was shot to death when he confronted a suspect, Ed "Man" West (1918-1954) in West's residence in Taylortown in Bossier Parish. West then shot to death Shreveport Police Chief Edward Gaston Huckabay (1906-1954), when Huckabay attempted to retrieve Miller's body. Other officers then killed West.<ref>''The Shreveport Times'', February 27, 1954.</ref>
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=Maurice&gsln=Miller&msddy=1954&msdpn__ftp=Bossier+Parish%2c+Louisiana%2c+USA&msdpn=343&msdpn_PInfo=7-%7c0%7c1652393%7c0%7c2%7c3246%7c21%7c0%7c343%7c0%7c0%7c&cpxt=0&catBucket=rstp&uidh=upc&cp=0&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=10243&recoff=7+8+9&db=OfficerMemorials&indiv=1&ml_rpos=3|title=Deputy Sheriff Maurice M. Miller: Officer Down Memorials|publisher=search.ancestry.com|accessdate=January 16, 2015}}</ref>
On December 5, 1959, in his successful bid for a fourth term, Waggonner was handily reelected as sheriff in the same election in which his brother, Joe Waggonner, was an unsuccessful candidate for Louisiana state comptroller. Willie Waggonner defeated fellow Democrat Joe B. Mason, a native Arkansan, by a five-to-one margin.<ref>''The Shreveport Times'', December 6, 1959.</ref>
In 1967, Waggonner, along with his chief deputy and subsequent successor as sheriff, Vol Sevier Dooley, Jr. (1927-2014), were accused of collusion with then Judge Oscar Ewing Price (1924-2006) and District Attorney Louis H. Padgett, Jr. (1913-1980), of the 26th Judicial District, who was the son of the sheriff whom Waggonner had succeeded, to rig the double murder trial of Jack Favor (1911-1988), a rodeo star from [[Fort Worth]], [[Texas]], who was falsely accused of shooting to death an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Richey, who operated a bait and tackle business near Haughton in south Bossier Parish. Waggonner believed the false testimony of Favor's accuser, Floyd Edward Cumbey.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/16846793/|title="Legal Blotch", January 6, 1982, p. 20|publisher=''The Paris (Texas) News''|accessdate=February 7, 2014}}</ref> After his conviction was overturned Favor sued for wrongful conviction and imprisonment but settled for only $55,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19760317&id=jxFXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WUMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6270,4230032|title=Jack Favor, rodeo star ...|publisher=google.com|accessdate=February 6, 2014}}</ref> The actor Robert Norsworthy, under the fictitious name "Sheriff Gerker," played Waggonner in the 1998 [[television]] film, ''Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138340/|title=''Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack|publisher=Internet Movie Database|accessdate=February 17, 2014}}</ref>
On February 1, 1968, Waggonner hired Wilbert Anderson, the first [[African-American]] deputy sheriff in Bossier Parish. Anderson was also the first black licensed bail bondsman in the parish. He retired as the first black detective in the department.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blackdigitalnetwork.com/bct/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=30&limit=1&limitstart=2|title=Significant People|publisher=blackdigitalnetwork.com|accessdate=February 7, 2014}}</ref>
In 1973, outgoing [[Bossier City]] [[Mayor]] George Leon Nattin, Sr. (1918-2002), was charged by a [[grand jury]] under then District Attorney Charles Allen Marvin (1929-2003) of three counts of public bribery. Waggonner booked Nattin, his son, George, Jr. (1940-2014), and three other suspects but refused to fingerprint them or take their mug shots.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/34965302/|title=Former Mayor Indicted On Bossier City Corruption Charges|publisher=''The Camden (Arkansas) News'''|date=July 3, 1973|accessdate=December 21, 2014}}</ref> Ultimately, Nattin was acquitted of two charges, and a third was dropped.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrt.com/import/article_ab13b936-ac7a-5805-af4f-1fab64358698.html|title=
Former Bossier City mayor dead at 83|publisher=''Midland (Texas) Reporter-Telegram''|date=April 26, 2002|accessdate=December 21, 2014}}</ref>
==Death==
Waggonner died at the age of seventy at his home of an apparent heart attack, the fourth that he had sustained in the last part of his life. He and his wife, the former Nell Evans (1907-1989), had a daughter, Jacqueline Waggonner Gore, known as "Jack" Gore (born 1940), the widow of the farmer Odie Lee "Sonny" Gore, Jr. (1940-2016), also of Plain Dealing, who died from complications of a tractor accident.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=ol-gore-sonny&pid=181059327&fhid=14924|title=O. L. "Sonny" Gore, Jr.|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|accessdate=August 16, 2016}}</ref>
Sheriff Waggonner had a sister since deceased, Mrs. Susie W. Carroll of Dickinson in Galveston County, Texas. He was preceded in death by a second brother, Johnnie J. Waggonner (1908-1968). Services were held at the First [[Baptist]] Church of Plain Dealing, with interment in the family plot at Plain Dealing Cemetery. One of his pallbearers, [[James Cathey]], was a former deputy who was from 1973 to 1977 the mayor of Bossier City.<ref name=stimes/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waggonner, Willie}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Sheriffs]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Baptists]]