In the late autumn of 1912, the life of Sheriff William P. Harris, a 47-year-old White/Caucasian male, was abruptly ended in Hernando, Mississippi. The series of events leading to his death began over a legal matter involving a $400 debt owed by a local man. Sheriff Harris had attempted to seize cotton from the man's farm to settle the debt but was met with resistance from the man and his two sons.
Several days after the initial confrontation, on November 25, 1912, Sheriff Harris returned to the farm, this time with five deputies. Their intention was to seize the cotton and arrest the man and his sons for their previous resistance. Upon their arrival, they discovered the cotton had been moved behind a locked gate. The man invited Sheriff Harris into his house, and in a sudden act of violence, opened fire with a shotgun, striking the sheriff in the face and killing him instantly.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, one of the deputies on the scene shot and killed the man who had fired on Sheriff Harris. The two sons of the shooter fled but were later apprehended and charged with murder. One of the sons was brought to trial but was ultimately acquitted of the charges against him. The outcome of the case against the second son is not publicly known. Sheriff Harris was survived by his wife and several children and was laid to rest in Blocker Cemetery in Olive Branch, DeSoto County, Mississippi.
