In the autumn of 1907, a story of duty, justice, and violence unfolded in Carroll County, Mississippi, culminating in the death of Sheriff W. C. 'Lum' McDougal. A male nearing his 40th birthday, Sheriff McDougal was a respected figure in his community, having served as the county's tax assessor before being elected sheriff in 1903. On the morning of October 26, 1907, he set out in his buggy to a tenant house about eight miles west of Carrollton on what seemed to be a routine law enforcement
matter: to arrest a man named Bob Myers for the alleged theft of a suit of clothes.
Upon arriving at the house, Sheriff McDougal, who was acquainted with Myers, informed him of the arrest. Myers appeared to comply, asking only for a moment to retrieve his shoes from a back room. The sheriff, not anticipating any trouble, agreed and waited on the porch. In a sudden and violent turn of events, Myers emerged not with his shoes, but with a shotgun. He fired at McDougal, striking him in the head and neck with squirrel shot. A single pellet to the temple proved fatal, and Sheriff McDougal died instantly.
Following the murder, Bob Myers, who was described as a Black man with bad teeth and a removable gold cap, fled the scene. A manhunt ensued, with hounds tracking his scent through the woods and bottoms until the trail went cold at a creek. Myers managed to evade capture for nearly two years. In a strange twist of fate, he found employment on a farm owned by Sheriff McDougal's own brother-in-law, his identity concealed by a disguise. His whereabouts remained unknown until he threatened a woman, boasting that he would kill her just as he had killed the sheriff of Carroll County. The woman reported the threat, leading to his capture in July of 1909.
Despite a mood for lynching among some, McDougal's family insisted that Myers face a proper trial. In October 1914, seven years after the murder, Bob Myers was tried and convicted for the murder of Sheriff W.C. 'Lum' McDougal. He was sentenced to be hanged. On December 11, 1914, the sentence was carried out on a place known as 'Hang Hill,' about a mile south of Carrollton. This is said to have been the last legal hanging in Carroll County. Sheriff McDougal was laid to rest in Evergreen Cemetery in North Carrollton, his funeral procession reportedly stretching a mile long.
