Frank Morris (30 October 1914 – 14 December 1964) was an American businessman who died as a result of arson to his shoe shop in Ferriday, Louisiana, a city with a history of racial violence.
His daily tasks included repairing shoes and saddles, selling jewellery, hats, and clothing, and dyeing purses.
On December 10, 1964, two unidentified white men set fire to the shoe repair shop owned by Frank Morris.
The Silver Dollar Group (SDG) was a violent and exceptionally militant Klan offshoot that operated in Adams County between 1964 and 1967.
A preliminary FBI investigation began immediately after the arson; its goal was to "determine if any federal laws had been violated, specifically whether Morris had been involved in voter registration or other civil rights activities and whether any subjects had connections to any racist organizations.
Morris told the FBI that the men were from Natchez, Mississippi, were between the ages of 30 and 35, and that "one [man] was young with gray hair and the other was very white".
The first full investigation of the Frank Morris murder began in January 1965, at the request of then-Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, Burke Marshall.
The FBI later concluded that the local Klan was likely to be involved, but conflicting accounts, no viable subjects, and lack of a motive led to the investigation being closed in May 1965.
On February 27, 1967, Wharlest Jackson, an employee at Armstrong Tire & Rubber Company in Natchez, Mississippi, was killed when a bomb exploded under the hood of his car while he was driving home.
The FBI opened a full investigation into his murder due to its civil rights implications, as Jackson was treasurer of the local chapter of the NAACP.
[5] Following the bombing, the FBI launched operation "WHARBOM"[5] and placed multiple informants within Klan groups surrounding Natchez.
However, Poisott was eliminated as a potential witness due to his erratic amphetamine use and difficulties differentiating between personal knowledge and hearsay.
[2] A few days after the arson, the informant was approached by Morace who stated that if "he, Jones, Torgersen, and Scarborough were arrested, the source should get them out of jail".
[2] Scarborough, while under investigation for both Jackson's and Morris's murders, denied any involvement, stating that "every time something happens to a Negro it is immediately blamed on white people.
[2] According to these informants, Morace was the primary conspirator in the murder of Morris; however, the FBI could not find any physical evidence corroborating their witnesses.
[2] The FBI reopened the Frank Morris investigation in 2007, as part of the Civil Rights Era Cold Case Initiative.
[2] Stanley Nelson, an award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist, published Devils Walking: Klan Murders along the Mississippi in the 1960s, after a series of articles in the Concordia Sentinel.
He had previously dedicated songs to white women on his radio show and would lean into their cars and occasionally sit in their passenger seats.
The City of Ferriday hit a dead end with the case, and the sheriff's Department expressed no interest in taking it over.