Burrage owned the farm where the bodies of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were found buried in an earthen dam.

By 1964 Burrage owned 250 acres having acquired several additional tracts of land where he grew corn and raised cattle.

[3] Burrage sold his trucking business in 1990 and dabbled in cattle farming and timberland resources for the remainder of his life.

[2] In the afternoon of June 21, 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, & Michael Schwerner arrived at Longdale to inspect the burned out church in Neshoba County.

[6] The three men's bodies were not discovered until two months later, when the team received a tip that led them to Burrage's farm.

During the investigation it emerged that members of the local White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County Sheriff's Office, and the Philadelphia Police Department were involved in the incident.

[8] Burrage hired Herman Tucker to build a dam to create a pond for watering livestock.