Connect with us

Louisiana

HEART OF LOUISIANA: Jim Bowie

Published

on

HEART OF LOUISIANA: Jim Bowie


BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – It was on a sandbar not far from this spot on the Mississippi River near Vidalia, Louisiana, where frontiersman Jim Bowie made a name for himself and his knife. Born in Kentucky, Bowie grew up in Louisiana’s Catahoula Parish.

“I actually probably live within ten or twelve miles of where Bowie lived in Catahoula Parish,” said Stanley Nelson.

Nelson is editor of the Concordia Sentinel newspaper, and has written a few stories about Jim Bowie’s exploits in the area.

“Back in those days, uh, there was a lot of fraudulent land dealing going on and the Bowie brothers were involved in a whole lot of that,” Nelson said.

Advertisement

Jim Bowie was also a slave trader.

“He was a fighter. He didn’t take insults very easily. There was a feud involving a sheriff from Alexandria. Bowie was involved in one party and the sheriff had his men and the other,” said Nelson.

It was an 1827 duel that turned into a deadly brawl on the sandbar.

“Is a bona fide Bowie knife because we know that the Bowie brothers had this made. This bloody affair today, we’d say that it went viral. And so people across the nation of reading about how he’s in this, this fight, uh, outnumbered. He’s shot, he’s stabbed, but he’s still able to, uh, to hold his own,” said Bruce Winders.

With the sudden popularity of the knife, Bowie’s brother Rezin has more knives made.

Advertisement

“This was made on a plantation that the Bowies had in Rapids Parish. This knife was commissioned by Rezin Bowie by, uh, a jeweler named Searles in, uh, baton rouge. And this is what many people think a Bowie knife looks like when they hear the word Bowie knife,” Winders said.

Winders is a historian at the Alamo in San Antonio, where Bowie moved and got married after leaving Louisiana. He’s part of a force of about 200 Texans, who are grossly outnumbered, but refuse to surrender to the Mexican army.

How hard is it to separate fact from legend with somebody like Jim Bowie?

“The legend is what most people know about James Bowie. He may be so sick that he was unconscious or he’s possibly even dead at the time of the battle. Mexicans will say he’s in his bed, he didn’t put up much of a fight. Legend, you know, can’t stand for that. And so he whips out his knife, he’s slashing, he’s firing with his pistols, but you know, that’s where the backed in the, in the legend come together,” said Winders.

Jim Bowie’s story is forever enshrined at the Alamo where he died. But his fame and legend began years earlier in a knife fight on a Louisiana sandbar.

Advertisement

More information on Jim Bowie and his celebrated knife can be found on Heart of Louisiana’s website.

Click here to report a typo. Please include the headline.

Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Louisiana

Louisiana Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for March 2, 2026

Published

on


The Louisiana Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at March 2, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing

02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Advertisement

Winning Pick 3 numbers from March 2 drawing

3-9-9

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from March 2 drawing

4-1-1-0

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 5 numbers from March 2 drawing

0-5-2-9-5

Advertisement

Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

All Louisiana Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at Louisiana Lottery offices. Prizes of over $5,000 must be claimed at Lottery office.

By mail, follow these instructions:

  1. Sign and complete the information on the back of your winning ticket, ensuring all barcodes are clearly visible (remove all scratch-off material from scratch-off tickets).
  2. Photocopy the front and back of the ticket (except for Powerball and Mega Millions tickets, as photocopies are not accepted for these games).
  3. Complete the Louisiana Lottery Prize Claim Form, including your telephone number and mailing address for prize check processing.
  4. Photocopy your valid driver’s license or current picture identification.

Mail all of the above in a single envelope to:

Louisiana Lottery Headquarters

Advertisement

555 Laurel Street

Baton Rouge, LA 70801

To submit in person, visit Louisiana Lottery headquarters:

555 Laurel Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801, (225) 297-2000.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

Advertisement

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Louisiana Lottery.

When are the Louisiana Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT Tuesday and Friday.
  • Pick 3, Pick 4 and Pick 5: Daily at 9:59 p.m. CT.
  • Easy 5: 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Lotto: 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Louisiana editor. You can send feedback using this form.



Source link

Continue Reading

Louisiana

National Guard deployment in New Orleans extended for six months

Published

on

National Guard deployment in New Orleans extended for six months


NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana National Guard announced Monday that 120 troops will remain deployed in New Orleans through August.

The six-month extension comes after 350 Guard members deployed to New Orleans in late December, in the run-up to New Year’s and other high-profile events like the Sugar Bowl. The troops, which had mainly clustered in the city’s historic French Quarter, had been scheduled to depart in the aftermath of Mardi Gras.

New Orleans is one of several Democrat-run cities, such as Washington and Memphis, Tennessee, where the federal government deployed armed troops under the administration of President Donald Trump. Hundreds of federal agents also converged on Louisiana in December as part of a separate immigration crackdown in and around New Orleans.

During his State of the Union address last week, Trump touted the deployment in New Orleans as a “big success.” In January, Trump credited the troops with reducing the city’s violent crime within a week of their deployment. City police data shows violent crime rates have significantly declined over the past three years in parallel with national trends.

Advertisement

According to a press statement from the Louisiana National Guard, the remaining guard members will serve as a “visible presence to deter criminal activity in New Orleans.”

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, a Democrat who initially opposed the deployment, said that the troops would benefit the city in the coming weeks. She pointed out that National Guard troops had assisted the city during last year’s Mardi Gras in the aftermath of a vehicle-ramming attack in the French Quarter that killed 14 people on New Year’s Day.

“I continue to support the partnership with the LA National Guard to assist in our major events and there are several coming up in the next few weeks,” Moreno said in a statement.

While Moreno did not address which events she referred to, visitors flock to New Orleans in the spring for events like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican and staunch Trump ally, requested the deployment of the National Guard last September, citing rising violent crime rates in New Orleans despite the data showing crime was down.

Advertisement

“This continued deployment will help us combat violence in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana,” Landry wrote on the social platform X on Monday, noting Louisiana had also sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., last year.

Kate Kelly, a spokesperson for Landry, said the federal government would cover the cost of the extended deployment. She did not respond to a question about whether Guard members would be deployed outside New Orleans.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Friloux, adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, said in a statement the troops had already worked closely with other city, state and federal agencies to improve public safety during a stretch of high-profile events in the city, including the flood of visitors over Mardi Gras and the city’s carnival season.

“We remain committed to those partnerships as we continue supporting efforts to keep the City of New Orleans safe for residents and visitors,” Friloux said.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Louisiana

Jury selection begins Monday in one of Louisiana’s largest auto insurance fraud cases

Published

on

Jury selection begins Monday in one of Louisiana’s largest auto insurance fraud cases


NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Jury selection begins Monday in what prosecutors describe as one of the largest auto insurance fraud cases in Louisiana history, with two local attorneys set to stand trial on charges that include fraud and obstruction of justice.

Attorneys Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles are accused in an alleged scheme in which drivers — referred to as “slammers” — were paid to intentionally crash into 18-wheelers, file injury lawsuits and allow attorneys to collect the settlements. Both have pleaded not guilty.

63 people have been charged in the case. Many have already pleaded guilty. Motta and Giles are being tried together.

Criminal defense attorney Craig Mordock, who is not directly involved in the case but has been following it closely, said the scope of the litigation is significant.

Advertisement

“You have 10 years of personal injury cases and almost… almost a billion dollars in recovery. That’s all at issue,” Mordock said. “So yeah, this could go two to three weeks.”

Motta’s defense team has advanced a narrative that she was manipulated by a co-defendant.

“There is a compelling narrative that’s been advanced by Vanessa Motta’s lawyer in terms of her being manipulated by one of the co-defendants… about being manipulated by him and him having a prior federal conviction for fraud,” Mordock said.

Motta’s team originally claimed she did not know the crashes were staged. In 2024, her team told FOX 8 she is the victim.

Mordock said Giles faces a more difficult defense.

Advertisement

“I don’t see a favorable juror for one of the other lawyer defendants, Jason Giles. There’s not a clear theory of innocence. This is basically a standard white-collar prosecution where knowledge and intent are going to be the issue,” Mordock said.

The case carries what Mordock described as a shadow. In September 2020, key witness Cornelious Garrison was killed in New Orleans four days after his name appeared in an indictment. Garrison’s admitted killer, Ryan Harris, is expected to testify.

The judge in the case is also allowing the slain witness’s recorded descriptions of the alleged scheme to be admitted at trial.

Mordock said Louisiana drivers have a direct stake in the outcome.

“As your average Louisianan, the idea would be you would save… because the people committing this fraud have been wrapped up. The insurance companies are going to know how to look for this,” Mordock said.

Advertisement

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending