Albert Bel (Ab) Goos, Sr.

Lake Charles American Press, June 3, 1953:

POSSE COMBS RIVER SWAMPS
FOR ESTATE FOREMAN'S SLAYER

Negro Car Thief Sought
In Killing of Ab Goos

By FRITZI KRAUSE and WILLIAM G. BUCK

        A widening hunt with bloodhounds spread through this section today as authorities continued an all-night search for the killer of Albert Bel (Ab) Goos, 63-year-old cattleman and estate foreman. He was a member of one of Calcasieu parish's pioneer families.
        Goos was fatally shot by an unidentified Negro man at about 6:30 last night at a pasture near his home at the Hecker community, 17 miles northeast of Lake Charles while he investigated what he apparently believed to be the activities of cattle rustlers, Sheriff Henry A. Reid said.
        Goos served as a deputy sheriff in the Hecker area and is the brother of Walter J. Goos, newly elected city commissioner of streets and parks and a member and past president of the Calcasieu parish police jury.
        A 1949 sedan abandoned by the slayer at the scene has been identified as one stolen in Corpus Christi, Texas, state police said.
        Law enforcement officers with bloodhounds began combing the Calcasieu river swamps and wooded sections near Hecker and the surrounding area last night. The hounds followed the scent from the murder scene through the woods to a road, where the scent became cold, a witness at the scene said.
        Road blocks have been set up at strategic points throughout this section of the state
        Today the Civil Air Patrol started an air search on request of state police, Capt. O. D. McFillen, Lake Charles squadron commander, said.
        Dr. Harry S. Snatic, parish coroner, said that Goos was shot with a .32 calibre automatic pistol. The bullet struck his collarbone, severed a large artery and perforated the lung, according to the coroner.
         The wounded man emptied his 30-30 Winchester rifle in the direction of the fleeing man but it was believed most of the bullets struck the automobile and did not hit the colored man, authorities said.
        Albert Goos, Jr., the slain man's son, reported he first saw the colored man about 6 p.m. as he (young Goos) was walking through the field hunting for cows. He said he came upon the colored man sleeping on the automobile seat and told his father because he knew the man had no business on the property
        Young Goos described the man as tall, heavy and with bushy hair.
        He said his father got his 30-30 rifle thinking the man might be a cattle thief, and ten shells and went to investigate. During the time his father was shot, young Goos and his mother were looking for Jeff Corbello of Iowa, owner of the property, the son said.
        Young Goos reported that when he returned to the scene he found his father lying on the ground, bleeding badly from a wound near his neck.
        He quoted his father as saying:
        "I've been shot. Be careful, he may shoot you."
        The colored man was not in view and the elder Goos told his son the slash the car tires so that the man could not get away if he returned. Young Goos said he took the ignition keys instead.
        He said his father remained conscious until they reached Broad street in Lake Charles when he became unconscious and died before reaching the hospital.
        Relating the story as his father told him, the son said:
        His father was holding his gun on the colored man when the latter asked if he could get out of the car to relieve himself. Goos said yes, whereupon the colored man opened the car door and came out shooting with the words, "This is it, mister."
        The colored man then started running towards the southeast as Goos emptied his rifle at the man. Goos said the man stumbled once but he did not know whether or not he was hit.
        The light green sedan was punctured by numerous bullet holes in the fenders, windshield, hood and rear window. Police speculated that the holes in the rear window came from another source previously.
        State police said State Trooper Roy Tatum had flagged the vehicle to a stop earlier yesterday. Police reported that when Tatum got out of his car to check the other car the vehicle pulled out quickly. The trooper could not catch it because of a heavy trailer being pulled by the trooper's car, police reported.
        Sergeant Tatum, it was reported, said there were two colored men in the car at that time. One appeared tall and heavy and the other short and stocky.
        The body is at the Hixson funeral home where services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, with the Rev. Robert Crandell, rector of the Episcopal church of the Good Shepherd, officiating.
        Burial will be in Goos cemetery.
        Goos' parents were Mr. and Mrs. Albert Goos and he is the great grandson of Capt. Daniel Goos, one of Calcasieu's earliest settlers.
        He was engaged in raising cattle and was also employed by the Bel estate as supervisor of their holdings at Hecker, where he has lived for the past 34 years.
        Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Elsie Kelly Hecker Goos, of Hecker; his son; two daughters, Mrs. Wakefield Erbeldling of Johnson's Bayou and Mrs. J. C. Watson of Iowa, La.; two other brothers, Leno and Pat Goos of Moss Bluff community; four sisters, Mrs. Albert Koonce, Mrs. Elder Koonce, Miss Freddie Goos, all of Moss Bluff, Mrs. Willie Conrad of West Lake, and three grandchildren.