A Brave Man

It was nearing 11 p.m. as Hank Allen and his cousin, John Horton, drove east along Highway 24. The two young men, 17 and 16 years old, respectively, had attended a party in Gloster that Friday, Jan. 31, 1964, and were heading back to Hank’s family’s home, a few miles outside the small town of Liberty in southwest Mississippi. 

Hank made the left turn into the Allen family’s driveway and drove his ’54 DeSoto up to the “gap,” the gate in the barbed wire fence that Hank’s father, Louis, had built to keep the family’s chickens, mules and other animals nearby. Louis’ bobtailed Ford logging truck was sitting just outside the gap. The engine wasn’t running, but the headlights were on.