Mrs. LeBoeuf Breaks the Rules

"The wise murderess will take care to observe a few simple restrictions. She overrides these at her peril.... 1. If you decide to murder your husband you must never act in concert with a lover. In comment upon this rule it must be added that a lover should appear nowhere in the record; not a sign, not a suspicion, not even a shoelace of his."

--Edmund Lester Pearson, Rules for Murderesses

Mrs. Ada Bonner LeBoeuf of Morgan City, Louisiana, found her husband James annoying. Or perhaps it was the case that her paramour, the also-married Dr. Thomas E. Dreher, the country doctor who delivered her four children, simply outshone Mr. LeBoeuf in certain respects. Regardless, Mrs. LeBoeuf and Dr. Dreher found themselves madly in love but suffering from an impediment that a divorce attorney could have cleared up in a jiffy; alas, this simple answer apparently occurred to neither of them until it was far too late.

The doctor settled on an old-fashioned cure, hiring one James Beadle, described in the papers as a trapper, to put an end to Mr. LeBoeuf. A civil shot to the head would have sufficed to remove the offending husband from the face of the earth, but the trapper carried out his assignment on July 1, 1927, with grim vigor, electing to mutilate the poor man's corpse before throwing it in a lake. The trapper labored under the misimpression that a punctured body would more readily sink to the bottom.

Needless to say (or you would not be reading of it here and now), the scheme unraveled. The first-degree murder trial that followed a month after the murder of Mr. LeBoeuf was billed in the press as one of the Southland's most sensational legal battles, since, it was reported, the South hadn't convicted and hanged a white woman for murder since Reconstruction days, and Louisiana had never hanged a white woman for murder, not even in the days of French and Spanish rule.

The trial was a cross-country sensation. The state produced nearly a dozen witnesses who testified to the details of the scandal. Per these many witnesses, the light-o'-loves carried on their small-town affair in the "negro shacks" on the outskirts of the village. The evidence included love letters that were read aloud. The state also tried to establish that Mr. LeBoeuf caught wind of the dalliance in the days before his death.

It was reported that the doctor spent the proceedings mopping his brow furiously while the black widow watched the clock. The trapper, whose conflicting statements and recanted confession had brought them all down, chewed his wad of tobacco. The trapper escaped a death sentence. But the remaining two defendants were sentenced to perish at the hands of the executioner.

Following the trial, there was a considerable effort to obtain a reprieve from the sentence, for fickle public opinion was with the convicted murderers. Even most of the jurors who had handed down the convictions signed a petition requesting leniency. The lovers were imprisoned to await clemency from Governor Huey P. Long. But it never came.

Mrs. LeBoeuf and the doctor were allowed to see one another one last time. They held hands and sobbed together before they were hanged on Feb. 1, 1929. His parting words to her were, "Goodbye, I hope we will meet in the other world."

Mrs. LeBoeuf was hysterical as she was led blindfolded to the gallows, and she began to cry out, "My mother, my mother, oh my God. Isn't this a terrible thing! Don't let me stay there too long. Oh, isn't this a terrible thing! This is murder itself. That rope is too tight around my neck. Yes it is Mr. Martel. Oh, my God, God."

The doctor was able to keep his calm at the end. "Mr. Frost," he said to a reporter, "you know we didn't do it." When the rope descended around his neck, he said, "Oh, God, have mercy. Just don't let me choke to death."

Both died instantly, the newspapers reported.

And Louisiana, its spokesman said, brought an account opened on July 1, 1927, into balance.

Sources:

"Love Affair Behind Crime To Be Probed; Woman 'Go-Between' of Lovers to Be Quizzed; Trapper Still Denies Part," by International News Service, Danville (Va.) Bee, July 11, 1927.

"Woman is Calm; Principals in Louisiana Murder Trial Remain Unruffled As Case Progresses," by International News Service, Lima News, July 26, 1927.

"LeBoeuf Case Expected to Go to Jury Today; State Will Try to Show Love Affair Between Doctor and the Woman in the Case," Burlington (North Carolina) Times, Aug. 6, 1927.

"Doomed to Hang," Syracuse Herald, Dec. 9, 1928.

"Ada LeBoeuf And Dreher Hanged For Murder; Woman Dies First, Then Her Lover," by the Associated Press, Danville (Va.) Bee, Feb. 2, 1929.

Recommended reading: Ada and the Doc: An Account of the Ada LeBoeuf-Thomas Dreher Murder Case by Charles M. Hargroder

Comments

[bridgette basas]

Ada Bonner Lebeouf was my great aunt. I still currently live in Morgan City, Louisiana as do some of Dr. Dreher's relatives...It's a very interesting piece of history... The older people in our family don't like to talk about it much. I have read "Ada and the Doc", and really enjoyed it.

[Lezli Jones]

Ada was my great grandmother's sister. There is so much interesting history to this story. The political aspect is fascinating, resulting in Long's re-election. The previous poster is correct, the older generation is still very shamed my this incident... and out of respect, her youngest child (I believe) is still alive. I love telling this fascinating tale of our family history.

[Colleen Bonner]

Ada was my great grandfather's sister, and she was my grandfather's godmother. My grandpa used to tell me stories of her when I was little. He remembered her very vividly, as he was 4 years old when she was executed. This story has been in my family for YEARS. I own a copy of "Ada and the Doc", and it's been passed around to lots of my friends and relatives.

[Nicole LeBoeuf]

Ada was my great great grandmother. My great grandfather was her son, Ernest E LeBoeuf. I live in Maryland now and have begun to look into my family's history with great interest. I've read Ada and the Doc and was moved by the details of a story I'd heard only bits and pieces about my entire life. I am looking for more information on how those events may have had a ripple effect on those left in its wake. If you'd like to help me, please let me know. You can reach me at: [email protected]. Best, N

[Alan Boner]

Ada's Father may be my 2nd Great Grandfather.

In the book "Ada and the Doc", her mother is referred to as Mrs C.E. Bonner. His name was Charles Ernest Bonner.

[daniel]

One Edna LeBoeuf of Morgan city was my great grandmother. I wonder if anyone knows the relationship of Ada, and Edna

[Robin Bernucho Beadle]

Ada was my great aunt and i was told by my mom (Beverly Bonner Bernucho) that she was a very sweet and loving woman, and there is no way that she could have had part in this murder, i have read the book and it was very interesting to read about my grandfather, his sister (Ada) and many of my relatives. How ironic that i ended up marrying Blane Beadle better known as (Bud) who is a distant relative to James Beadle. The people i really feel sorry for was my cousins Libby LeBoeuf and her brothers, it must have been so hard on them at that age to deal with something like this. Libby has always been a very wonderful and funny lady, maybe this was her way of making her life a better place to be.

[Trudy Bernucho Case]

Ada was my great aunt also. Not much was talked about around the family about her. My mom Beverly Bonner Bernucho was very close to Libby Ada's daughter. The reason being my grandmother Nellie Blanchard Bonner and Ada's brother my grandpa(Lawerence Walter Bonner) took much care of Libby after her mothers death. She stayed with them a lot even to the point of being part of their family. Libby was a lovely, funny, straight-forward person. She and mom were best friends.

[James W. "Jim" Beadle]

Who realy did it?

2-hung.

1-went to prison.

[emory taylor]

does anyone know anything about ada's brother emory bonner

[Nicole LeBoeuf]

Greetings all, Nice to see this thread still going. Since my first post in 2008, I've done a fair bit of research and actually recently presented Libby with a poster-sized family tree going back 11 generations beginning with her. I was inspired to get that for her for Christmas this year because when I visited her in August 2009, she told me that she never even knew the names of her grandparents....I felt like she'd appreciate knowing that her life was more than one generation deep. Anyway, she did, and I'm still digging.

I'm filling in a lot of gaps, and I have answers to some of the questions posed above. If you'd like to email me directly, I'd be happy to share what I know. I have a lot more information now that I did two years ago. You can reach me at: [email protected]. Best, Nicole

[georgialee vernon]

Ada was my great great aunt or something like that. i would like to know my family history and be able to see my family tree...if that makes sense. My grandmother was Grace Bonner Ray. if you will help my me my email is [email protected]. and i have a facebook

[anonymous]

What you don't know is Ada had asked her brother and sister -n-law to go in the boat that day and they declined .Question why if she was going to do this terrible act she would have invited them.

[robin bernucho beadle]

to add to the comment above, again my mother beverly bonner bernucho, which ada was her aunt, her dad's lawrence walter bonner's sister, had also told me a long time ago that her brother and siter-in-law were invited to go and declined.

[adrian sapia sr.]

my name is adrian sapia we were told that ada leboeuf was my dads cousin could you please tell me how. my dads name was harry sapia his parents were adele and davis sapia. very [email protected]