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By Stella Pitts
ii/^hief of Police William Parker of :'^New Augusta, Miss., says his small Ttown of 500 people has its share of crime: petty larcenies, weekend fights t and ?a few city boys who steal cars and .drop them off here.?
?? Most of the time, however, New ^Augusta is a pleasant, peaceful community with most of its activity center-ured around the red-brick, columned courthouse which stands at the end of "the main ? and only ? business street. ^.-(Located 20 miles southeast of Hattiesburg, the town has served as the seat of -Perry County since the early days of ?"the 19th century.)
But there was a time in the history of this small Mississippi community when crime of a far more violent nature gave the place a notoriety from which it has never entirely recovered. For it was in Old Augusta, the original town site three miles away in the deep piney woods, that the ?great Eastern land pirate? James Copeland made his headquarters and eventually met his death.
The sheriff who captured him was a 21-year-old Georgian named J.R.S. Pitts, whom the town hired for the sole purpose of ending Copeland?s reign of terror.
Pitts later wrote a celebrated book about the life, confessions and execution of Copeland, but when the townspeople learned that the book included a complete list of the outlaw?s clan ? several of whom were members of local families ? they reportedly confiscated every copy they could find,
? made a huge bonfire of the lot and then banned any future copies that might turn up.
?It?s still mighty difficult to find a copy of that book,? said Parker, a |	history buff who is writing a history of
I	Perry County. ?I guess nobody wants to
[	see his great-grandpappy?s name on
(	that list.
j ?But I?ve read it, and it?s fascinat-i	ing,? he added, with a grin. ?Even the
J	title has a certain ring to it: ?The Life
J	and Confessions of the Noted Outlaw
I	James Copeland, Executed at Augusta,
|	Perry County, Mississippi, Leader of
I	the Notorious Copeland and Wages
5	Clan which Terrorized the Entire
(Southern States, As Related by Himself in Prison After he Was Condemned to
i	Death, Giving a List of All Names of
the Clans . .	?
Photos by James Pitts