Snell had raging hate in his heart
These days the description/accusation of being a “white supremacist” gets thrown around a lot.
Once upon a time, a white supremacist was a person who believed that the white race is inherently superior to other races and that white people should have control over people of other inferior races.
Some want to change that definition so that everybody with white skin must be a white supremacist.
Those that want to make such a change must either be hoping to inspire division among people of all colors or they have never met a true white supremacist.
Back in my reporting days, I came across a true white supremacist. His name was Richard Wayne Snell.
He and other members of a group called “The Covenant, The Sword and the Arm of the Lord” or CSA were stockpiling firearms and other weapons as well as gold at a place called Elohim City in Oklahoma.
The CSA’S goal was to lead an armed revolution in the United States to put white people in total control of the nation.
In 1983, Snell and a couple of other CSA members tried to dynamite a large natural gas pipeline where it crossed the Red River at Fulton in the southwestern part of the state.
The pipeline is easy to see when crossing the Red River bridge on Interstate 30. Their twisted idea was that they would use explosives to rupture the pipeline and burning gas would create a “torch of liberty” that would rally people to their cause.
Snell and his friends didn’t understand how explosives worked and taped the dynamite to the outside of the pipeline.
When it detonated, the force of the explosion went in the direction of the least resistance. The thick metal of the pipeline was not ruptured and the force of the blast escaped in the open air.
Instead of igniting their version of a “torch of liberty,” they set the standard for what is known today as an “epic fail.”
While a member of CSA, Snell was what is known today as a “lone wolf.”
On November 3, 1983, Snell robbed a Texarkana pawn shop and murdered the owner — a pleasant fellow I knew named Bill Stumpp. In Snell’s twisted mind, he thought he was justified in killing the owner because he mistakenly thought Stumpp was a Jew.
Snell took guns and some South
African gold coins. The CSA leaders thought once the revolution started, paper money would become useless and gold would be needed to buy anything.
After the robbery and murder, Snell hid his stolen loot in Texarkana and made his escape to Oklahoma.
On June 30, 1984, Snell returned to Texarkana and recovered what he had taken in the robbery. He was headed back to Elohim City when an Arkansas State Trooper stopped him for a traffic violation just east of De Queen, Ark.
That Trooper Louis Bryant — who was black — got out of his patrol car to write Snell a ticket, Snell jumped out with a gun in his hand and killed the police officer.
Snell had mistakenly thought one of his white supremacist friends had told law enforcement about his bringing his stolen goods to Elohim City. Snell was not about to let a black trooper arrest him.
A high speed chase followed after Snell crossed the Oklahoma state line. When Snell stopped, there was a shootout and he was shot five times. He didn’t die from his wounds.
There was a traffic accident involving a convoy of law enforcement officers on their way to Bryant’s funeral. Four De Queen police officers died in that accident.
Snell went to trial on both murders. He was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
I was sent to cover Snell’s being put to death. Associated Press reporter James Jefferson and I were selected to be in the small group that actually witnessed Snell being put down like a rabid dog.
Some people don’t like the death penalty. My thought after witnessing how they first gave Snell a drug to make him sleep and then another drug to stop his heart was that Snell did not deserve to die so peacefully after all the pain and misery he had caused in life.
The lesson to be learned here is that the color of a person’s skin does not make him or her a white supremacist. It is the raging hate in their heart.