‘An asset to the city’: Shooting victim remembered by mayor, community

Published 12:05 am Thursday, January 24, 2019

By Scott Hawkins

NATCHEZ — The words, “Choices have to be made,” are emblazoned on a painting hanging above the door inside the Natchez mayor’s office.

The primitive folk-art painting is the work of James Henry Williams, 54, who became perhaps Natchez’s first murder victim of 2019 when he was killed in a shooting Tuesday night.

The painting depicts a man speaking the words, “Choices have to be made,” and looking down on two groups of young men.

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Another young man stands in the middle of those two groups.

“To the right,” Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said, “three guys have marijuana cigarettes, and they are walking in the direction of a jail and cemetery, and to the left of the young man are three young men with books walking toward the library.”

Grennell said he shows that painting to visitors to his office, because it illustrates the choices all people have to make.

Grennell showed that painting to a group of media members and professionals Dec. 19 after a press conference to address a series of retaliatory crimes that plagued Natchez and Adams County with 14 murders last year.

“You can get on the bad side and either go to jail or a graveyard,” Grennell said, “or you can go to the library and be a productive.”

Artist Williams became a victim of the path his painting illustrated this week when he was killed Tuesday night in what police say began as an argument between Williams’ brother and another man, identified as Arthur Lee Moore, 43, of last known address 144 N. Shields Lane No. A8, who is suspected of having fired the gun that hit and killed Williams.

Police were still searching for Moore late Wednesday afternoon and have issued a warrant for his arrest.

“Anyone seeing this subject or knows the whereabouts is encouraged to call the local law enforcement agency,” said Walter Armstrong, Natchez police chief. “Arthur Moore should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone found to be aiding in the hiding of Arthur Moore may be subject to additional charges.”

Grennell said he first met Williams when Grennell was campaigning to be mayor and Williams invited Grennell into his apartment and showed him some of his paintings.

Grennell said he later learned that Williams’ artwork was on display and sold at the Arts Natchez gallery downtown and the painting Grennell eventually purchased and hung above the inner doorway in his office intrigued him.

“It is a powerful, powerful message James had created in his art,” Grennell said. “I told him, ‘James, I have to get this art,’ and when people come to meet me it is a message to say we have choices to make in Natchez. We can take it forward and do higher things in Natchez.”

Mark Coffey, gallery coordinator and artist member of Arts Natchez, said Williams was an active member of the cooperative and was even scheduled to work in the gallery one day this week.

Coffey said members of Arts Natchez were saddened by Williams’ death and that he had been active in Arts Natchez for several years.

“He went to school here in Natchez,” Coffey said. “He used oils on canvas almost exclusively. Sometimes he would paint on a piece of wood. He had a lot of texture to it.”

Williams called himself an urban, contemporary folk artist, Coffey said, adding that Williams’ work had many of the hallmarks of folk art, including a lack of linear perspective, giving paintings a flat appearance.

Williams’ often incorporated words and catch phrases into his works, Coffey said, sometimes in word bubbles as seen in cartoons.

In 1988, William’s 7-year-old daughter, Camille Johnson, was killed in a car accident when she was on her way from Jackson to visit him.As a result of the loss Williams moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for a job and a life away from the memories, Williams said in a 2012 news article about his art.

Williams said he had lived through three close brushes with death, including having been run over by a car, surviving a 40-foot fall from a building he was working on and being inadvertently shot while he was living in Minneapolis by teenager who was threatening his girlfriend’s daughter.

Williams said he told the teenager to leave her alone, and the teenager shot a gun at the young woman but hit Williams in the neck instead.

Doctors left the bullet in his body, Williams said.

Another incident, Williams said, blinded him in one eye when someone threw keys at his face.

Williams moved back to Natchez approximately 2004, Coffey said, and for a while, Williams lived with his mother who died recently.

Grennell said he is saddened at the loss of Williams.

“He was just a really nice guy,” Grennell said, “and an asset to the city. He loved making his art and showing his art and talent.”

The art above Grennell’s door, however, will bear testimony to Williams’ life.

“I tell the young people, ‘You have to make a choice,’” Grennell said. “The resources are here. Everything is in place to help them.”

Grennell said he is actively working with Armstrong, Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten and other community leaders to develop programs to help young people.

“We are trying to put programs in to place to put young people on the right track,” Grennell said.

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