White, Perry
(died: 1877)Perry White was shot and killed by Cassius M. Clay on Sunday, September 30, 1877. White and his mother were former slaves. With the end of slavery, Clay had employed White's mother as a cook. He claimed that she was "robbing him of silver plate and other articles."
Clay was on his way to a Negro church near Richmond, KY, to hire another cook when he crossed paths with Perry White. According to Clay, he shot White because he had threatened Clay's life.
Clay turned himself over to the authorities; he was tried, and the jury gave the verdict of justifiable homicide. According to author K. McQueen (Cassius M. Clay: Freedom's Champion, p. 31), "The shooting of White seems to have been a turning point in Clay's mental health." Nothing more is known about Perry White.
For more see "Cassius M. Clay's ready pistol," New York Times, 10/02/1877, p. 1; Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1888), vol. 1, by J. G. Wilson and J. Fiske [available fulltext at Google Books]; and Cassius M. Clay: "Freedom's Champion," by K. McQueen.