Florida Times Union, September 22, 1895

Bloody Deed of a Negro Near Macclenny

 

HE MURDERED NOAH HICKS [son of Eli Hicks Jr & Mary Ann Sparkman]

 

Then Shot Down the Brother of His Victim.

 

WILD WITH RAGE ARE WHITES

 

And the Negro Will be Lynched if Caught-Tragedy Occurred at a Negro Festival.

 

MACCLENNY, Fla.  September 22, 1895

Last night there was an industrial legion at Glen St. Mary’s and also a negro fair at the house of a man named Sampson, about a quarter of a mile south of the

 

(two lines of text blocked out)

 

left the legion meeting and went over to the negro fair.  Just after getting into the house a strange negro, named Governor Williams, came up to Wiley Hicks, with a lightwood torch in his hand, and asked him to stand aside and let the ladies pass.  As Wiley turned the negro fired at Noah Hicks with a pistol, striking him in the breast and killing him instantly.  He then fired at Wiley, striking him in the left shoulder and breaking his collar bone.  The negro then threw down his torch and fired two more shots. C.B. Rowe had his face badly burned with powder.

 

  Noah Hicks was shot through the heart, the ball going in the left side and coming out at the right side of the front shoulder and causing instant death.

 

There had been no fuss or words between Mr. Hicks and the negro, the latter being almost a total stranger to his victim.

 

Wiley Hicks is very badly wounded.  The ball entered his left shoulder, and passing under and breaking his collar bone.  It was cut out by the physician nearly under the shoulder blade, in his back.

 

It is said no provocation whatever was offered by either of the Hicks brothers.

 

Noah Hicks had flogged a negro at Glen St. Mary Saturday at noon for using very vulgar language concerning the ladies of this county.  When Noah heard of the remarks he went in search of the negro and on finding him gave him a good sound thrashing and made him leave town.  It is thought that the negro went to the above mentioned Williams and got him to kill Hicks for him and as Wiley Hicks and other white men were along with Noah he attempted to kill them also.

 

The community is highly wrought up over the cold-blooded murder and should the negro be caught, he will undoubtedly stretch hemp.  It was a most brutal assault upon two of the most respected citizens, and is deeply regretted.

 

The coroner’s jury has not rendered a verdict yet.

 

 

 

 

Florida Times Union, September, 1895

 

CHASING HICKS’ MURDERER

 

____? fires on a Negro, but he escapes – Sampson’s House Burned.

 

MACCLENNY, Fla. September 23?.  The jury in the Hicks case brought in as their verdict that Noah Hicks came to his death from a gunshot wound, inflicted by one Governor Williams and that the said killing was willful murder.  Noah Hicks was buried today.  Wiley Hicks wounds are painful but not necessarily dangerous.  The house of Sampson , the Negro who gave the fair, was burned last night, together with out buildings and fences.

 

Deputy Sheriff Howard sent a party of men last night to Drake’s wood rack, four miles west of Glen St. Mary’s where train No. __? generally takes wood with instructions that if any Negro boarded the train to follow him on the train, and that he (the deputy sheriff) would be on the train, and they would capture him when the train stopped.  At the wood rack at Drake’s the men on guard saw a man come out of a pond and make for the train.  They halted him and he turned and started back when one of them fired on him.  The Negro fell, but springing to his feet, he started for the swamp on a run.  They fired on him again, causing him to yell out, but he succeeded in getting into the swamp and away.

 

 

 

Florida Times Union,  August 3, 1945

 

Auto Kills W.O. Hicks

Milk Truck Driver Held in Fatal Accident

 

William Owen Hicks, 52, of 2256 Edgewood Avenue, was killed when struck by a hit and run driver at about 8 a.m. yesterday at Old Kings Road and Edgewood Avenue, according to County Road Patrolmen F.T. Arpen ? and J.J. Beatty.

 

The officers reported Hicks’ body was thrown 33 feet.  He was removed to St. Vincent’s Hospital but was dead on arrival there.

 

Officers later arrested W.H. Stanley, 29, milk truck driver of Route 1, Box 304 Dinsmore, on a charge of manslaughter.  A witness said that he had seen a milk truck leaving the area shortly before Hicks was found.  Stanley was arrested after leaving milk at a plant.

 

Deputy Sheriff J.T. Lowe and other officers said the truck had a damaged fender and bore scratches of black paint similar to that on a lunch box carried by Hicks.  An analysis of the paint will be made.  Stanley was released on bond by Peace Justice L.B. McCullough.

 

The officers quoted Stanley as saying that he passed the scene of the accident but had no knowledge of having struck anyone.  He said he knew nothing of the accident until informed by the investigators.

 

A native of Glen St. Mary, Hicks had lived here for 25 years and was employed as a rigger at the St. Johns River Shipyard.  He was a member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church and a veteran of World War I.

 

Survivors are his widow, Mrs. Mary C. Hicks, two daughters Mrs. Alice Wilkerson and Mrs. Louise Hamilton, both of Fort Pierce, three sons, William O. Hicks, Jr. U.S. Navy, James Fred Hicks and Harold George Hicks and three sisters Mrs. J.H. Baines, Mrs. J.H. Rhoden, this city, and Mrs. Andrew Wilkerson, Lawtey.

 

Funeral arrangements under the direction of Key-McCabe Funeral Home, will be announced later.

 

[buried Evergreen cemetery Jacksonville, FL]

Son of Noah Hicks & Dealia M. Mathis

 

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