|
"THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION" ATLANTA, GA.,
THURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 25, 1884
VOL. XVII, Page 7, Columns 3
THE MOONSHINE BATTLE
The Jury of Inquest Says That the Revenue Men Were
Justifiable.
Yesterday
Postmaster Wilson received a telegram from Gainesville
stating that the coroner's jury in the matter of the revenue
killing, had returned a verdict that the killing was
justifiable.
The Gainesville
Southern has the following account of the preparation for the
inquest which ended yesterday:
In another column
of this paper will be found an account of the "midnight
battle" between the United States revenue officers and
moonshiners of the upper end of this county, on last Tuesday
night, as reported in THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION of Thursday,
and which is substantially correct. On Wednesday evening,
about fifty of our citizens went out to the scene of the
battle, accompanied by Coroner Bagwell. They found a
large crowd of excited people of the neighborhood upon the
ground, where laid the dead bodies of Anderson Grant
and Josiah Prater. Everything being in confusion the
coroner concluded to adjourn the inquest to Gainesville on
Thursday. Accordingly, at 10 o'clock on that day, the
following jury was sworn: W. M. Robertson, T. L.
Robertson, Frank Watson, J. A. Elliott, J. H. Latham, G. E.
Reeves, J. E. Blackstock, A. B. C. Dorsey, Z. T. Bird, W. S.
Cox and W. M. Pinson. A. B. C. Dorsey chosen
foreman. After several days' work on the inquest it has been
determined to go back and do the work all over, keeping the
witnesses separate. This will require at least another week;
therefore we cannot with propriety say much about the matter
in this issue.
Last night THE
CONSTITUTION received the following special:
GAINESVILLE, Ga.,
December 24. ---(Special.)--- After six days' investigation
the coroner's jury in the inquest over the bodies of J. A.
Grant and Josiah Prater returned a verdict this evening
find that the killing of the men by revenue officers
justifiable.
Additional
Comments:
James Anderson
GRANT was the son of William B. and Elizabeth (SMITH)
GRANT. They were married in Hall County, Georgia on the
2nd of May 1837. Both had died before the event of this
killing. Josiah PRATER was the son of Josiah and
Mary Jane (SHOOPMAN) PRATER. They were married on the 15th
of February 1852 near Resaca, Gordon County, Georgia.
Josiah PRATER Sr. was killed in action on the 22nd of July
1864 near Atlanta, Georgia, a victim of the Civil War. Mary
Jane PRATER died on the 28th of January 1918 and is buried
in Cool Springs Baptist Church cemetery.
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives
by:
William G. Prather
[email protected]
October 8, 2004, 12:20 am
File at:
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ga/hall/newspapers/nw1566themoons.txt
This file has been created by a form at
http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ |
