November 4, 1823
Georgia Journal
~excerpt~IMPORTANT TRAIL. THE STATE VS JOHN M. WILLIAMS. This was an Indictment in Jones Superior Court, at the October Term, 1823, against the prisoner, John M. Williams, for the murder of his wife; and such was the extraordinary excitement produced on the public mind by the unparalleled cruelty and depravity which marked the features of this transaction, that is was not until three full panels of 43 Jurors each, had been successively summoned and tendered to the prisoner that a Jury, Omni exceptione juries, were sworn.
  To detail this horrid and bloody transaction in terms suitable to covey a perfect idea of its atrocity, as developed by the testimony of the witnesses, is to me wholly impossible; I will therefor only give a brief outline of its most prominent facts.
  It appeared that on the 14th day of May last, the brother-in-law of the prisoner, and his wife, (who was the sister of the prisoner's wife) were on a visit at the prisoner's house, six or seven miles from Clinton. A fishing excursion was proposed and agreed to, upon which the prisoner and his brother-in-law were absent from the house until about six o'clock in the evening, at which time they returned. Dinner being immediately prepared for them, they sat down apparently in fine humor. While sitting at the table, an infant child of the prisoner, then only nine days old, cried, and Mrs. Williams, its mother, rose and took it up; when the prisoner inquired of her "Mary whose child is that?" She made him no answer - he repeated the inquiry, and she answered, smiling, "Mr. Williams you know whose it is." The prisoner immediately became enraged, and burst forth into a stream of bitter and indelicate abuse, which modesty forbids me to repeat suffice it to say, they were clearly the emanations of a jealous spirit. Upon this the brother-in-law interposed, and threatened to chastise him for his conduct, but in consequence of the entreaties of the prisoners wife,  he desisted. Shortly after this scene the brother-in-law and his wife departed for their residence in Clinton, the prisoner having apparently become calm, and acknowledged his error: But upon his sister-in-law taking leave of him, offered him her hand, he observed, she need not shake hands with him, but "bid her sister farewell." These words though ominous, wee not at that time particularly regarded by them, and they departed. About the distance of a mile from the prisoner's house they met a Mr. Gibson, and being apprehensive that the prisoner's anger might return after they left the house, and that he might in the unprotected state of his wife, whip her or do her some other injury, they requested him (Mr. Gibson) to ride on as fast as possible to the prisoner's house, and to quiet any angry feeling that might remain, commence a conversation with him on the subject of his election - the prisoner having shortly before announced himself, as a candidate for a Justice of the peace. When Gibson arrived within one fourth of a mile of the prisoner's house he heard the shrieks of a female apparently in great distress. He hastened to the spot, and then a spectacle was presented to his view, that for misery and horror, beggars all description. About twenty or thirty yards from the house he found the prisoners wife stretched upon the ground, her head almost severed from her body, there remaining not more that one and a half inches of skin on the back part of her neck, her hair thrown back and clotted with gore, and in other respects most dreadfully mangled,  and the prisoner standing within five or six feet of her with a razor in his hand, attempting to cut his own throat. Mr. Gibson on his arrival found that a Mr. Bazemore and a Mrs. Roquemore had reached there before him. Mrs. Roquemore stated in her testimony that she was returning home from Mr.  Bazemore's who lived within less than one fourth of a mile of the prisoner, with an intention of calling on Mrs. Williams, (the prisoner's wife) when she was informed that the prisoner was killing his wife. She hurried on as quick as possible and went immediately into the prisoners house, where she found no person but the infant child, screaming most piteously on the bed. He took it up, and found laying on the floor, a lady's cap with the stings cut, and a cape torn into, and many marks of blood in the room. She heard a noise in the field and went to the spot from whence it proceeded, and found the prisoner and his wife in the situation described by Gibson. Mr. Bazemore testified that he had on that day been in company with the prisoner and his brother-in-law at the river in their fishing excursion. They left him, and in the evening he passed by the house of the prisoner on his way home. When passed by he supposed that both the prisoner and his brother-in-law were at the house. He went home, a distance of something less than one fourth of a mile from the prisoner's house, and there found Mrs. Roquemore in the act of setting out home. He immediately sat down to dinner, and before the had finished eating, he was informed that the prisoner was killing his wife. He sprang from the table and ran over the the house of the prisoner, and when he reached the yard gate he saw Mrs. running out greatly distressed, with the prisoners infant in her arms. At some distance off he saw the prisoner standing with a razor in his right hand, attempting to cut his own throat, and with his left hand beckoning to him (the witness) as if he wished him to approach. He went immediately to him, and found Mrs. Williams as described by Gibson, with the blood yet flowing from the wound. He exclaimed,  "look Williams! see what you have done!" upon which the prisoner pointed to the corpse of his wife, and groaned hideously. Bazemore then wrested the razor from him, and Gibson, who arrived at the same moment, assisted him in carrying the prisoner to the house. In the room of the house, behind a trunk in which the prisoner kept his razor, was found a two bladed pocket knife, open and bloody, and upon the lid of the trunk the prints of a mans bloody hand. The knife was proved to be the prisoners.
  From the testimony of other witnesses, and particularly the ladies who shrouded the deceased, it appeared that many other severe wound had been inflicted; one on the back of the head which reduced the part to a jelly, as if with a stick, a large perforation in the temple, and one or two in her breasts, apparently produced with a pocket knife.
   It appeared from the testimony that the prisoner and his wife had been married between five and six years; that she was the mother of four children; that she was young, lovely, amiable, and affectionate, and at the time of her marriage possessed a fortune sufficient to insure under discreet management, a handsome competence; that he was gay, likely, and possessed a good understanding; but that under all these circumstance their matrimonial felicity was very incomplete. From a strange perversity of disposition on his part, he had frequently treated her most cruelly. She had several times exhibited marks of the most inhuman violence, but such was the kindness of her disposition, and the meek forbearance of her nature, upon the smallest expression of his  regret for his cruel and commonly conduct, he was always sure of her forgiveness nd a quick return of her warmest affection. When his injurious conduct was continued to ungenerous and abusive upbraidings, she never murmured or resisted; and when his fiend like disposition led him to extend it to blows, she only implored his mercy.
   It was attempted, on the part of the counsel for the prisoner, to prove insanity, but they totally failed; all their witnesses proving that he was a man of strong and vigorous mischief. They then rested the defense, and in their arguments contended for an acquittal upon two grounds: First, the danger of convicting upon circumstantial evidence. Under this head they inqenousely tried to convince the jury that a possibility existed of the deceased having committed self murder. Secondly, they contended and urged with a zeal deserving a better cause, that if the prisoner did commit the murder, the circumstance attending it were so horrible to themselves as to prove conclusively, that he must have been in a state of mental derangement-that no human being possessing the fullness of his reason, could conceive, much less execute an act of such dreadful atrocity. At eleven o'clock at night, the trial, having occurred the whole of the two preceding days, the argument closed, and the judge having in an impartial and impressive manner instructed the jury in all the points of law which could possibly be involved in the case, they retired to their room, and in five minutes returned into court, and amidst the apparent stillness of death pronounced a verdict of GUILTY.
  The prosecution was ably conducted by Yelveton P. King, Esq. Solicitor General, and Messrs. Rockwell, Cuthbert, and Sparks, assistant counsel. Their arguments to the jury were clear, impressive, and pathetic; and if the prisoner had a heart susceptible of feeling, that heart must have been lacerated. ,,,,
   The defence was conducted ingeniously and ably by Messrs Strong & Holt, and Adam G. Satfold, Esq.......

October 17, 1826
Georgia Journal
~excerpts~A Proclamation.    WHEREAS I have received official information of a murder having been committed in the county of Jones in the State, on the body of two negroes, Jane and Moses, the property of Ebenezer Z. Duffey, by said EBENEZER Z. DUFFEY and BENJAMIN DOWNING, of the county aforesaid and it appearing by the report of the Coroner, that the said Benjamin Downing has been arrested, but that Ebenezer Z. Duffey has absconded. Now therefore in order that the said Ebenezer Z. Duffey may be brought to trial for the crime wherewith he is charged, I have brought proper to issue this my Proclamation, hereby offering a reward of TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS to any person or persons who shall apprehend and deliver him to the Sheriff of the county aforesaid-......
G. M. TROUP. By the Governor: DANIEL NEWNAN, Sec'y of State. Note. Ebenezer Z. Duffey is supposed to be about 30 years of age, is 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, dark complexion, black hair, small black eyes, and with a considerable stoop in the shoulders. Sept. 26

August 8, 1832
Macon Telegraph
~excerpts~ Whereas I have received official information, that on the 28th day of June last, in the county of Jones, in said State a murder, was committed on the body of Zachariah Williamson, by JOHN HUNT of said county.....the said John Hunt and George H. Sims have fled from justice..reward of TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS for each....WILSON LUMPKIN, by the Governor E. Hamilton, Secretary of State.. John Hunt is about 28 years of age, red complexion, red hair, grey eyes and about 5 feet 8 or 10 inches tall...

November 27, 1838
Macon Telegraph
SUPPOSED MURDER. On the 12th inst. the body of a man was discovered in a hollow log, near Johnson's Mills, in Jones county, apparently having been in that situation eight or ten days., On the body were sixteen or seventeen cuts and stabs; showing conclusively that he must have come to his death by foul means. Some papers were found on him, by which it appeared that his name was Elias M. Isaacs, -some of them were bills for the purchase of Jewelry in Albany, Utica, and Syracuse, N. Y. A note was found, addressed to him by a Mr. Whitney of New York, who appeared to have been his counsel in some difficulty he had been involved in respect to the purchase, or possession of Jewelry.
  The only light that has been elicited respecting him, is, that a person who was supposed to be a French Jew answering to his name and description, was in this city a few days, and left here on the 5th ins., in a Jersey wagon, with a man by the name of Williams, a Ventriloquist and slight of hand performer; and another individual, who appeared to be an Italian. While here the murdered man was engaged in peddling Jewelry, and claimed to have the value of three to four thousand dollars in waters, Jewelry and money; which probably was the immediate cause of his murder. No money, or jewelry was found with him, except a ring, which he wore, which has been recognized as belonging to him, by persons who had notice it. A wagon, and individuals answering the description of those who left here with him, were seen at the place where the body was found, the morning after they left here.
  Of course strong suspicious are fixed on the persons who accompanied the murdered man from this place, and the public would do well to be on a lookout for the perpetrators of such a foul deed. - Messenger.

February  12, 1839
Southern Recorder
~~excerpts~..that in the month of November last, a murder was committed in the county of Jones, in this State, upon the body of a man supposed to have been named Elias or Ichabod M. Isaacs, by J. W. COWLES and JOHN DICKERSON, and that the said COWLES and DICKERSON have fled from justice: ..reward of Three Hundred Dollars...and double that amount for both...GEORGE R. GILMER. By the Governor: WM. A. TENNILLE, Secretary of State
DESCRIPTION.- COWLES is represented as being about five feet seven or eight inches high, a very trim built well made ma, very active and upright in his walk. He is travelling through the country as a Juggler and Ventriloquist, and is a native of Connecticut. His real name JULIUS WILLIAM COWLES, but has frequently changed his name, going sometimes by the name of WILLIAMS, sometimes by that of COWLES or COLE, and then by spelling his name backwards and taking the name of SELWOC.
  DICKERSON is a tall bowlegged and very stout man, has a very fair complexion, light hair, blue or light eyes, broad shoulders, with two double teeth on the upper jaw in front; chews a great deal of tobacco. February 5, 1839

HOMICIDE - On Wednesday last, a young man of the name of Choate, was killed in Jones county from a pistol shot discharged from the hand of an itinerant peddler of the name of Morris. There are various accounts  as to whether the pistol was discharged by accident or design. Morris has, however, been arrested and committed to jail. Geo. Citizen.

October 30, 1855
Southern Recorder
  Morris Abraham, indicted for the murder of Richard J. Choate of Jones co., was tried at the October term of the late Superior Court of that county, Judge Hardeman presiding, and sentenced to four years imprisonment in the State Penitentiary - the Jury having returned a verdict of voluntary manslaughter.

September 13, 1859
Macon Telegraph
Jackson Roberts Committed
  The examination into the case of Jackson Roberts, charged with the murder of his brother in Jones county, on the 30th of August, took place on Friday last. After hearing the evidence, the prisoner was committed to Jail to answer the charge of murder. Justices Thos. S. Humphreys, John S. Humphreys, and Thos. Burdin, presiding.

April 28, 1860
Macon Telegraph
Clinton, April 22, 1860. Mr. Clisby. Jones Superior Court adjourned this morning after a most arduous week of labor, and although it was Sabbath Judge Harris passed sentence upon Jackson Roberts, who had been found guilty of involuntary man slaughter, after a fifty five hours test of muscle and endurance by the Jury that tried the case. His sentence was three years in the Penitentiary.

August 27, 1860
Macon Telegraph
Clinton, Aug. 24th, 1860
Mr. Clisby: On Saturday, John J. Maddox was brought before Justices Hascall, Childs, Butler and Middlebrooks, charged with killing Levi A. Loyd on the 21st inst., and after hearing evidence in the case was committed to our county jail to await his trial for murder at our next Superior Court.
  George W. Maddox, was also arraigned before the same Justices, charged with an assault with intent to murder Eli S. Gray; upon an investigation in default of bail, he was also committed to jail. These men are brothers, and had met at the grocery mentioned in my last, together with others, to attend a shooting match for beef, but unfortunately it resulted in a shooting  match of quite a different character. Cause for the whole affair, bad blood and strychnine whiskey. The weapons used besides the black bottles were double barrel guns. Yours, B

October 24, 1860
Macon Telegraph
  John J. Maddox, convicted last week in the Superior Court of Jones County for the murder of Levi A. LLoyd, was yesterday brought to Macon by Sheriff Balkcom of Jones county and committed to Bibb county jail to await his execution on the 7th December next, the Jones county jail being considered insecure.

September 29, 1863
Southern Recorder
  During the term, John Maddox, who was indicted for the murder of ___Loyd, in Jones county, and whose case had been transferred to Baldwin, pleaded guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and was sentenced by Judge Harris to ten years imprisonment in  the Penitentiary. He had been convicted at a previous term, and a new trial was ordered by the Supreme Court which ruled the offense to be manslaughter, from testimony adduced. He had been three years in Jail.

December 4, 1877
Macon Telegraph
Shocking Murder of a Young Girl in Jones County.
  Miss Addie Hodge, a daughter of Mr. Samuel Hodge, an old and highly respected citizen of the upper part of Jones county, was shot and killed, while on a visit to her brother-in-law, Mr. Robert Gordon, by some unknown party, about dark Saturday evening, the 24th inst. WHile the family of Mr. Gordon were at tea in the kitchen, a house adjacent and directly behind the dwelling from the road, the discharge of a gun was heard in the direction of the road. Miss Hodge at the time happened to be passing from the back part of the dwelling toward the fire place and received the ball, it  taking effect on the side of her head, just above the ear and ranging upward. She survived about an hour. It is supposed that the shot was aimed at some one in the kitchen.
  Miss Hodge was about fifteen years of age, greatly esteemed for her many estimable traits of character, and her untimely death has cast a gloom over the entire community. The funeral service took place yesterday at Cany Creek church where the remains were interred. The Rev. Mr. Bazemore officiated.

July 29, 1884
Union and Recorder
   Jones County, Clinton, July 25, 1884
   Bob Jackson, one of the negroes supposed to have been implicated in the murder of an old and aged negro man, Abner Clewer, who was found naked and dead early in January 1883, died to-day near the scene of this dastardly crime.

November 18, 1884
Union and Recorder
Terrible Tragedy in Jones.
  News has reached this city, by a gentleman who visited Jones county, last Sunday, that a terrible tragedy was enacted on the old Bivins homestead on that day. Col. Benj. Beck, well known in this city, who married the widow of James W. Stubbs, was murdered by his step-sons, Stephen and James Stubbs, and Col. Beck's son Benjamin, was fatally shot. A coroner's inquest was held and a verdict of murder was rendered. The jury arrested the men and held them until the Sheriff arrived when they were taken to Clinton and confined in jail. We do not know the cause of the trouble. The parties all lived on the same plantation. The young Stubbses armed themselves with shotguns and pistols and killed Co. Beck and mortally wounded his son, as above stated. It is said, neither Col. Beck nor his son was armed. To what deplorable results do the nursing of bad passions lead! The parties to this heart-rending tragedy are connected to the best families of the State, Col. Beck was a gallant Confederate officer.

November 25, 1884
Union and Recorder
Further Incidents of the Jones County Murder
  we copy the following from the Macon Telegraph & Messenger of the 18th:
   "The news reached Macon last Sunday evening of a terrible tragedy in Jones county. An order was brought into Clay's establishment for two coffins and an inquiry revealed the fact that Colonel Benjamin Beck, a well-to-do farmer of Jones county, and his young son, of the same name, had been killed by two brothers, Jim and Stephen Stubbs, also farmers.
  The details of the killing were difficult to obtain, owing to the fact that it occurred in the country far removed from the railroad. From Dr. W. A. Thomas, of Baldwin county, who, with Dr. Pursely, was sent for to attend young Beck, and who heard his dying statement, the following facts were learned:
  The parties to the tragedy were Col. Benjamin Beck, Benjamin Beck, Jr., and Jim and Stephen Stubbs. Col. Beck married a Mrs. Stubbs, the mother of Jim and Stephen. Ben Beck, Jr. and Tom Beck were half-brothers to the Stubbs, who were Col. Beck's step-sons. All of them farmed on the same land.
   There is no definite information as to the origin of the trouble. The most probable story is that the Becks had a patch of corn between two patches of corn belonging to the Stubbs'. It is claimed that the Stubbs' fed their stock from the Becks' corn instead of their own, and this led to a quarrel or an assault on last Friday. On Sunday morning Tom Beck was sent by his father to Clinton, 9 miles distance, for a warrant for the Stubbs'. While he was gone the quarrel; was renewed in the yard, and resulted in the instant killing of Col. Beck. He received a load of small shot in his left side and a load of buckshot in his right side. After Col. Beck fell he was shot twice in the back of the head with a pistol, both balls lodging in his brain.
  Young Beck was not killed outright. He received seven gun shot wounds, one of which would have been fatal. There were five balls in the right side, one through the spine and stomach, and two through the left arm near the wrist. He did not fall at first shot and ran, asking the Stubbs brothers not to kill him, but they continued to shoot at him until the wounds mentioned above were inflicted. He died in great pain Sunday afternoon at half-past 4 o'clock. Stephen Stubbs had a double-barreled gun, one barrel loaded with small shot and the other with buckshot. Both men had American bulldog pistols.
   The Stubbses went into the house after the shooting. The wife of Stephen went out into the year and assisted young Beck to the porch  of the house, where he was laid down on some cotton. The body of Col. Beck remained where it fell in the yard until the coroner's jury removed it in the afternoon.
  The heavy and rapid firing caused the neighbors to investigate the cause of it and soon the news was flying over the country. One man went to Clinton after a warrant, one for physicians, and soon the neighborhood was aroused. The warrant was sworn out before justice James Andrews, who gave it to Sheriff Phillips to serve. The sheriff summoned a posse and proceeded at once to the Beck place, but the Stubbs were arrested without difficulty. The remained at the house until about noon, when they started off, and were prevented from escaping by the sheriff. They were taken at once to the jail at Clinton, where they are now lodged.
THE INQUEST
   In the afternoon the coroner's inquest was held. Young Beck was able to make a statement, which embodied the facts given above. He also repeated this statement to Dr. Thomas. In the evidence before the jury it transpired that young Beck's gun had been taken from the shelf in the house and broken on a rock a short distance away. It had not been discharged.
  The jury rendered a verdict that the deceased (Colonel Beck) came to his death by gunshot wounds inflicted at the hands of James and Stephen Stubbs, and in their opinion it was murder.
  Colonel Beck went into the Confederate arm as captain of the Baldwin Volunteers, (not Jordon Guards, as stated by the Telegraph & Messenger.) He was afterwards made Colonel of the Ninth Georgia Regiment. He bore a reputation, as did his two sons, of being a peaceable, law-abiding man, never molesting anyone, and for the past few years living almost in retirement from the world.
   Colonel Isaac Hardeman has been engaged for the defense."

April 25, 1906
Union Recorder
ALONZO HADDOCK'S CASE CONTINUED UNTIL FALL. Young Man Who Killed Burrell Bush Not Tried Because of Illness of an Important Witness.
  One of the largest crowds ever seen in the Jones county court house was present at the opening of the Alonzo Haddock murder case, at Clinton Wednesday. The court house and yard were filled with a crowd of eager listeners.
  The case is one of great local interest, Bush was shot by Haddock at Haddock station last month. The killing it will be remembered, grew out of a romance culminating in the marriage of Bush's son and Haddock's sister. The tragedy created a great sensation.
  The trial was begun at 8:30 and several witnesses were heard, but before progressing very far, the case was continued until the October term, as one of the material witnesses, Mr. Thomas, who is alleged to have seen the shooting, was ill and the doctor certified that she would not be in condition to appear at court for some time. At this announcement most of the crowd left the court room and remained about the streets and stores talking.
  The people of Jones county are divided in their opinions about the affair, some sympathize with Haddock. others regard his action as wholly unwarranted.

October 23, 1906
Union Recorder
  Judge John T. Allen spent last week in Jones County, where he was engaged in the defense of Alonzo Haddock, who was charged with murder. Haddock was found not guilty.

August 9, 1910
Union Recorder
TRAGEDY IN JONES CO. LAST FRIDAY. The Morton Brothers Shoot and Killed the Ethredges at Greys Station.
   An awful tragedy was enacted at Grays in Jones county last Friday.
  On last Friday a reunion and barbecue was held at Grays, and the shooting took place in the afternoon. From Saturday's Macon Evening News we get the following:
   While the barbecue was in progress shortly after four o'clock, Steve and Morris Ethridge and Clayton Kitchens, a kinsman, drove to the store of Luther Morton, not far from the depot at the railroad station, and renewed a quarrel over the negro boy who had gone from the farm of Will Morton to that of Steve Ethridge a week before. Will Morton, it was said, fired at Steve Ethridge on a former occasion, three times about this negro boy, named Seabrook, and when the barbecue was on at its fullest yesterday the row was renewed. Word went back and forth tat one side intended to kill the others at sight. It was kept up till the Ethridges and Kitchens drove to the Morton store and Kitchens offered a fist fight for a settlement. Will Morton engaged Kitchens and the two fought several minutes before anything occurred elsewhere to mar the occasion. Finally, as the Mortons claim, Kitchens was being cornered and choked by Morton when the Ethridges began and interference. Quick as a flash all four Morton brothers and the two Ethridges and Kitchens were in a fight to the death.
  Shots rang out so thick and fast that it was impossible for even eye witnesses to tell exactly how it all happened. When the firing ceased Steve Ethridge lay with his feet on the sidewalk and his body extended into the street with half his head and face shot off. He was dead and his life blood was spread in a horrible manner all about the ground.
  Morris Ethridge lay dead, too, with three pistol shots penetrating his body, one in the mouth, another through the heart and one through the abdomen. Both men never breathed to utter a word.
  The fist fight was lost in the thick of the firing. It was said Kitchens called out that he was licked just as the other interference came  and this turned the participants to the most serious matter of slaying an assailant and protecting self.
   The front of the store this morning show evidence of a terrible battle. The thick show window glass has been perforated with shots and it is said the clear evidence of the fire that was being poured in at the Mortons by the Etheridges is best shown here.

November 19, 1910
Macon Telegraph
IKE RUSHING TO HANG DEC. 16 IN JONES CO.
Juliette, Ga, Nov. 18 - Judge Lewis has sentenced Ike Rushing, the negro charged with the murder of Bailiff Bass in Jones county in April, 1909, to hang on Dec. 16 in the jail. No one will be allowed to witness the hanging. Rushing was convicted of murder last April and sentenced to hang, but his attorneys appealed his case to the supreme court. The new trial was refused by the court.

August 17, 1914
Macon Telegraph
JONES COUNTY NEGRO MURDERED YESTERDAY
James Ward, Negro, Who Shot Him, Makes Escape-Killing Occurs on J. W. Humphries Place, Above Macon.,
   J. W. Humphries, a well known planter residing in the northwest portion of Jones county, just beyond the Bibb county line and seven miles from Macon, notified Sheriff J. R. Hicks yesterday, that James Ward, a negro, who has been working near Holton, shot and killed another negro man residing on Mr. Humphries' place, yesterday morning about i o'clock. The name of the dead negro could not be learned in Macon.
   The case is outside the jurisdiction of the Bibb county sheriff since the murder occurred in Jones county, but Mr. Humphries came here to report it, owing to the greater distance to Gray. He requested Sheriff Hicks to notify Sheriff Ethridge, at Gray, and several attempts were made to do so yesterday but because of the telephone and telegraph offices being closed the Jones county sheriff could not be reached. He will probably not know of the murder until today.
  The killing is said to have ben the result of a dispute over a child. The dead negro was shot three times through the face and mouth, his assailant using a pistol.
  After the shooting Ward made his escape and it was thought he might come to Macon. Mr. Humphries for that reason hastened here to notify Sheriff Hicks to be on the lookout for him.
  Deputy Sheriff Lon Williams said yesterday hat the murdered Negro was a prisoner in the Bibb county jail about a year ago but he could not remember his name.

May 29, 1915
Macon Telegraph
MURDERER OF WAYSIDE MAN STILL FUGITIVE
Sheriff Etheridge Will Pay Reward For Sam Strong.
 Sam Strong, the negro boy who last Saturday night shot and killed Thomas Green White, a merchant at Wayside, Jones county, is still at large and Sheriff R. N. Etheridge, of Jones county, is doing everything in his power to apprehend the fugitive.
    Sheriff Etheridge states that the negro is of ginger cake color, about 20 years old, 5 feet, 8 or 9 inches in height and weighs about 140 or 150 pounds. He received two pistol wounds in the duel with Mr. White, one through the point of the chin and another in the left shoulder.
  Sheriff Etheridge will pay a reward of $24 for his arrest and detention until he can come for him.

July 6, 1915
Union Recorder
JONES MOBS ARE SCOURING COUNTY. In Search of Negroes Who Murdered Silas Turner a Young White Man.
   Silas Turner, a young white man, was shot in the back of the head Saturday and instantly killed by a negro named Brooks.
  The murder was one of the most cold-blooded, premeditated murders in the history of Jones county.
  Turner went to the home of Brooks, a negro, to collect a bill and Walter Brooks, John Richey and Will Gordon, according to confession by Gordon, made to Deputy Sheriff C. E. Roberts, of Jones county after being brought to the Bibb county jail early Monday morning, plotted to kill Turner.
   Shortly afterward Turner again appeared and started to make a search of the house. When he turned his back, Brooks, according to Gordon, shot him in the back of the head with a charge from a shot gun killing him instantly. The negroes then rolled the body over, took a pistol from the dead man's pocket and fired on cartridge, and then placed the pistol beside the body to make it appear a case of suicide. They then escaped. Gordon was later captured and with two others negroes, Square Thomas and Scott Farrar, brought to the Bibb jail for safe keeping. Brooks and Richey are still at large.
  A mob organized to search for the negroes killed and negro by the name of Greene and his son Sunday night. These negroes were not connected with the crime.
   Rumors of other negroes being killed have come to the sheriff but have not been verified.
(see October 23, 1915)

July 7, 1915
Macon Telegraph
Jones County Quiet, But Another Negro Is Jailed
Gray, July 6 - The county commissioners of Jones county today ordered a coffin sent to Round Oak for the burial of a body of a  negro that was found in the roadside there earlier in the day. The negro had been shot to death. He is the third victim of the series of killings to avenge the murder of Silas Turner, the young planter, who was killed on Sunday morning.
   Jones county is quite tonight. In the jail here is Peter Thurman, who is alleged to have had a hand in the murder of Turner. Thurman is held on a charge of murder. The three negroes locked up in the Bibb county jail and this one are all that have been taken into custody, and the authorities of Jones and Jasper counties are search for others.
  The latest victim of violence was known as Earl Palmer, at whose home on the John King plantation Mr. Turner was slain. The negro's body was found at the roadside at Round Oak early this morning.
  Sheriff Etheridge stated tonight before leaving for Macon that he looked for no more trouble in connection with the case. He felt sure that all of the negroes suspected of being in the plot to kill Turner would be under arrest soon.
  Witness Brought Here.
   Sheriff Etheridge, of Jones county, arrived at the Bibb county jail last night with Peter Thurman, a negro, who admits he was present when Silas Turner, the Jones county farmer, was murdered last Sunday. He denies having any part in the shooting.
  Thurman told Sheriff Etheridge last night that the negro, Earl Palmer, found dead beside the road near Round Oak yesterday, was the one who took Mr. Turner's pistol from his pocket after he had been shot dead and after firing one shot from its replaced it beside the body to make his death look like a case of suicide.
  Four negroes are now in jail here in connection with the murder, but Walter Brooks, who is alleged to have done the shooting, is still at large.

July 10, 1915
Macon Telegraph
NEGRO KILLS HIS WIFE ON JONES COUNTY FARM. Hobbles Across Country on Crutches to "get" Wife.
   Gray, July 3 - Dooly Farrar, a crippled negro hobbled to the home of John Tom Williams, ten miles from here, during last night and laid in wait for his wife, a cook in the Williams home, to appear. When she arrived this morning Farrar drew a 38-calibre revolver and shot the woman dead. The body fell inside the kitchen door.
  Sheriff Etheridge was notified of the shooting and hastened to the scene, finding Farrar had already been taken in charge by people on the Williams place. The sheriff brought the negro to the county jail, where he is held on a charge of murder.
  Negro Uses Crutches.
  Farrar is practically helpless. He uses crutches and it is said spent most of the night in going across country roads to the Williams home in search of his wife, with whom he had quarreled.
  Two more negroes implicated in the murder of Silas Turner, a Jones county farmer, were jailed here tonight.

October 23, 1915
Savannah Tribune
WHITE MEN INDICTED FOR MURDERING NEGROES
Gray, Ga., Oct 20. The Jones county grand jury in investigating the wholesale lynching of four Negroes here several weeks ago, following the murder of Silas Turner, a white farmer, to-day indicted two white men.
  On the day following the murder of Turner and aged Negro named Lonzo Green and his son were trying to reach their home at Wayside when they were shot to death.
   Jim Green and Woodall Green, white, and cousins, were indicted today, charged with the murder of these two Negroes. Woodall Green was arrested by the sheriff and is in jail. The other man has not been located.

September 4, 1918
Macon Telegraph
NEGRO CONFESSES SERIES OF CRIMES. John Gilham, Alias Thomas, Broke Jail in Jones -
Then Attacked Women - Caught by Negroes
  John Gilham, alias John Thomas, negro, who broke away from the Jones county chain gang on August 18, and who since that time has attempted assault on two white women, one negro woman and two negro girls was caught yesterday morning by Charlie Pitts, and Charlie Jackson, two negro workmen, near Lakeside Park. The negro was brought to the city barracks, where he was later taken charge of by Sheriff T. C. Middlebrooks and Deputy Sheriff T. A. Roberts of Jones county.
  Gilham confessed to his crimes and also to the murder of a negro in Warren county six years ago. The sheriff of Warren county has been looking for him for some time.
  A year ago Gilham was arrested and charged with a felony, being sentenced to the chain gang in Jones county for one year, his identity not being known ny the authorities at Gray where he was tried.
Located in Swamps
   On August 18 Gilham broke from the gang and in the eight hours following attempted assaults on five women in Jones county. He was followed by a large number of farmers of Jones county and traced into the swamps in the vicinity of Lakeside where he has been for several days, coming out yesterday morning, when he was seen by the two negroes who caught him, and who notified the police authorities immediately. The feeling in Jones county is pretty high, both among whites and blacks, and trouble is expected.
   The reward which was on the negro will be given to the to negroes Charlie  Jackson and Charlie Pitts, who were thanked and made to see the greatness of their deed by the police last night. Both negroes are from Macon and are employed by the public health department.

September 5, 1918
Macon Telegraph
Negroes Join With Whites in Lynching Negro for Assaults
John Gilman, Caught Near Macon, Is Taken From Officers Near Jones County Jail and Shot. Attacks Made on White and Colored Women Last Month - Coroner's Jury Investigates.
Gray, Sept. 4 - Taken from Jones County and Macon officers near the Jones County jail here last night, John Gilham, alias John Thomas, a negro charged with several criminal assaults upon white and colored women in this county, was lynched by a part of unknown men. Sheriff T. C. Middlebrooks today said he is positive there were several negroes in the party. Gilham's body was found in a ditch this morning. Half a dozen or more bullets had pierce it. There were indications the negro had been killed in woods nearby and dragged to the ditch.
  Chief Bowden Along.
   Accompanied by Chief of Police Bowden and Detective Newberry, of the Macon department, Sheriff Middlebrooks and Deputy Sheriff T. A. Roberts left Macon last night in an automobile with the prisoner, caught near Macon yesterday  morning by two negro men and turned over to Macon officers. When the outskirts of Gray were reached the sheriff sent a man ahead to see if the way was clear and upon receiving a favorable report the officers continued the trip. The jail was being approached when without warning from all sides a crowd closed in on the automobile, covering the officers with guns.
  The negro was taken from the car and, still handcuffed, lynch near Gray.
    "Death at the hands of persons unknown" was the verdict of the coroner's jury, returned after an investigation conducted today.
  Gilham escaped from the Jones County gang last month and shortly after gaining freedom is alleged to have attempted assault on two white women, one negro woman and two negro girls, all in the same vicinity. Searching parties were organized and had hunted through a wide section of country when the authorities were notified from Macon yesterday of Gilham's arrest.

October 2, 1920
Macon Telegraph
JAILED HERE ON MURDER CHARGE. Former Inmate of Asylum Is Held As Slayer of Kitchens.
FAMILY FEUD CAUSES TROUBLE.
  Watson Parker, white man who is said to have been in the asylum for the insane at Milledgeville on three different occasions, was brought to the Bibb County Jail yesterday by Sheriff J. C. Middlebrooks of Jones county, and is held charged with murder in connection with the killing of L. C. Kitchens, which occurred Thursday afternoon three miles east of Haddock.
  Witnesses to the killing say that Kitchens and Parker had just engaged in a fist difficulty previous to the shooting, Kitchens getting the better of the affair. Carson Parker, brother of the man who did the shooting, is said to have approached and inquired as to the trouble.
  Kitchens replied that he had just whipped one man and would whip another and lifted a heavy rock to strike Carson Walker, when his brother, Watson, is said to have fired a double-barrel shot gun which caused the death of Kitchens. Ill feeling is said to have existed between the two families for some time.
  When seen at the jail by a reported, Parker declined to make a statement about the killing.

October 19, 1920
Macon Telegraph
"NO-BILL" AGAINST PARKER
Will Be Taken Back to Jones County Today and Released.
  The Jones county grand jury, investigating the death of J. C. Kitchens, who was shot last month by T. W. Parker, returned a no-bill against Parker and he will be carried to Jones county this morning  and released. Parker was brought to the Bibb County Jail after the killing and has been confined here since.
  The killing of Kitchens occurred after Kitchens and a brother of Parker's had engaged in a fist difficulty. Parker contended he shot in self-defense, claiming Kitchens was advance on him with  a heavy rock when he fired a shotgun at the advancing man.
 

October 23, 1920
Macon Telegraph
HUDSON IS GUILTY; RELEASED ON BOND. Jones County Farmer Involuntary Manslaughter Verdict.
FILES MOTION FOR NEW TRial. Jury Recommends Person Term of One Year and One Day.
    Gray, Oct. 22. The trial of Charles N. Hudson, charged with murder, came to an end in the Jones county Superior Court this morning when the jury returned a verdict of guilty of involuntary manslaughter with recommendation. The defendant was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.
  Hudson   was charged with slaying Miss Drusilla Devlin on October 3, the indictment alleging that he crushed an automobile, which he was driving, into another machine in the death of Miss Devlin; that he was in an intoxicated condition at the time, and that he wad driving his automobile at a reckless rate of speed.
  The defendant, who is a prosperous Jones county farmer, received hi sentence from Judge J. B. Park without any signs of emotion. His wife and his little daughter broke down while the sentence was being imposed and sobbed for several minutes.
Motion For New Trial.
   His attorneys lost but little time in filing a motion for a new trial and their client was given his freedom on a bond of $2,000. No date for hearing of the motion was set by the court.
  The accident, which result in the conviction of the young farmer, occurred on the Milledgeville road at a point known as the geographical censer of this State. Miss Devlin was a member alongside of an automobile, the property of Louis Long, when the automobile driven by Hudson and traveling at an alleged reckless speed crashed into Long's car. The young woman was caught between the two machines and crushed badly. She died in Macon the following day.
  This affair, spurred on by several fatal accidents in Macon and throughout this section of the State a short time prior to October 3, caused a wave of indignation against excessive automobile speeding in Bibb County.

May 9, 1921
Macon Telegraph
GOSSIP IS FATAL. Leads to Killing of One Negro and Wounding of Another.
   Tom Davis, middle aged negro man, is at the Macon Hospital with a bullet wound through his left thigh, and Chris Morris, negro, is dead with six bullet holes through his body as the result of a pistol battle yesterday afternoon at about 2:30 o'clock between the two on the farm of H. M. McKay, in Jones County.
    According to Davis, the affray resulted from gossip which one negro woman told concerning himself and the wife of the dead negro. He said that he had turned and was going away from Morris when the latter shot him through the thigh. He turned and sent six bullets through Morris then, he declared, in self defense.

October 2, 1921
Macon Telegraph
    Year After Accident Damage Suit Is Set Mrs. Devlin's Civil Action Comes Up in City Court Monday.
  The civil damage suits growing out of the automobile accident on the Clinton road on October 3, 1920, in which Miss Drusilla Devlin was killed, will be tried in City Court on Monday, just one year to a day from the time of the accident.
  Mrs. L. G. Devlin, mother of Miss Drusilla Devlin, through her attorneys, Defore and Estes, sued C. M. Hudson, who is represented by Judge John P. Ross, for $15,000. Louis F. Long, whose car was damaged in the accident, also asks for $559. 35.
   The accident occurred on a Sunday afternoon when Louis F. Long and his wife, Mrs. Devlin, and her daughter were out for an automobile ride. They stopped at a stake on the Clinton road which indicates the geographical center of the State, and Miss Devlin was taking pictures with a kodak, when a car driven by Hudson and said to have been running a high speed, rounded a curve at the top of a hill and crashed into the party. Miss Devlin was crushed between the Hudson and the Long machines, one of her limbs being cut completely off. She died later at a local hospital.
   Hudson was arrested on a charge of manslaughter and was convicted by a jury and given one year. The case was appealed and the conviction was affirmed. Hudson served several months on a chaingang when the Supreme Court held in another case that the "speed law" under which Hudson was convicted was unconstitutional. The Governor then pardoned Hudson.

December 27, 1921
Macon Telegraph
  GRAY NEGRO LOSES HIS LIFE OVER TEN CENTS
    Gray, Ga., Dec. 26 - Pete Brooks, a negro, lost his life here yesterday afternoon over a 10-cent best. Pulaski Hogan, a negro, is in the Jones county jail here held on the charge of murder. The two men quarreled, it is said, and Brooks shot at Hogan with a pistol, Hogan then wielded his knife. Hogan surrendered at the jail and claimed self-defense.

August 29, 1922
Macon Telegraph
J. W. WESTBOOK SLAIN. Macon Man, Killed at Juliette, is Buried There. Juliette, Ga., Aug. 28. John William Westbrook, of Macon, 28 years of age, died Sunday afternoon at 5 o'clock as a result of being shot Sunday morning with a revolver by Joe Jackson, carpenter employed by the Juliette Miller Company. The bullet penetrated the bowels. The shooting occurred in front of the milling company's store at Glover's across the river from here and is said to have resulted from previous bad feeling between the two men, who, it is said, engaged in a fight several weeks ago at Glovers when Westbrook was working at the cotton factory there. Westbrook is the son of the lat John Westbrook who formerly lived here. Immediately after the shooting Jackson went to Gray and surrendered to the Jones County authorites. Westbrook was buried .......day afternoon in the cemetery of the Juliette Methodist Church

October 21, 1922
Macon Telegraph
JOE JACKSON IS GIVEN ACQUITTAL. Found Not Guilty of Murder of J. W. Westbrooks. TRIAL IS HELD A GRAY. Glovers Scene of Killing, Which Took Place August 27.
Gray, Ga. Oct. 20. A verdict of acquittal was returned here this afternoon in the case of the State against Joe Jackson, charged with the murder of J. W. Westbrooks. The case had been on trial for two days, but it took the jury only about a half hour to make up its verdict.
   The killing of Westbrooks took place at Glovers on August 27, 1922, and followed a feud of long standing between the two men. Both were employes of the Juliette Milling Company.
   Jackson's plea at his trial wwas that he shot in self defense, fearing tht Westbrooks was about to attack hime with a knife and alleging numerous threats against him by Westbrooks.
   The two men had a fight some time previous to the killing, in which Westybrooks is alleged to have beaten Jackson up pretty bady. Westbrooks was discharged by the mill management. He is alledged to have returned later and made threats against Jackson. On August 27 Jackson and Westbrooks met in front of the C. A. Lawrence Company's store. Westbrooks is alledged to have had a knife and when Jackson saw the weapon, he said he thought Westbrooks, in view of alledged threats, was going to attack him and he shot him. There were no eye witnesses to the actual killing.
   The taking of testimony was completed Thursday and arguments in this case were made yesterday, the case going to the jury about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. J. N. Birch, of Macon, and official of the mmill where the two men were employed attended the trial and assisted in the defense of Jackson.
  The State was represented by Solicitor Doyle Campbell and Williamgham and Willingham of Forsyth,, while Judge F. Holmes Johnson and Joe Ben Jackson appeared for the defense.

May 14, 1923
Macon Telegraph
HELD AS KILLER. Negro Is Charged With Having Slain Wife at Gray, Ga.
Gray, Ga, May 123 - Following the discovery of his wife's body (Leah Hill Miller) , with her head crushed in, Andrew Miller, 30-year-old negro, was taken into custody today by Sheriff Middlebrooks on the charge of murder.
   Miller claimed his wife committed suicide. the sheriff declared that it would be impossible for any person to inflict such injuries upon one's self.
   The body was found in bed Friday morning and the coroner's jury found a verdict of murder.
  Her chin and lower jar were severely bruised and there were finger prints on her shoulder. She had been placed in a partly sitting posture and her hand cupped with a pistol in it but the hammer was not on the empty shell. The pistol was placed in her left hand. Witnesses who were questioned said she was not left handed. When the body was examined, there could not be found a bullet wound.
  One of the children said he heard a shot fired about 2 o'clock Friday morning.

July 9, 1923
Macon Telegraph
 NEGRO PLANTATION HAND SLAIN IN JONES COUNTY. Sam Childs Killed at James Station by Another Black Who Has No Been Caught.
    Gray, Ga., July 8 - Sam Childs, 40, negro farm laborer, was shot and killed this morning about 10 o'clock at James Station, near here, by Willie Gray, another negro about the same age. The negroes are said to have been drinking and gambling. Gray had not been caught early tonight.
   According to witnesses, Childs was also armed, and Gray got the drop on the dead negro, the bullet killing him almost instantly.
   Gray is employed at a sawmill at James Station. He is also accused of having shot another negro shortly after Christmas.

November 20, 1923
Macon Telegraph
ONE MAN KILLED IN KNIFE BATTLE. Another Wounded. Expected to Die, in Jones County. PERRY MOORE IS DEAD. Tom Smallwood Is Held at Gray Accused of Murder.    Gray, Ga., Nov. 19 - Tom Smallwood, white lumberman, is held in the Jones County jail charged with murder following a cutting afray today near Griswoldville, in Jones County, in which one man was fatally injured, and another possibly so. Sheriff Middlebrooks announced tonight.
   Perry Moore, white, is dead of his wounds, the sheriff says he has learn, and Sam Young in seriously injured, and may die before tomorrow morning.
   The three men, who are all lumber men, engaged in an argument over lumber, said Sheriff Middlebrooks, who explained that Moore attacked Young with a kife, wounding him, and that Smallwood then rushed upon Moore, cutting him fatally. The sheriff went to Griswoldville and arrested Smallwood.
(Note: Sam Young, age 67, died Nov. 29, 1923)

October 23, 1924
Macon Telegaph
NEGRO IS FOUND GUILTY OF TAKING  WIFE'S LIFE.  No Recommendation in Verdict of Jury in Jones County Against Alex Williams
Gray, Ga, Oct. 22 - Alex Williams, a young negro, was found guilty of murder yesterday by the Jones County Superior Court. The jury returned the verdict without recommendation. Sentence has not yet been passed. Williams was charged with killing his wife, her burned body having been found in the ruins of their cabin home and the two small children of the couple were asleep on their father's overcoat in a nearby crib.
  The negro was arrested in Pittsbugh, Pa., when he stepped off of a train. An officer of Jones County brought him back to Georgia without requisition papers required.

April 30, 1925
Augusta Chronicle
MAN TRANSFERRED TO MACON PRISON. John Bachelor, Held For Murder of Mother-in-Law at Griswoldville Removed For Safe Keeping.
  Macon, Ga, April 29 - John Bachelor held for the murder of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Will T. Anderson, in Griswoldville, Ga., yesterday, was brought to Bibb county jail in Macon for safekeeping from Gray at 11 o'clock tonight.
  Sheriff J. C. Middlebrook, of Jones county, who attended the prisoner, said feeling ran so high in and around Griswoldville and Jones county that he thought it advisable to remove Bachelor to Bibb county.
   Funeral of Mrs. Anderson was held at 4 o'clock this afternoon from the Mountain Springs church, near her home, and was largely attended.
    On the road to Macon Bachelor remained silent and did not mention the shooting. He has consistently refused to discuss it with officers.
  Having been separated from his wife seeking employment for some time, Bachelor went to the Anderson home Tuesday morning, where Mrs. Bachelor and their two children were staying, armed with a revolver. He was said to have been intoxicated at the time. An altercation and the shooting followed. Bachelor fired the shots, Mrs. Bachelor stated while she grappled with him with the revolver in his hand.

November 24, 1925
Augusta Chronicle
Georgia Man Denied New Trial by Judge J. B. Parks at Gray.
  Gray, Ga., Nov. 23 - John D. Bachelor, 43, under sentence of death following his conviction on the charge of killing his mother-in-law, was tonight denied a new trial by Judge James B. Parks, after hearing arguments on the appeal.
  Batchelor, a resident of Atlanta, but a native of Haddock, was convicted of the crime last month and sentenced to die in the electric chair on November 27.,
  Attorneys for the defense filed, notice of an appeal to the supreme court, which automatically delays  the execution.
  Mrs. Fannie Anderson, aged mother-in-law of the condemned man, was slain on April 28, last, on the front porch of her farm home at Haddock. The testimony of Batchelor's nine-year-old daughter, never shaken in the slightest detail, was that her father came to the Anderson home in a very angry frame of mind, shot down the aged woman at close range, and then, with his wife struggling to take away the gun, fired another shot into the prostrate body of the aged woman, over the daughter's shoulder.

August 29, 1925
Augusta Chronicle
2 COUNTY OFFICERS SHOT AND KILLED NEAR ILLICIT STILL.  Haddock, Ga., Aug. 28. The bodies of Floyd Malone, county policeman, and of Frank Tucker, his deputy, were found near the old Choates mill, five miles from here this afternoon. They had been shot this afternoon supposedly by moonshiners.
  There was nothing at the scene to indicate that there had been a scuffle. On the contrary the evidence uncovered by Sheriff J. Clark Middlebrooks tonight indicates that both men were shot and killed at a distillery site in the lower part of Jones county, both bodies being placed in the county policeman's automobile and carried to the old mill site.
  Malone's body had been carefully laid out on the ground, on top of his Winchester rifle while his pistol laid a few inches ahead of him.
  Tucker's body lay across his pump shotgun, with an automatic pistol also carefully placed a few inches above his head.
  There was not blood on the ground and little blood in Malone's automobile, in which the bodies had been transported to the mill site.
    The officers left here at 4 o'clock this morning on a hunt for moonshiners in the southeastern part of the county. Searching parties went out to try to located them, but a boy who had been fishing in Choate's mill pond observed the abandoned car some distance from the Macon-Garrison road, investigated and came upon the bodies. He immediately gave the alarm and the sheriff and a large posse of men hastened here from Gray, the county seat.
   Malone is married and hails from Jasper county. He had been here in Jones county only two weeks, succeeding Joe S. Grubb, the county policeman who was killed about a month ago and who also came from Monticello, Ga.
  Sheriff Middlebrooks said tonight, after an examination of the bodies that both had been shot at close range by a shotgun in which "rung" or cut shells had been used. One of the cut shells was found at the scene.
  Great holes were torn in the bodies of both men, not only the charge but nearly half of the shell passing into the bodies in each instance, producing almost instant death.
   Malone was shot below the right shoulder, the charged entering his chest and side.
   Tucker was shot in the head.
    Sheriff Middlebrooks expressed the opinion that he found the motive for the killing in the tenneau of the automobile, a distillery cap. He said that the raiding officers undoubtedly had come upon a still in the late afternoon, taken the cap and then returned later to the scene of the distillery in the hope of capturing the operators when they showed up for the night's run.
  Coroner J. R. Bullington is in the Middle Georgia sanitorium in Macon, suffering from illness. However, arrangements are being made to hold an inquest.
   Persons attempted to track the automobile back to the scene of the killing tonight, but because of darkness they had to give up the job until daylight.
  The sheriff stated that Malone's weapon had not been discharged. Two shot had been fired from Tucker's pistol.

Gray, Ga., Aug. 28. E. T. Dumas was sworn in as coroner to investigate the killing of Floyd Malone, county policeman, and his deputy, Frank Tucker, tonight. The jury returned a verdict that the men came to their deaths from unknown parties and that it was murder.
   Feeling is running high here tonight. Citizens are planning a mass meeting for the purpose, it was announced, of running all moonshiners out of the county.
    The governor has been appealed to offer rewards in addition to Jones county rewards, for the capture of the slayers of the two officers.

September 1, 1925
Augusta Chronicle
~excerpt~ Those under arrest in the Bibb county jail at Macon are:
R. E. Etheridge, 38, married. Grover Cleveland Etheridge, 48, married. Atkinson Etheridge, 29, married. T. A. Stubbs, 45, married. Otis Stubbs, 16, son of T. A. Stubbs. Mitchell Moore, 31 married. All of these are white men. Two negroes previously arrested are being held as material witnesses. One of the negroes is said to have been employed by Atkinson Etheridge......
  People here in Gray do not like to be linked up with the case at all. They declared today that there was only a little section of the county, more that ten miles away from this city, which could be called "bad lands."
  New information that came to the surface today strengthens the theory of some people that the slain officers were lured into the death trap and that they did not ever reach the still where they were supposed to have been going..
Homer Green, one of the negroes who had been held in the Jones county jail since Sunday in connection with the slaying of two Jones county policemen, was transferred to the Bibb county jail tonight by Sheriff Middlebrooks of Jones, county, and formally charged with murder.

September 5, 1925
Augusta Chronicle
Macon, Ga., Sept. 4. Federal prohibition enforcement officers combing the territory around Commissioner creek, in Jones county, this afternoon, found a still near the rear of the home of R. E. Etheridge, one  of the men under arrest in connection with the killing of Floyd Malone, county policeman and Deputy Frank Tucker.
    The still had not been operated for several days, the officers stated. The water was being supplied from a pool in the creek, below which a dam had been built.
  This is the sixth still destroyed in this neighborhood since the double murder......

September 7, 1925
Augusta Chronicle
~excerpt~ The sheriff's office announced tonight that W. A. (Frog Eye) Johnson, wanted in Jones county on a warrant charging murder in connection with the slaying of County Policeman Floyd Malone and Deputy Frank Tucker, nine days ago, is under arrest in Miami, Fla.

December 30, 1925
Macon Telegraph
FARMER IS FREED IN KILLING CASE.  Murder of J. L. Gordon By C. L. Callahan Held Justifiable. IS RESULT OF AN ARGUMENT
   Gray, Ga., Dec. 29 - Following a coroner's inquest today investigating the shooting last night of J. L. Gordon, 45, sawmill man, living in the western part of Jones County, C. L. Callahan, 34, slayer of Gordon was exonerated of all blame. The jury considered his act justifiable homicide.
  According to evidence brought out at the inquest held at Gray, Gordon and his wife had gone to visit the Callahan home and take supper with them. During the meal Gordon and Callahan engaged in an argument, the result of which was that Gordon tried to strike Callahan with a chair. Callahan struck Gordon knocking him to the floor.
   Gordon and his wife returned to their home and Gordon put on his hunting coat, with a number of gun shells in the pockets, and took his gun to the home of Callahan, which was about a mile distant.
  Mrs. Callahan saw Gordon approaching and before her husband could act, rushed to the back door to prevent his coming into the house.
  Andrew Jackson, a neighbor, visiting with the Callahans, went to the assistance of Mrs. Callahan. She pushed Gordon into the yard and struggle with him for the possession of the shotgun.
  Gordon shoved Mrs. Callahan away from him, eluded Jackson and rushed for the back  door of the Callahan residence. It was then that Callahan fired on him with a shot gun, killing him almost instantly. All this was according to testimony at the inquest.
   Mrs. Gordon testified at the inquest that she tried to keep her husband from going back to the Callahan home, but that he kept repeating that he would tolerate no such treatment as he had received from Callahan.

May 5, 1926
Augusta Chronicle
~excerpt~The Etheridge brothers are under sentence of life imprisonment for the murder..Atkinson Etheridge having been tried only a few weeks ago.

October 18, 1926
Macon Telegraph
NEGRO KILLED. Will Andrews Dies After Shooting in Jones County. Will Andrews, negro, died at a local hospital yesterday afternoon of bullet wounds suffered in a shooting affray in Jones County early Sunday morning. Authorities are seeking Gilbert Burgess, negro, who is supposed to have fired the fatal shot.

May 17, 1939
Macon Telegraph
Jones Coroner Believes Woman Lived in Macon. Body Is That of White Person About 30 Years Old, Etheridge Says.
   New clues uncovered yesterday in the Jones county lovers-lane skeleton murder mystery have convinced Coroner W. H. Etheridge that the victim was a blonde white woman in her early thirties, the coroner reported to The Telegraph last night.
   Mr. Etheridge reported his further belief that the dead woman was a resident of Macon.
    The new evidence consisted of a few wisps of blonde hair, discovered in the much of the Griswoldville swamp near where the skull of the lay, the bones of a left hand; hitherto missing, and a scrap of human flesh, decomposing in the mud where the gruesome discovery was made.
   Coroner Etheridge turned up the new evidence yesterday afternoon, ash he combed the area in the company of Joel Etheridge and Bob Stripling, Jones county farmers who first discovered the skeleton last Wednesday afternoon. He reported that the jaw and both feet are still missing.
To Continue Search. The unreported members were either washed away by spring freshets or carried away by animals, the coroner believes, but the intends to continue his search until all possibility of further disclosures is exhausted.
   "I have checked every missing person in Jones county," Mr. Etheridge report last nighr, "and I have come to the conclusion that the victim was a resident of Macon."
   He and Mrs. W. E. McCord, woman criminal investigator of the Macon police department, previously had agreed that the slayer, if one is involved, was a native of the region in which the body was found. They based that conclusion on the difficulty of reaching the hidden spot where the body lay.
   Mrs. McCord, who had planned to return to the area yesterday, was not able to make the trip, she said last night. She plans, however, to continue the investigation today.
   Mrs. McCord became interested in the case when reports were circulated that the victim was Mrs. Pauline Morgan Bullington, former Macon woman. This rumor was exploded when Mrs. Bullington was found to be alive and working in Atlanta.
   The coroner last night described the secluded territory where the body was found as a rendezvous for lovers. A little-used road leads to an abandoned sawmill about 100 yards from the body's location, and Mr. Etheridge reported that the road is well-known as a place to park.

August 22, 1941
Macon Telegraph
Gray, Aug 21. Sheriff J. P. Hawkins said Thursday night a man docketed as Tom Gip Alexander, 35, of Jasper county, was being held in Jones county jail here on a warrant charging murder in the shotgun, tourist camp slaying of Charlie Dover, 33-year old Negro last Saturday night.
  The officer said that he and Sheriff Frank Ezell of Jasper county, arrested Alexander while the latter was operating a tractor on a post road project, about 10 miles north of Monticello Thursday.
  Sheriff Hawkins said he could not discuss the naure of the evidence upon which the warrant, signed by a deputy, had been issued, but commented:
"We've got a good case."
  Dover was slain with a shotgun blast in the face at Dixie Cabins, where he worked, on the Macon highway near here. Statements gained from Sammy Ford, 21-year-old Negro who had been held as a material witness, had indicated a white man was involved, Sheriff Hawkins said.

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