Randolph County AlArchives Obituaries.....Yates, Guy July 20, 1940
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Linda Ayres http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00031.html#0007674 February 20, 2023, 12:29 am

Roanoke Leader
A Randolph County jury Tuesday night found Ralph Williams, 19, guilty of first-
degree murder in connection with the slaying of Guy Yates, Roanoke taxi driver, 
on the night of July 20, 1940, and the court sentenced him to life imprisonment. 
His twin brother Ray, who was to have gone on trial today on the first-degree 
murder charge, pled guilty and received the same sentence of life imprisonment. 
The present sessions of circuit court were held in the old high school building 
at Wedowee, and the place was overrun yesterday by milling crowds of the 
curious, many of whom had to be turned away. 
In the trial of Ralph, the testimony of various witnesses established the events 
that took place on the High Pine Creek bridge on the Wadley highway when Guy 
Yates was shot four times before having his taxi stolen from him. According to 
witnesses, a car fitting the description of the stolen car ran into a ditch just 
west of Wadley the same night and then went back to a Wadley filling station for 
gasoline after Negro youths had helped to put it back in the road. 
There were no witnesses who could identify the defendant, Ralph Williams, as the 
tall young man seen about the car that night. He was linked to the crime by his 
own statements made in the presence of officers, who testified that he admitted 
to being the man behind the pistol at the shooting. According to these 
witnesses, he also gave details of the flight to Idaho, where he and Ray were 
detained by officers in November after Ralph had been first arrested on a 
drunken driving charge. 
The defense pled not guilty and entered a special plea by reason of insanity, 
offering witnesses whose testimony tended to show the presence of insanity in 
the defendant and in his "family" The state countered with a parade of witnesses 
to pass judgment on the sanity of the defendant, judge W. B. Bowling completed 
the courts charge to the jury at 9:25 p. m., and that body rendered its verdict 
of guilty within half an hour. The indictment against the Williams twins was 
returned by the grand jury which convened Monday morning of last week.

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