Bleckley-Dodge-Laurens County GaArchives News.....ONE EASTMAN RIOTER IN PEN February 7, 1908
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Dublin Courier-Dispatch. Georgia, Newspaper Clippingshttps://www.familysearch.org/library/books/J February 7, 1908
Friday, February 7, 1908
  		ONE EASTMAN RIOTER IN PEN. 
Horrible Murder of James Harvard at Eastman is Brought to Mind by N		 
          	 Newspaper Article.
 
Not with standing the statement published in the newspapers, all of 
the Eastman rioters have not been freed from the penitentiary. 
Until Ike Shipman has been pardoned or died, the last chapter in this 
celebrated rioting case will not have been written. 
  In 1882 the town of Eastman, then a small village, was stirred to 
great excitement over the murder of Mr. 
James Harvard, a youth from Cochran, a native of Laurens County, and 
a brother of Mr. William F. Harvard, of this city. 
A quarter of a century has passed and yet the details of the horrible 
murder are still fresh in the minds of the people. Although the 
people of this section were frenzied by the brutal murder, still the 
law was allowed to take its course. Six people were hanged for the 
crime and eighteen were sent to the penitentiary for life. One of the 
victims of the law's vengeance was a woman, who was the instigator of 
the mob which took the young man's life. 
  The trial was one of the most celebrated known to this state. 
Nearly all the lawyers at the Dublin bar at that time were connected 
with the case. Prison Commissioner Thomas Eason was the prosecuting 
attorney for the state, and Judge A. C. Pate was the presiding judge. 
  The famous Southern Cadets of Macon guarded the jail and kept the 
prisoners from being rescued of lynched. This company and several 
others from Macon were present when the execution took place and 
preserved order on that day. 
  The excitement attracted a large crowd to Eastman and was the talk 
of this section for several years. 
On the day of the murder a large crowd of negroes were in Eastman, 
being drawn there by some kind of a religious meeting. During the day 
the marshall saw fit to shoot at a negro whom he was making an effort 
to arrest. 
  This infuriated the negroes and a mob formed quickly. The mob was 
headed by a woman. The marshall hid under a bridge and escaped. A 
short distance off was young Harvard, a youth, who was simply a 
silent spectator. The mob charged upon him and he ran up the street 
and into the home of a citizen of Eastman. The mob chased him into 
the house, dragged him into the streets and murdered him in cold 
blood. 
  Many of the negroes in Eastman at the time knew the young man and 
begged for his life. This availed nothing. The mob was out for blood, 
and his life was taken in just a few minutes. 
After the murder some of those concerned in it may have regretted the 
hasty action, but they did not show it upon this occasion. 
  Of course, the white people and the respectable negroes were 
greatly excited and were very indignant at the outrage, and there 
began a systematic effort to capture the negroes engaged in the 
murder. Several weeks were required to round them all up, but with a 
persistence that was commendable, the blood of Harvard was avenged 
and scores of negroes were brought to trial. Some of these arrested 
proved their innocence and were released, Six were convicted for 
murder in the first degree and eighteen for murder in the second. 
  It was common rumor that many negroes were killed during the hunt 
for the guilty parties, but whether this is true we do not know. 
Certain it is that the law was swift and sure in its punishment. 
The people of Dodge County and this section and the relatives of 
young Harvard exercised great forbearance in allowing the law to take 
its course and deserved great credit for their action. 
  Twenty-five years have passed and still the people point to the 
Eastman riot as one of the worst that has ever taken place in the 
state, and as an evidence of the fact that at times at least the law 
is swiftly and surely administered. 

  The last chapter in this horrible murder will not be written until 
Shipman is pardoned or dies. He is making a desperate effort to 
secure his freedom, and his application is now before the governor 
and may be referred to the pardoning board. 
  Prison Commissioner Eason, who is a member of the pardoning board, 
has doubtless already given the other members a true history of the 
case. None are more familiar with the proceedings than he, who for 
the state bore the brunt of the fight for conviction.-Dublin Courier-
Dispatch.
--
Feb

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