Butts County GaArchives News.....Mr. C. A. Pittman Robbed and Killed Friday Night July 1923 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Don Bankston http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00024.html#0005864 February 7, 2010, 7:04 pm Jackson Progress Argus - Butts County Ga. July 1923 MR. C. A. PITTMAN ROBBED AND KILLED FRIDAY NIGHT BODY RECOVERED FROM OCMULGEE RIVER EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. CALLED TO STORE AND THEN SLAIN Mr. C. A. Pittman, one of the most prominent citizens of Butts county, was called to his store Friday night, robbed, murdered and his body thrown in the Ocmulgee river. Six negroes, Wallace McDowell, Evans McDowell, Lee r Roberts, Jim Goolsby, Tom Thomason and Flem Lynch, are held in the Atlanta tower for investigation by the grand jury. Evans McDowell, a son of Wallace McDowell, is said to have confessed to officers that s he threw the body in the river. He implicated Tom Thomason as the negro who did the actual killing. The crime, a most brutal and shocking one, was detected early Saturday morning when members of Mr. Pittman’s family went to Summon him to breakfast. Failing to respond to the farm bell, members of the family went to the house where he slept. There bloodstains were found and officers and neighbors were then summoned. The bloodstains led all the way to the river and then onto the ferry. The body was recovered with hooks at the side of the ferry on the Butts county side of the stream. An axe was the instrument used to murder Mr. Pittman. His head was crushed in and one ear almost severed. He was also stabbed in the throat and chest several times with a knife. The first clue was obtained when a ledger was found open opposite the name of McDowell. The account of the McDowell negroes had also been added up on a blank check and the amount on the ledger and the memorandum corresponded. At Wallace McDowell’s house a pair of overalls with blood stains were found. The overalls were said to have been washed during the night but not all the blood had been removed. At Wallace McDowell's Wallace McDowell, Lee Roberts and Jim Goolsby were arrested and placed in jail. Later Evans McDowell was captured and .made a confession to officers, it is said. In this confession he implicated Tom Thomason who was arrested. All the negroes were carried to the Atlanta tower for safe keeping. On Monday Flem Lynch, a brother-in-law of Evans McDowell, was arrested. Three packages of money were found in his house. Lynch was likewise taken to the Atlanta tower. According to a statement made here Tuesday, officers obtained a full and complete confession from Evans McDowell Monday night. He is said to have acknowledged the crime and takes the full responsibility on himself. A speedy trial will be given the negroes charged with this murder, according to court officials. Superior court convened Monday and it was expected the grand jury would investigate the crime during the week-end and the trial will probably be held next week. Robbery was the motive for the crime. Mr. Pittman is known to have kept a considerable amount of money on hand, and the party or parties rowed across the river in a boat, called Mr. Pittman to the store on the pretext of paying a bill and while he was looking up the account struck him down with an axe. The body was then carried and dragged to the river and thrown off the ferry into the water. Return to the Jasper county side was made by boat, which was tied to the bank. The amount of money obtained is not known, though it is believed to have been a considerable sum. The pistol and keys of Mr. Pittman were also missing and have not been recovered, it was stated. Officers who have investigated the case from the first fix the hour of the crime between 10 and 12 o'clock Friday night. The crime, shocking in its cowardly brutality, aroused intense excitement throughout this section. In working to find the guilty parties, officers of Butts county have had the utmost co-operation from Jasper county citizens and officers. County Policeman Bob Oxford, Mr. Jim Burney and other officers and citizens of Jasper have been untiring in their efforts to unravel the murder and to apprehend and have punished the guilty parties. Mr. Pittman, victim of this robbery and murder, was one of Butts county's best known citizens. He was widely known both in Butts and Jasper counties and had operated Pittman's Ferry for a long number of years. He was successful as a farmer, merchant and owner of the ferry. With exception of a few years spent in Atlanta, he has been a life long resident of Butts county. Mr. Pittman was 68 years of age. He is survived by his wife, who was Miss Eugene Fretwell before her marriage; one daughter, Mrs. C.A. Bankston; five sons, Mr. J. T. Pittman, of Covington, Messrs, E. L. and DeWitt Pittman, of West Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. A. E. Pittman, of Wilmington, N. C., and Mr. Charlie Marks Pittman, of Jackson; a sister Mrs. W. E. Cantrill, of Atlanta, and a brother, Mr. Joe Pittman, of Florida. Funeral services were held at Moore's Chapel Monday morning at 11 o'clock, and were attended by a large number of relatives and friends. Numerous and beautiful floral offerings attested the esteem in which the deceased was held. Rev. Henry H. Jones conducted the impressive service, and the pallbearers were Messrs. J. K. Sitton, J. S. Jackson, W. H. Redding, C. A. Nabors, C. D. Lee and Walter Norsworthy. A quartette composed of Mrs. W. W. Jamerson, Mrs. Hamilton, Messrs. R. P. Sasnett and Avon Gaston, rendered the music. Interment was in the church yard. The Jackson Progress Argus July 27, 1923 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/butts/newspapers/mrcapitt2877nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb