Burke County GaArchives News.....A Foul Murder in Burke May 2 1893
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Linda Barton http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000645 June 4, 2003, 2:47 pm

The Weekly Journal:  Atlanta:  Georgia

THE WEEKLY JOURNAL:  ATLANTA:  GEORGIA:  TUESDAY      MAY 2: 1893.

A FOUL MURDER IN BURKE

A FARMER AT MIDVILLE, GA., MEETS HIS DEATH

AT THE HANDS OF A NEGRO TENANT

He Deliberately Killed Him and Then Laid Him Out in a Furrow

After Dinner He Returned to Work as if Nothing Had Happened

Special to The Journal.

Midville, Ga.  April 28. – One of the blackest and most horrifying murders that 
was ever committed was that of F. M. Francis, about four miles from town, by a 
Negro named Summer Racken, one of his tenants, while at work in the field 
yesterday.  The murder is one of the coldest and most blood curdling that this 
section has ever known.

As far as can be learned, there was no cause whatever for the deed.

It seems that about 10 o’clock a Negro boy was passing on his way to school, 
and saw the Negro, Summer Racken, in a striking position, with a huge stick, 
bending over the body of Mr. Francis, which was then on the ground, and called 
to Racken to know what was the matter.  Racken replied that he did not know.

The boy passed on, and on returning about 4 o’clock saw the body of Mr. Francis 
lying out in the field at the same place he had seen the Negro as he was going 
to school.

Further developments prove that the killing was done with the singletree of the 
plowstock that the Negro was using, and from imprints on the back of the head 
it seems that he was struck from behind, the scull being fractured in two 
different places.  It seems that after being struck he turned and received 
another death dealing blow on the temple with the end of the singletree, and 
the iron almost buried itself in his skull.

After the killing the Negro laid the body out in a furrow, face upward, and 
folded his hands on his breast and went to dinner, and on his return to the 
field resumed his work, only a little ways off from the body.

Nothing was known of the murder until the Negro boy was returning from school, 
seeing the body lying out in the field, went to the house and told Mrs. 
Francis.  Very soon a crowd had gathered at the scene.  An inquest was held, 
and a verdict of murder was rendered, charging Summer Racken with the murder.  
Racken in the meantime had gone away, but was captured and sent at once to the 
county jail at Waynesboro.

Mr. Francis was one of Burke county’s best citizens, and belonged to one of the 
oldest and best families of the state.  He was a thoroughly upright Christian 
gentleman.

The murder is greatly deplored throughout this entire section.  He leaves a 
wife and six children to mourn his untimely death.

He will be buried tomorrow at Davisboro, at the family burying grounds.



Additional Comments:
Transcribed on 6/04/03 from an original newspaper in my possession.

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