Carroll-Cobb-Glynn County GaArchives Obituaries.....Sewell, MD, J. R. September 1910 ************************************************ 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: Candace (Teal) Gravelle http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00023.html#0005680 September 11, 2006, 12:58 am "The Newnan Herald and Advertiser" Newnan, Coweta Co., Georgia NEWSPAPER Issue of Friday, September 23, 1910 DR. J.R. SEWELL VICTIM OF ASSASSIN'S BULLETT Atlanta Journal, the 20th inst. Dr. J.R. Sewell of 151 Richardson street, a well known specialist, was shot and killed shortly before 1 o'clock Tuesday afternoon by a man said to be William M. Cox of Austell, who immediately turned his revolver on himself, inflicting a serious wound. A telephone message from Austell stated that W.M. Cox, well known as a farmer near Austell and a former patient of the dead physician, was in Atlanta. It is stated that while under the treatment of Dr. Sewell, Mr. Cox frequently mentioned the fact that he was dissatisfied and is said to have threatened to take the matter to the courts. Mr. Cox was known in Austell as a despondent man. The double tragedy occurred in Dr. Sewell's office at 106 1/2 Whitehall street. The two shots fired by the man supposed to be Cox, attracted a large crowd, which immediately rushed up to the physician's office. The office filled, the crowd began to congregate in the street below and before two ambulances bore the dead and wounded away, had blocked traffic in the thoroughfare. There were no witnesses to the shooting. From the appearance of the room and the manner in which the revolver fell it is presumed by detectives investigating the case and others that Cox used the revolver on the physician and then turned it upon himself. No motive is known for the tragedy. Cox had been waiting in the reception room for several minutes it is said. Men from adjoining offices who had been attracted by the shots, phoned for emergency ambulances from the Grady hospital and from Greenberg, Bond and Bloomfield's establishment. Dr. Sewell was killed instantly and his body was removed to the undertaking establishment. Cox was removed to the Grady hospital. W.A. Shore of Baldwin, Ga., friend and patient of the dead physician, had been in his office just a few minutes before the shooting occurred. "As I left the office", said Mr. Shore, " I noticed a man sitting on a couch in the reception room. As I passed I bowed to him and he said "Good afternoon". He rose as I left the room and started into the doctor's private office and operating room. As the door opened and the two men must have faced each other, I heard one of them remark in a pleasant and well modulated voice, "Hello, how are you?" I cannot be certain as to which of the two men I heard speak. I was not paying much attention and started in a hurry down the steps. I had not gone half down when I heard the first shot. I stopped an instant and then hear the other. Turning, I rushed back to the office, reaching the open door at the same time with Mr. G.C. Edmondson, a barber of 51 East Mitchell street. " I cannot say from appearance whether or not there had been any scuffle, but I do not think that there was. The man had passed by Dr. Sewell and was on the far side of the room from the entrance. He had fallen to the floor and was after a fashion propped up against an operating table. The revolver with two chambers empty was directly below his right knee. "Dr. Sewell was stretched out on the floor with a bullet in his brain. An examination of the wound showed the bullet had entered the head just above the left ear. Death must have been instantaneous as he did not appear to be breathing even when I arrived which could not have been ten seconds after he was shot." " The other man had just lapsed into unconsciousness when we reached the room. Some gentleman raised his head just as the crowd began to wedge into the little operating room and asked him if his name was Cox. The man bowed his head slightly and then his eyes closed. He did not speak during the five or six minutes we were in the room waiting for the ambulances. I had never seen the man before but when he passed me he appeared to be perfectly calm." " I have known Dr. Sewell for some time. He appeared happy and carefree and had been pleasantly chatting with me after he had written a prescription for me. I shook hands with him, telling him good-bye as I intended going home tonight." The statement of Mr. Edmondson who arrived with Shore is practically the same as to details. He had been attracted from the street by the shots and had quickly bounded up the steps. He did not know eithe rman but had seen Dr. Sewell on the streets frequently. The little operating room where the double tragedy occurred presented a ghastly scene. A glass table had been broken by Cox's fall, where several chairs had been overturned by the two men as they staggered and fell about the room just after the shots were fired. Very little blood was flowing from the wound in the dead man's head, but a red pool soon surrounded the head and body of the supposed attempted suicide. Cox was carried to Grady' hospital in a record run and was quickly placed on the operating table. He was plainly dressed in a snuff colored suit. In his pockets were found eight 38 calbre pistol cartridges, a watch and a small amount of change, a pair of brass knucks and an open knife. The books in Dr. Sewell's office showed that he had a patient by the name of W.M. Cox of Austell, Ga. The members of Dr. Sewell's family were absent from home during the day. Dr. Sewell's wife and daughter were in Smyrna spending the day with relatives. Dr. Sewell is survived by a wife and six children; Dr. Eldrige Sewell, a dentist who is now in Savannah; Roy Sewell, an employee at the post office; Miss Annie Ruth Sewell, 18 years of age now with her mother, Miss Irene Sewell, 16, a pupil at the Girls High School and twin sons, George and Van Sewell, 10 years of age. F.R. Sewell, son of the dead man, was overcome with distress when he learned of the death of his father. He said that he did not know Cox and was at a loss to account for his act. W.M. Cox is a son of Steve Cox, one of the best known farmers near Austell. His father is well fixed financially and has hundreds of friends in the vicinity of his home. W.M. Cox has always been known as a rather "peculiar" man. When Cox was first taken to the hospital it was believed that he was dying. At 2 o'clock the physicians announced that he had regained consciousness and they thought he would recover, though his recovery was by no means certain. After he became conscious he refused to talk. He would not say who he was or why he had killed Dr. Sewell. He lay with his lips compressed, maintaining an unbroken silence. The doctors at the hospital say that he knew perfectly what was being said to him. The Atlanta Constitution, the 23rd inst. Since he killed Dr. J.R. Sewell on Tuesday afternoon, and was prevented from taking his own life only by the resisting power of his skull, W.M. Cox of Austell, though conscious and in no pain, has not spoken a word nor moved his lips. That he was crazed because of a chronic disease and believed Dr. Sewell was to blame for his condition, continues to be the theory of the police working on he case, and Cox's family, it is understood, if he ever comes to trail, will plead insanity. A policeman is constantly guarding Mr. Cox at the Grady hospital. The man remained in the same state all day Wednesday and there was no improvement in his condition. The body of Dr. Sewell was taken to Carrollton, Ga., his former home, for funeral and interment. --- The tragic death of Dr. J. R. Sewell in Atlanta on Tuesday last, was a great shock to his friends in this county where he was born and reared. He was a son of the late Pierce Sewell, his nearest surviving relatives being two brothers, Mr. M.H. Sewell of St. Charles and Dr. Van D. Sewell of Jacksonville, Florida, and two sisters Mrs. Sallie Copeland of Whitesburg and Mrs. Ellen Strickland of Carrollton. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/carroll/obits/s/sewellmd5320gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.5 Kb