Clay County GaArchives Obituaries.....LUBY, FLORIDE ELIZABETH STEPHENS April 1897
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
REBECCA STEWART rstewart@enervest.net December 29, 2011, 12:24 am

FT. GAINES SENTINEL, APRIL 16 1897
A BRUTAL MURDER
C.C. LUBY, A FISHERMAN, KILLS HIS WIFE
THE MURDER OF A WOMAN AT THE FORKS OF THE RIVER AND COLOMOKEE CREEK; IN EARLY 
COUNTY ON THURSDAY NIGHT OF LAST WEEK, BY A MAN WHO CLAIMED TO BE HER HUSBAND, 
CREATED CONSIDERABLE EXCITEMENT AND INDIGNATION IN THAT COMMUNITY.  WE ARE 
INDEBTED TO MR. J.E. WOMACK FOR THE FOLLOWING PARTICULARS.
C.C. LUBY IS AN ITINERANT FISHERMAN FROM ABOUT COLUMBUS.  FOR SOME TIME HE HAS 
BEEN LIVING IN A TENT AT THE POINT NAMED ABOVE, HAVING WITH HIM A WOMAN ABOUT 
TWENTY YEARS OF AGE THAT HE CLAIMS WAS HIS WIFE.
ON FRIDAY MORNING LAST LUBY SENT FOR SOME NEGROES TO COME AND HELP HIM BURY 
HIS WIFE, STATING THAT SHE FELL DEAD THE NIGHT BEFORE.  THE NEGROES REPORTED 
THE MATTER TO MR. WOMACK; AND HE AND SEVERAL NEIGHBORS INSTITUTED AN 
INVESTIGATION.  SOME OF THEM HAD SEEN THE WOMAN THE EVENING BEFORE, AND 
KNOWING THAT SHE WAS AT THAT TIME IN SPLENDID HEALTH, AND BEING ALSO AWARE 
THAT LUBY WAS BEASTLY DRUNK, THEIR SUSPICION WAS ARROUSED.  UPON EXAMINING THE 
BODY IT WAS FOUND CONSIDERABLY BRUISED, AND THERE WAS AN UGLY WOUND ON THE 
BACK OF THE HEAD.  LUBY STATED THAT THE WOMAN FELL IN THE BOAT AND THE BACK OF 
HER HEAD STRUCK ONE OF THE SEATS.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE BURIAL OF THE BODY WERE MADE, AND IN THE MEANTIME WITHOUT 
MAKING KNOWN HIS PURPOSE, MR. WOMACK DISPATCHED A RUNNER TO BLAKELY FOR THE 
CORONER AND SHERIFF BLACK; DELAYING THE BURIAL PROCEEDINGS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE 
TO GIVE THE OFFICERS TIME TO GET THERE.
WHEN THE SHERIFF AND CORONER ARRIVED, LUBY SEEMED TO REALIZE THAT ‘IT WAS ALL 
UP’ WITH HIM, AND AFTER A FEW QUESTIONS WERE ASKED HIM HE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HE 
WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WOMAN’S DEATH, STATING THAT THEY HAD A DIFFICULTY THE 
NIGHT BEFORE, AND WHEN THE WOMAN JUMPED IN THE BOAT AND THREATENED TO LEAVE 
HIM, HE WADED INTO THE RIVER AND CAUGHT HOLD OF THE BOAT TO PULL IT BACK.  THE 
SUDDEN JERK HE GAVE THE BOAT THREW THE WOMAN DOWN, HER HEAD STRIKING ONE OF 
THE SEATS WITH CONSIDERABLE FORCE.  HE FURTHER SAID THAT HE WAS SO DRUNK AT 
THE TIME THAT HE DID NOT KNOW JUST WHAT HAD TAKEN PLACE.
THE BODY WAS BURIED AT BETHEL CHURCH, AND LUBY WAS CARRIED TO BLAKELY AND 
LODGED IN JAIL.
THE GRAND JURY OF EARLY SUPERIOR COURT HAD COMPLETED THEIR DUTIES FOR THE 
SPRING TERM AND BEEN DISCHARGED BUT JUDGE SHEFFIELD HAD THEM SUMMONED TO MEET 
MONDAY AND INVESTIGATE THIS CRIME.  THEY WERE NOT LONG IN RETURNING A BILL FOR 
MURDER AND THE PRISONER WAS IMMEDIATELY TRIED AND WAS CONVICTED, BEING 
SENTENCED TO HANG ON MAY 14.  WE ARE INFORMED THAT HIS LAWYERS WHO WERE 
APPOINTED BY THE COURT HAVE MADE A MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL.
LUBY SAID HE HAD BEEN MARRIED TO THE WOMAN ABOUT TEN MONTHS AND THAT HER 
FORMER NAME WAS FLORIDE ELIZABETH STEPHENS, HER PARENTS HOME BEING IN 
TALLAPOOSA COUNTY, ALA., NEAR CAMPHILL.


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