FULTON COUNTY, GA - NEWS Walraven, George Murder ***************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm *********************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Claudia Brumbalow" . The Constitution, Atlanta, Ga. Thursday, October 27, 1892 Page 7 A YOUNG MAN KILLED ---------------------------------------- George Walraven Shot to Death by Mike Holbrook at Buckhead ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Tragedy Yesterday Afternoon --------------------------------------------------- Walraven and Holbrook Fall Out and Quarrel, Are Separated and Walraven Follows Holbrook and Is Shot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just a half mile beyond the post office at Buckhead, and six miles and a half from Atlanta, where the public road is skirted on either side by a thick forest, George Walraven, a white man aged twenty-six years, was shot to death by Mike Holbrok, a white man very near Walraven's age, late yesterday afternoon. A half hour before Walraven had quarreled with Holbrook in Ramsey's store at Buckhead, and Holbrook had dealt him some ugly blows on the head with the but end of a pistol. The two men had been separated and Holbrook had started home in a wagon with a negro. Walraven followed to get even with Holbrook for the heavy punishment he had received. Holbrook saw him coming, and hid in the wood by the roadside. As Walraven passed he shot him to death. A party of men from the store who had followed to prevent a difficulty ran up and bent over Walraven, who lay in the middle of the road. Walraven died almost instantly. Holbrook escaped. Great Excitement Prevailed. The tragedy created intense excitement in the community around Buckhead. Walraven was known to every man around Buckhead and his tragic death stirred the people to an intense pitch of excitement. News of the killing was brought to Atlanta at once and conveyed to Coroner Davis and Deputy Sheriff Green. The latter went out to Buckhead to search for Holbrook, leaving the city at 8:30 o'clock. Coroner Davis did not go out last night, owing to the lateness of the hour, and will hold an inquest early this morning. How the Killing Came About Mike Holbrook lives on a farm in Cobb count, near Chamblee, on the Richmond and Danville railroad, fourteen miles from Atlanta. He is a farmer, is married, and has a pretty good reputation for peaceableness. He is constable in his district. Yesterday he came to Atlanta in a wagon, bringing with him a negro who lived on his place. He left the city to go home about the middle of the afternoon. He reached Buckhead just before night and stopped in Ramsey's store, where a number of acquaintances of his were gathered, George Walraven was there. Walraven is unmarried and is a mechanic. He lived with his mother on a nice farm one mile north of Buckhead, where he was raised, and where his father lived for many years. Mrs. Walraven is in comfortable circumstances George Walraven went west several months ago and only returned to Georgia on the first of this year. He went back to his old home to live, and has been living there with his old mother since. The Fatal Quarrel Yesterday afternoon he and Mike holbrook became involved in a quarrel. The origin of the difficulty was hard to get at, the witnesses being reticent in speaking of the matter. They said the would tell the story before the coroner's jury. The story as gathered from a very reluctant eye-witness seems to place the blame for the beginning of the difficulty on Holbrook. The quarrel became so hot that the men came together and Holbrook drew a pistol and began to beat Walraven over the head. But for the interference of bystanders a tragedy would have been enacted on the spot. As it was the men were separated, both feeling very much dissatisfied at the result of the fight. Walraven Follows Holbrook Very soon after the difficulty at the store ended, Holbrook left Buckhead for his home nine miles north of the place. With him was the negro who had accompanied him to Atlanta. Walraven was still very mad and wanted satisfaction. Friends tried to quiet him, but the treatment he had received at Holbrooks's hands still ranked in his breast and he followed him up the country road. The men at the store knew there was going to be a difficulty if the two men met again, and they followed Walraven. Walraven following him, or anticipating Holbrook rapidly. The latter either saw Walraven following him or anticipating such an action hid himself in the woods by the roadside. As Walraven came near where Holbrook was standing Holbrook fired. The first shot did not strike Walraven and the latter pulled his gun and bean shooting. Five or six shots were exchanged. Only Walraven was hit. He dropped to the ground with a bullet in his breast. He Dies in the Road. The warm, red blood gushed from the pistol wound in Walraven's breast, and dyed his clothing crimson, and forming a pool under his still form. As the men who had followed him came up he was gasping in the last agonies of death. In a few minutes he was dead. While the men were bending over the dying Walraven, Holbrook escaped, Walraven was put on a wagon and carried back to Buckhead where he was viewed by hundreds of people who, hearing of the frightful tragedy gathered in great numbers. A Pathetic Scene. Walraven's old mother was sent for, and came quickly. It was dark before she reached Buckhead and number of people stood around the wagon on which Walraven's body was lying stiff and cold. The mother's grief was something terrible to behold. Sobbing in a heartbroken way she went around the wagon time and again wringing her hands. Weird and impressive enough was the scene. On the wagon the still, stiff figure of Walraven lay, only the outlines distinguishable in the gloom of darkness. A hundred silent, quiet figures stood around the body, awed and deeply impressed with the awful tragedy. Only the low sound of the mother's sobbing was heard in the night's deep stillness. Deputy Sheriff Green hopes to capture Holbrook. He went to Roswell Junction last night, but Holbrook was not there. He returned to the city at 2 o'clock this morning. The Constitution, Atlanta, Ga. Friday, October 28, 1892 page 5 STILL AT LIBERTY ------------------------------ Mike Holbrook the Slayer of Walraven Has Not Been Found. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------- The Corner's Inquest Yesterday ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------- Instructed That he Be Held for Further Investigation by the Courts. Walraven's Funeral. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- Mike Holbrook, the man who fired five shots at George Walraven from under the cover of the forest, one of which ended Walraven's life, is still at liberty. He has not been home since the killing. A thorough search of the community in which he lives utterly failed to produce a clue as to his whereabouts yesterday. The jury of inquest, impanelled by Coroner Davis to look into the killing of Walraven, instructed that Holbrook be held for trial by the superior court. The inquest was held yesterday morning at Buckhead. Coroner Davis and his special bailiff, Pat McCullough, went up to the scene of the murder early in the morning and summoned a jury. A number of witnesses were examined as to the first meeting between Walraven and Holbrook in Ramsey's store at Buckhead. The men were old friends, and had known each other for several years. the difficculty arose over some trivial matter, and both men followed it up warmly. It resulted in Holbrook striking Walraven over the head heavily with the butt end of a pistol. The tragedy ended as told in yesterday's Constitution, Walraven following Holdbrook after the two had been separated, Holbrook shooting Walraven from ambush a half mile beyond Buckhead. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that Walraven had come to his death from the pistol shot fired by Mike Holbrook, and recommended that Holbrook be held for further investigation. Instructions were read to the police yesterday to arrest Holbrook if he should be found in the city. Deputy Sheriff Green searching the northern part of the county for Holbrook, but Walraven's slayer had made good his escape. It is thought that Holbrook will give himself up to the authorities in a day or so. Deputy Sheriff Barnes has in his possession, two indictments found by the grand jury against Walraven for riot. Walraven had a lively difficulty near Buckhead a few months ago in which he used a pistol freely. He had only returned from Texas a few weeks when he was killed. His remains will be buried this morning at a church burial grounds near Buckhead. The killing is still all the talk about Buckhead on account of the extensive acquaintanceship of the young men through out the ( note the rest of the newspaper article has been black out.) The Constitution, Atlanta Ga. Tuesday November 29, 1892 Ten Page MURDER TRIALS as will also that of Parke Holbrook, charged with the killing of George Walraven near the village of Buckhead. The Constitution, Atlanta Ga. Friday January 27, 1893 page 5 NOT GUILTY. ------------------------- Holbrook Acquitted for the Murder of George Wallraven. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- The Jury Out Only Six Minutes ------------------------------------------------- The Reception of the Verdict - Able Arguments in Behalf of the Defendant by His Councel ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ----- "Not guilty!" That was the verdict of the jury, brought in yesterday afternoon at 6 o'clock. And Parks Holbrooks was pronounced innocent of the blood of George Wallraven. They agreed upon a verdict within six minutes after they retired to their room. It was the speediest verdict rendered in a murder case in this county in several years, and the alleged murderer has been vindicated by a jury of his countrymen, Reception of the Verdict It was very general belied after the evidence in the case was submitted yesterday morning that the verdict would be that of acquittal. No one thought, however, that the case would be decided within and hour or three-quarters after submitting it to the jury. There was a large number of spectators in the courtroom when the verdict was rendered. Among them was the prisoner himself, Councilman A. L. Holbrook, and exRepresentattive Holbrook, of DeKalb county. The attorneys for Mr. Holbrook were also present. They were Judge Dorsey, Mr. Albert Howell, Jr., and Judge J. A. Anderson. After the jury had been in their room for only a few minutes there was heard a rapping on the door of the jury room. The bailiff went to the door and then returning to the foot of Judge Clark's rostrum he said: "The jury have agreed upon a verdict." "Admit them," replied the judge. Thereupon the twelve men who had sat in judgment upon the life of the defendant filed into the courtroom and took their seats in the jury box. The verdict, which was written on the back of the bill of indictment, was handed to the solicitor. It read: "We, the jury, find the defendant, Parks Holbrooks, not guilty." As soon as the meaning of the words flashed upon the mind of the defendant there was an instantaneous gleam in his sad eyes and a look of gratitude, swept across his brown face. He felt like hugging each one of the jurors separately and also his able attorneys, who had managed the case so successfully in his behalf. He was congratulated by his relatives in the courtroom and passed out into the street with a lighter heart than he had carried for many days. Details of the Trial When the evidence was completed yesterday afternoon there was a change made by the solicitor in abandoning the charge of the indictment, which was murder, and making it that of voluntary manslaughter. Colonel Dorsey desired to submit the case to the jury without an argument. Mr. Hill preferred, however, to argue the case on the idea that the parties had agreed to the fight and that Holbrook was guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The argument was thereupon commenced to the jury. It was argued by the attorneys for Holbrook that he had never sought a difficulty with Wallraven; that his pistol was not on his person, but in his wagon on the outside of the building. Wallraven, on the contrary had the pistols on his person. After the belligereats had been separated in the store where the first difficulty occurred, Holbrook had leaped in his wagon and started on his way up the road. Wallraven, after agreeing to let the matter drop, had gone out of the back way, climbed over a wire fence, crossed an intervening ditch and gained the big road for the purpose of taking the life of his antagonist. This was strongly brought out by Judge Dorsey, who argued that it Holbrook had been killed instead of Wallraven it would have been a case of willful and deliberate murder. Holbrook had simply acted in self-defense and in thus standing his ground the law would uphold him. The argument of Judge Dorsey was clearly cut and produced a decided impression upon the minds of the jury. He mad it appear that Holbrook had entered Trimbles store on a peaceable errand to purchase goods and that Wallraven had been the first to provoke the quarrel. The argument of Judge Anderson, who opened the case for the defendant, was a very able appeal in behalf of his client. Solicitor Hill was rather brief in his argument to the jury, through his speech was one of great power and of characteristic eloquence. It was nearly 6 o'clock when Judge Clark begun to charge the jury. The charge was rather short, but covered all the law of the subject. The jury retired to their room and returned with the verdict as above stated.