Newton County GaArchives Obituaries.....Woodson, Judge John V. January 1891
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Phyllis Thompson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002524 July 17, 2006, 9:04 am

Georgia Enterprise, January 22, 1891
HORRIBLE RESULT OF FIRE
Mr. John R. Davis Residence Burned and Judge John V. Woodson Roasted Alive.

     Near the hour of 3 o’clock a. m., in Covington, last Saturday, the 
residence of Mr. John R. Davis was discovered to be on fire. Being a large two 
story wooden building the flames made such rapid headway that it was impossible 
to save but few of the contents of the house. Mr. and Mrs. Davis were sleeping 
on the first floor in a room directly below where Judge John V. Woodson, an 
invalid and ex Confederate Soldier, occupied above. The fire must have 
originated in the cook room, adjoining the room of Mr. Davis, the flames 
running up the inside wall and doubtless entering the room of Judge Woodson, as 
he gave the alarm which aroused Mrs. Davis, who with difficulty awoke her 
husband, who is very deaf. She then attempted to rescue the Judge who was 
crying piteously. “Oh, Mrs. Davis, the house is on fire, the house is on fire!” 
and she tried again and again to reach him, but was driven back by the flame 
and smoke in the stairway. Mr. John W. Peek was the first person to reach the 
fire, then came Mr. J. I. Guinn and Dr. J. A. Wright, and two or three colored 
men. Mr. Peek did all in his power, and so did the others, to rescue the 
inmates and save some of the household goods, but only partly succeeded, as it 
was a human impossibility to reach Judge Woodson in his room upstairs. Four or 
Five times the weird sound of the smothering man’s voice was faintly heard, and 
then all was still in the room above, save the roar of the fire and the noise 
of he burning timber.
          Early in the morning the charred remains of Judge Woodson could be 
seen in the burning debris, and when water was thrown on the fire around where 
the almost cremated body lay in a sitting posture, the skull fell from its 
place and broke into fragments, as also did the arms and legs. The bones and 
charred flesh were gathered together and placed in a neat coffin and buried in 
the Soldiers Cemetery at 3 p. m. Judge E. F. Edwards, in behalf of the 
Confederate Veterans Association, delivered a beautiful tribute over the grave 
of his dead friend and brother soldier. Rev. R. W. Bigham, of the Methodist 
Church, conducted the religious services, which were held in the open air in 
the Cemetery, in the presence of thirty or forty persons, most of whom were ex-
soldiers and Veterans. Memorial services were also held by the Young Men’s 
Prayer Meeting, at the M. E. Church Sunday afternoon. He was about 54 years of 
age.
     Judge Woodson, was known to everybody who has lived in this county for the 
past quarter of a century. He was a graduate of Emory College in the class of 
1857, enlisted in Cobb’s Legion, Co. A., in 1861, served 4 years in the army, 
was admitted to the bar in 1865, and being brilliant and very popular at that 
time he was given position and office, but the tempter came and led our friend 
astray. But let us not dwell upon the dark side of our brother’s history, for 
now is not the time, now is this the occasion to write of the many incidents 
connected with his eventful and in many respects checkered and stormy career. 
Indeed, the life and character of this “man of fate and destiny,” if truly 
given, would read more like fiction and romance than truth and fact.
     He was a member of the Veterans Association, and had been a member of the 
Methodist Church for three, or four years, and these organizations provided for 
his support up to the very time of his unfortunate and horrible cremation. The 
people generally contributed liberally to pay his burial expenses, so that the 
fragments of his once manly form might be laid to rest in a neat coffin within 
the same enclosure where one hundred Confederate soldiers are sweetly sleeping 
until the resurrection morning.
     Mrs. Davis escaped in her stocking feet, while Mr. Davis was pushed out of 
the window by his wife with nothing save his night robes. They were homeless, 
but not friendless, for willing hands and generous hearts have, and will 
continue, if necessary, to supply all their wants, for they will not be 
permitted to suffer for the necessaries and comforts of life so long as they 
are citizens of Newton County and residents of Covington.
     It might be well to remark before closing this article that Judge Woodson 
had frequently said that he was willing and ready to die at any time. In most 
of his prayers he begged that the Lord would give him strength to pass safely 
through the dark shadow when the “trying hour” of death should come. Tragic as 
was his horrible death on that dismal, dreary morning, we, for one, believe 
that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob took the palsied hand of our friend in 
that “trying hour” and gave him strength to feel and say, “Thy will, not mine, 
be done,” while passing from life to death through the burning building and the 
fiery flames. We believe the Silent Boatman steered him across the River of 
Time and landed him safely on the other side.
“The other side, the other side,
Who would not brave the swelling tide
Of earthly toil and care,
To wake one day when life is past,
Over the stream, at last,
With all the blessed ones there?”



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