Schley County GaArchives News.....BODIES OF THREE NEGROES ARE RIDDLED WITH BULLETS April 13, 1911 ************************************************ 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: Harris Hill http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002514 September 12, 2011, 4:55 pm The Americus Weekly Times-Recorder April 13, 1911 The Americus Weekly Times-Recorder April 13, 1911 BODIES OF THREE NEGROES ARE RIDDLED WITH BULLETS Fair Ellaville is the Scene of Midnight Outrage in Which Three Negroes Are Killed Standing in line beneath a small tree at the outskirts of the peaceful little town of Ellaville, three negroes were shot to pieces by a masked mob at 12:30 o'clock yesterday morning. The night riders came quietly into the slumbering town, executed with terrible swiftness their ghastly work, and as quietly rode away. The outrage was perpetrated shortly after midnight and not until the four volleys of pistols shot rang out did the citizens realize what had been done. Three negro prisoners taken from the Schley county jail were thus summarily disposed of in the successful attempt of the mob to avenge the death of a citizen, Newton Eason, who met a tragic death in January at the hands of a party of negroes in Ellaville. The mob quietly dispersed, after killing the three negroes, and the identity of the night raiders is not supposed to be known. Brought Back for Trial. The negro prisoners, Charles Pickett, Murray Bronson and Dawson Jordan, charged with the murder of young Eason, a citizen of Ellaville, were brought back to that town from Columbus, where they had been been in jail for safe- keeping since the commission of the crime months ago. They were to have been tried Monday. Schley Superior court convenes this week in Ellaville and the three prisoners would have been given a fair and impartial trial then before Judge Z.A. Littlejohn. Evidently incensed at the sight of the suspected murders, or fearing they might in some manner escape justice, the people constituting the mob decided to take summary action and pull off the case before the tribunal of Judge Lynch instead, and thus they did. Every one of the black culprits fell dead in his tracks, their bodies pierced by bullets. Several people went up from Americus yesterday morning in automobiles and viewed the ghastly scene. The Story From Ellaville Ellaville, Ga., April 8--Last night just as the clock struck twelve about twenty-five masked men rode into our peaceful little village and proceeding to the county jail, with pistols drawn, demanded of Jailer Baugh three negro prisoners, Dawson Jordan, Murray Bronson, and Charlie Pickett. They were in jail awaiting trial next week for the killing of Mr. Newt Eason last January. Powerless to resist, Mr. Baugh surrendered his prisoners, who were taken to a nearby pine orchard and riddled with bullets, four volleys being poured into the bodies of the murderers. The fusillade thoroughly aroused a number of citizens, some of whom were apprehensive of trouble. Sheriff Lumpkin was immediately telephoned for and came to town, but too late to arrest the mob, who having done their terrible deed, quietly rode southward, the patter of their horses' feet sounding a sad requiem to a night of horror. At an inquest held by Coroner Teal this morning, the jury returned a verdict that the men came to death at the hands of unknown parties. Thus ended a tragedy, the details of which will never be fully known. Mob violence is to be deplored, for every citizen ought to be honest and upright enough to let the law take its course. We are sorry to have this blot upon Schley county's heretofore splendid reputation. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/schley/newspapers/bodiesof3140nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb