Schley-Lee County GaArchives Obituaries.....Childers, Ettie Richardson August 15, 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 August 27, 2007, 8:04 am The Schley County News Friday, August 18, 1911 DEATH OF MRS. CHILDERS The many friends of Mr. Maude Childers will sympathize with him deeply in the loss of his wife, who died last Tuesday evening at Smithville. Mr. and Mrs. Childers had been married only about three months and the decease of the lovely young woman is indeed heartrendering. May the mercies of a Tender and Loving Father sustain him in this his great sorrow. The Schley County News Friday, September 29, 1911 M.S. CHILDERS IS BOUND OVER To Superior Court At Trial Monday. Tide Turns In His Favor. LEESBURG, GA., Sept. 25---Maud S. Childers, charged with the killing of his wife on August 15, is in the Lee county jail in a cell next to that occupied by Robert Kennedy, committed last week for the same offense, and there they will both stay until the November session of the superior court. Childers was bound over here this afternoon after a trial that dragged through almost six hours and was for the most part monotonous and with but an occasional flash of interest. Much of the testimony being a rehash of that adduced in the Kennedy trial. One of the features was the admission by Childers that he had had strychnine in the house where his wife met her death, although it is claimed that the poison was thrown away some time before the tragedy occurred. To those who were on the "inside" the trial held a considerable measure of interest, for at times in the testimony there cropped out just a color of the plan of battles that it is thought the defense will take in the final trial before a jury. This plan is only whispered by a few, the lawyers saying that they do not intend to show their hand before the main trial, but it is rumored in the outer ring of the inner circle that the defense will attempt to prove that the Kennedys were engaged in an illicit liquor trade in the Simpson house in Smithville, and that Mrs. Childers had made herself feared by threats of exposure. This is but talk. However, it is the talk of those who coulod know and it is tentatively admitted by the lawyers for Childers' defense. Much of the evidence in today's trial was culled from the Kennedy hearing and much more was merely the repitition of many character witnesses, but even at that the proceedings did not seem to pull on the crowd of people from neighboring towns and counties which packed the courtroom from the judge's bench back to the last spectator's bench. Again Lee county and a generous contingent of representatives from the surrounding country dressed in their gayest filed into the room a full half hour before the trial was due to start and took up the choice positions of vantage. The court house square was again made a parking place for a score of automobiles and as many equestrian vehicles in consideration of the fast gathering crowds, just before the proceedings were to start, two wagon loads of extra chairs were deposited at the door to be eagerly snatched up and pressed into service in the room above. Judge Dan Crossman of the city court of Albany, had been secured to occupy the bench. The attempt of the defense to break down the testimony of the state, and prove the good character of Childers and the happiness of the domestic relations existing between himself and his wife, in the trial of Tuesday last, seemed to show that Childers had displayed but little interest in the death, but today witness after witness took the stand to show that he had showed great fondness for Mrs. Childers in life and grief at her death. As the trial drew on to a close there developed some startling descrepancies in the testimony and possibly the most marked came out in the testimony of Mrs. Kennedy, the mother of the other suspect. When Mrs. kennedy was called there was a lull in the room and everyone sat to hear what the mother could have to say of the part that her son had played in the tangled tragedy. She testified as to the death of Mrs. Childers, saying that she had been in the kitchen at the time and finally the expected question came from the defense. "Where was your son, Mrs. Kennedy? Was he there at the time Mrs. Childers died?" "No sir." Childers trip to Leesburg followed and then again came the querry: "And your son was not in the building?" "Not at all." "Where was he?" "He was out all the morning and about 12 o'clock I phoned down town to bring me some ice. He did not return until after the death occurred." This story was reversed in the testimony of little Ruth Chance, twelve years old, and an occupant, of the hotel, who said that she had been with Mrs. Childers when she took the supposed salhelatica. "I went down with her to the room where she mixed the medicine in a glass remarking that it was unusually bitter," said the girl. "Was there anyone else there at the time?" asked the lawyer. "Why when I turned round, Robert Kennedy was standing in the door looking into the room as Mrs. Childers mixed the medicine in the glass." "Was he there when she drank it?" "No he had gone by that time." Mrs. Chance, the mother of Ruth testified that she had been called into the room by Mrs. Childers afte the fatal drug had been swallowed and there the poisoned woman told her of her strange sensations and asked her to help her. With the idea in view Mrs. Chance got some cold water and dashed it into the face of the other at which the sufferer was seized with convulsions at any sudden shock, such as a sudden fright or contact with cold water. From this part of the story Mrs. Chance told of the situation of the rooms of the Childers family and said she did not know whether or not their doors were kept locked. "But isn't there a window opening into their rooms on the porch of the hotel?" asked the attorney. "Yes, there is." "Couldn't anyone wishing to gain access to the rooms get in that way?" "Yes, I should say that it would be easy enough," returned Mrs. Chance. In the statement of L.L. Richardson, the uncle of the dead woman, came the testimony relative to the subscription for funds for the attorney and detective and those named in the originating of the deal were Wade Turner, Walter Coward, John Salter and many other names of Smithville residents. C.A. Grant also contributed his part of this tale. But his answers were disjointed and unsatisfactory when it came to the details that the lawyers sought. He could not remember the names of the people who had presented him with the paper to which he had added his name for the sum of $2.00. At times he even seemed very doubtful that he had had the paper at all. He admitted having heard some talk at the Salter stable but he was dubious as to the context of this conversation. "What were you at the stable for?" asked the defense. "For a drink." "Of what?" "Of water. That is the only kind of drink that I wanted." "Then there are other kinds to be had there?" A doubtful affirmative was returned. In binding over Childers, Judge Crossman said that he was loath to do so as he felt there was hardly evidence to justify it, still it was the only course. He said furthermore that if he could have changed the charge to one of assault with intent to murder he would gladly have done so. But the commital was the only thing open.--Macon Telegraph. Additional Comments: Maud S. Childers was a son of William W. Childers. He was born Dec. 1882. Ettie Richardson Childers was born March 6, 1885 and is buried at Smithville Cemetery. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/schley/obits/c/childers10277ob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.2 Kb