Talbot County GaArchives News.....C. J. Waldrop b. Talbot Co. hung for Murder . ************************************************ 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: Candace (Teal) Gravelle http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00023.html#0005680 April 6, 2007, 3:27 pm "The Carroll County Times" . Carrollton, Carroll Co., Georgia NEWSPAPER Issue of Friday, JULY 8, 1881 OUTRAGEOUS CRIME The Franklin News The Randolph County News published at Roanoke, Alabama, last week contained an account of a horrible crime committed near Wesobulga in Clay county near the Alabama line, the 29th ult. The following is the News account of the terrible deed: About 8 o'clock Wednesday morning, Mrs. Mitchell, wife of Mr. Al Mitchell, left home to visit a relative a short distance off and when about a half a mile from home, she was attacked and soon afterwards murdered. The body was found at 1 o'clock, having three stabs in the neck and a severe cut on one hand. The body was about fifteen feet from the road and there was evidence that a great struggle had taken place in the road. A tramp had been in the neighborhood for a few days and several circumstances pointed very strongly to him as the one who perpetrated the deed. A party was at once organized and started in pursuit of the man, but they did not succeed in catching him in Alabama, and the News closes its account by stating that when last seen, the tramp was making his way towards the Georgia line. On Monday we learned that the party had been arrested and put in the Franklin (Heard Co.) jail. He was caught near Hogansville by the Sheriff of Heard County. The man's name is Waldrop and he formerly lived in this county and is well known to a great many of our citizens. He remained in Franklin jail until Monday evening when some 100 men or more from Alabama came to Franklin and demanded him from the jailer. They said they did not wish to destroy the jail, but that they had come after Waldrop and they intended to have him. They finally by threats forced the jailer to give them the key of the jail and they took Waldrop and carried him off. It was stated by some of the party that they intended to take Waldrop back to the place where the deed was committed. What was actually done we have not learned up to the time of going to press. ------- NEWSPAPER Issue of Friday, JULY 15, 1881 MORE ABOUT WALDROP We gave last week an account of the arrest of Waldrop, charged with a heinous crime in Alabama and the forcible manner in which he was taken from the Franklin (Heard Co., Ga.) jail by citizens of Clay and Randolph counties of that state. According to reports, he met his death by hanging. This took place at the scene of the murder in Clay county on the 7th inst., there being present about 600 men and women. A correspondent of the Atlanta Constitution, writing from LaFayette, Alabama gives the following account of the reason that Waldrop says prompted him to commit the crime: The prisoner stated to the lynchers that a man named Hal Mitchell, who had parted from his wife, offered him $75. to kill her. This Waldrop agreed to do. In the same neighborhood and living close by was another man named Al Mitchell, but no relation to the other Hal Mitchell. Waldrop says he was a comparative stranger in that setion and the names Hal and Al being so similar, that he mistook the wife of Al Mitchell for that of Hal Mitchell, and murdered her. He said he had never seen either of the ladies and meeting Mrs. Al Mitchell, asked if her name was Mrs. Mitchell and on her replying that it was, he remarked "Well, you are the one I am looking for and I am going to kill you." With that, he says, he made the attack with the horrible results too well known. Hal Mitchell was at the hanging yesterday and Waldrop seeing him in the crowd pointed him out and said "You are the man who got me into this scrape; you offered me $75. to kill your wife and I made the mistake of killing Al Mitchell's wife." When Mitchell denied the charge, Waldrop went on to tell him and the crowd where the contract was made, what day and the full details of the transaction. Many present were inclinded to believe Waldrop's statements, while others scouted the idea. When he was first drawn up, the rope broke and he fell to the ground. A minister was present and the doomed man begged him to pray for him. This the minister refused to do unless he, the prisoner would take back what he had said about Hal Mitchell. This he would not do and said that it was the truth and to swing him up again, as he would not enter eternity with a lie on his lips. According to the Roanoke News, Waldrop gave his full name as Charles Jesse Waldrop; that he was born in TALBOT county, Georgia on May 14, 1853. Says that he was been very wicked all of his life, but refused to tell any of the crimes he had committed before this, except that he had been married four times. His first wife was Miss Fannie Smith who lived five miles from Carrollton, Ga. He next married Miss Vickie Holiday in Chambers county, Ala. His third wife was Miss Lizzie Muncas in Clay county and lastly married to a widow Seets in the same county. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/talbot/newspapers/cjwaldro2174gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb