Tragedys
Love Suicide of George A. Benson of Lawrenceville
In 1885, George A. Benson, whose parents resided in Philadelphia, lived in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Before coming to Georgia, he was employed at Benson & Townsend, a banking house in Philadelphia.
Benson was romantically involved with with a young woman from Alabany, New York, a belle by the name of Miss Ruth A Larrabe, the daughter of E. J. Larrabe, had written him 86 love letters. The letters were tender expressions of love, written in the fine fashion of a cultured lady of the times. From the letters, they couple had agreed to be married in April of the previous year. For some unexplained reason, however, the marriage was broken off. Even son, the letters which followed the broken engagement, were filled with affection, then a sadness. Some obstacle seemed to stand between them. According to Miss Larrabe, she was powerless. Her mother denied that such an engagement had ever existed, and refused to allow her daughter to be interviewed by the newspapers.
However, the Albany newspapers managed to interview a well-known gentlemen in the social circles of Albany, who said: "I know Miss Larrabe as a graceful, engaging, refined young lady. Benson I did not know, nor had I heard that any engagement of marriage existed between him and Miss Larrabe. They had probably become acquainted at Washington where Miss Larrabe spent one winter with the family of Secretary McCullough, and went much into society, where she was a general favorite. She also visited Mrs. McElroy, sister of President Arthur...The young lady is bright and charming and has participated prominently in the social festivities of the past few weeks in this city..."
Another person, however, who was quite familiar with the family, said: "I understand the young man was a suitor for Miss Larabe's hand. They were devoted to one another, but her parents objected a year ago to an engagement on account of the youth of the parties. For a time there was an understanding that his suit might be heard at a later day if the affections of the young people did not undergo a change as they became older. When, however, Mr. Benson became dissipated all thought of an engagement was abandoned. Miss Larrabe's conduct in the matter has been above reproach, and she is deeply pained by the publicity that has been given the case."
Before the suicide, Benson had just asked Mr. Holliday of Atlanta to endorse a fifty dollar draft for him. Mr. Hotchkiss, a New York traveler staying at the Markham, boarding house where Benson lived, knew Benson slightly, and sent a telegraph to the Benson family in Philadelphia. Even though it was addressed "Mr. and Mrs. Benson, Philadelphia," the telegram was fortunately delivered to the correct address. The family instructed that the body be shipped home. Oddly enough, Mr. Holliday had referred the draft to Mr. Hotchkiss, who honored it. When Benson asked Mr. Holliday to endorse another fifty dollar draft for him, Mr. Holliday told him that he would have to get his father to telegraph instructions to that effect. A short while later, Benson brought in a telegraph from his father, directing Mr. Holliday to endorse it. Ultimately, the young man's father telegraphed Mr. Holliday not to advance his son any more money.
Ref: The Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, 5 January 1885 and 9 January 1885.
Brantley Lynched. Thomas K. Brantley came to Bainbridge from Alabama in 1884. He was 30 years of age, of apparent respectability, good looking, and married to the widow of a prominent physician of the western portion of the county. For months, he'd brutually beaten his wife. On June 21, 1885, he was charged with wife beating and put into jail on a $750 bond. When he got out of jail, he went home straightaway, and unmercifully beat his wife, then, tortured her with devilish ingenuity. Almost dead, he burned her with turpentine. This time, he was arrested and the bond was set at $1,000.
Public sentiment expanded, and the people felt outraged. While Brantley confessed to his deeds, he boasted to his fellow prisoners of his brutality, and threatened dire vengeance upon certain parties when he got free.
On the morning of July 30th, however, a lynch mob of 50 or 60 men came to the jail. The jailer refused to let them inside, and threw the keys away. But the gate was broken down, the jailer overpowered, and the prisoner taken from his cell. The man was taken outside in his night clothes. They crossed the bridge, and between Colonel Arnett's house and the forks in the road, a rope was thrown over a tree. Brantley begged to be heard, but he was hanged by the neck, then his carcass riddled with bullets.
Ref: The Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, 30 July 1885.
Horseback Dual in Colquitt County. In 1880, Alfred Carter of Albany had just gotten married when he was murdered. The culprit was Richard Barrow. His widow later married Mr. Wright Weekly, and they had one child. Five years later, on 1 January 1885, a strange dual occurred in Colquitt County, on horseback.
Wright Weekly was known to be aggressive and overbearing. On the first of January 1885, he was attending a riotous party at the house of Mr. Daniel Luke. As the party ended, two of the guests, Messrs. Homer and Elijah Carter mounted their horses and rode off. When not far from the gate they fired off their pistols several times. Wright Weekly was saddling his horse, and heard the shots. He ordered them to quit shooting, adding that "he would whip the one that did it." Homer and Elijah retorted with harsh words, then rode off. When this happened, Weekly leapt onto his horse to retaliate, while his brother clung to the bridle, begging him to desist. But Weekly galloped after the Carter brothers at a lively pace, while he brother followed. He held a knife in his hand, but it didn't do him good, because Homer Carter fired his gun. A bullet entered Weekly's eight eye and lodged behind his left ear. He could not speak. His brother took him to Mr. Luke's house, where he died an hour later.
An inquiry was held in the county court house, with Justice Gregory presiding. The jury found that the deceased came to his death from a wound caused by a pistol in the hands of Homer Carter. Carter, declared the murderer, did not attend the inquiry, and was not be found.
Ref: The Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, 12 January 1885.
Moonshiner King . Ayres Jones was a character. Lieutenant McIntyre of the United States Army was killed while assisting US deputy marshals to raid a Gilmer County in the spring of 1878. There was a mystery about the killing of McIntyre which needed clearing up. At the time, it was thought that Ayres Jones and his brother were guilty of this killing.
For months, deputies sought out Ayres Jones and his brother, to bring them to trial. They lived in the wildest and most thinly populated portion of Georgia, and knew the mountain paths well, so they were able to elude and defy arrest. About a year after McIntyre was killed, however, the Jones brothers were captured by a bold plot to share them, planned by Deputy Marshal J. B. Gaston and two assistants.
When the brothers were brought into Atlanta, they looked more like wild men than dwellers in a civilized community, having long, wiry, black hair which fell loosely over their shoulders, and thick beards. The brothers were gaints in form and their eyes had a ferocious, but furtive glance, which betrayed their fiery nature.
The United States District Court tried them, but they were acquitted because of lack of evidence to connect them with the MyIntyre murder. Upon their release, they returned to Gilmer County, but did not settle in the old places. The glimpse they had gotten of the civilized world upset their former habits. Before catpure, they had never seen a locomotive and knew nothing of the ways of the world. From mountain desperadoes, they were converted into wily moonshiners, who depended on cunning more than reckless behavior.
But it was not too long before Ayres Jones and his brother were heard of again, not in connection with the homicide, but as crafty and successful evaders of the revenue detectives who sought out the dens of mountain moonshiners. Warrant after warrant was produced, but they could not be found. As they fled from place to place, reports were received of their being from all parts of the north Georgia mountains. Eventually, Ayres Jones was heard of as being in Chattooga County. Marshall Nelms sent Deputies E. C. Murphy, William Killy, and H. C. Garrison to capture them. After being gone a week, they discovered that the gang of moonshiners had spread among people who refused to provide information.
Ref: The Constitution, Atlanta 8-18-1885
The Woolfolk Axe-Murders. The crime of the century occurred in Marcon, Georgia. It was probably the most gruesome murders ever to occur in the history of man. Just reading the newspaper accounts sickens the stomach. This is because all ........ members of the family of Capt. Richard Woolfolk were murdered in one single night in 1885. The weapon was an axe, and the witnesses saw blood dripping from the walls and ceilings of several rooms inside the Woolfolk house.
Tom Woolfolk, a son of Capt. Richard Woolfolk, was blamed. The night it had occurred, just before dawn, he ran down the hill to a family of colored folks, and told them that he was scared because he'd heard his father and step-mother fall dead to the floor.
Articles appeared in the Macon Telegraph and the Atlanta Constitution for months, each providing gruelling details. Woolfolk was tried and hanged for the murders.