Georgia, D, 1878-1995, Undated

Online content

560 = Ga.

68 SOUTH EASTERN

ground that they were leading, cannot be
considered, when neither the questions re-
ferred to, nor the substance thereof, are
made to appear in the assignment of er-
ror.” See also Pippin v. State, 205 Ga.
316(7), 53 S.E.2d 482, supra. This ground
of the motion is wholly insufficient to raise
any question for decision by this court.

[3] 3. The general grounds of the
motion for a new trial are without merit.
We have carefully read the brief of evi-
dence and the verdict rendered is amply
authorized.

Judgment affirmed.
All the Justices concur,

w
© E Rev NUMBER SYSTEM
T

208 Ga. 603
THOMAS et al. v. STEDHAM et al.
No. 17649.

Supreme Court of Georgia.
Jan. 15, 1952,

Mrs. Hester Thomas and others sued Mrs.
W. L. Stedham and others to have certain
deeds cancelled as a cloud upon plaintiffs’
title to land. The Superior Court, Carroll
County, Samuel J. Boykin, J., sustained a
general demurrer and dismissed the petition,
and the petitioners brought error. The Su-
preme Court, Almand, J., held that the facts
alleged failed to show title in the petitioners,

Affirined,

1. Quleting Title 30(1), 35(2)

A true owner alone can mmintain ac-
tion to remove a cloud on his title to land,
and in petition for such purpose, facts must
be alleged to show the title is in petitioner.

2. Quicting Title €=10(4)

Iequity will not cancel deed as cloud on
title of petitioner in possession who has no
title and whose only relation to property
is possession acquired under circumstances
under which no prescription could be based,

3. Bankruptcy €=143(5)
Mortgages €=139

REPORTER, 2d SERIES

to grantee and was not divested by bank-
ruptcy proceedings wherein grantor listed
debt as secured and wherein grantor was
subsequently discharged from all his debts,
Nor was grantee’s title affected by fact that
grantor returned property as his own and
that bankruptcy court sought to administer
it. Ga.Code Ann. § 67-1301.

4. Bankruptcy €433(5)
Mortgages €=600(1)

Before grantor in security deed may
become reinvested with title, he must pay,
or offer to pay, debt for which security
deed was given, and discharge in bank-
ruptcy of debt of grantor does not operate
to satisfy conditions of security deed or
to reinvest title in grantor. Ga.Code Ann,
§ 67-1301. .

5. Limitation of Actions €=151(3), 166

If man promises to pay money to get
title to his land back, he must pay it, no mat-
ter how old debt is, and fact that action
on debt is barred will not revest title or
raise perfect equity in his favor,

6. Mortgages C=311

Even though warranty deed was actu-
ally given to secure debt, such debt being
unpaid at time of grantor’s. death, the
grantor’s heirs would not be entitled to have
decd cancelled, unless they either paid
debt or tendered amount of debt. Ga.Code
Ann. § 67-1301.

7. Mortgages C>143

Where one executes security deed and
renmins in possession of land described
in deed, his possession is under grantee in
security deed and is not adverse to such
grantee’s title, and neither prescription or
statute of limitations is available as de-
fense to action in ejectment founded on
security title.

8. Mortgagos C143, 311

Even though warranty deed was in
fact given to secure debt, grantor retain-
ing possession of land did not hold adverse
to grantec, and, in absence of allegations,
in grantor’s heirs suit for cancellation of
deed, indicating any time at which grantor's
right of entry accrued or when possession

Where warranty deed was in fact giv- of his heirs ceased to be permissive and be-
en to secure debt, title nevertheless passed came adverse, petition failed to show title

THOMAS v. STEDHAM

Ga 561

Cite as 68 S.E.2d 660

by adverse possession, Ga.Code Ann. §
67-1308.

9. Improvements €=4(6)

Possessors’ petition against owner for
increased value of land was insufficient,
in absence of pleaded facts from which jury
could determine what was value of land
when plaintiff went into possession, what
improvements consisted of, and what their
value was. Ga.Code Ann. § 85-417.

10. Pleading €=218(4)

In action against resident defendant
to have deeds cancelled as cloud upon title
and against nonresident, as Sheriff of an-
other county, to enjoin him from executing
writ of possession issued by virtue of
judgment, procured by resident defendant
in dispogsessory proceeding against peti-
tioners, where resident defendant’s demur-
rer to petition was sustained because of
petition’s failure to show title in petition-
ers, it was not error to dismiss petition as
against nonresident defendant as well.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. A true owner alone can maintain
an action to remove a cloud on his title to
land, and, in a petition for such purpose,
facts must be alleged to show that the title
is in the petitioner.

2. The petition by heirs of the grantor
in a security deed to cancel such deed as
a clout on their title was insufficient to
show paper title in them. Nor did the al-
legations show that they had acquired
prescriptive title by 20 years’ adverse pos-
session.

3. It was not error, on sustaining the
general demurrer of the resident defendant,
to dismiss the petition as against both the
resident and nonresident defendants.

ooo

This case is here on exceptions to an or
der sustaining a gencral demurrer to an
equitable petition and dismissing the same.

Mrs. Hester Thomas and others, as the
surviving wife and children of W. M.
Thomas, brought their petition against Mrs.
W. L. Stedham, and L. P. Allen, as Sher
iff of Haralson County, alleging that by in-
heritance they became the owners of a de-

68 S.H.2d—36

scribed tract of land in land lot No. 159,
in the 17th District of Haralson County,
and that there were three outstanding deeds
that should be cancelled as a cloud upon
their title. It was alleged: There was a
purported deed from W. M. Thomas to G.
J. Holcombe, dated November 2, 1910;
also a quitclaim deed from Bullard, as trus-
tee in bankruptcy of W. M. Thomas, dated
March 5, 1925, to the “estate of G. J. Hol-
combe,” and a warranty deed dated Janu-
ary 2, 1926, from Mary Holcombe, as ad-
ministratrix of the estate of G. J. Hol-
combe, to W. L. Stedham. The deed from
Thomas to Holcombe, though in the form
of a warranty deed, was in fact a security
deed given to secure an indebtedness of
$450, and this indebtedness had been listed
in the schedule of debts in a bankruptcy
proceeding of W. M. Thomas, in which pro-
ceeding a discharge was given to him in
September, 1925. The deed from the trus-
tee in bankruptcy to the “estate of G. J.
Holcombe” was void, because no grantee,
natural or artificial, was named therein,
and the deed from Mary Holcombe, as ad-
ministratrix of the estate of G. J. Hol-
combe, to the defendant Stedham was void
because it was issucd without an order of
the court of ordinary authorizing the sale
of the property. W. M. Thomas died in
1930 in possession of the tract of land de-
scribéd in the aforementioned deeds, and
after his death the petitioner, Clarence
Thomas, with the consent of the other pe-
titioners, went into possession of said land
and has remained in possession, actually
working the same as a farm since the death
of his father, and the petitioners are the
owners as tenants in common of said land
by virtue of the laws of descent and dis-
tribution; but if the petitioners are not
found to have a good record title, they
have acquired prescriptive title by reason
of the adverse possession of W. M. Thomas
and Clarence Thomas for more than 20
years.

The prayers of the petition as against the
defendant Mrs. Stedham were: for a can-
cellation of the three deeds above referred
to; to restrain Mrs. Stedham from cutting
or removing timber from the property;
and for a money judgment “for the in-

‘

558 ~—s*Vaa.

officials of Alabama from enforcing the
order, thereby permitting discontinuance of
the operation of the two trains. On appeal
to the Supreme Court of the United States
the order of the three-judge court was re-
versed, on the ground that the railway
company had not exhausted its remedy in
the State courts.

Mr, Justice Frankfurter wrote a con-
curring opinion, in which Mr. Justice Jack-
son joined, declaring, in effect, that the case
should be dismissed on its merits. He said:
“It appears that the opcration of Trains
7 and 8 resulted in a loss of $8,527.24 per
month during the twelve-month period end-
ing February 28, 1949. During the five-
month period ending July 31, 1949, the

68 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

But the railroad made no claim that it
is operating at a loss, or failing to receive
a fair return, either on its total investment
or upon its investment within the State of
Alabama. * * * This litigation seems
to have been concerned almost exclusively
with the operations of Trains 7 and &
No showing whatever was made that by
the loss incurred in running these trains
Southern was deprived of that protection
for its investment in Alabama which alone
can be made the basis of a claim under the
Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment.”

[6] The order of the Commission is
affirmed.

DARDEN v. STATE Ga, 559
Cite as 68 S.E.2d 559

208 Ga. 599
DARDEN v. STATE.

No. 17657.

Supreme Court of Georgia.
Jan, 15, 1952.

Arthur Darden was convicted in the Su-
perior Court, Grady County, Carl E. Crow,
J., of murder, and he brought error. The
Supreme Court, Hawkins, J., held that evi-
dence authorized the conviction,

Judgment affirmed.

i. Criminal Law €>1120(4)

Where ground of amendment to mo-
tion for new trial assigned error in admis-
sion of evidence of photographs which al-
legedly were irrclevant, immaterial and

grounds and two special grounds, was over-

ruled,. and to this judgment he excepts.
Held:

[1] 1. The first ground of the amend-
ment to the motion for a new trial assigns
error because the trial court illegally ad-
mitted in evidence “All of the photographs
mentioned in the transcript of and brief of
the evidence in said case, and which were
identified by the court reporter at the time
they were introduced into the evidence by
Mr. O'Neal, Solicitor General,” over the
objection “that they were irrelevant, im-
material, and that they could only tend to
prejudice and mislead the jury.” The
photographs referred to are not set out in
this ground of the amended motion, nor at-

loss amounted to $10,738.51 per month. Affirmed. tending to prejudice and mislead the jury, tached thereto as exhibits, and for this
sd but photographs were not set out in the reason this ground cannot be considered by
He ground of the amended motion, nor at- this court. Mills v. Williams, 208 Ga. 425
44) tached thereto as exhibits, that ground (7) 67 S.E.2d 212, and cases there cited.
me could not be considered by Supreme Court Aga matter of fact, the photographs do not
mas in determining whether judgment over- appear anywhere in the record, and it Li.
ue - | ruling motion for new trial was proper. would be utterly impossible for this court (3
o ; 2. Criminal Law ¢>1064(4) to determine whether they are irrelevant or aS
o Cmtiaak. wh epanded wition toc ww immaterial, or whether they would tend to C ,
a) ; trial stating that court allowed leading erepeiet. oF eenert the jury, San. ¥. :
et questions over the objection of defendant State, 202 Ga. 851, sais. agha i S.E.2d we
=~ ‘ but that summary of the leading questions even if this Loto aNGEE permitted to loo '¥9) ;
a and answers could not be given except by to other portions of the record in order to

reference to the entire transcript of the
evidence, was insufficient to raise question
in Supreme Court of whether the judgment
overruling the motion for new trial was
Proper.

3. Homiclde €=250

Evidence authorized murder convic-
tion.

—_—_>-—__—.

Steve M. Watkins, Thomasville, for
Plaintiff in error.

Maston O’Neal, Sol. Gen., Bainbridge,
Eugene Cook, Atty. Gen. J. R. Parham,
Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court.

HAWKINS, Justice.

Arthur Darden was convicted of mur-
der, without recommendation, in Grady
Superior Court. His motion for a new
trial, as amended, consisting of the general

find the evidence objected to. Sce, in this
connection, Pippin v. State, 205 Ga. 316
(7), 53 S.E.2d 482. Sce also, as bearing
upon the question of admissibility of photo-
graphs in evidence, Franklin v. State, 69
Ga. 36(1); Parks v. State, 203 Ga. 302,
309(5), 46 S.F-.2d 504; Tatum v. State, 206
Ga. 171, 179(4), 56 S.E.2d 518, and cases
there cited.

[2] 2. The second ground of the
amended motion is as follows: “Because
the court allowed the solicitor-general to
ask Icading questions over the objection of
movant. A summary of the mentioned
leading questions and answers cannot be
given except by reference to the entire
transcript of the evidence in said case.”
In Wadsworth v. Wadsworth, 134 Ga. 816
2a), 68 S.1. 649, it is said: “An assign-
ment of error that the court committed er-
ror in allowing the opposite party to read
to the jury answers to ccrtain questions
contained in the interrogatories, on the

°2S6T §S2 Ttady uo (Aqunq) Apeun) gg *By *oetTe *gz SyoeTq fanuqay *NaUVd

DARDEN, Arthur, black, 22, electrocuted Georgia (Grady County) on April 25, 1952,

* {this service.

r ' Meanwhile, it i. an
that WGRA will present a series
of:Easter radio programs March]
19th-24th,: inclusive, at 11 a. m.
and on Easter at 12:30 p. m.

amie Figul.ls
raial To One

Booker Hill Was
fei ~ Scene Of Murder .
\ _ Slashing ds tietnci

A small pocket knife sowed

\ a deadly weapon in a fight s i
> : between two Negro men on i invited to‘ be present lor tnese |j
“a _-| 8th. Street in Booker Hill : special Lenten servi¢as. y< > sf;
“Ss about midnight last Thursday ‘ , ; 5 : , ie
night, March Ist. Arthur ‘16 TRUE-BILLS ago

Darden, 21, with his knife, j|FOR MURDER -
slashed Eugene Butler, 26, in z
- so many different ways f:om
his waist up until a doctor
examining the slain man said
400 stitches would not have
| sewed up the knife wounds.
4 : Butler lived 25 minutes after
: he was taken to .the Grady
| i } County Hospital, but never
spoke.
’ Darden was treated at ‘the hos-
pital for a bruise or laceration
on the side of the head which ap-
peared to have been made by a
broken bottle. Officers found the
broken neck of a bottle where the
fight is said to have started.
Darden was confined in the
"Grady County jail.

Bal a's a Gir taboeey potieys 4 at

‘

(Continued from page 7

: In the case of Albert Harrell
Pree vs. W. W. Ferrell, involving aj)
land dispute, a verdict was re-
turned in favor of the defendant.
In the case of J. W. Braswell vs.
1 L. J. Lewis, involving the closing
of a private road, a verdict was)
returned in favor of the plain-/
fists 7
The criminal part of the, March ag
term of Superior Court will open
Monday morning at 9 as m., with
the trial of Lamar Boyett proba-
il bly the irst on the docket.

i nanan hinds elena di oe

‘KNIFE FIGHT IS
‘FATAL TO. ONE ° ‘
The grand jury, meeting THiS |} = -sierrmceentnemmnsimecmananctedhie ie he! whan OE is RS ame q
: i
:
i
d

‘(Continued from page -1) ra ranger merercsmiecess

‘jrunning up the street. They
‘| called for him to stop, and when
i/he failed to hault, both fired at
him. Darden then stopped, turn-
‘led around and came back to them

ea ees
week, indicted Arthur Darden :
for murder. He will be tried
next week in the criminal part
of the March term of Superior
Court, now in session.

Oe eB AG ort 4adat My LR BRT Ne

| the injured man had been moved

‘ : |

Dempsey Echols, who lives next 4
j

door to where the fight began,
said he was awakened about mid-
night by hearing someone running
at the back of his house, and his
wife told him that somebody was
fighting out there. He got up
and saw a man chasing another
one in the vacant space behind
his house. He did not know who
it was at the time, and it being
dark, he could not recognize them.
But apparently it was Butler who
ran toward the back lot with
Darden after him.

Butler ran into a fence and fell
over the fence, Echols said, and
it was then that Darden caught
| him. Echols said he could see
‘the man crouching over _ Butler,
| apparently beating him, as it ap-
peared to him, and he went to
the back of his house and turn-
ed on a light. When Echols turn-
ed on the light and called to them
to stop fighting, Darden lett
Butler and started walking to-
ward Echols, with “blood all over
him”, Echols related. Echols then
went through his house and got
another man to bring him to town
after the City Police.

City Policemen Arthur Lee
Hester and David Maxwell went
to the scene where they found

SRE Sie eb IRR Mp rH

_|had been staying

ne aaa

bars

‘RCH 9, 1951.

91 7.
Cine (inte, aie :

| with his hands in the air, still
holding the small pocket knife,
opened, in his right hand.

The Police said that Darden
was not drunk, but that he
obviously had been drinking. He
said very little at the time, and
little or nothing could be learned
, definitely about the reason for
the fight.

One version,, which could not
be verified, related that a girl

Jones, t ;
the fight began, and that both
Butler and Darden had _ been
coming to see her. The girl was
not available.

"Darden had just recently come
to Cairo from Dawson. It is
understood that he had been in
a knife fight in Dawson with a
“woman, and was given a sentence
_on the City work gang. Serving

with Fannie}:
house where some said].

said that his shirt was cut off

him, and that from his waist up
there was hardly an inch of his
body that had not been slashed by
the knife. His throat was sever-
ed almost completely around, and
witnesses said nearly every mark
of the knife was as deep as the
blade was long.

LEGIONNARIES
HOLD MEETING

(Continued trom page

bett Rabun as chairma
pointed to begin
work on the cons
lake behind the
This project is t
possibly comp

up to the edge of the © street. only a half a day of his sentence man :
Several people had by that time there, it is said he escaped and | Dods ee,
gathered around, the Police said, | came to Cairo. Hor

and about the time they arrived, | Those who examined Butler | t

someone ¢ alted out “there he goes, | ae Sere rey

petting aw eal , indicating Darden. |

uw ee ’ 1 age] tcl theeg

neieameteendiinent mereatiineahtanem ais od a 7

-— OT wr OT oe

i Bo AT
|THOMASTON IN THE 1800's,

*>h.

“TRG Thomaston Times and The Free Press—Monday, oe | 18, 1977

: From the files of Thomaston
| Newspaper predecessors to i

; The Thomaston Times. gs

Compiled by

ais _and Mrs. R. L. Ay

expressly for the Times
and as a project of the

Upson Historical Society :

strong arm of the law.

i UPSON ENTERPRISE justice as she went bidding :

) Thomaston Georgia defiance tolawandanoutraged To her we say go proud _
; ne public sentiment. Lucinda to the gallows. on:

a (Note: Our readers will For two years she never Friday and look upon the once

mn ws

, the hanging gives a

recall that Judge Hall sentenc-
ed Dick Dawson to be hung
privately on July 5, 1878, but
Dick requested to be hung
publicly. He told the Court that
he wanted every body to see
him hung so that in after years

- the people could tell his three
little children how he died and
caution them against getting

under the influence of a mean
woman as he unfortunately had
done. The following letter to the
Editor published the week after
full
explanation.)

Mr. Editor: The moral-mind-
ed and justice-loving portion of

our people are certainly

ashamed and disgusted at the
late trial of Lucinda Cunning-

_ ham, She was arraigned for

being accessary before the fact

ceased to employ all the arts of
wantoness, coquetry, flattery
and persuasion upon Dick
Dawson to induce him to
murder her own husband and
failing in this, she endeavored
to excite his anger by telling
him that Frank was jealous of
him and intended to do him
some injury, and she persued
her object with persistent
perseverence until she drove
Dick to madness end induced
him to commit the cruel deed.

SHE IS A double murderess.
She caused Dick to murder her
husband and now he died by the

Hi Nabor

y Olin Miller

No matter how
low something

strong and manly, but now -
emaciated and shriveled form ©

of Dick Dawson, broken down
in mind and body by a long
imprisonment and the horrors
of immediate death; see him
die, gaze upon the last
quivering and writhing convul-
sions of his body and remember

thou did it. Then go and spend
the balance of thy days and
drown thy conscience — in
infamy and wantoness, but
remember thy days will be few
and that there is a bar at which
you will be arraigned whose

Judge is God, and whose all .

seeing eye will penetrate the <

depths of your guilty soul and

award unto you that justice you {

have escaped among men.

- to the murder of Frank is priced, itisn’t Justice
Cunningham, her own husband, & bargain to July 10, 1878 ol
by’ Dick Dawson. In the buy, it if you aie cee) tae |
previous trials of Dick enough °"'t ake * fae The negroes have it that Dick !

: ‘had been elicited to show that
she was guilty. Such was the
expression and seemed to be

the general opinion of nearly

* every body. Judge Hall, with

commendable desire to punish
the guilty parties to such a foul
murder, had her arrested and
brought to trial, but from some

! unaccountable inability on the
“part of State to get up the
testimony in a shape to prove
~ her guilty she was acquitted
; and permitted to walk out of the
_ Court-house with high head and

independent. step, trampling

Not only do a lot of people like
catfish, but they aren’t in the
least bit ashamed to admit it.

As a rule a person will get
over a Sinking spell if he doesn’t
have it in deep water.

It’s deplorable that a person
never hears any sour notes in
his chin music.

It’s always open season for

shooting the bull.

Dawson, recently hanged, has !

seve to life and is getting ‘‘O.
” again. But you know, yes
a know, you know.

THE JAIL IS still clear since 4 9
Moses Green has been taken to F
the John B. Gordon plantation ~
over near Howard in Taylor
county, and Jack Bryant.to a k

farm near Covington. °

We are informed by Mr, H.T. ’

Jennings that Moses Green and ‘
Dick Dawson cost the county
during their imprisonment
about _— 00. ;

‘ a ae a
a. ae

i, and his guard to the gallows
oe and at precisely 12 o’clock will ‘
i «be hung. This one is private -- °
-that” is ‘the: gallows will be
surrounded with bagging and
‘noone will be allowed to see it .
except Sheriff, Guards, and a ™

newsnoner = ranorter At 9

~~, »

COUNTY f: |... | SOC & MEANS

on flcoks Bie Yissiacten, Zeaigern ~ Pttb27

OCCUPATION | RESIDENCE

o0CS8 OR AGE

RECORD

ewime «0. U5 TOMB ee 2 de THER

Died 5. SA /LIL
pes aang Wi, BA2sL-

AGE

SYNOPSIS

Lilt, A oe ae, petetamten. iC prasad here
i. Anuerdix CO. ically 7 Kid cen FEaY Laauk Byte! 2G
VII Aebitieasaedig placed Lo dhdtl Hera ete Mamas
he Led aati pl band Lhe. tne te cleeted Ad Be en
flex: fet tt Asad hear leg etatitin etUcieens Paco
that he te eeetigttd Le Crepe Lar hse Mie laguiliid
tt hese tatal in ALeyplpldod cat Pong AB pees Lar
Bh Heard Lowe DE: Le tak-O Re litle A eg ZOO r2dus—
diet rrtacdtdl thd Beatle eed att LP FE ee
A Affe: ANiet gleeeide tte te. Zee tA! ef fla 2A Dt bcMUAACOL IP
5S ae oe Lawl Blau Z ey ae pe

no —Lu, — (are) 4. Mesapppuaaed tm tbe cacy Clad)

Sa. Seif ?1Z, Set [it 7ZEUWE {C2 ZZ

UPSON ENTERPRISE
Thomaston Georgia

PREPARATIONS for
HANGING

At the last session of Superior
Court Moses Green and Dick
Dawson, who were sentenced
one year ago to be hanged,
were resentenced by his Honor
Judge Hall and will hang on the
fifth day of July next.

The county Commissioners
have selected a place to erect

the gallows and ordered lumber
to erect the same. The place
selected is in the pasture field

between the Jail and the Ben
Lowe residence. To save the

building a gallows in a house
they have decided to hang both
. Moses Green and Dick Dawson

on the same one. They
contemplate erecting a tempor-
ary wall of bagging or

something of the kind around
the gallows and station a guard
‘around _ it’ and hang Moses

Green first as he is to hung
‘privately. Then remove the

bagging and hang Dick Dawson
-who wants to be hung publicly.
~The place selected is situated
. $o that thousands can see the
- -hanging.

June 12, 1878.

if oe i 1s PROGRAMMME for
HANGING

"Priday, Soly. 5, every body
and their friends are expected
‘to be in Thomaston. At 10 A.M.,
Moses Green will be taken from
Jail and carried by the Sheriff
and his guard to the gallows
and at precisely 12 o’clock will
‘be hung. This one is private --
that’ is the’ gallows: will be
surrounded with bagging and

newenrner = rannrter At mn

: From the files of Thomaston
4 Newspaper predecessors to
a The Thomaston Times. .

county,.,08. the. “expense ... of : ‘were afloat concerning the

‘no.one will be allowed to see it
except Sheriff, Guards, and a’:

THE FREE PRESS—Monday, March 21, 1977,
{LOOKING AT

gF Compiled by . ‘
Dr. and Mrs. R. L. Carter |%

expressly for the Times’: :
and as a project of the 7 :*

Upson Historical Society)

Dawson from Jail to the
gallows. He will be allowed
until two o’clock to make his
statement and bid his friends
goodbye and then will be hung.

As we go to press we learn of
a reliable source that Moses
Green’s sentence has_ been
commuted to the penitentiary
for life.
July 3, 1878

THE HANGING

At an early hour Friday
Morning, the 5th inst., people
from adjoining counties who
had encamped the night
previous near town began
coming in and by ten o’clock

the streets were thronged with

thousands. Rumors of all sorts

programme of the hanging.
Some expected a riot — others

-did not. Some were consider-

ably excited and quite nervous
while others were calm and
composed. Many expected Dick
Dawson would be taken from
Jail at 10 o’clock as Moses

_ Green was to have been taken
‘therefrom at that hour and as

Gov. Colquitt had commuted
Moses’s sentence they expected
Dick to hang at the hour
appointed for Moses. For two
long hours hundreds of white
and colored men and women

“Stood ‘serouged, aWeated
soured and stunk” - all
anxiously awaiting to see Dick
when he stepped from the Jail
door into the wagon. A i}
At 1114 o’clock the Sheriff's
guard composed of fifty.
citizens was organized and
Capt. W.H. Brown was placed
in command. After drilling
them a half hour they were
formed in a hollow square at
the Jail. A little past twelve the
Sheriff arrived and soon the
wagon containing the coffin.
The Young Men’s_ Prayer
Meeting was present and
requested that the coffin be
removed from the wagon and
that Dick be allowed to ride to
the gallows in a chair. The
coffin was promptly removed
an hidden from. view. The Jail
door was opened and Dick
Stepped therefrom into the
wagon wearing a smile on his
face and bowing to first one and
another that he recognized in
the crowd around him. He was
a bright mulato and had just’
put on clean clothing and
combed his hair nicely and
presented a neat appearance.
The wagon was then driven
into the hallow square of armed
men and was afterwards slowly
driven to the gallows a_ half
mile distant. The crowd that
followed was immense.
July 10, 1878

y ee Sah; aria

SY ete OD

eae

i t
LARD GRIMES, Presiden
SEMEL BROWN, Advertising Manager

ished Every Monday by Thomaston Publishing nda
wri at Center Street, Thomaston, Georgia 3028

THe FREE PRESS-

r
JIM WYNN, Editor and General Manage

RALPH MORRIS, Managing Edito

Monday, March 21, 1977 )

\THOMASTON, GEORGIA

Page 4A

LOOKING AT

The Thomaston Times.

UPSON ENTERPRISE
Thomaston Georgia

PREPARATIONS for
HANGING

At the last Session of Superior
Court Moses Green and Dick
Dawson, who were sentenced
one year ago to be hanged,
were resentenced by his Honor
Judge Hall and will] hang on the
fifth day of July next.

The county Commissioners
have selected a place to erect

the gallows and ordered lumber
to erect the same. The place
Selected is in the Pasture field

between the Jail and the Ben
Lowe residence. To Save the

County of the expense .“of #

building a 8allows in a house
they have decided to hang both
Moses Green and Dick Dawson

on the same one. They
contemplate erecting a tempor-
ary wall of bagging or

something of the kind around
the gallows and station a guard
around it and hang Moses

Green first as he is to hung
privately. Then remove the
bagging and hang Dick Dawson
who wants to be hung publicly.
The place selected is situated
So that thousands can see the
hanging.

June 12, 1878

PROGRAMMME for
HANGING i

Friday, July 5, every body
and their friends are expected
to be in Thomaston. At 10 A.M.,
Moses Green will be taken from
Jail and carried by the Sheriff
and his guard to the gallows

and at precisely 12 o’clock will .

be hung. This one is private --
that is the gallows will be
Surrounded with bagging and
no one will be allowed to see it
except Sheriff, Guards, and a
uewspaper reporter. At 10
minutes after twelyo the Sheriff
and -Guards —will- take “Dick

THOMASTON IN THE 1800's

Compiled by
Dr. and Mrs. R. lL. Carter on

From the files of Thomaston
newspaper Predecessors to

expressly

AS we go to Press we learn of
@ reliable source that Moses
Green’s sentence has been
commuted to the penitentiary
for life.
July 3, 1878

THE HANGING

At an early ‘hour Friday
Morning, the 5th inst., people
from adjoining counties who
had encamped the night
Previous near town began
coming in and by ten o’clock
the streets were thronged with
thousands. Rumors of all sorts

‘were afloat concerning the

programme of the hanging.
Some expected a riot — others
did not. Some were consider-
ably excited and quite nervous
while others were calm and
Composed. Many expected Dick
Dawson would be taken from
Jail at 10 o’clock as Moses
Green was to have been taken
therefrom at that hour and as
Gov. Colquitt had commuted
Moses’s sentence they expected

Dick to hang at the hour
appointed for Moses. For two

long hours hundreds of white
and colored men and women

» andasa Project of the

for the Times

“Stood Scrouged, Sweated,
soured and stunk” . all
anxiously awaiting to see Dick
when he stepped from the Jail
door into the wagon.

At 11% o'clock the Sheriff's
guard composed of fifty
citizens was organized’ and
Capt. W.H. Brown was placed
in command. After drilling
them a half hour they were
formed in a hollow square at
the Jail. A little Past twelve the
Sheriff arrived and soon the
wagon Containing the coffin,
The Young Men’s Prayer
Meeting was Present and
requested that the coffin be.
removed from the Wagon and
that Dick be allowed to ride to
the gallows in a chair. The
coffin was promptly removed
an hidden from view. The Jail
door was Opened and Dick
stepped therefrom into the
wagon wearing a smile on his
face and bowing to first one and
another that he recognized in
the crowd around him. He was
a bright mulato and had just
put on clean clothing and
combed his hair nicely and
presented a neat appearance.
The wagon was then driven
into the hallow Square of armed
men and was afterwards slowly

driven to the gallows a half
mile distant. The crowd that

‘followed was immense,

July 10, 1878

[Ai Nabor

seuss by Olin Miller

Amanasked
me what! think
of women in
Politics. I don't
know what to
think of. wom-
en in or out of
anything.

Tax collectors are evidently
becoming a little less Strict. It’s
Said that 30 million Americans
are too fat.

One of the worst bores is the

person who has nothing to Say.
~and-kecps on Saying it.

ond este

No doubt the most favorable
thing about the earth when the
meek inherit it js that there
won't be any politicians here.

Ancold man says he has lived.
to-be 95 by-refusing to -baby-sit
for grandchildren... Syensrar

{
2 qvteeryewhee
1

AY os as EO

Convicted Murderer Executed
AP 17 May 95 13:48 EDT v0691 |
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this news report may not be published,
broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority
of the Associated Press.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- Darrell Gene Devier was executed Wednesday in
Georgia’s electric chair for the rape-murder of an i2-year-old girl.
Two days earlier the prison had lost power just when the U.S. Supreme
Court temporarily blocked his death. |

Devier was pronounced dead at 1:28 p.m. at the state prison near
Jackson, in Georgia’s 20th execution since the state reinstituted the
death penalty in 1983.

Devier, 39, was convicted of the 1979 kidnapping, rape and beating
death of 12-year-old Mary Frances Stoner.

Before the execution, prison system spokesman Karen Kirk had said
Devier’s "mood has been almost unnerving, because he’s so prepared.”

Devier originally was scheduled to be put to death late Monday.

However, minutes before he was to go to the electric chair Monday, a
storm knocked out power. Because of a generator problem, telephones
that would have brought word of a reprieve also were out.

Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers jumped in his car with a
cellular phone, drove until he found a signal and learned that the U.S.
Supreme Court had granted Devier a temporary stay.

The high court lifted that stay Wednesday.

The execution could have taken place during Monday’s power failure
because the electric chair has its own power source and backup
generator. But prison officials said there was no chance an execution
could take place while communication with the courts were interrupted.

Five friends of the victim’s family demonstrated outside the state
prison near Jackson Wednesday as word came that the execution would
proceed.

"It’s wonderful. Justice should have happened 16 year ago," said
Paul Todd of Covington.

One person showed up to protest the execution. “Just to kill a man
does not make any sense," said Bernard DeCaook.

Devier’s appeal had been turned down earlier by the state Supreme
Court and by two federal courts. The state Pardons and Parole Board
refused to commute his sentence to life in prison,

Devier was tried three times. His first trial ended in a mistrial,
and his second was thrown out on appeal. He was convicted and sentenced
to death in 1983 after his third trial.

, eae

Phone: Aids Death Row Inmate
AP 16 May 95 11:38 EDT vo025
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this news report may not be published,
broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority
of the Associated Press.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- The power went off at a Georgia prison minutes
before a man was scheduled to die in the electric chair. The state
attorney general had to drive to high ground with his cellular phone to
learn the execution was stayed.

Darrell Gene Devier had been scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Monday.
Storms cut power to the prison about 6:15 p.m., and the prison’s
generator overheated and cut off for about 20 minutes at 6:35 p.m.

That shut down the prison phones, though a separate generator runs
the electric chair.

Attorney General Mike Bowers said he got into his car, drove to a
spot above the prison and used his portable phone to call his office in
Atlanta. He learned that the U.S. Supreme Court had stayed the
execution and headed off prison officials before Devier was
electrocuted.

The execution was tentatively rescheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Devier’s appeal was still pending today.

Devier was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 12-year-old
Mary Frances Stoner in 1979.

1 Execution Looms, 2nd Delayed
|

AP 15 May 95 22:56 EDT v0803
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this news report may not be published,

broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority
_of the Associated Press.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- A man who raped and killed a 12-year-old girl
on her way home from school won a stay of execution from the U.S.
Supreme Court minutes before he was to be electrocuted.
| Lawyers for Darrell Gene Devier, 39, argued that his history of drug
use and childhood abuse were mitigating factors. The state Supreme
Court and federal courts had rejected his appeal, and the state parole
board refused to commute his sentence to life in prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s stay was granted a half-hour before the
scheduled 7 p.m. execution. It was rescheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday,
barring a further stay.

In Louisiana, Thomas Lee Ward, who admitted murdering his estranged
wife’s stepfather, was scheduled to die by lethal injection early
Tuesday. ;

His lawyers had argued for a stay claiming he was sentenced based on
allegations that he molested his children, rather than for the killing.
Appeals were rejected Monday by the state Pardon Board, federal appeals
courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ward declined a last meal, even the same menu served to the rest of
the inmates Monday night, Assistant Warden Richard Peabody said.

"He’s been quiet," Peabody said.

Ward's execution would be the 22nd in the nation this year, and the
279th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in
1976.

Devier was convicted of the 1979 killing of Mary Frances Stoner, who
was kidnapped, raped and beaten after she got off a school bus near her
home in Adairsville, Ga.

"He basically stalked this child, abducted her ... raped her and
beat her and bashed her head with a 50-pound rock," said Wayne Garner,
chairman of the parole board.

Devier was tried three times. His first trial ended in a mistrial,
and his second was thrown out on appeal. He was convicted and sentenced
‘to death in 1983 after his third trial.

Ward, 59, never denied that he shot and killed Wilbert John Spencer
in June 1983 when Spencer blocked him from taking his children to New
TOL,

Ward had just been freed from jail in California, where he had
served 60 days for molesting his 10-year-old daughter. He went to New
Orleans to see the children and his estranged wife, Linda, who were
living with her parents.

Ward testifed at his trial that, when they first had sex his wife
was 11 years old and the daughter of a woman he was living with. They
married when she was 18.

Ward's lawyers argued that there was no premeditation, robbery or
other circumstances that would warrant capital punishment. They told
the pardon board on Friday that Ward was drinking heavily, taking

cocaine and saw Spencer as someone trying to keep him from his
children.

DEVIER, Darrell Gene, white, elec. GA@ May 17, 1995:

Convicted Murderer Executed
AP 17 May 95 13:39 EDT V0687
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this news report may not be published,
broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority
of the Associated Press.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- Darrell Gene Devier was put to death in
Georgia’s electric chair Wednesday for raping and murdering a
12-year-old girl after she got off a school bus near her home.

Devier was pronounced dead at 1:28 p.m. at the state prison near
Jackson.

He originally was to be put to death Monday, but the U.S. Supreme
Court issued a temporary stay so it could consider his latest appeal.
The court denied the appeal and lifted the stay about 11:45 a.m.
Wednesday.

Devier’s attorneys contended the state failed to comply with the
Open Records Act during his trial. State attorneys said Devier wasn’t
diligent enough in seeking the records.

Devier, 39, of Rome was convicted in the 1979 kidnapping, rape and

beating death of 12-year-old Mary Frances Stoner near her Adairsville
home.

S88 Ga.

the defendant had said in his statement to
the jury, “I have worked for Mr. Collier
about three years. * * * he knows I
would not do a think like that. I worked
at Davison-Paxon’s and the manager up
there knows me. He can give an account
of me,” and since the defendant had not
produced the witnesses referred to in his
statement, it was not error for the solicitor
to argue to the jury his inference to the
effect, “Gentlemen of the jury, this defend-
ant did not produce a single witness to back
him up on his claim of innocence. If he
had not been guilty, he could have gotten
somebody to testify for him.”

ATKINSON, WYATT, and HEAD,
JJ., dissenting in part.

—__>__—

Error from Superior Court, Fulton Coun-
ty; Samuel J. Boykin, Judge.

Andrew Dorsey was convicted of rape,
and he brings error,

Affirmed.

Statement of facts by JENKINS, Chief
Justice:

The defendant, Andrew Dorsey, was in-
dicted on two counts for rape, in that he
had carnal knowledge of one Bertie Mae
Kelley on January 27, 1947, and with one
Sara Crumley on September 8, 1947, in the
manner set out in the indictment. The de-
fendant entered a plea of guilty. The jury
returned a verdict of guilty without a
recommendation. An amended motion for
new trial was filed and overruled upon all
the grounds, Exceptions are to that order.
The questions thus presented relate to the
sufficiency of the corroboration of the in-
jured females; the admissibility of evidence
of the commission of similar crimes; the
charge of the court with respect to the pur-
pose for which such testimony was allowed ;
and an alleged improper and prejudicial ar-
gument to the jury by the solicitor.

Harris, Henson & Spence, of Atlanta,
for plaintiff in error.

Paul Webb, Sol. Gen., William Hall, Wil-
liam T. Boyd, and Dan P. Winn, all of At-
lanta, and Eugene Cook, Atty. Gen., for de-
fendant in error.

49 SOUTH KASTIERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

JENKINS, Chief Justice.

[1-3] 1. The general grounds of the
defendant’s motion for new trial raise the
question of the sufficiency of the evidence
to corroborate the testimony of the two
females against whom the defendant was
convicted of the charge of rape; it being
conceded by counsel for the defendant that,
“In the event there was sufficient corrobo-
ration of their respective stories, there is
probably sufficient evidence to convict.” In
this connection, assuming that it is still the
rule, as held by a majority of the Justices
in Davis v. State, 120 Ga. 433, 48 S.E. 180,
that there can be no conviction of any rape
unless the testimony of the female is corro-
borated (but see, in this connection, Griffith
v. State, 176 Ga..547, 168 S.E. 235), it there-
fore becomes necessary to consider the ex-
tent and nature of the corroboration re-
quired to support a conviction, The law
does not fix the quantum, nor is there any
prescribed rule for measuring the amount
or extent of corroboration required. Lee
v. State, 197 Ga. 123, 124 (2), 28 S.E.2d 465.
However, there are certain facts and cir-
cumstances which our courts have recog-
nized as indicia of corroboration, such as
those stated in Davis v. State, 120 Ga. 433,
48 S.E. 180, as follows: “Unless [the vic-
tim] made some outcry, or told of the injury
promptly, or her clothing was torn or dis-
arranged, or her person showed signs of
violence, or there were other circumstanc-
es which tend to corroborate her story.”
Ultimately, however, the question as to
whether or not the testimony of the female
has been corroborated is, like the question
of credibility of witnesses, one solely for
the jury to determine. Wright v. State,
184 Ga. 62, 190 S.E. 663; Suber v. State,
176 Ga. 525 (2 a), 168 S.E. 585; Smith v.
State, 77 Ga. 705. For this reason, if there
be any corroborative evidence at all, it is
not for this court to pass upon its probative
value; but the verdict of the jury under a
proper charge from the court, having re-
solved that issue and having the approval
of the trial judge, will not be disturbed.

Turning now to the evidence, we shall
consider first that of the female Bertie Mae
Kelley, who testified in substance that on the
night of January 27, 1947, she, while walk-

“i. DORSEY v

. STATE Ga. .889

Cite as 49 S.E.2d 886

ing alone on the street, was accosted by the
defendant whom she had never seen before.
Under threats that she would be killed if she
did not accede, she was forced to go behind
a nearby house which was occupied by white
people. She testified that she scuffled with
her assailant on the ground before he ac-
complished his purpose, which was fully
testified to; that immediately after he had
released her, she went up onto the porch of
the people behind whose house the act had
occurred; that she was crying; and that
she reported the incident to the white people
who lived in the house, She later positively
identified the defendant in a police line-up
of eight other colored men of about the
same age and physical characteristics as the
defendant, This witness’s testimony was
corroborated by the white lady to whom the
attack had first been reported, as follows:
“T know Bertie Mae Kelley. I saw her on
January 27th of this year at night. She
came into my house crying. She had leaves
on the back of her coat. After I had talked
to her, I called the police.” The detective
who investigated the complaint testified :
“T went to the scene where she was supposed
to have been raped, on the morning of Janu-
ary 29th; Bertie Mae carried us to a place
in the backyard of a house facing Georgia
Avenue at the corner of Ami, and there
were different footprints and marks on the
ground, and a place wallowed out in the
ground.”

Sara Crumley, the other victim, testified,
in substance, that at about five o’clock in
the morning on September 8, 1947, while on
her way to work at a girls’ home on Wash-
ington Street, the defendant whom she had
never seen before jumped from behind high
bushes on Capitol Avenue and threw a
knife around her neck and marched her be-
hind some houses. That under threats of
violence he accomplished his purpose, which
was fully testified to, and that immediately
afterwards, without going to her place of
work, she returned to her home and report-
ed the attack to her aunt with whom she
was living, and then took a bath before re-
porting to work; that her dress had been
wrinkled and dirtied, and there was dirt on
the back of her head. She testified that she
had a good look at her assailant, and that
she had described him to her employer when
49 S..2d—56%4

she reported to work that same morning.
This victim also identified the defendant at
a police line-up, This testimony was Cor-
roborated as follows: “I am the aunt of
Sara Crumley. I live at 93 Rawson Street.
I saw Sara Crumley on September 8th this
year. When she came home that morning,
she was crying and her dress was all dirty
in the back. I said go ahead and take a
bath. After that she went on off to her
work and I went to work.” The victim’s
employer testified: “I know a colored girl
named Sara Crumley. I saw her on the
morning of September 8th of this year. She
came in crying. She was highly nervous.
As a result of a conversation with her Mrs.
Green called the police, and they came out.”

[4] Under the law and the evidence
above set out, since it can by no means be
said as a matter of law that the testimony
of each of the two injured females was not
corroborated in some particulars, and since
the jury, under a proper charge from the
court, has determined to their satisfaction
that the corroboration was sufficient to con-
vict, and since that verdict has the approval
of the trial judge, it will not be set aside as
being without evidence to support it.

2. Grounds one through seven of the
amended motion complain of the admission
over objection of proof of other crimes
similar to those charged in the indictment;
while ground eight complains of the charge
of the court with respect to such proof as
follows: “I have permitted certain testi-
mony to be offered with reference to other
offenses, and I did instruct you at that time
that such testimony was admitted solely for
the purpose of showing the mind of the de-
fendant and not for any other purpose.”

[5-7] The general rule in criminal cases
is that “evidence of the commission of a
crime other than the one charged is general-
ly not admissible.” Cawthon v. State, 119
Ga. 395, 396, 46 S.E, 897. Yet this court
has long recognized exceptions to this
general rule, several of which are specifi-
cally commented on in the opinion of the
Cawthon case just cited, where it was said:
“While the rule is general and subject to
few exceptions, still there are some excep-
tions; as when the extraneous criine forms
part of the res gestae; or is one of a system

“=

a a. Sieg

pen esele Ga G4

886 Ga, 49 SOUTH EASTERN

create the least possible inconvenience to
others, and the impediment must be re-
moved within a reasonable time. Sce
Simon vy. City of Atlanta, 67 Ga. 618, 622,
623, 44 Am.Rep. 739.

Under the allegations of the petition in
this case, the entire 20 feet west of the
railroad tracks has been continuously
blocked by the defendants, and this part of
the street continuously withheld from the
public use by the defendant in such manner
and over such period of time as to show
more than just a temporary emergency.
The allegations of the petition, reasonably
construed (and those of the answer) show
a permanent obstruction and blocking of
the strip lying west of the railroad tracks,
20 feet in width.

[3] In Rider vy. Porter, 147 Ga. 760, 95
S.E. 284, it was held that any permanent
structure in a road which materially inter-
feres with travel is a nuisance per se, and
that any obstruction permanent in nature
or continuously maintained, which inter-
feres with the free use of the road by the
public, is a public nuisance, and it is im-
material that space may be left on cither
side of the obstruction for the passage of
the public. The public have the right to
the unobstructed use of the whole road
as it was acquired by the county or city.

[4] In Marictta Chair Co. v. Hender-
son, 121 Ga. 399, 407, 49 S.E. 312, 104
Am.St.Rep. 156, 2 Ann.Cas, 83, it was held
that neither the General Assembly, nor a
subordinate public corporation acting under
its authority, can vacate a public street
for the benefit of a private person or cor-
poration. In City Council of Augusta v.
Reynolds, 122 Ga. 754, 50 S.E. 998, 69
L.R.A. 564, 106 Am.St.Rep. 147, it was said
that any permanent structure in a street
which materially interferes with travel
thereon is a public nuisance, and that the
public is entitled to the whole of every
street against one who places obstructions
therein. Sce also Robins v. McGehee, 127
Ga. 431(4), 56 S.E. 461; Barham v. Grant,
185 Ga. 601, 605(7), 196 S.E. 43.

[5-7] The ordinance of the City of
Richland (relied upon by the defendants)
was an attempt to vacate 20 feet of a
public street for the benefit of a private

REPORTER, 2d SERIES

corporation. The ordinance purports to
ratify the acts of the defendants in appro-
priating to private use the 20-foot strip
of a public street. The taking of a public
street for private use is prohibited by law.
The wrongful placing of obstructions in a
public street can not be ratified by a city.
The demurrer to the answer, challenging so
much thereof as related to the defense
based upon the ordinance of the City of
Richland, should have been sustained. The
ordinance should have been excluded from
evidence, since it was unauthorized in law
and was an ultra vires act. The charge of
the court as to the effect of the ordinance
was harmful and prejudicial to the plain-
tiff in error, and a new trial must be grant-
ed. :

2. Headnote two does not require any
elaboration.

Judgment reversed.

All the Justices concur, except BELL, J.,.
absent on account of illness,

w
© E Key NUMBER SYSTEM
T

DORSEY v. STATE.
No. 16304.

Supreme Court of Georgia.
Sept. 7, 1948.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 13, 1948.

1. Rape €=54(1)

Conviction for rape cannot be sustained
unless the testimony of the female allegedly
raped is corroborated.

2. Rape C=54(2)

No prescribed rule exists for measuring
the amount or extent of corroboration of
testimony of female allegedly raped by de-
fendant required to support a rape convic-
tion.

3. Rape C=57(4)
Whether testimony of female defendant
is charged with raping has been corrobo-

DORSEY v

. STATE

Ga. 887

Cite as 49 S.K.2d 886

rated so as to sustain a conviction is for
jury.
4. Criminal law €=1160

In prosecution for rape of two females,
where testimony of females was corrobo-
rated in some particulars, and evidence was
otherwise sufficient to authorize conviction,
and conviction had approval of trial judge,
conviction would not be set aside as being
unsupported by the evidence.

5. Criminal law €=369(1)

In criminal prosecution, evidence of the
commission of a crime other than the crime
charged is generally not admissible.

6. Criminal law €=365(1), 370, 371(1, 12),
372(1)

yEvidence of the commission of a crime
other than crime charged is admissible
where extraneous crime forms part of the
res gestae, or is one of a system of mutu-
ally dependent crimes, or is evidence of
guilty knowledge, or where it tends to prove
malice, intent, motive, or the like, if such
an element enters into the offense charged.

7. Criminal law €=372(1)

In cases involving sexual offenses, evi-
dence of a crime similar to that for which
defendant is being prosecuted is admissible
if it tends to show method, plan, or scheme.

8. Criminal law €=371(9)

In prosecution for the rape of two fe-
tales, evidence that defendant had commit-
ted assaults with intent to rape two other
females, in same general vicinity, and had
overcome his victims by common method,
was admissible to show state of mind of de-
fendant by indicating a general plan or
scheme, notwithstanding the similar crimes
testified to occurred after the crimes for
which defendant was being prosecuted.

9. Criminal law C1172(2)

In rape prosecution, instruction that
evidence as to the commission of other
crimes had been admitted “solely for the
purpose of showing the mind of defendant”
was not prejudicial to defendant.

10. Criminal law 6317, 721Y2(1)

No legal presumption of defendant's
guilt of crime charged arises from failure
5f defendant to introduce witnesses in his

own behalf, but solicitor can draw an in-
ference of fact from defendant’s failure
tc produce witnesses in his own behalf, and
argue the inference to the jury even though
it is prejudicial to defendant.

11. Criminal law €=721//2(2)

In rape prosecution, where defendant
in statement to jury named two former em-
ployers who could testify that defendant
would not commit rape, but defendant did
not produce the named witnesses, remarks
of solicitor in argument to jury respecting
failure to produce witnesses was not error
as conveying impression to jury that legal
presumption of guilt could be drawn from
defendant’s failure to produce witnesses.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. On the trial of one indicted on two
counts for rape, where the testimony of the
two females was corroborated in some par-
ticulars, and the evidence was otherwise
sufficient to authorize a verdict of guilty,
the general grounds of the defendant’s mo-
tion for new trial were without merit.

2. Evidence on the trial of this case,
showing that the defendant had committed
crimes similar to those charged in the in-
dictment in the same general vicinity, and
had surprised and overcome his victims by
a common method, was admissible for the
purpose of showing the state of mind of the
defendant by indicating a general plan or
scheme such as would constitute an excep-
tion to the general rule that evidence of the
commission of a crime other than the one
charged is generally not admissible.

(a) In accordance with a previous de-
cision by this court, the defendant’s rights
were not prejudiced by the court’s instruc-
tion to the jury to the effect that evidence
as to the commission of other crimes had
been admitted “solely for the purpose of

showing the mind of the defendant ;” and
since the charge was not otherwise erro-
neous, no ground for a new trial is shown
by reason of this charge. :

3. While no presumption of guilt
arises by failure of the defendant to intro-
duce witnesses in his own behalf, yet it 1s
proper for the solicitor to argue to the jury
any inferences of fact which might reason-
ably be arrived at from the evidence. Since

*6161-61-g (u0gTNd) dS °° nN *oeTe “Ez SyoeTq Smeupuy *Z:qSuOd

23resatin

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HERE

DE:

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FP TTTPTMN

DOMINGO, Leon I,

Domingo, a 2l-vear-old black native of New Jersey, was a soldier
stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., who was awaiting a dishonorable
discharge which was to be given him on Oct. 3, 195). On the after-
noon of Oct. 2, he had been drinking heavily and he and bis girl-
friend were arguing loudly as they wakked past the house at 918
Fourth Avenue, Columbus, where a policeman, T. 0. Johnson, lived.
Johnson had just gotten off duty and he and two other officers,

R. B, Wall and 26-year-old Harold 0, Stewart, wére sitting on the
front porch talking. The officers told Domingo to stop making so
much noise. This rankled the soldier and, after he and his girl
had gone to a restaurant and purchased something to eat, he told her
to meet him at the filling station where he had left his automobile,
He started back to the house and met two other black soldiers who

he told he had been inshlted and asked to accompany him while he
demanded an apology. When thev reached the Johnson residence, Do-
mingo started tursing the three officers and when they came into the
yard to arrest him, he en Y idier rapa

overtook Daningo ahd ds fs ae pares taken into chstoig en hea eet
drew a pistol and shot the officer twice before escaping and making

-
e y
s Re rasan
ed ee Cae \ “ aise ee

hiw'aay to his girl's house where he changed from his civilian
clothes and left his pistol. Domingo was taken into custody the
next day at Fort Benning as he was being processed for discharge

and he was identified by one of the other .black soldiers as the man
who had fired the shots that had killed Stewart. The weapon and his
civilian clothes were recovered from the girl's house and he madex

| full confession. Convicted and sentenced to death, AXS two new

trials were ordered by the State Supreme Court before:he was actually
electrocuted at the Georgia State Prison on March 15, 1957.

COLUMBUS ENQUIRER, Columbus, Ga., 10-3-19% and -3-16~1957

4 4/2 Megat

I a Sr tee

DOMINGO, leon I,
Electrocuted, Georgia State Prison, March 15, 1957
See Jarge ca rd.

Columbus ENQUIRER, Columbus, Ga., 10-3-195) and 3-16-1957 |

CS VIr~rUtian/
CLM ote,
(Peel. 12/49/1937

| ha. bole

4
meee
'

' MAN IS ELECTROCUTED
IN POLICEMAN’S DEATH

- Willie Frank Daniel,. negro,
| transferred from Fulton tower to
the state prison in Milledgeville
| December 23, died in the electric
chair yesterday morning for the
murder of Policeman Herman
Stein at Athens, Ga. -

Daniel was pronounced dead a
10:22 o’clock after two shoc
He was convicted early in 1937
and later denied a retrial by the
; State supreme court for shooting
; Stein, who was trying to make an
arrest in connection with a bur-

WRITE PLAINLY WITH UNFADING INK—THIS IS A PERMANENT RECORD.

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS A TRUE REPRODUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL

Every item

lain terms, so that

of information should be carefully supplied. Cause of death should be stated in p

it may be properly classified. Exact statement ef occupatien is very important. Was disease or
injury caused by dangerous or insanitary conditions or occupation?..

contracted if not at place of death?..............

..« Where was disease

evesecseses

Peeeoeseee.

PLACE OF DEATH

County

Brreet and Numter (Med .. ~ : ome Bree,

2 FULL NAME... RAr> “PU Boome va, .

Residence (City or Tews)

CERTIFICATE OP DEATH
GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF FUBLIC HEALTH

Bureau of Vital St2tistics

ee, SF ip Ble, ye. dhows cevecee. Militia Thstrict (Mumber and ee 4 _Cthheotde.
City ot Town Athtine o. Leccch of residence Im this cir cr town Vea

aw (Strees

—

PERSONAL AND STATISTICAL PARTICULARS

geste

jes

BO256

Registered No Ff 7 ee Af

State ef Geovgn fF

Ds... .NON-RESIDENT (Yeo or Now<t

At Mrantiloa

oP tw Me. petal, ie He name jnetrod of street, ond pea bee

vot nent A PS Pankey, ae

treet

Se eee re

wee cee (State)...

, _ MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

3. SEX B COLOR or, ve S. Single. Married, Widowed,

bile |ZLU re Lee

1a DATO OF
DEATH

Flor FO (Hew)

@ DATE OF BIRTH (mont, 4cv. year). VAAN / 9, L£73

Years “Werthe 1 ba eed thes one day
nace | S| Fi ihe a
mw | (a) Trade, profession or perticular
a} See era Lee nc :
</ (>) Industry or busines« in which
§ work was done, as ccttcn mill,
U sawmill, bank, ete..- fn lila: svas ei cig
5 (e) Date deceased Jast soma {¢) Teal Terane
at fein men SN AIL en
8 BIRTHPLACE

Perse meblors, si. fin 77RD

cP. O. Ade Addresy)7 we fe

10, NAME. DU s£ Athor. (bliin

1, BIRTHPLACE @
LMEEE a

maf

~—recemenoweren

= Aen eee ene meee

33. “3. BIRTHPLACK

= |MOTHER [FATHER

(P. O. Address).

14, IRFORMANT
(Signed) —..

(Address) aS L- $e, Le a=

19, BURIAL NYT) 0 toes .t.- .
(Cemetery)...

(Pectofic 1 Delian, Le eo

es Me

20, UNDEKTAKE
(Bigned) —........

Address) be

37. 1 HEREEY CERTIFY, That I attended the deceased from

1X. 29) Fl» Ft. ar — es :

3 fast saw hocke... alive on hf, am | Bnd Gan
ie sard to have occurred on the date and hour stated above.
The incipal cause of death and related causes /of importance in the

order oreet Wires duration of each:

“Orbos connie iaooy cavees of alaalaaiaaa

Ba eee

Wheat test contirmed Glegne@els Pu. ccn teen memes ceortoncrseamnes
? itp th wheter suirpsy, epevation, intentions, © or clinics!)

¥ death was due ve external causes (vioteste) All, t

+ nenee me enene: ee ae

~——

premeeere- = om or ee ee

Was inic:y an accident, svicide, or bomtcide?.. 4!

FLT Gee

——e

Where ¢i4 injury etcur
{*p> ity etty op town, © autaide of limits, the emunty,

Did infery occur in a home, publle plece gt tnd

Marmer cf injury
Nature of irj:
(Signed)...

(Aédress). -

18, PILED.

RECORD ON FILE WITH VITAL RECORDS’ SERVICE,

RESOURCES.

31-10, VITAL RECORDS, ‘CODE OF GEORGIA.

DATE

SEP 19 199}

(VOID WITHOUT IMPRESSED SEAL OR IF ALTERED OR COPIED)

THIS CERTIFIED COPY IS ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF CHAPTER

WMDosOR: aw

STATE REGISTRAR & CUSTODIAN
DIRECTOR, VITAL RECORDS SERVICE

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN

Dai bis,

sy 4
Wed ot

ee Vet net

Officer Stein Dies of
Wounds Inflicted During
Attempted Arrest.

"| ATHENS, Ga., Nov. 30.—Policeman
Herman Stein died at @ local hospital
early today from pistol wounds pre
ceived in the head yesterday while he
was attempting to arrest a negro oa
a charge of robbing a gasoline filling
.' Station Saturday night, and today of-
ficers arrested a negro listed as Wil-
lie Frank Daniel, 25 years old, and
piaced him in the Fulton tower in
Atlanta on a charge of suspicion in
connection with the slaying.

| Sten. wounded in the head, never
j Fegained consciousness after he was
!

o ew te a wo le

e ‘

>)
»' shot, and died at 4 a. m., E, 8. 7.18
a. m., Atlanta time) in an Athens
_ hospital witbout baving made a etate
: Ment.
The negro was reported as having
. been seen going in the direction of
. Lula aud wher Athens detectives went
'to that town, the negro soon passed
@ their car and they immediately placed
‘him under arrest. The officers report.
lL, ed they found a .38 caliber pistol on
the negro,
—; The detectives informed Chief of Po-
» Hee EL AVS Weds of Athens, of the
ww Arrest and set out for Atlanta with
the prisoner,
! Stein had been a member of the
Atberns force for five years. He wag
,4 native of Germany and was brought
to Georgia by Hugh Hodgson. widely
_ | knowa Georgia pianist, and Hodzson‘se
ie Sigter, Miss Kate Hodgson, after they
‘pn’ had met Stein in Berlin while they
od Were studving music.
e- Stein’s parents had died and the
uw, Hodgsons became attachéd to him. Mr.
3s And Miss Hodgson’s father, Joe Hodg-
(800, a wholeeale grocery operator at
e- Athens, educated young Stein, who
d- joined the grocery firm and remained
’b with them until he joined the police
2e force.
Tm: Stein is survived by bis wife: a son,
of Joe Stein, named after Mr. Hodgson
/Sr.. and a daughter, a student at the
'0i University of Geargia.
(1 Chief Wood said he would request
1€ a special session of the grand jury
- to return an indictment againet Dan-

ed tl:

NERO ARETE?
WSLATAGAT ATHENS.

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ae hbwoerce nel tes Tet

Tt wadWaougd NOTLIO“LILSNOOD VWLINVILY

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tat VS he! |:

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be ice Tefaz.

HAD TO BE HANGED TWICE. ( De”

tope Broke During An Execution In
Georgia.

Atlanta, Ga., March 1.—Joseph Dean,
a negro, who smunmlered A, HH. Leigh,
a well-to-do farmer of Campbell,
for his money and afterward con-
fessed the crime, was hanged in Fat{r-
burn to-day. By order of the court the
execution was to be private, but the
crowd of 5,000 execlted people that had
assembled tore down the high fence
erected around the gallows and made
it public,

The wretched man was hanged twice,
The first time the rope broke. Like a
dead man he was taken back on the
scaffold and again swung off. Mean-
time his hands had become untled, and
jn his frantic contortions he disrobed
himself.

The drop fell at 11:55 o'clock, and
eleven minutes later he was dead.

During the morning Dean, In response
to his earnest entreaties, was allowed
to make a speech from the courthouse
steps, ble described hls murder of old
man Lelgh, and sald love of money,
{fgnorance and the devil had done it

BG casa tee ieee eae CS TTS a Se rs tein

DEAN, Joe (aka George EGAN), black, hanged Fairburn or Fayetteville, Ga,
on March 1, 1895,

See small card, giving name as George Egan and stating he was hanged at
Fairburn for murder of W, B. Leigh, a farmer of Campbell County (there
is now no Campbell County, Ga.); TRIBUNE, Cincinnati, Ohie, 3-2-1895

mentions hanging but gives name as Yk Joe Dean,
The following is from PICAYUNE, New Orleans, La., March 2, 1895:

"ENJOYED NOTORIETY/JOE DEAN WANTED A PUBLIC EXECUTION, AND GOT IT,/
Atlanta, Ga., March 1. - (Special) - Joe Dean is a highly accommodating
negro, or was, for Joe died today, not one death, but two, in order bo
accomodate s crowd of 3,000 people, out at Pavetteville, which is 9 few
miles from Atlanta. Dean was convicted of murder and was brought to Ate-
lanta to avoid lynching, He acknowledged his crime, and the streek of
accommodetion in his nature became first annsrent through his desire for

2 public haneing rether then 2 private one, 3s the court had decreed, He
wanted his friends to see himshuffle off this mortal coil, he said. Next
he sent word to a local photographer sacking him to have some vhotos made
and to sell them to his f iends at as low a rate as pos ible, Yesterday
he was taken to Fayettevilleand learning that there was a general desire

te see him, he requested that he be allewed to make a public address

te the people in front of the courthouse. The sheriff of Fayette county
has his own idea about the disposition of convicts and granted the re-
quest. So at 10 o'clock this morning Dean was allowed to stand at the

top of the courthouse steps, and from there to express K¥X#HXKWXXKE his views
to the assembled multitude, He made a rambling speech, calling on his
hearers to stop gambling and toting pistols, When he was about to conclude

cheering for the murderer, Finslly the man was carried unconsciousto
the gallows again, While snother rope was being adjusted he partly re-
gained consciousness and beeged for more time to pray, He was held up
by two of the sheriff's assistants, the sienal was given and he was
again dropped through the holein the esllows. He was strangled to
death, Dean's crime was the killing of » prominent white man, A. B.
Leigh, end the attempt to kill other members of the f-mily, and was
committed for the prupose of robbery,"

raat AT

f THOMASTON IN THE 1800's 6

Bel OREO OT! LORE = Lait
f
()

UPSON ENTERPRISE

Thomaston, Georgia
July 10, 1878

THE GALLOWS

The gallows was erected in
the pasture field between the
Ben Lowe residence and the
Jail on the side of the hill about
one hundred yards from the
road and was surrounded by
thousands.

As the wagon containing the
murderer entered the field
many excited negroes began
screaming and yelling and
crying for ‘‘Justus’’. The wagon
_ passed them and was driven to
the center of a circle formed by
a rope tied from post to post.
The gallows was in the center of
the circle and the space within
was occupied by the Ministers,
Young Men’s Prayer Meeting,
Editors and Guards. After
remaining in the wagon a few
minutes Dick ascended the
scaffold and took his seat in a
chair placed thereon for him.
‘He was decidedly the coolest,
calmest, and least excited man
on the grounds. He talked
freely on all subjects upon
which he was questioned. He
said that. he had already told
the truth concerning the

murder and did not want to |

make any statement about it
‘but wanted to get his mind on
Spiritual matters. At one
o’clock his spiritual advisors,
.Rev..R.R. Johnson of the M.E.

From the files of Thomaston
newspaper predecessors to_g

Church and Rev. J.A. Davis of
the African M.E. Church,
informed him that he had no
time to lose and to spare no
moments in making peace with
God. Dick said he had not been
forgiven and asked all to pray
for him. Tears trickled down
many a cheek.

REV. MR. JOHNSON then
offered a short but eloquent
prayer in his behalf which was
followed by singing of ‘‘There is
a Fountain Filled With Blood”’
by the Young Men’s Prayer
Meeting. Another prayer was
then tendered by Rev. J.A.
Davis which was earnest and

‘touching. The religious exer-

cises were then closed by
singing ‘‘Come Thou Fount of
Every Blessing,’’ by the Young

‘Men’s Prayer Meeting.

Nearly two! The friends and
relatives ascend and bid him
good-bye forever. He removed
his shoes from his feet and very
calmly asks a gentleman
standing near by to ‘‘please
give them to brother George
and tell him to take them
home.’’ Another brother as-
cends, embraces, kisses, faints
and falls from the scaffold.

‘TIS TWO! The rope is

ithrown over the beam and
‘securely tied. Hundreds break

and run in all directions. The
crys, shrieks and groans
become indescribable. The

Compiled by
Dr. and Mrs. R. L. Carter
expressly for the Times

and as a project of the
_Upson Hitec. Society

white cap is dna down over
his face and tied. He is
commanded to stand in the.
center of the scaffold. Hun-*
dreds of sympathetic persons ‘.
weep, tremble, and turn away.
The Sheriff seizes the rope that
removes the prop and the next ©
instant the dying body is
dangling and writhing in the air
six feet below. Physicians rush
forward and seize the pulse and
stand holding open watches. At
eleven minutes later the right
pulse ceases to beat, at 12
minutes the left ceases and at
14 the heart only quivers. At 20
minutes he is cut down and
placed in his coffin and
afterward delivered to his
friends.

THE CROWD which now
disperses was estimated at 8000
by an old army officer, Maj.
Abner Lewis. The day passed
without a single fight which we
think is remarkable consider-
ing the vast number of men

‘present.

The jail is now clear—-Open
for the first time in three years.
Moses Green, whose sentence
was commuted by Gov. Col-
quitt, has been taken to ,Gen.
John B. Gordon’s plantation
over near Howard in Taylor
county----30 miles distant. Jack
Bryant, the only other prisoner, '
was taken to a farm near
Covington. That is punishment
with a vengence.

tive, 5-foot-
blue sneak-

in eye out for
in investiga-
hite man, in
nties, maybe
ue compact,

the country-
ry Stoner’s
eporters. He
: why anyone
girl. Mary’s
that the 12-
atin an adv-
ghth grade.
say that in
lary’s photo- )
n an Adairs-
id been tor-
calls. In the
{uction there
ir Calls to the

turnout by
ty and feder-

= pases aad SORE ET HTT LRT: 1

al authorities, not a trace of Mary Stoner
was found that night. At about 11:00 the
following morning, Saturday, as a re-
newed search effort was getting under
way, four hunters went out to stalk deer
in a wooded area about seven miles north
of Adairsville. Tramping along a coun-
try road near the Bartow-Floyd County
line, the men noticed an object in an
open field close to East Hermitage Road.
It was not until they moved closer that
they discovered it was the fully clothed
body of a blonde-haired girl lying beside
a tree. The child had been dead for some
time, evidently as the result of a savage
beating about the head.

Summoned to the scene—a brushy
area some 30 feet from a woodland clear-
ing used as a combination garbage dump
and target-shooting range—police disc-
overed a massive bloodstain on the bed
of pine needles upon which the corpse
lay. Scattered all about were a number of
very large rocks, also stained with
blood.

‘“‘Not much doubt about what hap-
pened here,’’ a detective said. ‘“‘Some
creep used those rocks to beat her head
in. It looks like she was hit at least three
or four times, but we’ll leave it to the
coroner to determine that, and also to let
us know if she was sexually assaulted. It
doesn’t look like she was, not the way
she’s dressed—but it’s not our business
to guess.”’

‘* About the only other thing the crime
scene tells us,’’ another investigator put

in, ‘‘is that the killer was a local. No way. |

a stranger would know about this out-of-

the-way place, or about the trail that

leads. in and out of here.’’ ;
Late that afternoon the homicide prob-

Bae St Sapa m4. < tat Roce!

Body of victim, 12-year-old Stoner, was found in woods near her home town of

The killer had thé gall to blame his
victim for bringing the crime on
herself, but it was up to a Georgia
_ jury to sort out fact from fiction

ers announced that they had taken two
men into custody-in connection with the
death of Mary Stoner. One, from nearby
Cartersville, was regarded as a possible
witness. The other, whose name had sur-
faced within two hours of the abduction,
was being treated as a suspect.

‘‘We can’t give you his name,’’ an
investigator told reporters: ‘‘All we can
tell you is that he’s in his twenties and is a
resident of a nearby county. No charges
have been filed against either man.”’

The news of the brutal slaying of Mary
Stoner had a profound effect on many of
Adairsville’s 2500 residents.

“I can’t think of anything more tra-
gic,”’ said the principal of Adairsville
High School. ‘‘You can be sure it strikes
fear and concern in the minds of
everyone.”’

The school’s music director recalled
Mary Stoner as a ‘‘very talented young
lady,’’ whose maturity made him think of
her as much older than an eighth-grader.

‘She was a hard worker,’’ he said.
‘*She would rehearse her part and she did
care.”’ :

‘*Mary,’’ said a friend of the family,
‘‘was an extremely mature, polite and
bright girl. She was in an advanced study
group at the high school.

Adairsville. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten with rocks, and then strangled.
After intense ‘manhunt, investigators rounded up a 26-year-old suspect, Darrel Devier

‘*When you talked to her, you got the
impression you weren’t talking to a
twelve-year-old. She was just a very in-
telligent, very personable, very outgoing
person. She was just abundant with
life.’’ ’

‘I’m standing out here talking about
it,’’ said a 12-year-old friend of the mur-
der girl, ‘‘but I still can’t believe she’s
dead. ‘

‘*She was so smart, but still she had a
lot of friends.”

On Sunday, December 2nd, Bartow
County Coroner W. G. Bedford con-
firmed that Mary Stoner had died of *‘a
severe blow to the head with a large
rock.’’ He declined to say whether the
child had been sexually assaulted by her
killer.

The Bartow County Sheriff's Depart-
ment announced that it was still sear-
ching for a young, possibly bearded
white man seen driving a dark-blue com-
pact car.

‘‘We have questioned a lot of peo-
ple,’’ said Investigator Jimmy Spradley.
‘‘But we’re not holding anybody.”’

The two men questioned earlier by the
police, he explained, had been released
from custody.

‘*The community is in pure shock and
disbelief over the slaying,’’ said one
Bartow County official. ‘‘No one can
believe it happened.’’

Over the next several days, the hunt
for the man with the beard was concen-
trated on the eastern Floyd County-
Bartow County area.

‘*We’ve interviewed a total of five
men,”’ an investigator said, ‘‘but we’re
still not ready to make an arrest.”’

Helping Bartow County Sheriff Roy
Bell’s investigators in the hunt for the
killer was a psychic working closely
with Chief Deputy Charles Lanham.

‘*She came up with some good stuff
nobody else would have known,”’
another prober would say later. *‘She
visited the site where the body was found
and also worked in other areas. She’s
helped the department before, in other
cases, and she volunteered her help in
this one.’’

Toward the end of the week, investi-

Master Detective 41

gators grew certain that they knew the
identity of the man they were looking
for. At 4:00 on Thursday afternoon, De-
cember 6th, Floyd County Sheriff Bill
Hart, Investigators Bob Kerce and Jerry
Boyd and Bartow County Investigator
Ray Sullivan swooped down on a Rome,
Georgia, tree-cutting service and
arrested one of the employes. Twenty-
four-year-old Darrell Gene Devier, who
lived in a Kingston Road, Floyd County,
trailer park, was charged with murder,
kidnaping and rape and brought to the
sherift’s department for interrogation.

‘*We came to the conclusion this is the
man,’’ Investigator Sullivan told
newsmen. . :

Sheriff Hart said that the suspect
would also be charged with raping a 13-
year-old girl in June in an incident which
bore marked similarities to the Stoner
case.

Late on Thursday evening, because of
overcrowding at the Floyd County lock-
up, Devier was transferred
to another northwest Geor-
gia jail to await action by
the January grand jury.

‘*He was one of the first
suspects we picked up,”’ a
homicide prober said, ‘*but

authorities full-rein in prosecuting the , line. Leary proceeded to do so.

murder count. Floyd County District
Attorney Larry Salmon said his office
would take no further action until an
attorney was appointed for the suspect.

More than two years of legal wrang-
ling would intervene before Darrell Ray
Devier finally went on trial for his life in
the Floyd County courthouse in January,
1982. Because of extreme ill feelings in
the community, Sheriff Hart posted an
unusual number of his deputies through-
out the building. Other lawmen armed
with a metal detector were posted at the
courthouse door. '

In his opening statement, District
Attorney Salmon told the jury that at ab-
out 3:45 on the afternoon of November
30, 1979, when Mary Stoner stepped off
the schoolbus near her home, the defen-
dant, who had been working in the area
for about a month, motioned her over to
ask directions. When the child
approached his' car, Devier grabbed her

Whoever described the
defendant as a “loving child”

Later, at the Adairsville police head-
quarters, Leary said, he told Devier that
his car had been identified as the one
involved in the kidnaping. Devier re-
sponded by telling police that after 3:00
on the afternoon of November 30th, he
had been driving around, looking for
friends.

‘‘Devier,’’ Leary said, ‘‘continued to
deny being involved in the crime.”’

When he advised Devier that the
police wanted to process his car for fing-

erprints, Leary said, the suspect offered.

no objection.

From Adairsville, the authorities
brought Devier to the Cartersville police
station, where he was questioned again
and then released. Leary saw Devier
twice more before his December 6th
arrest, when he interrogated him again at
the Floyd County police station.

On Monday, January 25th, Leary tes-
tified that when Devier was taken into
custody it was not for the
murder of Mary Stoner, but
for the June rape of the 13-
year-old Floyd County
“girl. Questioned by police,
he denied involvement in
the rape and was then in-

we had to let him go for who “never had a chance” should terrogated about the Stoner

lack of evidence. That
didn’t mean we weren’t in-
terested in him any longer,
though. We took out war-
rants for a search of his car
and his home. And it was

have seen Mary’s head after
the killer was through

case.
The following morning,
Agent Leary was contacted

with some bad news. The
tape of Devier’s remarks

trace evidence we picked smashing it with 50-pound rocks had not come out properly.

up and which we sent to the
crime lab which allowed us
to make the arrest.”’

Investigator Jimmy Spradley told
newsmen that Devier was working with
the three-cutting service in the Adairsvil-
le area on the afternoon of Mary Stoner’s
abduction.

‘*He’d been working there for about
two weeks and we feel certain he must
have seen the little girl on a number of
occasions before the kidnaping,’’
another investigator said.

Bartow County probers revealed that a
check of aerial photos of the crime-scene
indicated that Mary Stoner’s body had
been found some 100 feet inside the
Floyd County line.

‘*That’s why the murder and rape war-
rants were taken out in Floyd County,
while the kidnaping warrant comes from
Bartow County,’’ an investigator said.

On Monday, Bartow County District
Attorney Charles Crawford said that he
would drop the kidnaping charges
against Devier to allow Floyd County

42 Master Detective

by the hair, dragged her inside and sped

to the field in Floyd County, where he -

raped her before beating her to death with
rocks.
Defense counsel promised the jury

that, ‘‘Questions will be asked and '

answers given.”’ :

Out of the response of the jury, Special
FBI Agent Bob Leary testified that he
was present on two occasions when the
defendant made statements to the
police—one on the day of his arrest,
another a day later.

. Leary also told the court of visiting
Devier’s trailer home on December 1,
1979, the day after Mary Stoner’s kid-
naping. When he told Devier that he was
one of a number of people the authorities
wanted to talk to, Devier accompanied
him to two police stations for question-
ing. It was while they were en route that
the authorities recovered Mary Stoner’s
body and Leary received a radio sum-
mons to go to the site near the county

The suspect was picked up

again at the Whitfield
County Jail and brought to FBI head-
quarters in Rome, where a second state-
ment was taken.

Under cross-examination, Leary
admitted that Devier told him he had
slept no more than five or ten minutes
that night. But, Leary added, he did not
know if the suspect had been telling the
truth.

If, indeed, it had been the truth, Leary
explained, ‘‘I thought he just stayed up
worrying. I felt he was still capable of
talking intelligently to me, which he was
doing.”’

On Wednesday, January 27th, also
testifying outside the presence of the
jury, Darrell Gene Devier said that he
was threatened by the police at the time
he made his statements in December,
1979.

“If I didn’t make a confession,”’ he
maintained, ‘‘they were going to send
me to Bartow County.”’

(Continued on page 58)

by Floyd County police .

HE \
possit
Frenc!

of any othe:
hated pay:
emperors and
lic, they foun

Now in th
day, Monsie
living embod
His net weig!
chair, the b
springs of :
would tax
obliged to :
which, perh:
isn’t a Mada:
his professio
a tax gatherc

M. Denis
for tax co
French depa
this region |

One da
“*Tavaux’” \
dainty reluc
dainty youn
Denis St. D
with open c:

‘These in

- ticing rebel]

are in revolt
of the state
It may even
act at once

“This T:

patronize the establishment as customers
when they were off duty.

According to Duschetta, he had
already done a great deal of drinking
while he was on duty and, by the time he
arrived at the White Rabbit, he scarcely
knew what country he was in.

Pascale had not been in any better
shape, and following only a very brief
acquaintance of 15 minutes, during
which they did not even learn each
other’s first names, she agreed to accom-
pany him to his room for, as they euphe-
mistically put it, a nightcap.

Arriving at the room, Pascale showed
herself rather impatient. She stripped
herself naked, threw her clothes all over
the room, flopped down on the bed, and
urged him to make haste.

Duschetta, so drunk that he could
scarcely see the naked girl, did his best,
but it was not very good. Apparently
understanding no more about the unfor-
tunate effect of alcohol on.sexual per-
formance than had Pascale, he had wor-
ried on several previous occasions when
he had been unable to perform the sex
act. He had suspected, he told the in-

spector, that it was the beginning of im-
potence. ae

But Pascale Lejeune was not con-
cerned with her new friend’s sexual
problems, only with her own. She
wanted a sex partner and Duschetta was
obviously in no condition to provide that
service. Her disappointment was bitter
and she reacted by taunting Duschetta
with his impotence. She used some high-
ly vulgar and abusive language.

Duschetta, drunk and worried over
precisely that with which she was taunt-
ing him, suddenly lost all control and hit
her a terrible blow on the jaw. It did not
knock her out and she began to scream for
help, whereupon he seized her by the
throat and choked her until she stopped

screaming. He then fell on the bed and ©
slept in a drunk stupor throughout the. |
night, only to awake in the morning and ||
find that he had been sleeping next to a

corpse.

Terrified, he decided to try and get rid |
of the body. It was soon discovered, |

As for Gabriel Pompel, Duschetta had
been in the Deep Purple one evening, and
a prostitute who had been drinking at the
bar had told him all about the German
would-be procurer. When he. returned
from Spain, he had the idea of trying to
stick Pompel with the murder.

It was autumn of 1982 before Reto
Duschetta finally came to trial for the
murder of Pascale Lejeune. By that time,
enough of his story had been verified that
the court found he had acted in a state of
temporary insanity and had not been-en-

tirely responsible for his actions. On-

October 8, 1982, therefore, he was sent-
enced to only five years’ imprisonment,
despite his previous police record. xx

however, and, fearing that someone | S#@l), #4en

might recall seeing. him and Pascale |

together, he fled to Spain.

Bludgeoning of the
Blonde Majorette

(Continued from page 42)

Devier claimed that when he was
brought into the Floyd County. police
station for interrogation on December
6th, he heard officers saying, ‘* ‘Hang
him, hang him.’ ”’

However, Devier was unable to iden-
tify those officers from the witness
stand. ‘i '

The following day, Devier said, he
was told a second time that he would be
sent to Bartow County if he did not make
a statement. He claimed that he was
directed to say what an FBI agent told
him to put into his taped statement.

Also testifying at the hearing was a
Floyd County deputy who said that he
kept FBI agents and Bartow County de-
puties away from Devier on the night of
his arrest because the suspect had ex-
pressed distrust of those officers and did
not want them to be present when he was
questioned.

On Wednesday afternoon, January
27th, after considering the evidence,
Floyd Superior Court Judge Robert
Royal said that he would allow. the jury
to listen to at least parts of the taped

58 Master Detective

statements made by Devier in the hours
after his arrest. The jurist added that he
would listen to the objections of defense
counsel concerning the contents of the
tapes. .

Judge Royal went on to say that the
tape made on December 6, 1979, was
‘‘largely unintelligible.’’

On Friday, former Bartow County In-
vestigator Ray Sullivan told the court of
blood samples, pubic hair and hair from
one of Mary Stoner’s feet which had
been turned over to the state crime lab for
processing. Pubic hair samples were
taken from Darrell Devier on December
2nd. Other testimony indicated that sali-
va and: blood samples were obtained
from Devier on December 7th.

At 10:30 on Monday morning, Febru-
ary Ist, Judge Royal adjourned the court
to consider a mistrial motion brought by
the defense when it learned that a juror
had been accompanied to the juror’s
farm by a sheriff’s deputy who was also a
prospective witness. The juror had been
granted permission to go to the farm for a
short. period of time to feed his cattle.
Although both the deputy and the juror
insisted that they had not discussed the

trial, Judge’ Royal, on Monday after- -

noon, declared a mistrial.

Less than three weeks later, on
Wednesday, February 17th, a new jury
was seated. Immediately, defense coun-
sel requested a change of venue.

“‘There has been sufficient showing
that the press has invaded the due pro-
cess by intervening and giving the public
this ‘information,’ he said.

Judge Royal denied the motion, but
ordered the new jury to be sequestered for

‘the duration of the trial.

In his opening statement on Thursday,
District Attorney Salmon added some
new facts to those revealed during the
earlier proceedings. He told the jury that
on November 30th, Darrell Devier was in
his car .in the parking lot of a U.S. 41
motel almost directly across the street
from the Stoner place, when the school-
bus pulled up and Mary got off.

After dragging her inside the car and
driving her to the field in Floyd County
where he assaulted her, Salmon went on,
the pair got out of the car and Devier
choked the girl. Then he went as far as 50
feet away to find the rocks weighing up to
50 pounds apiece with which he
“*busted’’ her skull.

Defense counsel promised that, ‘‘The
evidence will show conflicts in the color
of autos, times and places and people.’’

He discredited any confessions,
claiming that they had been coerced by
the fear that he would be killed by the
police.

- Among the prosecution’s first witnes-
ses was a resident of the area where Mary
Stoner’s body was found. He told the
court that when he viewed the child’s

t
‘
remains the head
lated—fl
Specia

when he interro:
ber 6th, the suspx
of kidnaping Ma

_into his mind wh

away from the
that he pulled in
and pretended
When Mary cam
by the hair and

inside his car.

Devier allege
drove toward A:
into the Floyd C
site where Mary
found, he order
seat of the car ai
said, Devier an

Darel! Devie:

planned to tie up
according to the
said that she ** *\
she couldn’t ha\
have him either
woman what |!
claimed that the
when he hit her
head on a rock

Then, accord)
Statement to
kneeled down be
the life out of |
remembe
yards aw

On Tucsuay |
Floyd County Ja
incarcerated at t!
he heard some
“**When I buste:
than busting a n

Although he
made the remar}
tion of the cell
was being held

Devier’s attor
on the grounds t!
client was not pr:
“highly prejudi
remarks attribut

On February
the crime lab test
found on Darre
‘“*could have
victim.’”’

Tests had sho
inches long, lig
from the head «

Under cross-
acknowledged t!
ple it could hay

Entered into

Duschetta had
e evening, and
drinking at the
ut the German
n he returned
lea of trying to
irder.
52 before Reto
‘co trial for the
e. By that time,
‘en verified that
‘ed in a state of
ad not been en-
is actions. On

re, he was sent-
imprisonment,
ce record. ***

ovat showing

ed the due pro-

‘ving the public

uid.

the motion, but
sequestered for

‘nt on Thursday,

yn added some
-aled during the
‘old the jury that
ell Devier was in
ot of a U.S. 41
icross the street
vhen the school-
. got off.

side the car and
n Floyd County
Salmon went on,
car and Devier
went as far as 50
xs weighing up to
vith which he

nised that, *‘The
flicts in the color
es and people.”’
y confessions,
been coerced by
be killed by the

ion’s first witnes-

area where Mary
nd He told the
the child’s

remains the head was ‘‘completely muti-
lated—flat.”’

Special FBI Agent Leary testified that.

when he interrogated Devier on Decem-
ber 6th, the suspect told him that the idea
of kidnaping Mary Stoner ‘‘just popped

_into his mind when he saw her’’ walking

away from the schoolbus. Devier said
that he pulled into the Stoner driveway
and pretended to ask for directions.
When Mary came closer, he grabbed her

_ by the hair and dragged her screaming

inside his car.

Devier allegedly told Leary that he
drove toward Adairsville before heading
into the Floyd County woodlands. At the
site where Mary Stoner’s body later was
found, he ordered the child into the back
seat of the car and raped her. Then, Leary
said, Devier and the girl left the car.

Darrell Devier told Leary that he had
planned to tie up the girl and escape. But,
according to the defendant, the child had
said that she ‘‘ ‘wanted’ ’’ him and that if
she couldn’t have him his wife couldn’t
have him either and she would tell the
woman what had. happened. Devier
claimed that the girl had hit him and that
when he hit her back she fell and hit her
head on a rock.

Then, according to Devier’s purported.

statement to Agent Leary, Devier
kneeled down beside the girl and choked
the life out of her. The next thing he
remembered was sitting in his car 100
yards away.

On Tuesday, February 23rd, a former
Floyd County Jail inmate said that while

incarcerated at the same time as Devier, ©

he heard someone yell one night that,
“When I busted her head, it was better
than busting a nut.’ ”’

Although he did not know who had
made the remark, it came from the direc-
tion of the cell where he believed Devier
was being held.

Devier’s attorney requested a mistrial
on the grounds that evidence showed his
client was not present in his cell when the
‘highly prejudicial and inflammatory”’
remarks attributed to him were made.

On February 26th, Larry Peterson of
the crime lab testified that a strand of hair
found on Darrell Devier’s green jacket
‘*could have originated from the
victim.”’

Tests had showed that the hair was 11
inches long, light brown in color and
from the head of a caucasian.

Under cross-examination, Peterson
acknowledged that ‘‘there are other peo-
ple it could have come from.”’

Entered into evidence on Thursday

were a yellow jacket, blue tennis shoes,
a crumpled scarf, a pair of blue jeans,
two white buttons and the underwear
worm by Mary Stoner on the day she
died. Also entered into evidence were a
number of large rocks that had been col-
lected close to the crime scene. Robert
Clemenson, a chemist with the state
crime lab, testified that ‘‘visual compari-
son’’ of plaster casts of depression pock-
ets in the earth indicated that two of the
rocks had been moved to the crime
scene, one from about 30 feet away and
another from 50 feet.

On Friday, Floyd County Deputy Bet-
tie Barrett said: that in a conversation
with the defendant Devier told her that
he ‘‘just happened to be riding down the
road’’ when he saw the schoolbus car-
rying Mary Stoner, called her over to ask
directions and abducted her.

‘* ‘I snatched her by the hair and drove
off,’ ’’ he reportedly said.

Later, Deputy Barrett recalled, ‘‘He
just said, ‘I was just going to leave her
tied to a tree. She went wild and called
for her mama and I slapped her and she
hit her head upon a rock.’ ”’

Devier, the witness went on, frequent-
ly talked about media coverage of his
arrest. ’

‘* ‘Darrell, didn’t you know it was you
they were talking about?’ ’’ Deputy Bar-
rett recalled saying.

‘* ‘Yeah,’ ’’ the defendant allegedly
replied. ‘* ‘But it didn’t bother me none.
I was eating good and sleeping good.’ *’

On Monday, March Ist, Dr. Harvey
Howell, the Bartow County Medical Ex-
aminer, said that secretions from the
body of Mary Stoner contained seminal
fluid which could have come from/Dar-
rell Devier.

‘*T was reasonably sure (the secretion)
was male seminal fluid,’’ he told the
jury. ‘‘I concluded her death must have
come soon after intercourse.”’

Dr. Howell went on to say that his
examination of the victim’s body
showed bloody matter around the mouth
and nose and on several rocks in the area
where the body was found.

‘There was spattered blood as far as
ten feet away from the body,’’ he testi-
fied.

The body also evidenced bruises all
about the head, neck and the inside of the
thighs.

Dr. Howell placed the time of death in

between 5:00 and 5:30 on the afternoon.

of November 30th. He ruled the cause of

death to be strangulation and head

wounds inflicted with large rocks.
‘‘Bither one of the injuries could have

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Master Detective 59

890 Ga, 49 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

of mutually dependent crimes; or is evi- defendant’s bent of mind with respect to the
dence of guilty knowledge; * * * or offense charged. The attacks by the de-
where it tends to prove malice, intent, mo- fendant upon the white women occurred in
tive, or the like, if such an clement enters the same general location as that upon one
into the offense charged.” With respect to of the colored females, and within short
the above exceptions recognized in the Caw- walking distance of that of the other colored
thon case, this court in Frank v. State, 141 female. All of the attacks show a common
Ga. 243, 262, 80 S.E. 1016, 1024, has pointed bent of mind, method, purpose, and pro-
out that, “Mr. Justice Cobb, who prepared cedure, by lying in wait at an hour when the
the opinion of the majority of the court strects are deserted, until a lone female
[in the Cawthon case], did not attempt to approaches or passes by; three of the at-
lay down a rule comprehending all possible tacks having occurred during the early
cases in which evidence might be admissible, morning, while the other occurred in late
although it showed previous crimes.” In evening. In each attack the victim was
this connection it has been stated in Whar- threatened with death, three by the use of a
ton’s Criminal Evidence, 170, § 42, that “In knife, the other by shooting. Yet another
offenses involving carnal intercourse of the revealing peculiarity in all of the attacks
sexes, including adultery, fornication, se- is disclosed, in that in all cases the attacker
duction, rape, and incest, the exception te after surprising his victims undertakes to
the general rule has been most liberally ex- force them into areas behind houses or
tended, and for a reason peculiar to those buildings to accomplish his violent purpose:
crimes,” and “so it has been repeatedly held The modus operandi here revealed is singu-
that, upon a trial of a charge of having lar. It differs from perhaps the most com-
committed any of the crimes known as mon method employed by rapists who steal
‘sexual offenses,’ evidence of prior acts of into a room at night and surprise the victim
the same character are admissible, although in bed, or where the attacker either forces
such prior act is in and of itself a crime.” his victim into his own car or else forces
See also, to the same effect, McMichen v. himself into the car of his victim. Since
State, 62 Ga.App. 50, 51, 7 S.E.2d 749. In the testimony of extrancous crimes objected
accord with this general principle, stated in to does in fact show a similarity of method
Wharton’s Criminal Evidence, this court employed by the defendant, and since it re-
has consistently held in cases involving veals a definite state of mind evidenced by
sexual offenses that evidence of a crime a common plan or scheme for gratifying
similar to that for which the defendant is his lascivious desires, under the rulings of
on trial is admissible if it tends to show law above set forth we conclude that the
method, plan, or scheme. Allen vy. State, evidence was admissible as an aid in identi-
201 Ga. 391, 395, 40 S.E.2d 144, 147, and fication, since that issue was also involved
cases there cited. In the Allen case, it was by the defendant’s denial that he had ever
said: “These decisions clearly state the seen any of the females who testified against
rules of law, and there is no room for argu- him.
ment now as to the law. If the method or
scheme employed in the commission of the
crimes of similar nature were the same, this
aids in identification, and proof of other
such crimes is admissible.” To the same
effect see Barkley v. State, 190 Ga. 641(2)
10 S.E.2d 32.

It is contended, however, that the similar
crimes, testified to in the instant case having
occurred after the commission of the crimes
for which the defendant was being tried,
such testimony should not for that reason
> have been admitted. We know of no reason

in logic or law which would require that

[8] The evidence of other crimes com- proof of other crimes actually tending to
mitted by defendant, and objected to in the identify the defendant through the develop-
instant case, was that of assaults with in- ment of a plan or scheme be limited to only
tent to rape two white women. We shall those crimes committed prior to the one for
refer only to such portions of the testimony which the defendant was on trial. To ex-
which illustrate the similarity of methods clude evidence of all crimes which might
used in all of the attacks, as indicating the have been committed, even though illustra-

DORSEY vy. STATE Ga. 89L
Cite as 49 S.F.2d 886

tive of scheme or plan, simply because they of innocence, If he had not been —:

sie: ing nl “ short while after the crime he could have gotten somebody er! testi :

ee Aebcidens is actually on trial, for aged “ gece ce a a

i sw e de- 2p jury. said: “Ev : :

ey nt eS emer ee an I would not doa ae “ sag

ndant was c i. 2 ges

weiheed make it impossible to show scheme - * : I gies 7 gi wid ns he :
or plan by proof of other crimes, and thus about three years.

inci ing like that. I worked
i 7 i ify thi nciple of would not do a thing
oe elles ee Te ce at Davison-Paxon’s, and the manager up

there knows me. He can give an ..
t hat been of me.” While it is, of course, — =
[9] (a) Itis further webike art er legal presumption of guilt would arise ic
though proof of other crimes might od . AL indaca hhc defindent intro ve
mitted in a proper case under exception writubases, (Mills ¥. Siste 133 Ga. 155, 68
the general rule, the trial judge in the “ SE. 368) and while it would, eeriiek be
stant case, by limiting the i etiow Kak the soebix 46 argue fe the jury
the jury to the one mit vend mas seme that such a legal presumption wi airs ws
: . « se | he > e of é . fe : é Fa
instruction, that pe ras end 1 pi Laon such fact, nevertheless it is perfectly prof ;
Wt showing: the Mont: of tt Setes for the solicitor to draw an inference oO
thereby excluded the only proper ica fact from such failure and argue it to the
3 : sstime Cc be permit- | i rues dicask.
for which such faerie a ch jury ees toh it “a prejudicial ode ad
ted This exception relates to 2 ant. Worley v, State, 136 Ca: 231, 23
appears to have already been definitely ae 235, 71 S.E. 153; Summerville cs Sate, 68
judicated by this court. An almost identica GaApp. 11, 12, 14 $.E.2d 574. Under Pe
question arose and was objected to on the view we take of the solicitar’s reinaghs, We
in Sube ate, 176 I my side .
grounds here urged, Se ee do not think that it was intended to conv oy
Ga, $280), See a8 Se an impression to the jury that a legal pre-
the court held that proof of other crimes a ston af eeile pul bedeawi froin dis
might be admissible to show plan, “or bent Pa oD hg Er s. Winns
of mind ” of the defendant. In that case, pees os ta dhe eee A deceit evideah
in ovetvallag an objection by the defendant, aa ee Se as axel argh k
> » which was ap- ee y : :
miners URE me ee poets ms “ft conclusion drawn from the facts recited =
taba de oeimaereo ee ; the accused’s statement, and based upon his

sh af
anisarile © shen, Hie eee oe = failure to produce the witnesses therein re-

i i is Ce yp- Te
conv » defendant in this case, but sin
convict the de kan ee ore

Judgment affirmed.

law. The testimony was not, therefore,

objectionable on this ground.

ly as a circumstance for the it
whether or not the defendant did not ae

ind,’ ” Je therefore hold
hat ‘bent of mind. We t 2 ake : .
this ground of exception to be without DUCKWORTH, P. J., CANDLER, J

rit and Judge LILLY concur.
merit. 1

[10,11] 3. Ground nine of the amend-

, : x :
ed motion complains of the following argu
ment of counsel for the State: Gentlemen

of the jury, this defendant did not produce —
a single witness to back him up on his claim the judgment o

ATKINSON, WYATT, and HEAD, JJ.,
dissent from headnote 2, from the corre-
sponding division of the opinion, and from
affrmance

y a aR oo Paper ne a

hich ett.

re Ug EERE ED ETN fondue Bag Sees om eonpey wssagerisioy: hatha os ise

“

Lille eee wee par Ayres

NEGRO MAN WANTED
AS WOMAN'S SLAYER

DANIELS, Eddie, black, electrocuted Georgia (Grady) on February 8, 196.

Say

EDDIE DANIELS ° SOUGHT FOR

ies

MURDER OF NEGRO WOMAN

ales SATURDAY NIGHT.

Juanita King, about 35, a Negro
woman, and mother of three child-
ren, was fofind brutally murdered
here last Saturday night, Sheriff C.

Pred Mapas ry) <A} ade Mis ied $24 tek
SEIS SOMERS FF Strickland reported, adding that

a Negro man, Eddie (Big ’Un) Dan-
iels, also about 35, is being sought

\ gagegeas the slayer.

Sheriff Strickland, aided by State
Patrolmen and officers in various
counties in this section, has been in
a diligent search for Danicls this
week and left Thursday afternoon to
‘follow up a new clue as to _ his
whereabouts.

Neighbors repor ted to officers the
disturbance at the woman's house
in the southwestern part of the city
between 11 and 11:30 p. m. Satur-
day. Sheriff Strickland, Coroner P.
H. Blackman, city officer}; and State
Patrolmen went immediately to the

scene and found the woman dead
“near the ditch in front of her home,

her body brutally slashed, officers

believe, with a large knife. She is

believed to have met almost instant

death.

Kate Washington, a Negro woman

\o“ living next door, told officers she

heard the victim’s screams and pos-

itively identified her assailant as
Daniels, who fled quickly after the
brutal knife attack. Officers said
they had obtained other evidence
in support of the neighbor's iden-

tification. Coroner Blackman was

ready to begin an inquest but de-
clared it unnecessary when an eye
witness to the crime was found.

It is reported among friends of
the slain woman that Daniels had
sought to induce her to marry him

—and_that the murder_doubtless was

the culmination of an argument in

regard to his efforts.
° Sheriff Strickland said he had oe

closely questioned Arthur Daniels,
father of the alleged slayer, as a
possible accessory after the fact.

It was the first capital crime of
the year in the county and many

‘erroneous reports gained circulation |\
\. . . \
in regard to it. Reports also gained | |

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362° Ga.

DANIELS v. STATE.
No. 15225,

Supreme Court of Georgia.
Sept. 7, 1945.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 5, 1945.
1. Homicids €=250
Evidence sustained conviction of mur-
der.

2. Criminal law ©=814(17)

In homicide prosecution trial court
properly refrained from giving in charge
the Code section relating to sufficiency of
proof by circumstantial evidence alone,
where the proof included evidence of eye-
witness corroborated by proof of incrimi-
nating statements by accused. Code, § 38-
109.

3. Homicide €=300(9)

Trial court did not err in refusing to
give requested charge on the law of volun-
tary manslaughter based on alleged show-
ing of mutual intention to fight by accused
and third person, and accidental stabbing
of deceased in course of encounter, where
neither accused’s statement nor evidence
authorized inference that deceased was ac-
cidentally killed during fight between ac-
cused and third person.

4. Homicide €=390(9)

Refusal to charge the law of mutual
combat was not error where neither ac-
cused’s statement nor evidence would have
authorized inference that deceased was
killed during fight between accused and

third person.

5. Homicide €=300(9)

Refusal to charge that accused could
not be convicted of murder unless jury
should find that he would have been guilty
of murder had third party with whom he
allegedly was fighting when he accidental-
ly killed deceased, been killed, was not er-
ror, where neither accused’s statement nor
evidence would have authorized inference
that deceased was killed during fight be-
tween accused and third party.

6. Homicide C=340(1)

Use of word “arbitrarily” in charge
that should jury find accused guilty of
murder, they could with or without reason
arbitrarily recommend him to mercy of the

35 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

court, if inapt, did not render charge preju-
dicial to accused.

—

Error from Superior Court, Grady Coun-
ty; Carl E. Crow, Judge.

Eddie Daniels was convicted of murder,
and he brings error.
Judgment affirmed.

S. P. Cain, of Cairo, and R. L. Cox, of
Donalsonville, for plaintiff in error.

M. E. O'Neal, Sol. Gen. pro tem., of
Bainbridge, and T. Grady Head, Atty. Gen.,
and R, A. McGraw, Asst. Atty. Gen., for
defendant in error.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court.

JENKINS, Presiding Justice.
[1] 1. The evidence fully warranted
the verdict.

[2] 2. The evidence of an eyewitness
corroborated by proof of incriminating
statements by the defendant not being limit-
ed to proof of circumstances tending to
show the guilt of the accused, the court
properly refrained from giving in charge
the Code, § 38-109, relating to the suffi-
ciency of proof by circumstantial evidence
alone. Blocker v. State, 185 Ga. 322(2),
195 S.E. 207.

[3] 3. The contention that the court
erred in refusing to charge, as requested,
the law of voluntary manslaughter, in that
the evidence showed a mtitual intention to
fight by the defendant and a third person,
and that in the course of this encounter the
deceased, Juanita King, was accidentally
stabbed by the defendant, is without merit.
The evidence of many disinterested wit-
nesses shows that the deceased was practi-
cally disemboweled; that one of her arms
was completely severed except for the bone;
that she was stabbed in the breast five or
six times, was stabbed in the side, in the
thigh, and one of the arteries of her leg
was severed. The undertaker testified as
to cuts even on the bottom of her feet. A
neighbor of the deceased testified that she
heard the defendant and the deceased in
an altercation on the front porch of the
deceased, and then saw them struggling,
and saw the defendant “sling” her down,
and that she heard the deceased begging
the defendant to behave himself and not
to cut her; that she went over after the

DANIELS

Cite as 35 8.

defendant left and found Juanita dead;
that there had been a car parked in front
of Juanita’s house, but that the altercation
and the attack upon Juanita occurred after
the car had been driven off. There was
evidence by the arresting officer who
brought the defendant back from Detroit,
which was corroborated by another witness,
that the officer asked the defendant if he
knew he had killed the woman, and that he
said, “No, sir; and that when asked why,
if he was going to kill her, he cut her up
that way, he said, “I don’t know, I just
went to pieces.” When asked where the
knife was, he said that he threw it away
between the house of the deceased and
the school house. On the trial the state-
ment of the defendant in its entirety was
as follows: “I was down there at Juanita’s
house that night, and somebody, John Hen-
ry, come and knocked on the door, and
she opened the door for him, and he said
to her, ‘You told me a damn lic, didn’t you,’
and he snatched her out the door, and she
called me out there and I went out there.
He hit me and I struck at him with my
knife, and if I cut her I don’t know it, if
I did it was not my intention. It was in
the dark. I run off and he run off, too,
and later on I heard them say the sheriff
was looking for me for killing Juanita
King, and I went on off up the strect to
Detroit.” It will be ohserved that the de-
fendant does not claint that John Henry,
the third party, cut up the deceased; nor
does he claim that there was any extended
combat between the third party and him-
self, but only that “he hit me and I struck
at him with my knife,” and that “both run
off.” The defendant by his statement does
not in any wise attempt to deny or to ex-
plain how he might thus have accidentally
mutilated the deceased’s arms, breast, bow-
els, side, thigh, and leg. The fact that she
had been thus maltreated was proved by
the undertakers and by various other wit-
nesses who saw the deceased at the scene
of the crime, and was to some extent im-
plied by the previous statement of the de-
fendant himself, and was in no wise ques-
tioned or denied by his statement made on
the trial. The sole import of his statement
Was that, when John Henry “hit” him, he
struck at John Henry with his knife, that
both ran, and that, if he cut the deceased,
it was accidental. This fails to deny that

vy. STATE Ga. 363

q-2d 362

the deceased was cut up as indicated or that
he was the one who did the cutting. It
wholly fails to account for or to give any
rational explanation of the undenied facts
as to the comprehensive mutilation of the
deceased. In other words, the statement of
the defendant not only fails to explain the
facts both uncontradicted and undenied, but
in fact distinctly negatives the idea that
the deceased could have been accidentally
cut in what, from his description, must have
been a momentary encounter with a third
person. In his statement, he recites nothing
with respect to an encounter with a third
person which could by any stretch of the
imagination explain the undisputed and un-
denied facts.

Neither the defendant’s statement alone,
nor the sworn evidence, would have au-
thorized the inference that the deceased
was killed in the transaction as to which the
defendant stated to the jury that the man
“hit me and I struck at him with my knife,”
and “both ran off.”

[4,5] 4. The reasoning in the preced-
ing division of the syllabus applies with
equal force to the exceptions taken to the
refusal of the court to charge the law of
mutual combat, and to the refusal to charge
that the defendant could not be convicied
of murder unless the jury should find that
he would have thus been guilty of murder
had the third party been killed.

{[6] 5. Exception is taken to the charge
that, if the jury should find the defendant
guilty of the offense of murder, they would
have the right, with or without reason,
arbitrarily, just as they might see fit, to
recommend him to the mercy of the court;
the complaint being that the use of the
term “arbitrarily” was prejudicial and de-
prived the defendant of a material right.
This ground affords no proper basis for
setting aside the verdict and the judgment.
If it should be assumed that the use of the
word “arbitrarily” was inapt, it did not
militate against the rights of the defendant,
but merely: accentuated the unrestrained
right and authority of the jury to recom-
mend mercy.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur, except HEAD, J.,
disqualified.

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July, 1934

He asked the stranger if he had any-
thing of value. The stranger pulled off
a sweater he was wearing and _ bor-
rowed fifty cents on it. He then sold a
ring he was wearing for a dime.
After the game the man vanished and
the negroes grew suspicious. Through
a “stool” pigeon we learned about the
incident and went out to investigate.
Our efforts were amply rewarded.
The sweater, as well as the ring—a
ruby in a gold setting—turned out to
be the one taken from the Henderson
home the night of the unforgettable
tragedy! The mysterious gambler was
carrying a double-barrelled shotgun
which he had refused to put at stake.
Immediately I had the intuition that
the unknown gambler and the slayer
were one and the same. But, then, Wil-

. liams the suspect had been in the lock-
‘up at the time of the “skin” game,

which seemed to eliminate him as the
slayer. I was in more of a quandary
than ever.

BY this development we were forced

to conclude that the actual slayer
eee at large, and so we passed the
word along for the posse to redouble
their efforts. Half a dozen more sus-
pects were taken in, but subsequently
were released.

Two more days passed in wild alarm,
with men constantly patrolling the en-
tire area. And then one Sunday, events
came to a head.

The Rev. A. C. Peacock, minister of
the Lord’s gospel on Sunday and Ful-
ton County deputy sheriff on week-
days, was holding services in a little
church in East Point, a suburb of
Atlanta, and in the general locality of
the two slayings.

As long:as I live I shall never forget
the dramatic incident. He had taken
his text from the Gospel of St. Mat-
thew, fifth chapter, twenty-first verse:

“Ye have heard that it was said by
them of old time. Thou shalt not kill;
and whosoever shall kill shall be in
danger of the judgment.”

Simuttaneously with the Rev. Pea-
cock’s utterance of the last word the
creaking front doors of the church
swung suddenly ajar and the solitary
figure of a man stood framed therein.

Holding up his hand, without hesi-
tancy he hurried down the central
aisle to the pulpit, whispered a few
words quietly to the minister and then,
with all eyes upon him, walked briskly
back to the door and disappeared.

As soon as the door slammed shut the
pastor spoke:

“Friends,” he said, “it is believed the
murderer of Mr. McGee and Mrs. Hen-
derson is in the neighborhood. I want
every man to return to his home. Arm
yourselves and return here. The serv-
ices are now dismissed.”

Someone had reported seeing a negro
cross the railroad in the vicinity. He
was carrying a double barrelled shot-
gun and another gun thought to be a
rifle. A few minutes later he had been
seen with only the rifle, and when a
man by the name of Ben Cochran had
found the shotgun in the weeds beside
the tracks and had called to the negro
from a distance he broke and ran.

The Master Detective

Within a very short time the hue and
cry went up that the much-hunted
‘fiend slayer’ was in the neighborhood
and a posse of more than 3,000 had
formed and surrounded the area where
the fleeing negro had last been seen. |
felt sure that he was now “bottled up”
and that it was a matter of only a short
time before we would have him in our
grasp.

omeone breathlessly pointed out to
us an abandoned shanty toward which
the fleeing negro had been headed a
few minutes before. This house was
quickly surrounded.

As the mob stormed the house the
hunted black man fled through the
rear door and into the arms of our men,
and before many of the mob had real-
ized what had happened we had him in
my car and in a few more minutes he
was safely within the grim walls of the
County Jail,

He was at once questioned.

“I’m Rader Davis,” he said, nervously.
“TI had the shotgun ‘all right, and threw
it down when the white folks called me.
I ran because [ figured it must have
been stolen and they were after me
about it. The other gun | threw under
the old house where you folks caught
me. Both of the guns were won in a
‘skin game!’ ”

“Huh! In a ‘skin game,’ eh? So
that’s your line, is it?’ I shouted at
him, my nerves at breaking point. .

Mr. Winn, the ballistics expert, was
summoned and given the double-bar-
relled gun to examine. He fired several
shots, keeping the empty shells for
study beneath the comparison-micro-
scope which permitted him to view this
shell in comparison with the one picked
up outside the McGee cottage.

T took him only a few minutes to

report that the shell which blasted
out the life of McGee had mot been
fired from this gun.

In the meantime the single-barrelled
gun had been found under the house
where Davis said he had thrown it.
This gun was also turned over to Mr.
Winn, who returned presently with the
startling information that this was the
gun that had killed McGee.

Confronted with this fact the sullen
negro stubbornly stuck to his story that
he had won it in a “skin game.” | was
satisfied we were on the right track.
Still, the negro was an_ inveterate
gambler, this we knew. And I must
admit that I was nonplussed by the
calm assurance of the man, who an-
swered all questions laughingly, and in
a nonchalant manner. He smiled at all
our damaging discoveries until it al-
most shook our own faith. But we
labored on and next called in Cap-
tain Woodson to finger-print the
prisoner.

In the meantime, from his hospital
cot in the Municipal Hospital Sam H.
Henderson readily identified the double-
barrelled ie as his own, and the one
with which he was shot and his wife
slain.

“I don’t deny it is Mr. Henderson’s
gun but I’ll prove I didn’t have it in
my possession at the time he was shot,”
sneered the prisoner, when confronted

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78
with Sam Henderson’s identification
of his gun.

Captain Woodson telephoned me late
the same afternoon and | hurried to
his office on the third floor of Atlanta
Police Headquarters Building.

The print of Davis’ left thumb was
the same as the print on the piece of
glass found near the window of the
McGee cottage!

It was unnecessary to express in
words how jubilant I felt over this
news. I hurried to the jail to confront
Davis with this fact for | wanted a
straight out confession before going to
the grand jury.

“Rader,” |) commenced, “did you
ever hear of the science of finger-
prints?”

HE looked at me suspiciously while I

told him something of the infallible
means of identification and I kept on
until | saw that he was beginning to
understand.

Then I whipped out the piece of
broken glass.

“Davis,” I said, calmly, “this piece of
glass was picked up under the window
that was smashed by the shot that
killed old man Hamp McGee. It’s got
your finger-prints on it!”

Davis was silent for a second. His
face went blank, and he heaved a deep
sigh. Then he grinned.

“IT guess you got me, boss,” he said.
“There’s plenty I can tell you!”

This first confession, taken down as
he gave it, by Calvin Cole of the Soli-
citor-General’s staff on March 6th, 1933,
startled us in that he said when he slew
Hamp McGee he was aided by one Em-
mett Gibson, a negro we were at the
time detaining as a suspect, for we had
learned that he had been seen on nu-
merous occasions with Davis.

On the day of this confession, March
6th, 1933, a special session of the grand
ury returned joint indictments against

oth negroes for the slaying of Hamp
McGee,

Then came his confession of the
Henderson crime, and others, plenty of
others.

Years before, he had been serving a
term on the chain-gang for armed rob-
bery in Henry County, Georgia, and
had escaped. Guards, accompanied by
bloodhounds, trailed him down and re-
captured him.

hen and there the negro had sworn
vengeance on all humanity. Not only
did he make a vow to kill everyone
who had a hand in catching him, but to
kill and kill until he felt his debt had

been paid.

The Master Detective

The fiendish slayer of the half-shaved

man. After his capture and convic-

tion he delighted in recounting the de-

tails of revolting crimes he had
committed

Shortly afterwards he escaped again
and started on his career of murder.

He had killed McGee, with the aid
of Gibson, he said.

He had slain Mrs. Henderson, shot
her husband and batted in the skull of
their only child.

He had killed Stanley.

He had robbed Dunn and a score of
others.

He had robbed and then menaced the
McDaniels.

Numerous negroes whose names _ he
did not know had also fallen victims
to his lust to kill.

FINALLY he admitted that Leonard
Williams was his uncle and had
pawned the watch to McCoy for him.

Davis went to trial on the Henderson
killing. He was represented by lawyers
appointed by the court and they did
their best for him. On the stand he
denied the damaging confessions but
on March 26th was sentenced to die
in the electric chair. He did not
appeal. ~ .

Immediately afterwards Gibson was
convicted of aiding in the murder of
McGee and was sentenced to die.

But the weird case was not complete.
The most amazing chapter was written
by Davis as he waited electrocution.

On almost every day Davis talked to
officers and prison guards and gave de-
tails of new and revolting crimes. Not
only did he tell of his own, but de-
scribed others in which other persons
had been principals.

Out at Stonewall chain-gang camp
in Fulton County, a young white man
named Robert Coleman was serving a

Snaring the Fog Phantoms of the

report from the Motor Vehicle Depart-
ment on the license number of the Buick
sedan. We found that it belonged to
an Essex sedan owned by Joseph Long,
1236 104th avenue, Oakland.

We left for that city the following
morning and called on the construction
firm. A Harry Wilson had worked
there but had left some two months

(Continued from page 53)

previously. We then went out to
Long’s place and found he was running
a wrecking yard. When we told him of
the license he said it was the first he
knew of it and he at once checked
through his books. He found that the
license belonged to an old Essex sedan
in the back of his yard which had been
partly wrecked. e went back there

life sentence for the murder of his wife
and an attack upon his own baby. The
crime was almost exactly similar to
that of the Henderson case, except that
Coleman was not wounded as Hender-
son had been.

Young Coleman had protested bitter-
ly at his conviction and had wept and
pleaded with the court for mercy. He
had sat wanly in the court-room
day after day as the State wove a
<a of circumstantial evidence about

im.

For four long years he had been a
prisoner, eating out his heart without
hope of release.

ig was this case that the negro Davis
discussed in one of his several con-
fessions. Coleman was innocent, he said.
The real murderer was Jim Stark, a
negro who had served in_ the Henry

County chain-gang with Davis. The -

two had become confidential and had
eweyees confessions of murder and vio-
ence.

Promptly Stark, who at the time was ~

in the gang, was brought in. He ad-
mitted the murder for which another
was serving in prison—the innocent
convict was Robert Coleman.

Governor Eugene Talmadge, in less
than a day, wrote out a complete par-
don for Coleman. The young man left
prison without bitterness, declaring he

‘would try and wipe out the four years
from memory.

Rader Davis’ days were growing
short. The hour of his electrocution ap-
proached, but a respite was given him
to testify against Stark, who was sen-
tenced to the electric chair. He ap-
pealed and in the end won a life sen-
tence in the chain-gang.

Then, just a few minutes. before he
was taken to the death room to be elec-
trocuted, Davis signed another confes-
sion. Saying that he did not want to
die with a lie upon his lips he now took
upon himself the entire responsibility
for the slaying of Hamp McGee. “Em-
mett Gibson was not with me at all,”
it read. “I said he was with me think-
ing it might help me out, but he is in-
nocent.”

The steel helmet of death was then
clamped on his shaven head. The exe-
cutioner turned the switch and Rader
Davis was dead, thus bringing to a
close one of the most amazing chapters
in the nation’s book of crime.

Gibson appealed from his death ver-
dict, lost the appeal and was sentenced
to die on May 15th. At the eleventh
hour Governor Talmadge commuted his
sentence to life imprisonment.

Golden Gate

and located the car ... and_ sure
enough the license plates were missing.

“Somebody must have stolen them,”
was Long’s explanation. We agreed
with him and told him we had a fairly
good idea who it was.

Returning to San Francisco we
walked into the squad room just in time
to hear a brother officer, who had one

i a allt PO etait. wee

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July, 1934

of our ¢}
about a pt
on the nigh

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sub-station
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but when
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relative ani
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drink. He
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“The m
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Today I sa
the man w!
man Griffin

We rushe
Street but
out in the
the landla
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guests, anc
searched t
than - 700
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they were
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A little
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The holes
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This pro:
bandits st:
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regulation
quired the
haul.

WE agi

watcl
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And tl
which pr
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gladly a:
gave then
with thei:
For tw
day, two
ment gua

DAWSON, Dick

Dawson, a black man, lived in Upson County, Ga, His. brother-in-law,
Frank Thompson, lived nearby anda love affair developed between Daw-
son and Mrs, Cunningham. On July 15, 1876, the two men were seen
palying marbles in the yard of the Cunningham home, and others oever-
heard Dawson tell vumingham that he would give him some fresh meat
if he would come to his house that night, Around ninexzo'clock,
Cunningham left home saying that he was going to the Dawson residence
and he was not seen again, Dawson was arrested on suspicion the next
morning and immediately denied any knowlege of the murder, A few
days later, Cunningham's body was found buried underneath somebrush
in a gully near Dawson's house and he then confessed that he had
laid in wait with a loaded shotgun until Cunningham had passed and
had shot him in the back. He said that the first load of shot had
not killed Cunningham and that he had then bludgeoned him over the
head and fired the second loan into his body. Dawson claimed that
Mrs, Cunningham had instigated the murder and she was indicted and
stood trial also, She was acquitted but Nawson was convicted and
sentenced to die, His execution was delayed by an appeal to the

Georgia Supreme Court on the grounds that his confession had not
been voluntary. The Court affirmed the conviction and he was hanged

at Thomaston on July 5, 1878, His execution was supposed to be pri-
vate but at his request the public was allowed to witness it and over
8,000 persons did so, The gallows were constructed on a hill about
one-half mile from the jail and he rode +here seated on a chair in-
stead of a coffin, He met his death calmly and showed no signe of
fear or nervousnesse

THOMASTON TIMES, fhomaston, Ga,, Mar. 21, Mar. 28 and April 18, 1977;
ATLANTA DAILY CONSTITUTION, Atlanta, Ga, July 7, 1877

59 GEORGIA: 33 | eS a ae ee

‘Lt, The terother Look Phoo! decal ali

Hat the dherigf Kaurrisdly put tu Mack cag, bond
Line t |

Rie a = 4-13 -—IE 0/4 ~(

DAWSON, Dick

“angedy Thomaston, Ga.,

hanging only in Thomaston FREsP?
ile,

el, 1977. In Georgia :
Ber 2 tet/
ti LCAC4

. REMARKABLE GALLOWS SCENE.
THomaston, Georgia, July 6.~Dick Dowson,

colored, was hanged here to-day for the murder ||

of his brother-in-law, Frank Cunningham, in the
_ woods near Thomaston, about a year ago, Dow:
son was urged to the murder by Lucinda, the
wife of Canningham, who was in love with him,
~-and wished to remove her -husband- as an
obstacle to ber desires. Dowson refused to com-
mit the marder until Lucinda, through the negro
superetitions, had worked upon his fears to the
.» point of perpetrating the crime. A crowd ot

8,000 persons witnessed the execution. Dowson

Loy. Co)
Sy ETE
! n account of
45S, Thomaston, March

Ou Cktenu - Lilicf

C, Geccned Vit lip wl /

made no confession, but left one in the hands of
the Court. Dick got into the cart leieurely,
earveyed the crowd oritically and calmly. He
did not talk at all. On reaching the scaffold be
was seked if he was innocent or guilty. He de-
clined to snawer. He was asked if he believed
God had forgiven him. He eaid he feared not.
A preacher asked him if he accepted Christ. He
sald nothing. The crowd pressed up againet the
scaffold, and the negroes were greatly excited,
ebrieks and screams ascending from the crowd,
Dick's friends and. relatives being especially
vehement. They groaned

bis shoes, gave them to the brother, with some
general directions. The brothers tok the ahoer
and then ewooned away and fell off from: the
scaffold. . This affected Dick, and the scresme of
the crowd became s0 maddening that Sherif
Blosingame determined to close the scene
promptly. He harried on the fatal cap, bound
the man’s hands and bidding him good-by eprong
the trap. Dowson fell eight feet, breaking hie
neck instantly.

—

Montgomery Advertiser

Execution stay

received via

car phone

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JACKSON, Ga. — Minutes be-
fore Darrell Gene Devier was to
go to the electric chair, a storm
knocked out the phones that were
supposed to bring word of any re-
prieve.

Georgia's attorney general
jumped in his car with his cellular
phone. drove until he found a sig-

nal and learned that Devier had: .

gotten a stay from the U.S, Su-
preme Court. He then raced back
to the prison to deliver the word
minutes before the appointed
hour.

~The electric chair has its own
power source. and backup
generator and wasn't affected by

the power failure at the state pris-

on Monday night.

But officials were quick to dis-
miss the possibility that: Devier
could have gone to his death be-
fore anyone got word to the pris-
on. pe tk
--Not on your life..I think that’s
a mistake that nobody wants hang-

ing over their head.” state correc-
tions spokeswoman Vicki Gavalas

said Tuesday.

before anyone got.
oie one: got word to the
~ “Not on your life. I thi

Mt - I think that’
See that nobody Parte ks hy
bia pide. head,” state correc-
said Tu €swoman Vicki Gavalas
« If Attorney’ Ge

y General Mi
Kina hadn’t_ had _ his nalliee
ep ened ne oda get it work-
Ing, Officials
delayed the execution, ate said ies

Cellular phone
Keeps man from
electric chair

By ELLIOTT MINOR
Associated Press Writer

‘ JACKSON, ° Ga i

aoe reel ag Dicer.
ectric chair, a

knocked out the phones eee

Supposed to bri
reprieve. 6 Sip word of any

Supreme C ».
back bitte: sa, He then raced

word minutes be
hour, es before the appointed

*. The electrie chai

‘ air has it

‘tug hi and backup acai
and wasn’t affected by the

power failure ,
Monday night. eee ee baton

_ But officials were qui
- were quick is-
miss. the. Possibility ‘that Khe

ng-

esday.

If Attorney General Michael
Bowers hadn't. had his cellular,
phone. or if he couldn't get it 4
working. prison officials would 5
have delayed the execution, she f
said. **They would never go ahead
with an execution without making ©
every effort to find out what the

court has done’: Ms. Gavalas

sald.

EAGLE, Mother 4)
Wednesday, May 17, 1995 ( Butte.

oe op

DEVIER, Darrell Gene, white,

Southern
Murder
Outrage:

by JOSEPH L. KOENIG

HE PHONE calls began about the
same time that Mary Stoner’s

picture first appeared in the’

newspaper. The picture showed a beam-
ing, honey-haired beauty who had just
taken first-place honors in an important
baton-twirling competition. When
Mary’s photo ran again, it was to let
everyone in Adairsville, Georgia, know
of her outstanding scholastic achieve-
ments. The phone calls never varied. As
soon as anyone at the Stoner home lifted
the receiver, whoever was at the other
end of the line would silently hang up.

Mary Frances Stoner, at the age of 12,
had more important things on her mind
than the weirdo playing games with her
phone. November marked the climax of
the football season, an incredibly busy
time for the captain of majorettes of the
Adairsville High School band. When
classes let out for the day, the eighth-
grader hurried home to hit the books
again, allowing plenty of time for prac-

40 Master Detective

ele€é. GAS (Floyd) May 17, 1995

tal Bludgeo
the Honey-Blonde Majore

ticing twirling with her baton.

At 4:00 on the humid Friday afternoon
of November 30, 1979, the schoolbus let
Mary off in front of her house 100 yards
from Highway 41. As she set foot on the
driveway, a man in a blue car pulled up
beside her, called out a few words and
Mary walked over to see what he wanted.

Without warning, the stranger tore open.

the door and yanked Mary inside. Before
her friends and classmates could recover
from their astonishment, the car was rac-
ing down the street.

When they were told what had hap-
pened, Mary’s parerts could make no
sense of the bizarre incident. They
wasted little time in phoning their daugh-
ter’s friends to see if she was with any of
them. Unable to gain so much as a clue
to Mary’s whereabouts, they alerted
authorities. A massive search by the
Floyd County Rescue Team and the Civil
Defense Unit got under way at once.

Also joining the hunt were Georgia
Bureau of Investigation and FBI agents,
county police and cjvilian volunteers.
Leaders of the effort told the searchers to

News of the sex-murder of rural Georgia
schoolgirl spread across state, shocked
citizens of the state capital, Atlanta

keep an eye out for an attractive, 5-foot-
4-inch blonde wearing jeans, blue sneak-
ers and blue windbreaker.

‘*You’d also better keep an eye out for
the guy who grabbed her,”’ an investiga-
tor said. ‘‘We think he’s a white man, in
his late teens or early twenties, maybe
bearded. His car’s a dark-blue compact,
most likely a Ford Pinto.’’

As the searchers scoured the country-
side for his daughter, Mary Stoner’s
father spoke briefly with reporters. He
told them that he had no idea why anyone
would want to harm his little girl. Mary’s
mother told the newsmen that the 12-
year-old was an honor student in an adv-
anced study group in the eighth grade.

The Stoners went on to say that in
recent weeks, ever since Mary’s photo-
graph had begun to appear in an Adairs-
ville weekly, the family had been tor-
mented by mysterious phone calls. In the
hours since the child’s abduction there
had been a number of similar calls to the
house.

‘Despite the impressive turnout by
civilian volunteers and county and feder-

al authorities.
was found that
following mo:
newed searct
way, four hun
in a wooded ar
of Adairsville
try road nea:
line, the mer
open field clo
It was not un!
they discover
body of a blor
atree. The ch
time, evident
beating about

Summoned
area some 30 t
ing used as a c
and target-shi
overed a mass
of pine need!
lay. Scattered
very large 1
blood.

‘*Not muc!
pened here,’
creep used tt
in. It looks lik
or four times
coroner to det
us know if sh«
doesn’t look
she’s dressed
to guess.”

** About the
scene tells us
in, ‘‘is that th
a stranger wo
the-way plac
leads in and

Late that a!

2
&.

Body of victim
Adairsville. Sh
After intense +

ave Springs
r—

in rape-mut 1

wih Fel Na, te “et

a Georgia man was: i

convicted of the 1979.

killing of Mary Frances 7

Stoner, who was.
kidnapped, raped. and
beaten after she got off
a school bus near her ~
home in Adairsville ,

Associated Press

JACKSON, Ga.

A northwest Georgia man who

raped and killed a 12-year-old

girl on her way home from |

school won a stay of execution
from the U.S. Supreme Court
minutes before he was to be
electrocuted Monday night.

Lawyers for Darrell Gene.

Devier, 39, of Rome, argued that
his history of drug use and
childhood abuse were mitigating
factors. The state Supreme
Court and federal courts had
rejected his appeal, and the
state parole board. refused to
commute his sentence to life in
prison.

The US. Supreme Court’s stay
was granted a half-hour before
the scheduled 7 p.m. execution.
The execution was rescheduled
for 1 p.m. Wednesday, barring a
further stay.

In granting the. temporary

stay, the Supreme Court called

for a response by the state to
Devier’s appeal by 5 p.m. Loma.

Aarannas:= no on eo nannnm..

r of girl, 12

Pees was: convicted of the
“1979. ‘killing: ‘of Mary Frances |
Stoner, “who was kidnapped, |
raped: -and beaten after she got
off a school bus near her home
in Adairsville.

“He «basically | stalked this ”

“child, abducted her ... raped—
- her and beat her and bashed her .
~ head with a 50-pound rock,” said
. Wayne Garner, chairman of the
parole board. |

ended. in a
mistrial,. and
his second
was” thrown
out on ap-
peal. He was
convicted and _ sentenced to
death in 1983 | after his third

Devier

_ trial..

Before he was granted the
stay, Devier’s head was shaved
and he rejected an opportunity
to make a final statement.

State Department of Correc-
tions spokeswoman Laura Mar-:

shall said family members visit-.
- ed Devier during the day and he

was given his requested last

' meal.of a quart of strawberries;
-two.. bacon-lettuce-and-tomato

sandwiches and a glass of milk..

The victim’s parents, Roy and
Mary Stoner, had planned to.
gather with relatives at the.
rison to wait for word that
Devier had been electrocuted

| for Killing their daughter.

nd. ) eo ;

_ Devier was

tried three
- times. . His
-. first . trial

High court grants Devier temporary stay |

Electrocution reset for Wednesday

By Rhonda Cook
STAFF WRITER

Jackson — With prison com-
munications knocked out 20
minutes before Monday eve-
ning’s scheduled execution. of
Darrell Gene Devier, Attorney
General Mike Bowers had to get
in his car, drive to high ground
and call his office on a cellular
phone to find that the Supreme

Court had granted a stay.
Bowers rushed back to the
Georgia Diagnostic and Classifi-
cation Center, blacked out by
storms and a balky generator, to
report the stay. Devier, his head
and one leg shaved, was waiting

calmly in a cell next to the death .

chamber, authorities said.
Justice Anthony Kennedy

granted a stay until 5 p.m. today,

and Corrections Department

chief Alan Ault rescheduled De-:

vier’s execution for 1 p.m.
Wednesday.

Devier, 39, was sentenced to
die for the 1979 kidnapping,
rape and murder of 12-year-old
Mary Frances Stoner of
Adairsville.

All other appeals failed Mon-
day. Bowers indicated that Ken-
nedy granted the stay so the
court could have more time to
study the appeal.

Storms sweeping through the
area south of Atlanta knocked
out power at the prison and blew

a roof off a guard tower at 6:15.

p.m. The prison generator
kicked in immediately, but at
6:35 p.m. it overheated and shut
off, blacking out the prison and
shutting off telephone and radio
communications.

Bowers drove on Georgia 36
toward I-75 and stopped on a
hill, where his car phone was
able to reach his Atlanta office.

The death chamber and the elec-
tric chair work off a separate
generator, officials said, and the
execution could have taken

place if no stay had been forth- -

coming.

Devier, whose last meal con-

sisted of two bacon, lettuce and .

tomato sandwiches on toast, a
quart of strawberries and milk,
“did not seem particularly sur-
prised or elated” when told of
his stay, according to prisons
spokeswoman Vicki Gavalas.

DANIELS, Eddie (Big ‘Un), black, electrocuted SP (Grady Co.), February 8, 1946,
“Negro Man Wanted As Woman’s Slayer.
“Eddie Daniels sought for murder of negro woman Saturday night.

“Jaunita King, about 35, a Negro woman, and mother of three children, was found brutally
murdered here last Saturday night, Sheriff C. H. Strickland reported, adding that a Negro man,
Eddie (Big ‘Un) Daniels, also about 35, is bing sought as the slayer. Sheriff Strickland aided by
State Patrolmen and officers in various counties in this section, has been in a diligent search for
Danielss this week and left Thursday afternoon to follow up a new clue as to his whereabouts.

“Neighbors reported to officers the disturbance at the woman’s house in the southwestern
part of the city between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Sheriff Strickland, Coroner P. H.
Blackman, city officers and State Patrolmen went immediately to the scene and found the woman
dead near the ditch in front of her home, her body brutally slashed, officers believe, with a large
knife. She is believed to have met almost instant death.

“Kate Washington, a Negro womanj living next door, told officers she heard the victim’s
screams and positively identified her assailant as Daniels, who fled quickly after the brutal knife
attack. Officers said they had obtained other evidence in support of the neighbor’s identification.
Coroner Blackman was ready to begin an inquest, but declared it unnecessary when an eye
witness to the crime was found.

“Tt is reported among friends of the slain woman that Daniels had sought to induce her to
marry him and that the murder doubless was the culmination of an argument in regard to his
efforts. Sheiriff Strickland said he had closely questioned Arthur Daniels, father of the alleged
slayer, as a possible accessory after the fact...”-Cairo Messenger, Cairo, GA, 8/6/1943.

35 Southeastern (2) 362.

was a chance of talking the robber out of his announced
intent to butcher them, started pleading with him to spare

him for the sake of his wife and b

“They won't need you any. more,”

ruffly.

With deliberate calm he took the shells from a box in
the room, rammed them into Henderson’s own gun ,and
closed the breech. He then thrust the gun close to Hender-

son and pulled the trigger.

Henderson slipped into unconsciousness with t

of the shot ringing in his ears.

The Master Detective

aby.

the intruder said

How long he lay there he did not know. But:
“When I came to,” he said, “I felt freezing

I didn’t have the strength to move a musc
was quiet. I couldn't remember what had happened very
well until | moved a little and felt my wife beside me. Sh
was stiff and cold, and I lost consciousness again.”
THE puny whimperings of the baby aroused Henderson

the second time. Weak daylight of th

coming through the windows.

“t knew the baby was alive,” Henderson went on, “
] made was an agony.
d tumbled off

I couldn’t reach it. Every move

But I had to do something. I rolled over an
the bed. I was too numb and far gone to feel the pain

cold and numb.
le. Everything

e late winter was

much, but | yelled as loud as | could for help.

“The nearest house was half a mile awa
which is an unfrequented highway, was
yards through some trees. There was litt

Nevertheless, Henderson remembered his baby boy and
ng and heroic crawl
across the icy floor, slip-
coming to his senses
difficult to realize
was on the floor nearly
five hours before his feeble calls were heard by the boy.
By that time he was close to the door and was fighting on

tried to crawl to the door, That amazi

took hours. He fought by inches

ping into unconsciousness at intervals,
to fight on with two lives at stake. It is

the slowness of his progress. He

gamely when help arrived.

| hastily took his statement, fe
As near as he could
make out, he told me,
the man who commit-
ted the crime was 4
negro. This he deter-
mined from the voice.
His idea of the intru-
der’s height and weight
was too vague to be of
much value.

The baby’s skull was
fractured and examina-
tion by surgeons
showed he had been
battered with inhuman
ferocity, evidently with
the stock of a shotgun. .
It was apparent that the
slayer had tried to make
sure there were three
dead persons in that
house before he left, for
the dead tell no tales.

After getting Hen-
derson’s statement
picked up some other
county officers and Cal-
vin Cole, special detec-
tive for the Solicitor-
General. :

On reaching the
scene of the tragedy a
cursory inspection
showed similarities in

aring that he would die.

Sam Henderson’s fa’

note; it h

y, an

ad been mi
throw the

he sound

d the road,
several hundred
le hope for help.”

ther received this crudely pencilled
ailed in Atlanta. Was it a ruse to
detectives off the trail?

many respects to the recent slaying of Hamp McGee, which
was in the same community. We found that a window had
been smashed. But Captain Woodson could find neither
finger-prints nor heel-prints in the house or on the ground
without. True, the mode of entrance was through a broken
window and the same sort of weapon had been the instru-
ment, though the Hendersons had been shot with the vic-
tim’s own gun. There was no question about that, although
the discharged gun shells had not been left at the scene.

As Henderson had stated, his wife’s purse was gone, also
her wrist-watch, and there were indications that the dresser
had been hastily ransacked. We could find no one who had
seen strange persons in the neighborhood. It was appar-
ently a plain case of robbery and murder by a fiend in
human form with the probability that the perpetrator was
a negro, Still there were puzzling elements and other
theories advanced. Mrs. Henderson was a beautiful woman!
Could it possibly have been an. act of maddened jealousy
with robbery thrown into it to delude the officers? We
checked ‘up every phase of this idea only to cast it out of
our minds entirely.

The country-side was now aroused as never before.
Residents, feeling that a ferocious, blood-thirsty killer was

loose in the section, became panicky. Night after night |
men of the house sat in their homes guarding their loved

one with shotguns across their lap. It was terrifying!

There followed a man-hunt so thorough that it seemed
nothing could have escaped notice. We first decreed a search
for the death weapon, feeling certain the murderer would
hide it. In the meantime Atlanta detectives combed the
pawnshops and closely examined records of every watch
pawned,

Every inch of the woods and fields around the Hender-
son home was gone over. Volunteer bands of citizens aided
us. We even drained several lakes and ponds in the vicinity,
probably ruining the fishing for years to come. But human
lives were at stake and if our belief that a wanted killer
was abroad was true, there was no telling where he would
strike next. Reports of midnight forays by an armed negro
became more and more
frequent. But negroes
with shotguns on a rab-
bit hunt in the section
were no uncommon

picked up several, as
suspects, nothing came
of it and they were all
freed.

Then E. W. Dunn, a
farmer living in a re-
tired section some miles
away, revealed that a
burglar had broken into
his home four days be-
fore the Henderson kill-
ing. The intruder had
———— held him and his wife

in bed by menacing
them with a shotgun,
and robbed them of a
small amount of money
and some clothing. In
this instance, too, the
description. was too
vague to help, though
we felt reasonably cer-
tain it was the same
man. The negro intru-
der had debated wheth-
er to kill the Dunns
or not, but decided
against it and as he left

pa wa?

sight and though we.

The Master Detective

The Mystery of the Half-Shaved Man

at nothing—even the killing of women
and children in cold blood. It was in-
furiating to be faced with a situation
so full of potential danger—with so
little with which to fight back.

I spent many sleepless nights, as did
most of those at work on the cases, for
1 felt almost certain that the fiend
would strike again.

But the blow, when it fell, came in
an unexpected quarter. Several days
after the Henderson killing and the at-
tack on Mr, and Mrs. McDaniel, friends
of W. L. Stanley, a 78-year-old farmer-.
recluse, who lived alone on his place in
Rockdale County some twenty miles
away, became alarmed by his contin-
ued absence. His old model Ford auto-
mobile was missing from its accus-
tomed place in a shed at his home and
an ominous silence hung over the shack
that was his home. Neighbors decided
to search his place. They found. the
doors unlocked and when no response
came to their repeated calls entered
the house.

Nor a soul was in the shack. Every-
thing was orderly and no sign of
violence was apparent.

About this time the missing man’s
automobile was found parked by the
roadside in a near-by town. But no one
had seen Mr. Stanley. Witnesses .who
had noted the Stanley car parked at the
curb for three days Were questioned by
the Rockdale County authorities with-
out success.

Being unable to find anyone who had
seen the man, the friends of Mr. Stan-
ley returned to his home and com-
menced a further search of the premises.
They were poking around some loose
dirt in a slight mound in the rear of
his garden when they found his decay-

ing body. Life had been blasted away ©

by the charge of a shotgun.

This time two negro women were
found who had seen a negro carrying a
shotgun .walk off with Mr. Stanley to-
wards some bee-hives in the rear of
his home. They thought he was con-
ferring with the old man about some
honey, or bees, and paid little or no at-
tention to them. That was apparently
the last time the recluse of Rockdale
county was seen alive.

Although Rockdale County was out
of our jurisdiction we communicated
with the investigating police there and
gathered the meagre information pos-
sessed by them. It was my theory that
the slayer of Stanley and the murderer
of McGee and Mrs. Henderson were
the same man. From all these meager
descriptions we attempted now to draw
a more tangible description of the
fiend slayer and again broadcast it
over the aroused section, warning citi-
zens to guard their homes and persons.
But we had little to announce except
we were seeking a negro with a shotgun.

Never before have we had such co-
operation from citizens, Two mass
meetings were held and an organization
of armed vigilantes was set up. Every
able-bodied man was assigned to a

(Continued from page 31)

group with a designated leader, and all
in turn reported to our force any un-
due disturbance or any information
they thought might be of value. They
worked in split-shifts and we had the
full assistance of Station WPDY of the
Atlanta Police Department. County
cars were equipped with receiving sets
and got alarms over the city system.

It seemed impossible that a negro
carrying a shotgun around with him
rf escape such vigilance, and yet he

id.

For days we dashed over the section
upon urgent radio alarm. Suspects
were numerous, Many were arrested,
eun-shell tests made by Mr. Winn and
their finger-prints taken and examined
by Captain Woodson, but all had to be
released after being found innocent of
any connection with the crimes.

It was heartbreaking to know that
the murderer was still at large.

Checking on pawnshops is routine
police work. And our search one day
turned’ up a gold watch which was
promptly identified as a wrist-watch
that had belonged to Mrs. Henderson.
It had been pawned by a man named
Roosevelt McCoy for fifty cents and a
half pint of whiskey.

We turned now to the task of finding
this particular negro in a city where
there are 75,000 negroes. At last we
found him.

McCoy said he got the watch from
another negro named Leonard Wil-
liams. .

Williams was a known police char-
acter, so it was only a matter of a few
hours before his arrest.

When questioned he was sullen, re-
fusing to tell where he got the watch,
though admitting he had pawned it to
McCoy. We escorted him to the finger-
print bureau. It took Captain Wood-
son only a few moments to find that
the print of William’s left thumb did
not correspond to the print left on the
piece of glass found at the scene of the
McGee slaying. Still, he had possessed
the watch, and so we took him over to
the Municipal Hospital to be viewed by
Henderson.

FIENDERSON’S room was in dark-
ness, for he was seriously ill. He
peered at the black man with his weak
eyes and shook his head.

“T can’t see well enough,” he moaned,
half audibly. “Make him talk.”

Williams talked but Henderson only
shook his head again.

“T can’t tell,” he said. “Maybe, when
| get stronger ”

He dozed off weakly. Baffled, we
took our prisoner back to the lockup.
It developed later that Williams was
innocent of any connection with the
murders and he was released.

Had the trail ended? It seemed then
to depend on Henderson, and he was
believed to be dying. Dunn had gone
off to visit relatives in another section
of the state, and couldn’t be reached.
The two negro women who had seen a
negro man with a shotgun walking off

into the woods with W. L. Stanley, in
Rockdale County, were now brought in,
but they could not identify him. Nei-
ther could Mr. and Mrs. McDaniel.
Yet, he had possessed Mrs. Henderson’s
wrist-watch!

I figured we might have the man, so
didn’t relax. We had to keep searching
in the fear. that we might be wrong.
And keep at it we did!

Then, quite suddenly, an unexpected
development came.

[ WAS seated in the County Police
Office one morning—it was February
8th, 1933, when the door swung open
and Mr. A. E. Henderson, father of
Sam H. Henderson, stepped in.

“Here’s something | got in the mail
today,” he said, handing me an en-
velope.

It was a crudely penciled letter, ad-
dressed to him at his Elbert Street
home. It read:

A negro Did not kill your Sons
wife i Did i Had it in For Him

When you get this letter i Will
be Way off.”

“Humph. This sounds strange, Mr.
Henderson, can you account for it in
any way?” .

“No, frankly, I cannot. Sam did not
have an enemy that I know anything
about. He lived happily with his wife
and baby. I can’t understand it, unless
the negro we have under arrest is the
guilty man and this was written by
some friend who is trying to help him
build up a defense.” he replied.

The letter was mailed in Atlanta,
from station “B” and bore the date of
February 7th. It had been mailed at
8 p. M. that day.

On the top left-hand corner of the
envelope had been a return address but
this had been blotted out by black ink
so that the human eye could not discern
even the trace of a letter.

I considered it important enough to
call for Mr. Winn, who hastened with
it to his laboratory. Presently he re-
turned with a satisfied grin on his face.

“Under the ultra-violet ray the black
ink disappeared and here is the return
address,” he explained. He gave me
the name and the address of the local
agency of one of the nation’s great
manufacturing companies. We hurried
to this address, which was located on
Peachtree street, Atlanta’s busiest
thoroughfare, but though we took fin-
ger-prints and talked with every em-
ployee we found nothing to lead us to
the identity of the author.

‘Then, quite suddenly, we were
forced by two new developments to
fore-go any further investigation of the
cryptic note.

Early in February there had been a
“skin game” in progress at the home of
a negro named Adel Dixon, in Atlanta.
A stranger appeared and offered to roll
the dice. He rolled and lost steadily,
until finally he went broke.

Dixon wanted to stay in the game.

July, 1934

He asked |

thing of va
a sweater
rowed fifty
ring he w:
After the
the negroc
a “stool” -
incident a:
Our eff:
The swea
ruby in a
be the on
home the
tragedy!
carrying
which he
Immediat:
the unkn:
were one <
liams the
up at thi
which sci
slayer. |
than ever,

BY this
‘ to co:
Was yet ;
word alo
their effo
pects we
were rele:
Two m
with men
tire area.
came to ;
The Re
the Lord’
ton Coun
days, wa
church i:
Atlanta,
the two s
As long
the dram
his text °
thew, fift
“Ve ha
them of «
and who
danger 0°
Simult<
cock’s ut
creaking
swung si

. figure of

Holdin
tancy h
aisle to
words qt
with all :
back to t

As soo!
pastor s}

“Frien
murderer
derson is
every ma
yourselve
ices are

Someo:
cross the
was carr!
gun and
rifle. A i
seen wit!
man by i
found th
the track
from a

-Gee, which
vindow had
find neither
the ground
zh a broken
the instru-
ith the vic-
it, although
e scene,
3 gone, also
the dresser
ne who had
was appar-
’ a fiend in
vetrator was
and other
iful woman!
ied jealousy
fficers? We
ist it out of

ever before.
y killer was
after night
their loved
‘fying!
at it seemed
reed a search
rderer would
combed the
every watch

the Hender-
citizens aided
a the vicinity,
-, But human
wanted killer
iere he would
1 armed negro
ore and more
But negroes
guns on a rab-
in the section
o uncommon
id though we
up several, as
nothing came
| they were all

©, W. Dunn, a
living in a Te-
tion some miles
evealed that a
iad broken into
: four days be-
Henderson kill-
e intruder had
a and his wife
by menacing

ith a shotgun,

bed them of a
iount of money
1e clothing. In
‘ance, too, the
wn was too
» help, though
reasonably cer-
was the same
‘he negro intru-
debated wheth-
kill the Dunns

but decided
it and as he left

When Robert Coleman discovered his
wife murdered in their home (above) he
did not dream he’d be accused and
though innocent, found guilty and sent

to the chain gang

their home congratulated them
on being left alive.

There were other reports of
a similar nature filtering in, but
they gave no definite description
and no tangible clues. Extra po-
licemen were assigned to patrol
the roads in this section each
night.

Even more amazing and ter-
rifying was the experience of
Mr. and Mrs. Bob McDaniel,
who lived in an isolated section
of Henry County, not far dis-
tant. As this locality was out
of our jurisdiction, their story
came to me only by report, but
it fitted in with our own murder
mysteries. The audacious braz-
enness of its execution, coupled
with other details, led me at

once to believe it was the work
of the same fiend who was
spreading death and terror in
q Fulton County. —
: Alone in their house a few
nights after the Henderson kill-

ing Mr; and Mrs. McDaniel were startled to hear a gruff

command to “stick ’em up and be quick about it

They whirled around to see a negro covering them with

a shotgun.

Grinning exultantly at their fear, the leering black ordered
them to stand back, and then tied them together with a
rope so tightly they could scarcely move. But walk, crab-

The Mystery of the Half-Shaved Man 31

(Left) Robert Coleman. For four long
bitter years ‘he slaved ‘in the chain gang
for another man’s crime without hope of
release. And then the solving of the
half-shaved man mystery set him free

like fashion, they did, under the
negro’s orders and the prodding of
the cocked shotgun.

The man and his wife, like gro-
tesque Siamese twins, half stumbled,
half walked into the darkness, The
negro ordered them to an old aban-
doned well near the house, in the
rear, which was covered by a pro-
tecting piece of planking.

“Kneel down and pray,” the grin-
ning negro ordered. “Your end has
come.”

Expecting death from the menac-
ing shotgun at any instant, the terri-
fied couple fell to their knees and
began to pray. They knew they were
far from help and absolutely at the
mercy of their captor. But as they
prayed aloud, something seemed to
change in the negro’s mind, With-
out a word he slipped silently away!

For some minutes Mr. and Mrs.
McDaniel were afraid to move. At
last, however, they began to strug-
gle against their bonds and soon
were free. In a few minutes they
had spread the alarm and the countryside was being combed
by armed men, but no sign of the negro was found. Here
also a small amount of money, a watch and a few articles

. of clothing were stolen. We secured a description of these

and carefully recorded them. ;
It became maddening to realize that all these crimes were

the work of a fiend who stopped (Continued on page 76)

most blown off
‘ead for hours.
m, Jr, was‘un-
id been beaten
ckened the men

County Police
thrown into a

d into an auto-

the Municipal
ost-haste to the
iad been stated
che baby would
aed the hospital
ises and gasped
orror, which for
‘led in this sec-

tired early and
is awakened by
bed, He sat up
flashed a strong
sun was pointed
he flashlight up
e the right hand

his eyes against
. She was gruffly
ilight on a table
eeded to ransack

The Mystery of the Half-Shaved Man. 29

the room, keeping himself hidden well behind the light.
Suddenly he again turned toward them. ;
_ “Where is your money—you've got some money some-
where,” he said, throatily.
Henderson did not reply but his wife said: “I have some
si575. the dresser drawer.” He took her purse containing
15.75.
“Where's your jewelry?” he asked Mrs. Henderson,
sharply.

GHE revealed to him where the jewelry was hidden, but
fearing trickery he ordered both to cover themselves
bes ing with the bedclothes.

The baby commenced to cry.

“Shut that brat’s mouth,” the intruder commanded.

“He wants some water,” the mother said from beneath
the cover.

“Well, I’ll give him some, but don’t you move,” he an-
swered.as he lifted the child from its crib.

With the baby in one arm and the gun in the other he
cautiously backed to a table where a bucket of water sat
and the child drank heartily from a dipper.

He then returned the infant to its crib and the mother
heaved a sigh of relief.

His eyes now spied the Henderson shotgun where it rested
on a rack above the door. He removed it and started back-
ing toward the door, Then, his mind evidently changed, he
returned to the’ foot of the bed and ordered them to sit
up. After they had emerged from the covers
he calmly said to Henderson: .

“ , : ‘ , : Above) Calvin Cole, al investi-
"ref eer Jo, | dovt UME imy ee ey

The distracted wife fainted, and Mr. Hen- senfeasion trees the phantom fiend
derson knowing that if he made a move it
would surely mean death and thinking there

Schrier wide inal aah o>

(Right) With County
Policeman Cal Gates
(center) and Lieuten-
ant William A. Wells,
co-author (right) A. E.
Henderson examines
shotgun which was iden-
tified as belonging to
his wounded son, Sam

Child-Killer Is Elecrocuted
AP 17 May 95 18:33 EDT V0896
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this news report may not be published,
broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority
of the Associated Press.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- Darrell Gene Devier was put to death in
Georgia’s electric chair Wednesday for raping and murdering a
12-year-old girl, and friends of the victim’s family cheered.

Devier, 39, was executed less. than two days after the prison lost
power just as the U.S. Supreme Court was granting a last-minute -
temporary stay of execution. The high court lifted that stay Wednesday
morning.

Asked if he wanted a prayer, Devier said, "“I’ll take all I can get
when it comes to that. I don’t have no objection to a prayer.”

Earlier in the day in Illinois, Girvies Davis was put to death by
injection for the 1978 murder of an 89-year-old man. Defenders had
taken to the Internet to drum up support for a reprieve, maintaining
that he was borderline retarded, illiterate and unable to read his own
confession, and that blacks were deliberately excluded from the jury
that qualified him for the death penalty.

Devier was convicted in the 1979 kidnapping, rape and beating death
of 12-year-old Mary Frances Stoner near her home in Adairsville, in
northwest Georgia. |

The girl’s parents, Roy and Mary Stoner, were inside the prison when
Devier was executed, but they did not watch his death.

“Today's execution, after waiting far too long, was a punishment,"
said Mrs. Stoner’s brother, Vince Stewart. "Not once in the last
15-and-a~half years did her killer ever say he was sorry, or try to
apologize.” ;

Nine friends of the Stoner family, all wearing blue ribbons,
gathered at the entrance to the prison. They cheered and held up
pictures of the girl as a hearse bearing Devier’s body passed by.

Minutes before he was to have gone to the electric chair Monday, a
storm knocked out power and the phones that would have brought word of
a reprieve.

In the meantime, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its stay so it could
consider his final appeal.

The electric chair has its own generator, but prison officials said
there. was no chance he could have been executed without communication
with the courts.

In Illinois, a coalition of clergymen, former prosecutors, civil
rights leaders and others had urged Gov. Jim Edgar to grant clemency to
Davies.

His lawyers even turned to the Internet in their bid for public
support for his cause, making a summary of his case available on the
international computer network with a picture and a recording of his
voice.

Edgar refused to commute Davies’ sentence to life without parole,
saying Davis was sentenced for a “horrible crime” and had also been
convicted of three other murders.

-Child-killer dies in electric chair

By ELLIOTT MINOR
Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Ga. — Darrell Gene
Devier was put to death in Geor-
gia’s electric chair Wednesday for
raping and murdering a 12-year-old
girl, and friends of the victim’s fam-
ily cheered.

Devier, 39, was executed less
than two days after the prison lost
power just as the U.S. Supreme
Court was granting a last-minute
temporary stay of execution. The
high court lifted that stay Wednes-
day morning.

Asked if he wanted a prayer,
Devier said, “T’ll take all I can get
when it comes to that. I don’t have
no objection to a prayer.”

Earlier in the day in Illinois,
Girvies Davis was put to death by
injection for the 1978 murder of an
89-year-old man. Defenders had
taken to the Internet to drum up
support for a reprieve, maintaining
that he was borderline retarded,
illiterate and unable to read his own
confession, and that blacks were
deliberately excluded from the jury
that qualified him for the death
penalty.

Devier was convicted in the 1979
kidnapping, rape and beating death
of 12-year-old Mary Frances Stoner
near her home in Adairsville, in

northwest Georgia.

The girl’s parents, Roy and Mary
Stoner, were inside the prison when
Devier was executed, but they did
not watch his death.

“Today’s execution, after waiting
far too long, was a punishment,” said
Mrs. Stoner’s brother, Vince Stewart.
“Not once in the last 15-and-a-half
years did her killer ever say he was
sorry, or try to apologize.”

Nine friends of the Stoner fami-
ly, all wearing blue ribbons, gath-
ered at the entrance to the prison.
They cheered and held up pictures
of the girl as a hearse bearing
Devier’s body passed by.

Minutes before he was to have
gone to the electric chair Monday, a
storm knocked out power and the
phones that would have brought
word of a reprieve.

In the meantime, the U.S.
Supreme Court issued its stay so it
could consider his final appeal.

The electric chair has its own
generator, but prison officials said
there was no chance he could have
been executed without communica-
tion with the courts.

In Illinois, a coalition of clergymen,
former prosecutors, civil rights lead-
ers and others had urged Gov. Jim
Edgar to grant clemency to Davies.

His lawyers even turned to the
Internet in their bid for public support
for his cause, making a summary of
his case available on the international
computer network with a picture and
a recording of his voice.

Edgar refused to commute Davies’
sentence to life without parole, saying
Davis was sentenced for a “horrible
crime” and had also been convict-
ed of three other murders.

CHILDRE}®

FAGLS, Dothan Ae
5 [spe

Ree MN eis Pees Sieg Ae

Ginger Brown (left), first cousi
ran and Pat Black, friends of the
in Jackson and await Darrell Ge

JOHN SPINK / Staff

n of Mary Frances Stoner, and Paul Todd, Patty Coch-
family, hold pictures of Mary Frances outside the prison
ne Devier’s execution Wednesday.

Child’s killer is executed

‘We can begin
healing,’ says
victim’s uncle

By Rhonda Cook
STAFF WRITER

Jackson — Vince Stewart
looked tired and sad, his eyes
reddened, minutes after his
niece’s killer was executed
Wednesday. ;

“Today just brings to a
close part of our family’s hurt
and pain. We can begin heal-
ing,” Stewart said shortly after
Darrell Gene Devier was put to
death.

Devier, 39, was declared
dead at 1:28 p.m. Wednesday,
nearly 16 years after he raped
and murdered Mary Frances
Stoner, an Adairsville sixth-
grader. She was kidnapped
Nov. 29, 1979, moments after
she stepped off the school bus
at the end of the dirt road lead-

ing to her family’s rural home.

_ Devier, who admitted kill- :

ing the girl, was the 20th per-
son to die in Georgia’s electric
chair since 1983 and the second
in less than six weeks.

His execution was the third
in the nation this week, follow-
ing executions in Louisiana
and Illinois. Since capital pun-
ishment was resumed in the
United States in 1976, 281 peo-
ple have been executed. Geor-
gia ranks fifth in the number of
executions.

Devier was scheduled to die
Monday, but the U.S. Supreme
Court stayed his execution.
The court lifted the stay shortly
before noon Wednesday.

Witnesses said Devier
walked voluntarily into the
death chamber and did not re-
sist as he was strapped into the
chair. Ninety minutes earlier,
he-had a last meal of two bacon,
lettuce and tomato sandwiches
and two cartons of milk.

Devier had no last state-
ment but agreed to a prayer,

4 Thursday, May 18, 1995 sassses

according to witnesses, “T’l]
take all I can get when it comes
to that,” Devier said.

Seven minutes later, he was
dead. Death penalty propo-
nents outside the prison, hold-
ing up enlarged photographs of
the slain girl, cheered when
they heard a radio broadcast of
the execution.

Death penalty opponents
were nearby, their heads
bowed and holding hands.
“This is murder,” said Bernard
DeCook.

Mary and Roy Stoner, their
17-year-old daughter and four
other relatives awaited news of
the execution in the office of
the warden of the Georgia Di-
agnostic and Classification
Center at Jackson. The Stoners
had with them a portrait of
their daughter bending over to
lace her pink ballet slippers.

“It’s been way too long,”
said Ginger Brown, Mary
Frances’ first cousin, who was
with the demonstrators.

LANTA CONSTITUTION

The South’s Standard Newspaper

Death on schedule

I favor the death penalty, but I
must agree with those who say the
circumstances leading to execu- —
tion constitute cruel and unusual
punishment. Darrell Devier's stay
of execution less than a half-hour
before the scheduled time is the
latest example. The fault lies with
grandstanding defense attorneys
and publicity-hungry politicians,
including those politicians called
judges.

There should be a fixed date —
say, a month before scheduled
execution — when no further
appeals would be heard, nor any
stays issued, barring the discov-
ery of new, compelling evidence.
Then, the prisoner can prepare
for his death with the certainty
that he is not going to be jerked
around by self-serving people.

W.H. INGE
Atlanta

yz Thursday, May 18, 1995 «xxx

THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION

The South’s Standard Newspaper

DODSON, Charles, bl, 17, elec. GASP (Schley) Jan. 21, 1931.

Because of the poor quality of the attached copy from The
Times-Record, Americus, Ga., I am extracting pertinent information
as best I can read it.

Issue of 12-26-1934: "Negro Shoots Town Marshal at Ellaville-Youth
jailed for shooting W. B. Souter Christmas Eve" Souter, 43, shot
and killed by negro he was trying to arrest Monday night. Accused,
Charlie Dodson, captured in swamps near Ellavilleby posse of local
citizens led by Sheriff E. C. Rigsby and taken to Columbus jail for
safekeeping. Bloodhouds were used in the tracking. The Sheriff
said Dodson had Souter's pistol, with two cartridges, when captured
and admitted that he shot Souter. Dodson made no attempt to fire
at members of posse. "The town was aroused by the shooting and
feelings were running high..." Souter killed by a shot to the
head. He had just arrested Dodson in connection with a Christmas
Eve disturbance. No eye-witnesses, but night chief Charles

(?) said investigation revealed that Soputer killed by his own
pistol after it had been wrenched from hands by prisoner. Souter
had been chief for about 2 years (7). Funeral services held at
Ellaville cemetery on Tuesday with pastor J. R. Dupree of lst
Baptist Church officiating. Pallbearers were: H. W. Hogg, J. H.
Statham, C. C. McNeal, C. T. Battle, J. H. Robinson and S. W. Miles
Page one, column two.

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26-198

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PEPER TIS

122 Ga.

6. Criminal Law €=805(1)

Where charge on question of flight
stated a correct principle of law, exception
to portion thereof because some other prin-
ciple of law was not given was not a valid
exception,

Syllabus by the Court.

The judgment denying the motion for
new trial in this case was not error for
any reason assigned.

Leroy Dobbs was convicted of rape with-
out recommendation to mercy. Ilis motion
for new trial, as amended, was denied. The
exception here is to that judgment.

Wm. H. Burke, Marictta, for plaintiff in
error.

L. C. Hames, Jr., Sol. Gen., Marietta,
Eugene Cook, Atty. Gen., Rubye G. Jack-
son, Atlanta, for defendant in error,

WYATT, Presiding Justice.

{[1] 1. We deem it unnecessary to set
out the evidence in detail. Suffice it to say
that the testimony of the female alleged to
have been raped was amply sufficient to
prove the offense of rape. The only argu-
ment made by the plaintiff in error inso-
far as the general grounds are coneerned
is that the evidence of the alleged victim
was not. sufficiently corroborated. We
therefore look to the evidence on the ques-
tion of corroboration.

The female testified that the defendant
entered her home at night; that she shot
him; that he then shot her; that her
panties were Ieft on the floor. All of this
testimony was corroborated by other testi-
mony. The fact that she went to the home
of her nearest neighbor who carried her
to the hospital was corroborated. Her
neighbor, Mr. C. C. Cartee testified: “She

104 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

did make a complaint as to what had oc-
curred to her.” Dr. John M. Hodges testi-
fied that when the female alleged to have
been raped reached the hospital she told
him, “that she was attacked and shot.”
“This court has frequently held that the
corroborating evidence need not be of it-
self sufficient to convict the accused, but
the quantum of corroboration is left entire-
ly to the jury.” Harper v. State, 201 Ga.
10, 39 S.E.2d 45, 51. and cases there cited.
The corroboration in this case was suffi-
cient to authorize the verdict.

[2] 2. Special ground 1 complains that
testimony was unlawfully admitted. The
record discloses that the trial judge, when
the objection was made, stated that he
would hear the testimony and then pass
upon its admissibility. No further ruling
was invoked after the testimony had been
given. This court has repeatedly held that
under these circumstances there is nothing
for this court to pass upon.

[3] 3. Special grounds 2 and 3 com-
plain because the court permitted a coat and
a rifle that had been introduced in evidence
to go to the jury room with the jury during
its deliberation. “The jury is entitled to
have out with it all evidence introduced.”
Hall v. State, 213 Ga. 557(6), 100 S.E.2d
176, 177, and cases there cited.

[4] 4. Special ground 4 complains of
the charge of the court with reference to
the corroboration of the testimony of the
female. It is conceded that the charge as
given was a correct abstract principle of
law, but it is contended that the judge
should have gone further and defined cer-
tain words used in this portion of the
charge. In the absence of a request to
charge, this does not amount to error, even
if it would have been error if a proper re-
quest had been made.

[5] 5. Special ground 5 complains of
the following excerpt from the charge of

CITIZENS & SOUTHERN NATIONAL BANK v. JOHNSON Ga... 423
Cite as 104 8.E.2d 123

the court: “In this case the court instructs
you that certain testimony has been given
by certain witnesses who have appeared and
been sworn and testified before you who
are in law termed expert witnesses. In
this connection I charge you that while in
cases such as the one being tried the law
receives the evidence of experts as to cer-
tain matters and science, such as medicine,
psychiatry, psychology and similar sciences
of facts originating from the person’s
knowledge of particular matters, I charge
you that the weight to be given to the
testimony of expert witnesses is a question
to be determined by the jury. In other
words, the testimony of an expert like that
of any atid witness is to be received by
you and given such weight and credit as
you think it is entitled to receive under the
law.” The complaint made as to the ex-
cerpt is as follows: “(a) It was confusing
to the jury for the reason that it did not in-
struct the jury that it could not consider
the testimony of the expert witness, R. R.
Smith, and the expert witness, Dr. W. B.
Matthews, unless and until it, the jury, had
first found that the physical things con-
cerning which these expert witnesses tes-
tified had, in fact, come from the sources
from which the State contended they came.

“(b) It was misleading to the jury in
that it led the jury to suppose that testi-
mony from an expert witness as a matter
of law is subject to the same rules of law
as is testimony from an ordinary witness,
and that no different rule of law applied

‘to such testimony.”

The charge was not error for the reasons
assigned. The excerpt from the charge is a
correct statement of a principle of law.

[6] 6. Special ground 6 excepts to the
charge of the court on the question of
flight. It is conceded that the charge on
the question of flight stated a correct prin-
ciple of law. This court has repeatedly
held that when a correct principle of law
is given in charge to the jury, that an ex-
ception to that portion because some other

principle of law was not given, is not a
valid exception,

7. It follows, the judgment under at-
tack was not error for any reason assigned.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur,

° KEY NUMBER SYSTEM.

4ums

214 Ga. 229
CITIZENS & SOUTHERN NATIONAL
BANK
Vv
Wililie JOHNSON.

No. 20053.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

June 5, 1958.

Suit to recover on notes payable to or-
der of insurance broker, given by insured
in settlement of premiums for liability pol-
icy and transferred to plaintiff before ma-
turity. A judgment of the Civil Court of
Bibb County in favor of plaintiff was re-
versed by the Court of Appeals, 97 Ga.App.
200, 102 S.E.2d 680, and plaintiff brought
certiorari. The Supreme Court, Almand,
J., held that notes which met all require-
ments of Code, § 14-201 to make them nego-
tiable were not made non-negotiable by
caption of notes or other provisions con-
tained therein and that answer did not state
facts sufficient to constitute bad faith within
meaning of Code, § 14-502(4) such as
would deprive transferee of status of holder
in due course.

Judgment of Court of Appeals re-
versed.

Opinion conformed to 104 S.E.2d 547. .

1. Bills and Notes C163, 164

Notes, executed by insured payable to
order of insurance broker, which met all
requirements of statute to make them nego-
tiable, were not made nonnegotiable by
caption “conditional acceptance premium

Sed

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DRIVERS!7Y

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PAT STs S:

120 Ga.

petition in juvenile court of Clayton Coun-
ty alleging neglect, and such court without
considering evidence issued ex parte order
requiring children to be taken into custody
and placed in temporary care of paternal
grandparents, superior court on habeas cor-
pus procecding by mother properly re-
manded children to custody of the mother.

Affirmed.

1. Infants C7169

Where mother had been awarded cts-
tody of children in divorce and alimony ac-
tion in Fulton Superior Court and there-
after children’s paternal grandfather who
was a resident of Fulton County took chil-
dren from home of mother who resided in
Clayton County without her consent and
father then filed petition in juvenile court
of Clayton County alleging neglect, such
juvenile court, even if it had jurisdiction of
the children was without authority to issue
ex parte order awarding temporary custody,
without a hearing, to the grandparents.
Code, § 24-2413.

2. Habeas Corpus ©=99(1)

Where mother had been awarded cus-
tody of minor children in divorce and
alimony action in Fulton Superior Court,
and thereafter children’s paternal grand-
father, who was a resident of Fulton Coun-
ty took children from home of mother who
resided in Clayton County without her con-
sent, and father who lived with his par-
ents then filed a petition in juvenile court
of Clayton County alleging neglect, and
such court without considering evidence is-
sucd ex parte order requiring children to be
taken into custody and placed in temporary
care of paternal grandparents, superior
court on habeas corpus proceeding by moth-
er properly remanded children to custody of
the mother. Code, §§ 24-2413, 110-701.

———_———-

Roland P. Smith, Atlanta, for plaintiffs

in crror.

104 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 24 SERIES

Russell G. Turner, Sr., Atlanta, for de-
fendant in error.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court.

DUCKWORTH, Chicf Justice.

This case involves custody of minor chil-
dren. On the habeas corpus hearing the
court awarded custody to the mother, the
petitioner therein, against her former hus-
band and his parents who are the plaintiffs
in error. Previously to the order awarding
custody to the mother, which is here ex-
cepted to, the mother had been awarded
custody in a divorce and alimony action be-
tween the husband and wife in Fulton Su-
perior Court. Thereafter, the paternal
grandfather, who is a resident of Fulton
County, took the children from the home
of the mother, who resides in Clayton
County, without her consent. The father,
who lived with his parents, then filed a peti-
tion in the Juvenile Court of Clayton Coun-
ty alleging neglect. That court, without
considering evidence, issued an ex parte or-
der requiring the children to be taken into
custody and placed in the temporary care
and custody of the paternal grandparents.
On the habeas corpus hearing here under
review the evidence showed the legal cus-
tody to be in the mother, conflicting evi-
dence as to whether the best interest and
welfare of the children would be in the cus-
tody of the mother or the opposite parties,
and no evidence of neglect. A copy of the
verified petition filed in the Juvenile Court
of Clayton County was not in evidence but
merely the above ex parte order by the
judge placing the temporary custody in the
grandparents. Held:

{i} . 1. Conceding but not deciding the
authority of the Juvenile Court of Clayton
County to take jurisdiction of the children
in this case if found neglected, that court
was without authority to issue an ex parte
order awarding temporary custody, without
a hearing, to the grandparents. And, even
though Code (Ann.Supp.) § 24-2413 (Ga.L.
1951, pp. 291, 300) authorizes that court to
immediately assume custody of a child and
remove it from the conditions and sur-

DOBBS vy. STATE G
Cite as 104 S.H.2d 121 - 12

rounding in which it is found when it ap-
pears that the welfare of the child requires,
the evidence here fails to disclose any such
necessity for that court to assume custody.
Such order is required by law to be by en-
dorsement issued upon the summons to the
person or persons having the custody and
control of the child and the officer serving
the same shall at once take the child into
custody. That procedure was not followed,
and we will not by construction hold that
that court can take such ex parte action in
The court was without
jurisdiction to issue the order which was
void. Code, § 110-701; Wells v. Pridgen,
154 Ga. 397, 114 S.E. 355; Kinman v.
Clark, 185 Ga. 328, 195 S.E. 166.

any other way.

[2]. 2. The evidence showing no abuse
of the trial court’s wide discretion in hear-
ing habeas corpus cases, the court did not
err in remanding these minor children to
the care, custody and control of the mother
to whom they had been previously awarded.
Sce Carter v. Brett, 116 Ga. 114(2), 42 S.FE.
318: Fortson v. Fortson, 200 Ga. 116, 35
S.E.2d 896; Parker v. Parker, 213 Ga. 198,
97 S.E.2d 580.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur.

O «© KEY NUMBER SYSTEM

4unme

214 Ga. 206
Leroy DOBBS

Vv.
The STATE.
No. 20057.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

June 4, 1958.

Defendant was convicted in the Supe-
rior Court of Cobb County, of rape with-

out recommendation to mercy, his motion
104 S15 2d —814

for new trial as amended was denied, and
he brought error. The Supreme Court,
Wyatt, P. J., held that in prosecution for
rape, evidence sufficiently corroborated
victim and sustained conviction.

Affirmed.

{. Rape €=54(2)

In prosecution for rape, evidence sufh-
ciently corroborated victim and sustained
conviction.

2. Criminal Law C1045

Where trial judge stated, upon objec-
tion to evidence, that he would hear the
testimony and then pass upon its admissi-
bility, but no further ruling was invoked
after the testimony had been given, there
was nothing for reviewing court to pass
upon.

3. Criminal Law €=—858(3)

Permitting coat and rifle that had been
introduced in evidence to go to the jury
room with jury during its deliberation was
not error.

4. Criminal Law €=824(2)

Where charge given was a correct ab-
stract principle of law, failure to define
certain words used in portion of charge
was not error in absence of request.

5. Criminal Law ©785(7)

Instruction that weight to be given to
expert testimony is question for jury, and
that expert testimony is to be received by
jury and given such weight and credit as
they think it entitled to receive under the
law, was a correct statement of law and not
improper for failure to instruct that jury
must first find that physical things concern-
ing which experts testified had in fact come
from sources from which the state con-
tended they came, nor as leading jury to
suppose that expert testimony is subject to
same rules of law as testimony from ordi-
nary witness,

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458 Ga.
215 Ga. 788
Herring DAVIS
v.
STATE.
No. 20796.

Supreme Court of Georgia.
March 16, 1960.

Defendant was convicted in Superior
Court, Meriwether County, under indict-
ment charging murder of victim by shoot-
ing. Defendant’s motion for new trial up-
on general grounds only was denied, and
defendant brought exceptions. The Su-
preme Court held that proof of corpus

delicti was ample corroboration of free

and voluntary confession of murder.

' Affirmed,

1. Homicide €>250

Evidence supported conviction of de-
fendant for murder by shooting victim with
rifle.

2. Criminal Law €>535(2)

Proof of corpus delicti was ample cor-
roboration of free and voluntary confession
of murder. Code, § 38-420,

——_>——_———.

George C. Kennedy, H. Briscoe Black,
Claude A. Bray, Jr., G. C. Thompson, Man-
chester, Ben R. Freeman, Greenville, John
K. Wecks, Warm Springs, for plaintiff in

error.

Wright Lipford, Sol. Gen., Newnan, W.

S. Allen, Greenville, Eugene Cook, Atty.
Gen., Rubye G. Jackson, Deputy Asst. Atty.
Gen., for defendant in error.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court

MOBLEY, Justice.

[1,2] Herring Davis, under an indict-
ment charging him with the murder. of

113 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

George Frank Hall, Sr., by shooting him
with a .22 rifle, was found guilty without
a recommendation of mercy, and was
sentenced to death by electrocution. His
motion for new trial’ on the general
grounds only was denied, and the bill of

exceptions assigns error on this judgment.
Held:

The evidence was ample to support the
verdict of guilty. M. F. Hale and H. A.
Poole, of the Georgia Bureau of Investiga-
tion, and Howard Norris, Sheriff of Meri-
wether County, testified that the defend-
ant had confessed having killed Hall in
order to rob him by shooting him with a
.22 rifle when his back was turned; that,
after shooting him, the defendant robbed
him of slightly more than $8.75, which was
taken from his billfold and pocket; that
the confession was made freely and volun-
tarily by the defendant, who was offered no
hope of reward and was not threatened
with injury; and that, after the confession,
the defendant led them to the place where
he had hidden Hall’s billfold and showed
them his .22 rifle with which he shot Hall.
In his unsworn statement to the jury, the
defendant said that he did not know why
he had killed Hall. “All admissions. shall
be scanned with care, and confession of
guilt shall be received with great caution.
A confession alone, uncorroborated by any
other evidence, shall not justify a convic-
tion.” Code § 38-420. Proof of the corpus
delicti is ample corroboration of a free and
voluntary confession. Westbrook v. State,
91 Ga. 11, 16 S.E. 100; Owen v. State, 119
Ga. 304(2), 46 S.E. 433; Chancey vy. State,
141 Ga. 54(5), 80 S.E. 287; Swint v. State,
160 Ga. 148(2-a), 127 S.E. 459: Burns v.
State, 188 Ga. 22, 28(3), 2 S.E.2d 627;
Elvine v. State, 205 Ga. 528(2), 54 S.E.2d
626. Here, the defendant’s confession was
corroborated by proof of the corpus delicti,
established by Dr. Herman D. Jones, Di-
rector of the Crime Laboratory .of the
Department of Public Safety, who testified
that Hall died as a result of a bullet wound
of a .22 to .25 caliber, the bullet having
entered the back. of -his: head and having

Pip pp IRE sconce 51

SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY y. SCOTT Ga. 459
Cite as 113 S.H.2d 459

come out on the opposite side. The de-
ceased’s body was found on the dam at his
mill with no gun or other weapon about
with which he could have accidently or
intentionally inflicted the wound upon him-
self. There is no merit in the general
grounds, and the trial court properly denied
the motion for new trial,

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur.

215 Ga. 739
SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY

Vv.
P. D. SCOTT.
No. 20744. .

Supreme Court of Georgia.
Feb. 11, 1960.

Rehearing Denied March 14,1960.

Action to recover from railroad for
fire damage to plaintiff’s land allegedly re-
sulting from hotbox on train. The Superi-
or Court, Gordon County, denied defend-
ant’s motions for directed verdict, judg-
ment notwithstanding verdict, and new
trial, and defendant brought error. The
Court of Appeals divided equally on ques-
tion as to whether there was any evidence
to support verdict for plaintiff, and the case
was transferred. The Supreme Court,
Head, P. J., held that absence of competent
evidence to sustain verdict for plaintiff
made it error to deny defendant’s motion
for new trial.

Judgment affirmed in part and reversed
in part.

1. Rallroads €=453

Measure of diligence required of rail-
road for prevention of fire caused by loco-
motives is ordinary care and diligence to
equip its engines with best appliances in
general use,

2. Railroads €=464

In order to authorize recovery of dam-
ages for destruction of property by fire
caused by running of train, it must appear
that damage was occasioned by fault or
negligence of railroad or its agents. +

3. Railroads €=482(2)

In action to recover from railroad for
fire damage to plaintiff's land allegedly re-
sulting from hotbox on train, burden was
on. plaintiff to establish by preponderance
of evidence that fire which destroyed his
property had resulted from operation of de-
fendant’s train; and testimony raising only
suspicion that fire had been caused by de-
fendant would be insufficient.

4. Railroads €>482(2)

In action to recover from railroad for
fire damage to plaintiff’s land allegedly re-
sulting from hotbox on train, evidence was
insufficient to sustain finding that fire which
destroyed plaintiff's property had been
caused by operation of defendant’s train.

5. Railroads €=456

Railroad owed no duty to adjoining
landowners to keep its right-of-way ab-
solutely clean, and was not negligent in
permitting particles of combustible matter
to collect on its right-of-way.

6. New Trial C68

Absence of competent evidence to sus-
tain verdict for plaintiff made it error te
deny defendant’s motion for new trial.
Const. art. 6, § 2, par. 8.

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DAVIS, Andrew, black, hanged at Morgan, Georgia, on Nov. 11, 1911.

"Andrew Davis, colored, of Leary, Ga., who killed his wife last August
paid the penalty of his crimbe by hanging last Friday at 12:0 p.m.
Sheriff Davis had everything ready at the appointed hour and Andrew
Davis was escorted to the scaffold where he made a few remarks pro-~
testing his innocence. He prayed and deliberated under the excrucia-
ting pressure, exhibiting both a physical and mental disturbance.
Have placed the death cap upon his head and fastened his feet and hands,
Sheriff Davis pulled the trigger that threw EKKHMXA the condemned 5
feet to meet his eternity. After several minutes of struggling and
agonizing torture, Drs. Sharp, Merk and Griffin pronounced him dead,
his neck not broken...Some three or four hundred people were in Morgan
for the occasion, but sheriff Davis had the scaffold enclosed and of
SBWURER course, MAKA many did not even get a peep through the crack,
The whole thing passed off quietly, seeming to concur with the legal
climax to a dastard crime. While Andrew was making his last state-
ment and emphasizing that he did not kill his wife, a good old negro
woman standing near the enclosure trying to catch every word of it, was
heard to exclaim: 'Good Lord! Telling s lie and going to die!' This
admonition was felt by those sround and the words verberated throughout
the crowd wuth marked solemnity..." CALHOUN COUNTY COURIER,
Arlington, Georgia, November 17, 1911. (1/3).

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46 Ga. 84 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

liver her to the plaintiff until further order
of the court. The defendants excepted.
Held:

As shown above, this litigation was in-
stituted in the Court of Ordinary of Thom-
as County, a court which has no equity
jurisdiction. Const. art. 6, § 4, par. 1, Code,
§ 2-3901. By her petition the plaintiff
sought and prayed for legal relief only;
and the character of the plaintiff's case as
a proceeding at law has not been changed
by any amendment to the pleadings since it
was carried to the superior court by appeal.
Hence, under the Constitution of this State,
the Court of Appeals and not this court has
jurisdiction of the writ of error. Const.
art. 6, § 1, par. 4, Code, § 2~3704.

Transferred to the Court of Appeals.

All the Justices concur.

211 Ga. 142

AMERICAN GUARANTEE & LIABILITY
INSURANCE COMPANY

v.
Norman KRASNER.
No. 18658.

Supreme Court of Georgia.
Oct. 14, 1954.
Certiorari to Court of Appeals.

Earle Norman, Washington, T. J. Long,
Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

D. W. Krasner, Norman Krasner, Atlan-
ta, for defendant in error.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court

WYATT, Presiding Justice.

After a careful consideration of the
record in this case and the decision made
by the Court of Appeals, Krasner v. O'Dell,
89 Ga.App. 718, 80 S.E.2d 852, we are of

the opinion that that court did not err in
reversing in part the judgment of the court
below.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur, except AL-
MAND, J., who dissents.

211 Ga. 76
Calvin Eugene DAVIS

Vv.
. The STATE.
No. 18722.

Supreme Court of Georgia.
Oct. 11, 1954.

_ Defendant was convicted for murder.
The Superior Court, Schley County, ren-
dered judgment and defendant brought
error. The Supreme Court, Candler, J.,
held that evidence was sufficient to sustain
conviction.

Judgment affirmed.

1. Homicide €=142(7)

State’s evidence as to the cause and
agency of victim’s death, a piece of lead
found in victim’s brain, was not subject to.
claimed objection of failing to prove killing
in the manner alleged in indictment which:
charged shooting in the head with a rifle.

2. Criminal Law €=1169(2)

Where record did not disclose ground
upon which objection was taken, admission,
in homicide prosecution, of a witness’ testi-
mony concerning confession, which was
allegedly involuntary, was not error, espe-
cially where a different witness was al-
lowed, without objection, to testify to a
different but substantially similar free and
voluntary confession.

3. Criminal Law €=538(3)

A confession of guilt, freely and vol-
untarily made, is direct evidence of the

DAVIS v. STATE Ga. 47
Cite as 84 S.E.2d 46

highest character and sufficient to author-
ize a verdict of guilty on a charge of
murder, when corroborated by proof of the
corpus delicti.

4. Homicide 250

Evidence was sufficient to sustain con-
viction for murder.

—_———_->—_——-

Troy G. Morrow, Ellaville, for plaintiff
in error.

Charles Burgamy, Sol. Gen., Americus,
Eugen¢ Cook, Atty. Gen., Rubye G. Jack-
son, Atlanta, for defendant in error.

+ Syllabus Opinion by the Court,

CANDLER, Justice.

Calvin Eugene Davis was indicted in
Schley County for murder. The indictment
alleges that he unlawfully killed Nora Jones
by shooting her in the head with a .22 cali-
ber rifle. He was convicted without a
recommendation and sentenced to be elec-
trocuted. He excepted to a judgment deny-
ing a motion for new trial, which he timely
made on the usual genera’ grounds and
later amended by adding other grounds.
Held:

[1] 1. Special ground 2 of the motion
alleges that a new trial should be granted
the movant because the State failed to prove
the killing in the manner alleged in the
indictment. There is no merit in this. Dr.
L. S. Boyette, a witness for the State,
testified that he performed an autopsy’ on
the body of Nora Jones; that he found a
penetrating wound on the lead of the de-
ceased; that he traced it through the brain
tissue, and about the middle of the brain
found a battered piece of lead, presump-
tively a bullet; and that the bullet wound
in her head caused her death.

[2] 2. On the trial of the instant case,
J. F. McDuffie, a witness for the State,
testified that he was and had been for seven
years an agent of the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation. The defendant freely and

voluntarily confessed to him that he killed
Nora Jones at her home by shooting her
twice with a rifle; that he then took a con-
siderable amount of money off her person
and went to Ellaville, Georgia; and that
he went from Ellaville to Columbus,
Georgia, where he was later arrested. In
the course of his testimony, the witness said
that he “made” the defendant point out
the place where the first bullet hit the
deceased; however, he promptly qualified
this by saying he “asked” the defendant to
point out the place where the first bullet
hit the deceased, and that the defendant
voluntarily did so. It is alleged in the
amendment to the motion for new trial that
the judge erred in refusing to rule out the
testimony of the witness McDuffie, but the
record does not disclose the ground on
which his motion was based. This special
ground of the motion for new trial does
not show reversible error; and this is
especially true in view of the fact that
sheriff Devane, as a witness for the State,
later testified without objection that the de-
fendant, freely and voluntarily, made sub-
stantially the same confession of his guilt
to him, relating in detail when and how he
went to the home of the deceased and with
a rifle shot her through a crack in the door
while she was sitting in front of the fire;
and, since the first shot did not kill her, that
he then shot her in the back of the head.
There was no motion to rule out Devane’s
testimony. See, in this connection, Sey-
mour v. State, 210 Ga. 21(2), 77 S.E.2d 519,
and citations.

“DRY aAL-SAma™

University

ead

[3,4] 3. A confession of guilt, freely
and voluntarily made by the accused, is
direct evidence of the highest character and
sufficient to authorize a verdict of guilty
on a charge of murder, when corroborated
by proof of the corpus delicti. Measured
by this rule, the verdict in the instant case
is amply supported by evidence, and ac-
cordingly the general grounds of the motion
for new trial are without merit. Richard-
son v. State, 207 Ga. 373, 61 S.E.2d 489.
But, in addition to proof of the corpus
delicti and the defendant’s voluntary con-
fession of guilt in this case, the State
proved numerous other facts and circum-

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48 Ga. 84 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

stances tending to identify the accused as
the person who shot and killed the deceased.

4. The judgment complained of is there-
fore not erroneous for any reason assigned.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur,

° KEY NUMBER SYSTEM

aams

211 Ga. 43
Elic Garland DANIEL

v.
Samuel J. BOYKIN, Judge.
No. 18778.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Sept. 24, 1954.

Original proceeding on petition for
mandamus to compel judge of Superior
Court to certify purported bill of exceptions.
The Supreme Court, Hawkins, J., held that
bill of exceptions was fatally defective in
failing properly to specify the decision,
judgment, or ruling complained of, or the
error alleged to exist therein, and in failing
to include a proper brief of evidence, or
proper transcript of record with immaterial
parts stricken, and mandamus would not
lie to compel trial court judge to certify
it.

Mandamus nisi denied.

1. Appeal and Error €>724(1)

Every bill of exceptions, to be valid,
must plainly specify the decision, judgment,
or ruling complained of, and must clearly
specify the error alleged to exist therein,
and unless these requirements are met,
reviewing court cannot consider general
assignments of error. Code, §§ 6-901,
6~1307.

2. Mandamus C172

Supreme Court will not examine merits
of assignment in passing upon an applica-

tion for mandamus to compel trial judge
to certify a bill of exceptions presented in
proper form in a civil proceeding, but the
rule is different in a criminal case where
conviction has been affirmed and a second
bill of exceptions is tendered.

3. Mandamus ©=57(1)

Mandamus will not lie to compel trial
court judge to certify bill of exceptions
which is so defective for want of a proper
assignment of error, or a proper brief of
evidence as to require dismissal in case it
should be certified.

4. Exceptions, Bill of C=6, 12, 16
Mandamus @=57(1)

Bill of exceptions was fatally defective
in failing to specify properly the decision,
judgment, or ruling complained of, or the
error alleged to exist therein, and in failing
to include a proper bricf of evidence, or
proper transcript of record with immaterial
parts stricken, and mandamus would not
lie to compel trial court’ judge to certify
it. ‘

. So ae
Bruce Edwards, Joe Edwards, W. George
Thomas, Atlanta, C. C. Perkins, Carrollton,
for petitioner. .

Syllabus Opinion by the Court.

HAWKINS, Justice.

Attached to the application in this case
is what purports to be a bill of exceptions,
which the applicant is secking by mandamus
to compel the judge of the superior court
to certify. The bill of exceptions, after
reciting the filing of an application to par-
tition land, the appointment by the trial
court of named partitioners, the granting
of an order directing sale of the land, and
the advertisement thereof for sale, further
recites that the plaintiff in error filed his
answer and objections to the partitioning
proceeding, which, as amended, prayed that
the sale of the land by the partitioners be
enjoined, and that the land be not sold for
reasons therein stated; that, upon the hear-
ing of a rule nisi issued by the trial judge

DANIEL v. BOYKIN Ga. 49
Cite as 84 S..2d 48

upon the presentation of the amended an-
swer and objections on the part of the
plaintiff in error, and after evidence was
submitted by both sides, the court passed
an order that the prayers of the defendant’s
answer be denied and that the property be
sold as per advertisement. The bill of ex-
ecptions further recites “that the evidence,
both oral testimony and documentary evi-
dence, as set out in the brief of evidence
attached hereto as Exhibit A and by ref-
erence hereby made a part hereof, was
introduced at the trial by the defendant,
and that the said brief of evidence attached
as Exhibit A is a true and correct brief
thereof,” and the bill of exceptions then
recites that “The plaintiff in error specifies
the following portion of the record in said
case as material to a clear understanding
of the errors complained of in this bill of
exceptions, and assigns error on each and
every ruling therein contained.” There fol-
lows a specification of 14 different portions
of the record, including the purported brief
of evidence, which contains numerous ob-
jections to the admission of evidence and
the rulings of the court thereon, and vari-
ous other statements and rulings of the
court, colloquy between counsel, and be-
tween counsel and the court. Following
the specification of the material portions
of the record, the bill of exceptions recites:
“Now, within the time provided by law,
and within 30 days of the date of the rul-
ings complained of, comes the defendant,
Elic Garland Daniel, assigning error upon
each and every ruling complained of as be-
ing contrary to law,” and names the parties
plaintiff in error and defendants in error,
“and tenders this his bill of exceptions and
prays that the same be certificd as true,
as provided by law, and transmitted to the
Supreme Court of Georgia, that the errors
complained of may be considered and cor-
rected.” Held:

[1] 1. Under Code, §§ 6-901 and 6-1307
construed together, every bill of exceptions,
84 S.E.2d—4 ,

to be valid, must meet two indispensable re-
quirements: (1) it must plainly specify
the decision, judgment, or ruling complain-
ed of; and (2) it must clearly specify the
error alleged to exist therein, and without
a compliance with these requirements, this
court cannot consider such general assign-
ments of error as are contained in the
present bill of exceptions. Higgins v.
Cherokee Railroad, 73 Ga. 149; Fulton
County v. Philips, 208 Ga. 795, 69 S.E.2d
865.

[2,3] 2. While the merits of the assign-
ments of error will not be looked into by
this court in passing upon an application
for mandamus to compel the judge to certify
a bill of exceptions presented in proper
form in a civil proceeding [the rule being
different where the conviction in a criminal
case has been affirmed and a second bill
of exceptions is tendered complaining of
rulings on motions, habeas corpus, etc.,
McLendon v. Anderson, 207 Ga. 243, 60
S.E.2d 762], mandamus will not lie to com-
pel the judge of the trial court to certify
a bill of exceptions which is so defective
for want of a proper assignment of error
and a proper brief of evidence as to require
its dismissal in case it should be certified.
Sistrunk v. Pendleton, 129 Ga. 255, 58 S.E.
712; Heard v. Helms, 210 Ga. 669, 82 S.E.
2d 129,

[4] 3. The bill of exceptions in this
case being fatally defective in failing to
properly specify the decision, judgment, or
ruling complained of, or the error alleged
to exist therein, and because no. proper
brief of evidence, or proper transcript of
the record with immaterial parts thereof
stricken, adduced upon the trial, is attached
thereto, which would require its dismissal
if certified, the application for mandamus
is denied.

Mandamus nisi denied.

All the Justices concur.

SERINE Te fi Sa he, ge

VERSITY OF Al” >AmA

ane

Be nt

sa Mace

ee et ee

THE Ti\7 ES OF ATKINSON

Thursday, November 27, 1975: Page 9.

—

~ “ghouls

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sophie |

jonas?

|
lex

— go

HOeTA

od 48 pe

e{an

I=¢

*OT6

Jake DeVauss fled in 1901 after killing Charlie McKinnon, but nine years later was located in Louisiana. 7

Being brought back for trial, he was convicted and went to the gallows in 1910.

ig id

Ot-Ti

duey *

re an

Sentenced to hang onthe sar 6 gal- Ww
lows, O.d man Delks case Went to} Wt
the supreme court and he Was) given

elt ae 7 dowa, » 4
: Tom inale a short statement oa the
gallows saying that bad company and “Sheriff Gwyn, and I want to gel} a new trial. ‘Tom wag granted a res

_ Whisky was the cause of bis” downfall in, waa the rep'y,
. fhe ree :* pie ‘eres fap riety. << There was muttering on the inside
ERNIE LES can SEND Cet ARN 2. Tom was joined at the gallows by Rey. 2nd the shersff wag informed that
J. A. Wright, who, has. been. a death | ‘the first d—f man that tried fo ens

“Whois ?” came the Inquiry
from within, *

spite. That program has been kept
Up uotit the present,

ey
{ec

7 th
ti
K

The silver Repaviicans hela & \confer-

watch at tho jail for the past ten days ter wonld be killeg.” © ope hes ara ees Pay 2 sg
Mr. Wright led in ® short: prayer 10llow- The speaker this time was recog : ; r
-ed by Tom, 7 Plat &

Delk f Tavl The unmistakable €xoression vas ip

bu bee By E son Taylor | ¢, resi i

Deik said that he was ready and willing nized as Tom elk, 4 no ay : favor of Mr, Bryvu ag} residentiall canis |

Ses Seing | Delk, and who Was an escaped convict | dato in 1900. |

+ togo. While the blac cap waa being |
a adjused, bis arms and hans being tied,| for whom there wag a reward of $300, te

-he continued to talk, MHirming thas his} Sheriff Gwyn then made another( The Georgia school leache

» -8ins had been forgiyen. a demand tor entrance, and was told {soon hold

The death wap was eprung at 2:08 and that he could come

* ‘ike a bullet he shoi through seven feet of

space into eternity, we

will
their anoual conyentipn for
in alcne, but} the summer of i897. Warn § rims 2
that nobody could come with him. |has been Selected aa the place aud \

a Tho sheriff said he w; nted to carry} the
In 1 miaute bis pnise were 140; 1m 2, sie: on ne We nd Fry o_ convention, Wil,

: : op
eg | 149; in 8, 145; 1m 4, 160; in 5, 150 in a toe One mansonienne tind. “Therg are

ly yin —@peciam} 7 F

f es be
By wis ume thd pulse ha ceased to} five of us,” the sheriff replied,
iS beat ty orig ee Pie on “Well, you're not coming in,” re-| admit Rirls to the State Unive sity,
: nouncer e ead. Cc bo Y was cu lr . 1 . 7 . ; "
s down at 2:21 and turned over rp Under, | Plted a agen Which wag recognized | wouldn’t it be a good idea to make
' taker UWowell to prepare for burial, | 8 that et Tum Langford, perhaps} buys eligible to Scholarshib in| the
; The black cap waa removed and the| the most desperate gharacter of the} Girls Normal *nd Industrial College
gid 4 ; body was placed in‘a peat -coftim,. The! three, : “Furthermore, I'll give yourat Milledgeville? They are bolh
Sa Se “ae adi a sent to his‘aged* mother just two minutes to leave. I (bink|State justitutions, What is 8
ar i : in anta for burial, re 4 we ' ‘ s :
: Tom died from strangulation. an ti area gentleman and I hate to] for the g08e 18 sauce for the gan
{ : ; Tom Delk was one of the most nervy kill you, but if Cade Jones Is in, the / If the plan is to be Coseducation,
; is men that ever died on. Rallows, crowd I Want just one shot #t--the | the boyg derive some of the
: Alc —— y ene
West ete, - 2-2 [d—d rasea},”
*

At the Milledgeville school gur
est and pretty young men can aq
bow to sew and cook, and

: Daring ‘Yom’s hey in the Zesbuton : At 7“ juncture Frank Wells saul;
jail the past ten days he has been ‘Come away, Billie, ae aae o
vislted by the pastors and good. \a- different arrangements.” Bub Hale stockings, and do nay other thing

4 ‘lies of the town. . Quito a change Neus OF alti other help and the {that w
a et ee hens fiaein brought about in hie. cope sheriff turned to walk towards Wells, tuture, Gallant anu chivalr
dition and be has often led in pray. Ae Se ee valring away there was a women should ree to it that our by
er. He said that he belieyd thaz| T°PCrt of a Winchester riflo from | aro iven a fair showing,—Elbert
his sins had been forgiven and that within the house and Sheriff Gwyn Tribune, fe

dy and willing to go;" :_-| fell to the ground within a few feet] .

aes ewe ie y — . 650.8 ‘co [of the tront door steps. As he fell he

; >

wees ipo

111 be required of thom:-in

|
Since the moyement ison foot to

tw!

Na ae
+

Tatami: 3alberie sare

j
Oe EL ETO ; sire" age lagi 2 AS MRS,S. A, POPE DIES.
ae SS eG E SE Aoi ie ol neg ity oF + 8 exclatmed,. “Boys, they havo shot! | Mrs. 3. A. Pope, mother of Judge U.
a OS ° : Delk awoke this Morning at a very nief” : ° c As S. Pope and Mra, Dr. Head, died: at t!
~ early hour feelin ‘badly. He chatted 3 home of her daughter, Mrs, Sid Bryaq,
j eee y, Weesant} " pee filo * until From each end of the houga Jo in Covington last Friday, : |
ve . Very. pleasantly, . yoo and Wells began firing through the} Mrs, Pope's home wag in Zebulon with
BY 4 > > breakfast time when he asked... for s Windows. vv ‘ her eov Judgo J. §. Pope. Shey
aa ' toddy, which wag furnished by the The sheriff's posse being armed ons | *dout five weeks ago ona visit to bey
sherift.. Dal drank tho toddy with ly with pistols, some of them ran for| “Aushter in Covington, Soou after he
|pparont relish. - - | tee, }euns and additional help: Iq
He ate breakfast at about’6 o'clock meantime Messrs. Hale, Madaen and ceived, ;
, after-which he woes shaved, +He took Gllmore had arrived aud the sheriff] Mrs. Pope was in her 77th year, «
“ eri { : 4 bath and dressed in a new. suit of appealed to them to move him away | ¥8 a christian la
Tae inet ont oe i elothes ready to meet his friends... aud send fora doctor. Whereupon a met 5 “| gatas IR
He’anawered letters to. his: sweet-|(:, ee pu ains of Mrs, Popo were cara!
it hearts thér_and fath . tee Cade Jones and Hon, John F, Mads ried to Barnesville last Saturday anda,
ud » Mothér and fat Gr... PET, den Went to sheriff Gwyn to FeMOve | terred in the Greenwood cemetery, ~ |
a : 245 wt him, but as they did 50 another re- :
During his last days the condemed in How’s Thisl | asin
sn has been averse to the. Presence | the houe and Mr, Madden fell bes! We offer Oue Hundred Dollars Reward «ZSenq
of newspaper men. _He made an ex.

She
yand highly estoem |}

~ ~

Sap

we ee ind enn’
P 2

Hi
H
|
i

Kime
os

y
+

8ide the Prostrate form of the sheriff, for any easo of Catarrh what canuot be Peg geet
eeption 1a the case of the editor ofA 44 bullet bad P48sed through both mre by Hall's Ontareh Cure. , q ;
The Journal, however, and what we} his legs Above the kices, breaking "Wathe epdarasneee STOP ae : —
vrint 18 from a» close | observance of| the rigat Leg but missing the bone 1D | J. Cheney for the last fifteen yoars, and
the prisoner and his ™maoner of spend! the lett. Le this you, John?" ‘eaig| Peeve him perfoctly honorable. In ali
ing the last hours allotted him by :

Ft aA toe a,

a Bo tek

: businesa transactions and financially
t the sheriff as Mr. Matdden fell acrogs| able to car
\ the law? < - ~ no" Thims “Yes it 1g I,”

e Ty Oust auy obligation made by
: ; be replied wo spoon b
: i 2 . est and Truax, w Olesale Druggists
4, . . He received a letter from an Albany “Then may the Zood Lord have mer. Toledo, O. Walding, Kinnan & Marvin’
. ° Girl which wag simply signed, “Your} - f

: ” ‘ Wholesale Druggista Toledo, Ohio
. on ou nel” . 7 g1sta, s 0.
Wife,” and was addressed on the inside| 9 ' ag 7 : bask: the brave sher-

if is taken interval!y,
_* to “My dear Husband.” Whether Dek |i .— -

, ip 8 . “| Cous gurfaces of th tem, ri T5e;
was really married to hor 1s not known Dheriff Gwyn was Temoved on a per bottle, Sold vo all Diwegin Tes.
‘but such is hardly 2g Poce has a mattress to the home of C, W. Strick timouials free. : | | i
A-lanta girl, trom w nome MO NGS EeCei ve land and Hon. John F. Madden was eens
tender messages, Hig girl has also sup. ia h h There is nothing thet causes woman:
plied him with money, Her e is/ moved ta his own home, - Greater discomfort and misery than tna
Miss Rosser Edmund and she re loyal It is reasonably certain that while constantly recuring Headeche. | Men
and truo to her lover to the last.

Nothing .

d ; fe rith Headache. “My wife’
the wounded and dytng were being nett 88 with Headache Ty | Wife's

health was very. indifferent, having "OF
Ton seems to have had his love adairg removed the three fiends cacaped. eeueehe fee. > pt | two}; G.
tike other folks and he s-ems to have} - : A 9. ; ackages of Simmons Liver Regulator re- ||
efure ke died 12:30 R : |
been fortusiate jn selecting girls wiose at agleck [saved her from all Headache and

gavel! Kad it cd.
¢fectioa wonld! atind tho tai of ‘the te] Sherif Gwyn Raye this Comforting | tone and vigor to hor Wholo system), |

yeroat triats, ne meesage (o Frank Wells for big dear Delonge Mey Varod Ry oe —M; B ili png

ry
4
* 4 y

DELK, Thomas, white, hanged at Zebulon, Georgia, on June 18, 1897,

™

sti iin oasinsit

ne, SOFT. Weaae™

: friends, aud re were allowed to

goodbye. They wept a3 though their

he was ready and willing to go:!

| Pike Go. Gournal.

JMvlat Papa 0 of all O:ficers of Pike County

gabseipton { “4 Year, $1.00; 6 Months, $ .50

Ratered at the postomicein Zebuloa as second
classmail matter

SIDNEY R. GREEN,

Editor. ©

Zenuton, Ga, Junp 18,1897.
flE PAYS THE’ DEBT.

‘fom Delk Dies on the Gallows and the
Law Is Satisfled.

The drop tell at: 2:08
and Tom Delk was pro-
nounced dead at 2:19,

Today. uvon tbe scaffuld which has
beno erected ip a meadow about 400] —
yards north ot the jail, Tom Delk
paid the penalty of death for the kils
ling of Sheriff Gwyn onthe 2ud day
of April 1896.

= “nS .oge crowd of curiosity-seers
have been around the j%l since 8
o'clock :this morning to. catch a
glimpse of the noted young, outlaw. °
- The sheriff placed guards around
the juil’at an early hour this morros

ing and only a few of Detk’s intimate

see him.
At-12: 00—Tom's s sisters bade him

hencts were breaking. It.was a
touching scence and strong men
broke down and cried liko children.
‘Tor left the jail at 1:55 an] was placed
fue carfisgo and driven the = gul-
dows. +5 2" °
Tom male a short statement of the
gallows ssying that bad company and
‘whisky was the cauze of his downfall
-and asked all young people to let Whisky

‘Tom was joined at the gallows by -Rev.
J. A. Wright, who, has. been. a death
watch at the jail for the past ten days.
Mr. Wright led in a sae prayer eteaiaid
-ed by Tom.

Deik said that wh was ready and willing
togo. While the black cap waa being
adjusied, his arms and hands being tied.
-he continued to talk, affirming that his
:sins had been forgiyen. =~

In 1 minute his pulse were , 140; mm 2,

i £ 4, 160; in 5, 150 in Aree
13, Sie ett pulse Ser cvased to

beat and Doctors Head and Hogg prox
nounced Delk dead. The body was cut
down at 2:24 and turned over to. Unders
taker Howell to. prepare for burial.
The black cap was removed and the
body was p!aced in‘a neat - coffin. The
remains will be sent to his‘azed, mother
iu Atlanta for burial. fet tt
Tom died from strangulation. vat
Tom Delk was one of the most nervy
men that ever died on a” Fallows. |
RMR re
. Daring 'Yom’s stay in the Zebulon
jail the past ten days he has been
vislted by the pastors and good Ia-
dies of the town. . Quite’ a- change
has heen brought about in hie- con-
dition and be has often led in pray-
er. He said that he believyd that
his sins had” bee forgiven and thiat
we he xy ,
wears

Delk awoke this mor ning ah avery

a a ae

vars 71M

Do people buy Hood’s iia in
preference to any other,—in fact almost
to the exclusion of all others?

ACAUSe

They know from actual use that Hood’s
isthe best, i. e., it cures when others fail.
Hood’s Sarsaparilla ia etitl made under
the personal supervision of tho educated
pbarmacists who originated it.

The question of best is just as positively
decided in favor of Hood’s as the question
of comparative sales.

Another thing: Every advertisemont
of Hood’s Sarsaparilla is true, is honest.

roo:

Sarsaparilla

Is the One True Biood Purifier. Alldruggists. $1.
Prepared only by C. I. Mood & Co., Lowell, Mass.

Hood’s Pills

The original story of the killing
of Sheriff Gwyn which Tom Detk
died on the gatlows tor today is
about a3 fotlows:

On Thursday night with his jailor,
Frank Wells, Jim Moore. Bob Hale,
and Cade Jones, Mr. Gwyn went to
Concord to arrest Taylor Delk, a
notorious highwayman, on a warrant
charging him with robbery. They
proceeded to Delk’s house which is

are the only pills to ‘take
with Hood's Sarsaparilla.

‘|1ocated on one of the back streets,

On arrival a few minutes after seven
o'clock the sheriff stationed bis four
men around the house; and then as
was his custom on such occasi ns,

went to the front door and denlanced
an entrance.

“Who is WW?” came the: ie sic d
trom within.

“Sheriff Gwya, and I want to get
in, was the rep'y.

‘There was muttering on the inside
and the sher.ff was informed that
“the first d—d man that tried fo ens
ter wonld be killed.” ©

The speaker this time was recog

nized as Tom Delk, a son of Taylor
Delk, and who was an escaped convict
tor whom there was areward of $300,
Sheriff Gwyn theu made another
demand tor entrance, and was told
that he could come im alcne, but
that nobody could come with him.

“Fr

The sheriff said he wanted to carry
ono man.jonien dé hed. “There are
five of us,” the sheriff replied,

“Well, you're not coming in,”’ re-
plied a voice which was recognized
asthatet Tom Langford, perhaps
the most desperate gharacter of the
three. | “Furthermore, I'l give you
just two minutes to leave. I (bink
you area gentleman and I hate to
kill you, but if Cade Jones is in . the
crowd I want just one shot gt -the
d—d| rascal,”

_ At this juncture Frank Wells said:
“Come away, Billie, we must ma‘se
different arrangements.” Bob Hale
went off aftor other help and the
sheriff turned to walk towards Wells;
As he was walking away there was a
repert of a Winchester rifle from
within the house and Sheriff Gwyn

A fell to the ground within a few feet

of the front door steps. As he fell he
exclamned, “Boys, they have shot
mel”

early have fealing hadley: Woe ehattort

we ¢ . . ms €

boost, my|

“Pragk, teli desc
lite in the discharge of niy

iwife
muy
Heavy rewards were off ces tor the
appreh nsiou of the Deiks and De-
tectiyes Looney, Mehaticy and Hew-
ilt were pal tou woak on the case. |
On the Yih of May Detective
Looney set a trap forthe Delks | Ils
engaged the services of Joho Leings
ford, an uncle of Tom = Langford.
He knew Langford was in commitni-
cation with the gang and had
confidence. Tom Langford had sep-
arated from the two Delks and {hey
were anxtous to gat with him again.
The Delks were told by Jonn
Langford that Tom was at his bome
and that he wanted to get with them
again. Joho Langford fixe: | the
time and place fur the meeting. | He
selected a saw mill place in a bod; of
woods of about six acres. ‘here
were seyeral piles of lumber around
the mill and behind one of these the
detectives concealed them-el ves.
They bad been there only a
minutes when Jubn Langford
the Delks appeared on the scene.
gust as the lumber piie was regchs
ed old man Delk was grabbed! by
John Langford and he was hand enft-
ed and tied. ‘Tom fired six shotsiand
escared unhurt, ,
Tom Delk was captured on | the
20:h of June 1896 by J. HW. MecWil-
liams, a farmer of Coweta county,
atter a fight lasting several minutes.
Both parties lost nearly all their
clothing in the struggle.
The trial ot thé Delks camo up a
week after the capture of ‘I'm,
They were both found guilty pnd
sentenced to hang onthe same $ al-
lows, O.d man Delks case went} to
the supreme court and he was given
wu new trial, ‘Tom was granted « res
spite. That program has been Kept
up unt the present.

their

tew
and

The silver Republicans held a coijfer-
c.rce, this week, at Chicazo, which twas
largely attended from all the states.
The unmistakable exoression was] iu
favor of Mr, Bryvy as presidextial chnis
date in 1900. H

——>-4 <4

The Georgia school teachers Wil!
soon hold their anoual cony evtion|for
the summer of 1897. Warm Sprinys
has been selected a3 the place hud
the ConYeNntOn Wh fy in —accdian|

Since the. moyement ison foot
admit girls to the State Univers
wouldn’t it be a good idea tom:
boys eligible to sebolarshib in
Girls Normal snd Indusirial Co!!
at Milledgeville? They are b
State institutions, What is ga
for the goose is sauce for the gander,
If the plan is tu be coseducation,
the boys derive some of the benetife,
At the Milledgeville school our. dds

to
ty,
ke
he
ge
lh

est and pretty young men can lesrn
how to sew and cook, and darn
stockings, and do .nany other thir gs
that wall be required of them in the
future. Gallant anu chivatrous
wonien should see to it that our bos
are given a fair showing, —Elbert$n
Tribune, |

MKS,S. A. POPE DIKES. It
Mrs. 8. A. Pope, mother of Judje J.
S. Pope and Mrs, Dr, Head, died at tile

home of her danebter. Mre. Shit Rresh

| | thos

or ( Se sil - ls ga

DELK, Thomas, white, hanged at Zebulon, Georgia, on June 18, 1897,

"In the presence of a small gathering, composed only of relatives and intimate friends of
the family, Taylor Delk, the famous outlaw who died suddenly Thursday at the state prison
farm while the prison commission was considering a petition for his pardon, was laid

to rest at 1 o-clock Monday afternoon in Hollywood cemetery. Accompanied by one of

his sons, who resides on Sunset Avenue, the remains arrived in Atlanta from Milledgeville
at 2 o'clock Sunday night. It was the desire of the family that no public announce-=

ment of the burial be made, but the most intimate acquaintances were aware of the

arrival of the body, Brief and simple ceremonies marked the services at the grave

which was dug beside the resting place of Tom Delk, the son who was hanged for

complicity in the same crime for which the father was sentenced to life imprisonment,
There are scores of curious people who are always persistent in the desire to re-

view the remains of noted criminals and it was for the purpose of preventing any
inconvenience along that line that the relatives of Delk did not publicly

announce his funeral, When he died Taylor Delk was serving out a life sentence for

the murder of Sheriff W. O. Gwyn, of Pike county, The details of the crime and the
subsequent arraignment of Delk and his son are still clear in the memories of many.

It seems that a number of cattle had been stolen in Pike county and suspicion was
directed toward the Delks, The sheriff went to arrest the men & father and son
barricaded themselves in their home and when the officer of the law attempted to

force an entrance they opened fire, The desperate battle, in which the sheriff was
killed, lasted for over an hour, but finally resulted in the arrest of the fugitives

The feeling of the people in the community was greatly aroused, as the result of

the murder of Gwyn, and the prisoners were brought to Atlanta for safekeeping. After

a sensational trial Toh Delk was sentenced to be hanged and he paid the penalty

upon the gallows, When first arraigned *he father was found guilty and sentenced to

die. However, after his case was appealed three times he was ultimately sentenced to life
imprisonment, He proved a model prisoner and a petition for his pardon was being considered
when he dropped dead from heart failure, He was 62 years of age and was a Confederate ver-=
terane"

JOURNAL, Atlanta, Georgia, 11-21-190) (3/h.)

ren’t promising. None of the children
had taken down the license plate number
of the car, and there were discrepancies
relating to the make and color of the
auto. One girl said the car was a dark
blue compact, but she wasn’t sure of the
make. Another child said it was a black
Ford Pinto.

After questioning the relatives and
youths in the Stoner home, detectives
began a canvass of the immediate area.
Here they were able to come up with
several witnesses who pointed out that
the car was either very dark blue or
black, and that it definitely was a Ford
Pinto. Yet, again, no one had been able
to make out the license plate number of
the vehicle. As one witness claimed,
‘*The damn thing happened so fast, I’m
lucky Iremember the kind of car it was.”’

As for the man driving the car, wit-
nesses concurred that he was a white
male with a brown beard. As to what
exactly happened, some witnesses said
the man yanked Mary in the car ‘by her
hair, while others explained they just
saw the girl enter the car without any
kind of struggle or screaming.

Although these leads were promising,
Adairsville authorities decided they
needed help conducting an all out search
for Mary Stoner. They contacted other
police departments in neighboring
counties as well as the FBI. These de-
partments then launched an extensive
ground and air search. Fixed wing planes
cruised through the air, covering the bar-
ren fields and plains. Police choppers
covered highways, and roadblocks were
set up at the county lines.

The news media were also contacted,
and reports of sightings of Ford Pintos
began flooding the area police -de-
partments. :

One such call came into the Floyd
County Sheriff's Office. But this call
wasn’t about a possible sighting. Several
deer hunters had been walking through a
wooded area when they noticed, hidden
by some underbrush, the fully clothed
body of what appeared to be a young girl.
After obtaining directions to the scene,
officers were soon on hand and were
directed to the area where the body lay.

One patrolman backed off at the sight
of the horrible facial mutilation. The
other officer performed a routine ex-
amination to determine if the victim was
still alive. He placed a finger alongside
her neck on the jugular vein, left it there a
few moments, and then returned to his
partner.

‘‘No need to get an ambulance,’” he
murmured. ‘‘I’ll get homicide and the
coroner.’’ He went to his radio car, re-

ported his findings, and within a matter
of minutes, several investigators were on
the scene with a lab crew and coroner
W.G. Bedford as well as Medical Ex-
aminer Harvey Howell. Bedford, mak-
ing sure not to contaminate the scene,
conducted a cursory examination of the
victim, and after determining she was
dead, left the scene to the crime lab crew.

Lab expert Bob Clemmonson con-
ducted the search, making sure sketches
and photographs of the scene were taken
before any items were removed.

As to the physical evidence at the
scene, Clemmonson discovered several
huge rocks with stains that appeared to
be blood. He marked them into evi-
dence, and they were removed from the
scene,

Also, approximately 50 feet from the
victim, several deep impressions in the
earth indicated the rocks had earlier been
there but had been removed. Clemmon-
son ordered plaster molds made of these
indentations.

Other items held into evidence were
some pine needles which apparently had
been sprayed with blood when the victim
had been killed.

After the scene was thoroughly sear-
ched, the coroner returned to the body
and gave it a more thorough check. After
several minutes, he walked over to the
investigators and gave them his initial
findings.

It appeared that the girl might have

been choked to death, he said. There
was, however, one problem with this
determination, and that was the enor-
mous amount of blood found beside the
body, indicating the heart might still
have been pumping when she was
bludgeoned. From what the pathologist
could make out, someone had smashed
the girl’s face to a pulp with a blunt
instrument, possibly one of the rocks
found in the area.

Apparently, from the extensive facial
damage, the killer had used tremendous
force in the attack. Proof of this was that
the child’s head was so deeply embedded
into the earth that it was completely flush
with it.

‘*Any indications of rape?’’ one pro-
ber asked.

‘*T’ll have to check that out at the mor-
gue,’’ the coroner said.

In the meantime, attendants had
placed the corpse in a body bag and car-
ried it to the morgue wagon. Drs. Bed-
ford and Howell soon left the scene
while investigators began questioning
the deer hunters who found the body.
According to the men, they were on their
way to do some hunting when they
noticed the girl lying there. They didn’t
see her face at first, and then, when they
saw, they just couldn’t believe it. They
immediately called police.

‘Did you touch anything while you
were here looking at the body?”’ a prober
asked them.

Photo by Ray Sullivan
Deer hunters tramping through this field came upon Mary Stoner, lying here in a
clump. The bloody rocks near her head testified to the savage beating administered.

Aerial photc

They replied
exactly where
were certain tt
thing.

After some |
investigators le!
be on hand if ¢!
more questions

Several dete.
scene with the la
returned to hea

The news
appearance was
County, and sin:
ing person in the
to check with h
ents at headquar
that they had fi:
young girl. The:
if they could r:
clothing their c!
she was abduc'
been wearing 2

been fatal,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s hard to say
which one it was.”’

Of the two blows to the head, one
was delivered with such force that it had
driven the girl’s head into the ground.

Dr. Howell went on to say that the
vaginal area showed tearing in two
places.

The following day, the jury heard an
edited version of the taped statement De-
vier made to police on December 7,
1979. When he was asked by Agent Le-
ary how he had intended to get away with
the sexual assault on Mary Stoner, De-
vier replied that he didn’t think she.
would recognize him and that he never
planned to kill her. :

Taking the stand in his own defense,
the 26-year-old father of two insisted
that he had made the taped statements
only because of threats from the police.

‘‘Everything (on the tapes) they told
me to do,’’ he said.

Devier maintained that investigators
either wrote down the answers to the
questions they had for him, or simply
told him what to say on the tape. He
insisted that he had made the admissions
out of fear that he would be returned to
Bartow County, where he believed his
life was in jeopardy.

It was his interrogator, he claimed,
who told him what clothes Mary Stoner
was wearing when she disappeared and,
what to say about the roads he took into
the woodland of Floyd County and how
he ordered the child to get into the back
seat of his car and to take off her clothes.

‘‘Did he tell you to say you pushed her
and she hit her head on something, a
rock?’’ asked Bartow County District
Attorney Darrell Wilson.

‘*Yes,’’ the defendant insisted.

“*Did he tell you to say when you saw
blood you kneeled down and choked
her?”’ .

‘‘That was on the strip of paper,’’ De-
vier answered.

In his closing remark to the jury, Dis-
trict Attorney Salmon called Devier ‘‘a
barracuda...a mighty slippery eel...a
liar...”” wHose testimony it would be
‘‘totally ridiculous’’ to believe. |

At one point in his summation, as he
spoke of Mary Stoner, Salmon paused to
wipe tears from his eyes. At another, he
knelt on the courtroom floor to choke an

imaginary victim and then picked up one '

of the large rocks introduced as evidence
and slammed it down.

‘*I wonder how much force he had to
put on that rock,’’ Salmon said.

Not satisified with murdering Mary
Stoner, Salmon said, Devier assassinated
her character as well as by claiming that

60 Master Detective

the little girl wanted him.

It was 4:15 Wednesday afternoon
when the case went to the jury, 5:25 when
the panelists announced that they had
found Darrell Devier guilty of rape and
murder. .

During the penalty phase of the trial,
which got underway on Thursday, March
4th, the jury heard from a teenager who
said she was just 13 years old when De-
vier raped her after driving her to a dirt
lane off Chulio Road. The witness ex-
plained that she had been friends with
Devier and that ‘‘I didn’t believe Darrell
would do that to me.”’ ,

Testifying in Devier’s behalf was a

relative who described the defendant as .

‘a loving child’’ who ‘‘never had a
chance in life.’’

Shortly after noon on Friday, after 2
hours and 15 minutes of deliberation, the
jury decided that Darrell Gene Devier
should forfeit his life in payment for his
crimes. Judge Royal ordered him to die
on July 2nd, in Georgia’s seldom-used
electric chair.

Under state law, however, the convic-
tion was automatically reviewed and.the
sentence automatically stayed, and De-
vier awaits a still undetermined fate in a
Georgia penitentiary. “kkk

Used Chef's Knife
On Flo’s Flesh!

(Continued from page 16)

the service counter which separated the
kitchen area from the living room.
Four cushioned chairs, spaced at
equal intervals, sat around a round table
in the living room, on which were lying
several apparently irrelevant items, in-

cluding a grocery list and a bank state-*

ment.

The detectives continued into the
bathroom and a spare bedroom, which
contained several unopened cardboard
cartons, then to the master bedroom. Up
to that point they had seen no sign of a
struggle anywhere. The only knife visi-
ble in the kitchen was a butter spatula.

Not until the investigators entered the
master bedroom did they find any signs
of violence. Inside, at the foot of the bed,
they found a salmon-colored blanket
stained with what appeared to be blood.
Toward the headboard, another, off-
white blanket was thoroughly soaked
with blood. :

Detectives Reed and Daly noticed that
the majority of the blood was gathered
near the headboard with a trail leading to
the floor where Mrs. Loveland’s body
was lying. There were splotches of blood
on the floor.

Spatters of blood, which Reed saw
were consistent with what is known as
‘‘cast off’’ from a knife or similar
weapon, were found on the headboard.
Little comet trails on the droplets pointed
in a westerly direction, indicating that
the weapon had been traveling toward
the east when the blood-was thrown from
It. :

There was a blood smear, about three

inches in diameter, on one wall. The
blood on the bed appeared to be drawn,
in decreasing degrees, in a trail which
led to the place where Mrs. Loveland
was lying.

On one side of the room, Detective
Reed noticed a chest of drawers that had
been tampered with. A small chest con-
taining jewelry on top of it had been
opened and the.lid was not replaced. A
photograph of a man in military uniform
was lying on the floor beside the chest,
apparently having been knocked from
the top of the bureau. One of the drawers
was still partly open.

’ The detectives turned their attention to
the body of the victim. She was lying on
her back, her eyes and mouth open. Her
legs were still in the walk-in closet and
her body stretched out in the direction of
the blood. She was completely nude.

The woman’s right arm was on the
floor, parallel with her body and the left
hand lying, palm down, on her breast.
Blood covered a large portion of her
body, although Detective Reed noticed
that it was not heavily caked and seemed
to have been wiped in place by a cloth or
a hand.

Florence Loveland had been stabbed
neatly. One wound was about two inches
above the navel, long, deep and nasty.
There were two wounds in the left breast,
one of them partially concealed by the
dead woman’s hand.

The probers found a pair of pantyhose,
completely blood-soaked, by the
woman’s left shoulder.

While Detectives Reed and Daly were
examining the bedroom, Crime-Scene

Investigator Frank Davidson arrived, im-

mediately photographed the entire area,
then began searching for latent finger-
prints.

‘The detectives were joined in the bed-
room by Sacramento County Pathologist

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was the enor-
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_ by Ray Sullivan
lying here in a
g administered.

Aerial photo shows murder scene, where crime photographers andlawmen.

They replied that they weren’t sure
exactly where they stepped, but they
were certain they hadn’t handled any-
thing.

After some further questioning, the
investigators let them go, asking them to
be on hand if they needed to ask some
more questions in the future.

Several detectives remained on the
scene with the lab personnel while others
returned to headquarters.

The news of Mary Stoner’s dis-
appearance was well known in Bartow
County, and since she was the only miss-
ing person in the area, detectives decided
to check with her parents. With the par-
ents at headquarters, detectives revealed
that they had found the dead body of a
young girl. Then they asked the parents
if they could remember what items of
clothing their child was wearing the day
she was abducted. Their daughter had
been wearing a yellow jacket and blue

jeans with a pair of tennis shoes, they
told the detectives. These were the exact
items of clothing the victim was. wearing
when they found her. It appeared certain
now that the body was that of Mary Ston-
er. Detectives then brought the parents to
the morgue for identification, warning
them that they would be in for an extreme
shock at the sight.

After viewing the body, her parents
tearfully identified it as that of their
daughter.

In a small, peaceful community such
as this, news of Mary’s brutal murder hit
deeply. Upon learning of the tragedy one
of Mary’s young schoolmates remarked,
“‘’m standing here talking about it, but I
still can’t believe she’s dead.’’

“‘T can’t think of anything more trag-

ic,’’ said her school principal. ‘‘ You can:

be sure it strikes fear and concern in the
minds of everyone.”’
This fear was amply voiced by one of

Photo by Ray Sullivan
are gathered around the body of Mary Stoner.

the many mothers in the community: ‘*!
watch my youngster pretty close now,”’
she said, ‘‘and when she’s late coming
home, I’m out looking for her. It just
goes to show that because you’re in a
small town, it doesn’t mean safety.”’

Another friend of the family remarked
with sadness the passing of Mary Stoner:
“She was just a real young lady,’’ he
recalled. ‘‘When you talked to her you
got the impression you weren’t talking to
a 12-year-old. She was very intelligent,
personable, a very outgoing person. She
was just abundant with life.’’

And finally, Mary’s mother uttered
the perenial statement all victims or the
families of victims are left with after a
tragedy of this magnitude: ‘‘I can’t be-
lieve it’s happened. It’s something that
happens everywhere else but not here.”’

Area police departments, however,
were not sitting still. The case was given

_ priority attention. Permanently assigned

A rock was the weapon when

APULP!

BARTOW COUNTY, GEORGIA
MARCH 5, 1982

The school bus slowed to a stop a few
hundred feet from the Stoner residence in
Bartow County, Georgia and some of
Mary’s friends called to her as she alight-
ed from the bus. ‘“‘Hey, Mary,”’ one girl
screamed. ‘‘Don’t forget about practice
tomorrow.”’

“Do I ever?’’ Mary Stoner replied
with a smile. Mary Frances Stoner, a
pretty 12-year-old vivacious young girl,
was captain of the four-band majorettes
in Adairsville High School and she did-
n’t get to that position by slouching.
‘*She was a very hard worker,’’ her mus-
ic instructor would recall.

Mary didn’t know it at the time, but as
she walked away from her school bus
heading home, she was being watched.

The black Ford Pinto remained silent
as she crossed the street, and as Mary

When Mary Stoner got off her school
bus and began walking to her home, she
had no idea she was being watched.

eT
She was a pretty and vivacious
young girl who was always willing
to help someone out. So when a man
stopped his car to ask for
directions, Mary never suspected
anything was wrong...until her
hair was pulled...and by then it

was too late..

DEVIER, Darrell Gene, white, elec. GA® (Bartow) May 17, 1995.

~ MARY'SRAPIST
~ SMASHED HER FACE

neared her home, the engine came to life.
The car came up, easy like, into the Ston-
er driveway, and the bearded man inside
shot her a smile. Some of Mary’s friends
across the street noticed the car coming
into the driveway, and they stopped and
watched with curiosity.

‘“*Excuse me, Miss, hey look, I got a
problem,’’ he said, holding a road map
in his hands. ‘‘I’m trying to get to Floyd
County, and I don’t know where the hell
I am right now. You think maybe you
could help me?’’

Mary began giving him adequate di-
rections, but the man didn’t seem to un-
derstand. He asked her if she could show
him on the map, and he opened the door
for her. Mary then bent down and began
pointing at various landmarks when,
with a sudden vicious movement, the
man yanked on her hair and pulled Mary
inside the car. He then shifted his car in
reverse, backed out of the driveway, and
then, while still holding the poor girl’s
hair, he put the car in drive, slammed on
the gas pedal and was out of sight.

‘‘Oh, my God!’’ one of Mary’s
friends exclaimed. ‘‘Somebody’s kid-
napped Mary. Did you: see?”’

Several of the children immediately
ran to the Stoner house and reported the
shocking events to Mary’s parents.

Police were contacted and soon, two
officers from the Adairsville Police De-
partment were on the scene questioning
relatives and friends about the incident.

A missing persons report was filed,
and because of the nature of the dis-
appearance, detectives began an im-
mediate investigation.

At the Stoner house, probers asked

- several of the children who witnessed the

abduction about the color and make of
the auto as well as its license plate num-
ber, but the answers they received we-

magine
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require

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DaVis, Raider, bl, elec. GA (Fulton County), 6/14/1933

—— 9

CERTIFICATE OF DEATH (
GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH eit:

-? 4 ho Bureau of Vital Statistics
BRS 2 1, PLACE OF DEATH ;
eee , | . wane
. tom) s Es) County Baldwin Militta District (Number and Name) f ‘ State of Georsia’
ve awn ake
ie a f 3 g City or Town... Milledge vi l ] Q_u.Length of residence in this city cr town: Vrs... MOGs Ds..2.NON- RESIDENT (Yes or No) — i
As 40 _State Prison Farm a,
® C Ward
j At = 3 Street and Number (No.) cSerert) eenese Geath occurred In a hospital, give ite. nama tnatead of street and number).
Mies : :
BO“ ..2 |, putz wawe...reider Davis Alias Raider Wiliiama
03%. <° : F ‘ Ae
Be Ss i Residenae tChiy 4r Town) State ' Farm : (Street and Number) (State) 3
vd oi = =!
t ee 8 } PERSONAL AND STATISTICAL PARTICULARS ; MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH ‘
wc } : : : \ ie
/ te ee | 5 : a Eo 5. Single, M Wid d, / ie,
a Sari FH idee 8 Pothar heal einen Divorced (write the word) || 16 DATE oF June 14th 3%. 10
Zire Bl we DEAT Mosne 9 AG he OD 19.8080, athlon he. Mi,
) re a ee Male Negro vs (Month, Day, Year) (Hour) aa -
a = im 4 it, = . . aS : ; ‘ 2 _ 17, I HEREBY CERTIFY, That I. attended the deceased from all
432 ; ? BIT re Aa ‘Nt
1o°"* 6 6. DATE OF BIRTH (mont day, year) 23
i, eae § = s Years aves Days If lesa than one day J Une.. ALth) 19.33 te. ~Jgune—L4th 19.
SN ag cee . AGE eo ‘
Does s y : th f Hours Minutes I last saw Inne wwe alive on ORE. TUDE. L4EED19.33 death
Boy ne av > | (a) Trade, profession or particular is ane hed ber a ag Pgeath and Le 90 a stated i ape a r
a wy 3 : q he principal cause of death and related causes of importance in
| Pe O}.: kind of work done, as. spinner, Prisoner win a panobi 4 and duration of each oo
- cc ° ¥ ; be foe BAW ET bookkeeper, - etc “9
BG sae z (b) Sediuatey or business = oe S + TE reat auncesnesesnees Legal... Eleotrooution “3
r t work was done, as cotton m . a }
: 38 | ; e : rawmill, bank, etc... : tate Farm : p eens 4
moO c= if’ Date deceased last worked at - (a) Total years a :
wie - 2 : i bad his, pen ih (month and spent.in this — /. Ao fo.
wee °° Hi (hed year) . occupation srsosenees sees Other contributofy causes’ of tmportince:
Mats, iis. BIRTHPLACE © a A
. | a coe =... Georgia. va acon WA a7; a;
Moues t es
» 3 Sa ‘ ‘ . \,
Rm 2 | 10 NAMB na - 2 What ey eotrmed | tations. ¥. oie
& 3 = 11, BIRTHPLACE Fink: 7 (Horclty whether autupay, operation, laboratory, of eltiitca
Bat o ae x : (P. 0. Aabjeis’ ; an If de rf was due to exteshal causes (violé ce) “Att in also the following: :
fo % rs Ot ; rarer es ; Was injury an accident,/sulcide, or homicide? Bs
2 toa P . : favre Wer, Z, ra]
g s vs: ‘ 12, MAIDEN NAME : z3 Where did -injury océu é
| % = oe | 13. BIRTHPLACE pee eae hp ‘ (Kpecify city or Juwn, if outside of limits, the county, and aleo the state)
s Fix by 3 (P, O. Address).---: . . oan : } Did injury oceur Jn a home, public reese Industry?
e 8 2,2 f-14, INFORMANT Manner of injury
SERBS] cstanea) ae otstnho
3 a : ature of. injus f
£2 2p caters) Warden. S} te Prison Farm. . at
tate! 8M. : (Sigssed ) 20. ete her le ns
oy 8 19. BURIAL PLACE o
i 2
iE Ps (Cemetery) State Faxm am, -MiLLedgevdi ie, Georgtas a -
at =.§ 4
oe S ¥ (Postoffice)... SLAVE No. 106... Date 3: ‘
1S, FILED... aad é
20. UNDERTAKER. N ; 4 ‘ ° §
(Signed) — one pe oe
oe eg vit (Signed)
(Address)... : 3 :

‘THIS IS. TO CERTIFY. THAT THE ABOVE IS A TRUE REPRODUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL
RECORD ON FILE WITH VITAL RECORDS SERVICE, GEORGIA. DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN
RESOURCES. THIS CERTIFIED COPY IS ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF CHAPTER

31-10, VITAL RECORDS, CODE OF GEORGIA.

DATE OCT 15 1999 . STATE REGISTRAR & CUSTODIAN
. DIRECTOR, VITAL RECORDS SERVICE

(VOID WITHOUT IMPRESSED SEAL OR IF ALTERED OR COPIED)

DAVIS, Raider, black, electrocuted Georgia State Prison (fulton Co,) on June Lh, 1933,

"Jonesboro, Gasy Dece 20, 1933—A negro today pleaded guilty to murdering a white woman
whose husband, convicted on circumstantial evidence, served ) years for a crime the law now
says he did not commit, Robert Coleman went to his country home from work in Atlanta on
March 1, 1929, and found his 19-year-old wife beaten to death with a pokers their 9-month-
old baby, without food all day, was crying in its crib, Coleman called police, who said
the evidence showed he had killed his wife that morning and 'discovered' the body on his
return in the afternoon, A jury believed them and Coleman went to the chaingang for life,
Four years later, Raider Davis, a negro, was picked up on a murder charge. He talked about
several slayings and, officers said, told them Jim Stark, another negro, had confessed to
him that he killed Mrs, Coleman, Start was arrested and when police announced a confession
Governor Talmadge pardoned Coleman as soon as he heard about it." TIMES-PICAYUNE, New Or-
leans, La,, Dec. 21, 1933 (5=2).

COMMULATION OF GIBSON, CONVICTED OF S AME CRIME,
The Atlanta JOURNAL of 5-15-193), (12-8) states that Gibson, convictedof murder of Mam Mctee
a crime of which Davis was guilty, was commuted, Two other blacks to be executed on the
same day (5-15) were ordered by Gov, Talmadge to go first and that he thenbe given a re-
port on Gibson s reaction, ‘when the warden told him that Gibson still protested innocence,
Talmadge commuted, Just before Dav&s' execution, he had sworn that Gibson was innocent,
He had also confessed to murder of Mrs, Coleman at same time,

"Milledgeville, Ga., June 1h, 1933-Rader Davis, Atlanta negro, was electrocuted at the
State Prison farm Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. for the mrder of Mrs. Sam Henderson, Mrs. Hen-
derson was killed in her Atlanta home by an assailant who also stpuck her child and wounded
her husband." JOURNAL, Atlanta, Ga., 6-14-1933 (1/7.)

HERE were many anxious persons along the Dollar
Road, leading into Atlanta, the morning of January
27th, 1933, nS
Mostly clerks and wan-looking factory employees,
they knew the virtue of being at work on time, and
as the minutes ticked away they became more and more ap-
prehensive of the sarcasms of irate bosses afd impatient
customers, ; agit f
Therefore when the suburban bus, which customarily car-
ried commuters to the end of the Walker street-West. View
trolley line, failed to arrive those waiting were stirred to im-
patience and then to anger. To old-timers who could not

remember when such a thing had happened before, the _

"situation took on a. tense atmosphere of ev ;
‘For years and years the bus had run on a clock-like

eae Pugs!
| Dae 2 ct) ‘ f r
on Ae x 1 .
* ‘ Nik , er hae fF: 9g

in « D. by baat

ba
N ta 6(Left) Mrs. Sam Hen-
te derson sat up in bed
Bi with a scream. A bas
terious intruder g ly
‘ ordered her to be silent.
He thrust the gun close
bE and pulled the trigger.
m (Right) Pitying crowds
gather around the Hen-
derson home as the body
of the slain woman is

ae eee

schedule, picking up the same patrons at the same stops,

making its schedule with the precision of a machine, That—-¢ ‘

was a noteworthy quality of Hamp McGee, the elderly .
driver, sole owner and operator of the line, 0° Yeo

Folks set their clocks by the movements of McGee, He

was an institution! Pe a RES
He had been an old man and a local character when he
started the bus line. Dour of disposition and a bachelor,
shunning most human contacts, McGee lived alone in a
miserly fashion in a small cottage about midway on: his
route, No one knew what was within the walls of his cot-
Nee ae ae REM ada er LE

RS =e ARI

DAVIS, John ~ : |

"Columbus, Ga.e, Sept. , 191)-when John Davis, a forty-
year-old negro, was hanged in the Muscogge county jail
just before noon today for the murder of Oscar McGinty, a
well known white man and planter of the Upatoi district,
the first hanging bince the lynching of three negroes some
fifteen years ago occurred in Muscogee. In fact, today's
execution is about the third legal hanging in the history
of the county, and it naturally attracted widespread
attention, (Note: This statement is wrong - Watt Espy)

The Davis negro was hanged on the gallows erected for the
execution of James Jefferson, the young Columbus man char-
ged with killing a police officer who committed suicide

mestexeer on the night before he was to be hanged for the
HOURNAL, Atlanta, Georgia, September , 191) (2:2.)

DENSON, Philip, black, hgnaed at Bainbridge, Georgia, KEK January, 19, 1900,

"(Special Dispatch to The Journal.) Bainbridge, Ga.,y Jan. 19. = The negro Phillip Denson,
who was sentenced last November to hang for the murder of Will Lane, another negro, expia-
ted his crime today when the trap fell at 11:39 o clock, The crime was committed about the
15th of November last in a quarrel over 3 cents. Denson was drinking, and becoming angered,
went two miles home for his pistol, and returning shot down his opponent, killing him in
cold blood, Since his conviction, Denson has been very taciturn and seemed indifferent to
his fate. Just before the trap was sprung Sheriff Patterson asked him if he had anything _
to say. He answered? XM#XKX 'Nothing.' The black cap was adjusted, when Denson exclaimed: |
'Good=bye to all.! His neck was broken and death was instantaneous, He was hanged with

the same rope used at the execution of Charley Williams last Friday, they being sentenced
to hang at the same time, but the governor respited Denson one week, Sheriff Pattérson

says he was the coolest man he ever saw hanged out of the seven he has executed." JOURNAL,
Atlanta, Georgia, January 19, 1900 (3/2.)

"Governor Candler has refused to interfere in the case of Phillip Denson, colored, of
Brooks County, who is under sentence to hang for the crime of murder, The petition from
Mitchell County, where Denson was reared, was a strong one, but the pardon board and the
governor saw in the case nothing which would admit of their iterfering, The killing of
Will Lane, a negro of Brooks County, was accomplished in the spring of last year and for
the crime Phillip Denson was arrested and convicted. The evidenceshowed that the killing
took place in the public highway at night and that both men pulled pistols, but only the
one in Denson's hand was fired," JOURNAL, Atlanta, Georgia, January 18, 1900 (9/1.)

MEMO: 5) SE 666
DEVEREAUX, Sims (Mimms), black, hanged Milledgeville, Ga., on Nov, 16, 1906,

".,eThe petition (for commutation of sentence) is signed by many county officials
and six members of the jury that convicted the man, It is claimed that he is
unintelligent and does notrealize the position in which he is in, and it is
further claimed that the death sentence was not justified by the evidence in

the case, Deveraux shot and killed Rushin during a game of cards, and it is
claimed that the latter, a professional gambler, had enticed his slayer to his
rooms and had fleeced him of his money, It is also alleged that the killing
was done with Rushin's pistol, Deveraux having gone in the house unarmed.eecs
Messrs, C, T. Crawford and Jere M. Moore, who were appointed to defiend Dever-
eaux, have secured a largely signed petition, asking the state board of prison
commissioners to commute his sentence to life imprisonment in the penitentiary."
JOURNAL, Atlanta, Georgia, 9,.27.1906 (2:1.)

—

“BYTOMFRIERJR. >
Enterprise Editor

It has been 65 years this month since

Coffee County's last legal hanging ‘ook

place.

Jake Dev. a. 35-year-o'a black
convicted o. v0... Charlie McXinnon, a
white man, was hung November
10, 1910, in the old two-story jail

building that stood on the south side of
the present courthouse square.

The victim, a member of the large
pioneer Coffee County McKinnon family,
was killed on July 9, 1901. Charlie was a
son of Scott McKinnon and a nephew of
James (Jim) McKinnon.

ACCORDING TO THE news reports,
DeVauss (also spelled Devoss in some
accounts) was a tenant on the James
McKinnon farm in southwest Coffee
County.

DeVauss was plowing in the field when
he became enraged with a mule. Going to
his house, DeVauss returned with a
Winchester rifle and fired a shot, killing
an animal.

He then crossed over to where Jim
McKinnon was plowing and took a shot at
him. According to Oliver McKinnon,
85-year-old grandson of Jim, his
grandfather fell to the ground as a shot
whizzed overhead. Getting up from the
field, Jim ran and hid in a well.

A news account said that DeVauss

‘‘went on several hundred yards and met,

Charlie McKinnon, who was _ also
plowing, and shot him down without a
word, and going some further met a
Negro boy whom he shot at...”’

‘By nightfall people were all over the
place,’’ Mr. Oliver recalls.

“The people of this section had dogs
and did everything possible to find him,”’
said the news story. ‘‘But no trace was
paid found of him until the spring of
1910."

There was a $350 reward on DeVauss’
head, $200 by the Governor of Georgia
and $150 by Jim McKinnon.

**e *

ACCORDING TO Carroll Relihan, now
89, a black employce of B. Peterson went
west and found a job in Reeves, La. He
was working at a turpentine still and
recognized DeVauss. Writing to Sheriff
Ricketson, it was comfirmed that .
DeVauss was still wanted by authoritics.

DeVauss, following his flight from
Coffee County. went to Alabama where
he married an. nen moved to Louisiana.

An Enterprise news story in May,
1910, said, ‘‘Sheriff Ricketson learned
the whereabouts of the Negro and
without saying a word to anyone traveled
by train and went down to Reeves, La.,
and had but little difficulty in locating the
Negro who was doing carpenter work
there. He made the arrest and brought

the Negro away without even the
‘assistance of any officer of Louisiana.”’

THE LEAD to the story of that issue
read, ‘After living nine years an exile,
Jack DeVauss, the Negro who ran amuck
in this county in 1901 and killed Charlie
McKinnon, was arrested in Louisiana this
week by Sheriff Ricketson and brought
back to this county where he will be tried
at next Superior Court. The story of the
horrible crime, and the manner in which

it was committed, is fresh in ‘ic minds of:

many people today...’’

“Tn October, 1910. Jake DeVauss

went on trial for his life in Coffee County.
Superior Court, being represented by
Levi O’Steen and T, A. Wallace.

‘‘Jake was represented by the firm of _-

O’Steen & Wallace, who conducted the
case with much skill and did all for their ,
client that any law firm could have done}*
the news report said. ‘The sailing for the
Solicitor was easy from beginning and it
was an easy matter to make out a case of
murder...

‘The prisoner had very little to say on
the stand, only stating that he had been
drinking some mean whiskey and before
that time had never had any trouble with
anybody. The plea of the lawyers was for
mercy but the jury was out only a short
‘time, returning with a verdict of guilty...

* *

“SON TUESDAY morning the convicted

man was brought into the court and
received a death sentence. Judge Parker
gave the prisoner a long talk, ending it by
pronouncing the death sentence, the
same to be privately on Nov. 10. Jake did .
not appear to be affected in the least by
the sentence, after which he was taken
back to the jail to await the execution...’

“It is understood that Jake has been
reading the Bible for some time, and has
had very little to say to his fellow
prisoners or the sheriff. Tuc execution on
Nov. 10th will be first since Mr. Cribb
was executed about seven ..urs age.

On the day of the hanging, crowa: of
people, mostly black, began to surround
the jail and by noon the entire courthouse
and jail grounds were thronged with
people.

‘Religious services have been held otf
and on in the jail for the past severa:
days,’’ The Enterprise reported. ‘Ou
Wednesday the prisoner gave a long talk
to his brothers in black who had gathered
at the jail, warning them of the traps and
pitfalls in life, and advising them to take
warning from the example which he has
sct before his race. On Thursday morning
services were held at 10 o'clock, when the
sheriff permitted the people who had
gathered around the jail to go in and see
DeVauss and talk with him for the last
time...

“However, Jake was not in a
communicative mood on Thursday, at

Mee .

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DEVAUSS HANGS IN COFFEE JAIL

‘Nick Furney and son, Sheriff Dave Ricketson, unknown,

——

‘Eugene Merier, Jake De Vauss, unknown, Wm, (Roe) Tanner)

jleast not so mucn as the day previous.
‘Just before the services the sheriff
furnished the prisoner with a ni¢e black
-suit and other clothes which was to be His
burial costume. He had these on dunpe
the morning services... F

oe 8

AFTER THE services were over and

the crowds had dispersed from the cell. [

room, Jake stood at the window fpr |
several minutes murmuring somethite
unintelligible. He appeared! very nervoys
and would chisp his harcs im iqurck’:
succession which showed that he was | |
under an awful strain... pod 1

“Sheriff Ricketson sant that De\ ats
had been a model prsoner during his Meh
in jail and that he had never hed arty | |
trouble in the leastwith him, Jabeé wanted
Sherfl Ricketson to hang him, aed mrad

sevetal res ;

“weats that na ane cise db

\ellowed to do thas act. He seamed Uf phaarah, | i

a —_ deal of Sheriff Ricketson and
would talk to him at every oppotiiy th.
DeVauss has professed relygioe! a

several months and has acted it./He has |:

always claimed to be ready to go and cn
tread his Bible continually for weeks. Up —
to the very last, he claimed forgiveness |
for the awful crime he committed nine, |
years ago, beggin his black brothers ta les ,
whiskey along...

“There were several witnesses ,to the! |

hanging, the sheriff permitting a few 16
‘be present. It was thought that Jake:
would make a statement on the gallows
but he did not. He would only murmur 4/
few disconnected sentences, some of
which could not be understood...

|
ses :

“*THE PRISONER was put on the treo
only a few minutes before the execution,
The rope was thrown over his headjin 4
loose position, when photographer
Rogers made a picture...The rope, was
fixed around his neck by | Sherif
Ricketson, C. A. Furney, and J,. M.
Hall...
: “Then the black cap was thrown over
‘his head and Sheriff Ricketson added:
“Jake are you ready? Have you anything
tO say?’
' Jake answered: ‘I am ready, thank the
i Lord.’

you in a better world. eeae
“And with that he let the trap fall.
“He fell about six feet and his neck was
broken instanter. He never moved a
muscle, only a slight quiver of the hand.
He hung for 20 minutes when Drs, Jonna
Smith and George Touchton pronounced
him dead. His body was turned over to
his brother, Mose DeVauss, and his
daughter, who buried him in the Douglis
Cemetery.”
So was the story of Coffee County's las:
‘legal hanging. |
“Last Thursday afternoon at 1:10 pym.y,
Jake DeVauss paid the death penalty on
‘the gallows in this city for a at
+

| “The Sheriff said: ‘Jake Phope to meet!

committed nine years ago..."
SE

| ‘

|
|

Re eee a ee ee Se eT eee tA CE Te ee ee re err eee em ees

DENSON, Jim, black, hanged Irwinton, Ga., on June 16, 1922.

"Macon, Ga., May 23-Jim Denson, the negro who was seized today by a
mob in Irwin County, escaped from the mob, according to information re-
ceived here. He is now being hunted by officers of several

‘counties and by posses of citizens. Later reports from Irwington said

Denson had been surrounded in a swamp four miles from that
town. No details were given, however, Details of the escape

of the negro became known when officers of the county were
asked to aid in the search for the negro. Denson was being
taken in an auotmobile from the jail, which had been stormed
to the place where he was accused of attacking a white three
ears ago when the automobile crashed into another machine,
two men were thrown through the windshield of the automobile
and the others thrown out with such force that they were
stunned. Denson also was thrown out, but was not injured, and escaped,"
The following is another article following preceding: "Ir-
wington, “a., May 23-A mob of 50 or 60 persons stormed the
Wilkinson county jail early today and after a fight in which
one of the guards and a member of the mob were slightly
wounded, seized Jim Denson, a negro sentenced to hang June
16 for attacking a white woman. The mob placed a rope around
the negro's neck and took him away in an automobile, Not race
of him had been found early today by the sheriff and his
deputies. Denson was convicted in the Superior Court here
more than two years ago on e charge of attacking a 72-year-
old white woman, His execution was postponed several times
and the United “tates Supreme Court finally ruled on the
verdict of the lower courts, affirming his convic§ion,."
Either EXPRESS or LIGHT, San Antonio, Texas, May 2), 1922
(Sent by Van Raalte)

he told FBI Investigator Bob Leary and
Detective Ray Sullivan that during his
polygraph examination, he just decided
not to think about the murder. Therefore,
the chart indicated he had no knowledge
about it.

With Devier’s confession fitting the
FBI profile, as well as all the circum-
stantial physical evidence, Pros. Lar-
ry Salmon decided to prosecute the case.
Defense Attorney Harl Duffey, howev-
er, was able to stretch out the date of the
trial so that when Devier was finally
brought to court it was approximately
two years later in January of 1982 in
Floyd County Superior Court, Judge
Robert Royal presiding.

It took several days for both prosecu-
tor and defense attorneys to agree on the
nine-man, six-woman jury. After they
were finally picked and the trial got un-

derway, Defense Attorney Harl Duffey
requested a mistrial, claiming that a juror
had been escorted by a Floyd County
deputy who was a prosecution witness in
the case. According to Duffey, once one
of the jurors becomes infected by some-
one, it is likely the rest could also be-
come infected.

Judge Robert Royal took the request
under advisement, and the next day, he
declared a mistrial. The judge explained
that declaring it a mistrial wasn’t some-
thing he wanted to do, but that the law
stated that if a juror was merely in the
presence of a potential witness, the trial
must automatically be declared a mis-
trial.

He rescheduled the trial for the next
month of February.

This time when the trial got underway
the major thrust of the defense was in

Photo by Ray Sullivan
Darrell Devier owned a car similar to the one used in the Stoner abduction.

their attempt to have Devier’s confession
to police inadmissible as evidence.
According to Devier, he was coerced
into making his confession because his
interrogators ; had threatened to turn him
over to Bartow investigators, and
according to Devier, *‘I knew I'd never
make it to Bartow.”’ .
Devier further claimed that whatever

he said on the tape was coached out of

him: ‘‘Everything | said in those state-
ments, they (the police) told me to do.’
But on cross-examination by Prosecutor
Salmon, Devier’s defense tactic fell like
a heavy weight. Salmon asked him,
‘‘Did he (the interrogator) tell you to say
you pushed her and she hit her head on
something, a rock?’’

Devier: Yes.

Salmon: Did he tell you to say when
you saw blood, you kneeled down and
choked her?

Devier: That was in the strip of paper
he gave me to read from.

**Did he tell you to say you couldn’t
remember anything after that?’’ Salmon
concluded, indicating the absurdity of
Devier’s ‘‘coerced confession.”’

On Thursday, March 4, 1982, the jury
found Darrell Devier guilty of murdering
Mary Stoner. That same day, Prosecutor
Salmon argued for the death penalty in
the case. ‘‘Darrell Devier’s death,’’
Prosecutor Salmon intoned, ‘‘is going to
be the result of a depraved mind’s act. |
don’t think, considering what he’s done,
that Devier has a right to live.”

Defense Attorney Harl Duffey coun-
tered with a diatribe against the death
penalty. ‘‘Capital punishment,’’ he
argued, ‘‘is not a deterrent. It’s not for
prevention. It’s not for retribution. Yes,
Mary’s dead, but will a death sentence
bring her back from the dead?”’

That same day, the jury was again
sequestered to deliberate the penalty.
They cut off deliberations sometime dur-
ing the evening and resumed the next
morning. After approximately an hour,
the jury returned to Judge Robert Royal’s
courtroom and handed in their recom-
mendation: death.

Later that day, March 5, 1982, Judge
Royal, agreeing with the jury’s
recommendation, sentenced Darrell
Gene Devier to death in the electric
chair. @

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Bill Ferguson is not the real name of
the person so named in the foregoing
story. A fictitious name has been used
because there is no reason for public
interest in the identity of this person.

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Ray Sullivan

was completely shaved! At headquart-
ers, Ferguson was put through an in-
tensive grilling session. Where was he
on the date of November 30th at approx-
imately 4:00 p.m.? he was asked.

‘There ain’t no way you boys are gon-
na pin this on me,’’ Ferguson said. ‘‘I
got more witnesses who can tell you
where I was than you got hair on your
head. Just check with my boss. He’l] tell
you.”’

Fergusor had worked as a painter for a
general contractor, and when detectives
contacted his company, the supervisor
verified Ferguson’s entire statement. Af-
ter further checking, he was eliminated
as a suspect, so detectives now zeroed in
on their prime suspect, Darrell Devier.

Investigator Ray Sullivan checked
his rap sheet and unearthed something
very interesting. Devier had been ac-
cused of raping a 16-year-old neighbor in
Floyd County. Sheriff Hart and In-
vestigators Bob Kerce, Ray Sullivan and

Jerry Boyd picked Devier up at his home

and brought him down to headquarters |

for some further questioning. After read-
ing Devier his Miranda Warning, GBI
Agent Vernon Keenan grilled him for
some time, but when Keenan became
aggressive, Devier got angry and refused
to speak with him. Since FBI Agent Bob
Leary was a more friendly interrogator,
he was called in and questioned the sus-
pect for over four hours, puncturing
holes in his alibis and pointing out the
many discrepancies in his statement.

Then, ina shocking turn-around from his

adamant denials, Devier broke down and
confessed to the rape-slaying of Mary
Stoner. As his story unfolded, even sea-
soned investigators blanched at the lurid
details.

According to Devier, after he took off
with Mary in the car, ‘‘She was hollering
and asking me what I was gonna do to
her. I drove into the woods (in Floyd
County) and told her to get in the back

With the suspect's confession, as well as other Items of evidence, Prosecutor
Larry Salmon felt he had enough to bring the suspect to trial and get a conviction.

seat. Then she asked me if I was gonna
rape her and I said, ‘Yes.’ ’’

Devier then continued with the
following tale: ‘‘(After raping her) I told
her I was going to tie her up, and she
started hollering something about she
wanted me. She said if she couldn’t have
me, my wife couldn’t have me either.
She hit me in the chest and pushed me
and I pushed her. She fell and busted her
head, and I saw blood was coming out of
her head and I got down and I started
choking her.’’ During questioning, De-
vier also said that the idea of abducting
and raping her just ‘‘popped into my
mind,”’ and that he had no intention of
killing her since he didn’t think that she
recognized him.

Later, as he was being booked into the
county jail, he was reinterviewed by
Deputy Bettie Barrett, and this time, De-
vier gave a slightly different twist to his
story. After raping Mary Stoner, he said,
“I was just going to leave her tied to a
tree, but she went wild and called for her
mama and I slapped her and she hit her

. head upon a rock.”’

With this information, detectives
brought the case to Floyd County Pros-
ecutor Larry Salmon. Salmon felt there
was enough to charge him with murder.
He also helped file for a search warrant
of Devier’s home.

Later, detectives and a crime lab crew
went through Devier’s house with a fine-
tooth comb. They confiscated clothing
as well as other possible items of evi-
dence. Back at the lab, a technician
found a six-inch strand of brown hair on
his clothing. It was too long to be Devi-
er’s. Detectives figured it might be the
victim’s, and tests proved that it was a
female’s hair. But there was no way of
proving that the strand was, in fact, Mary
Stoner’s.

Lawmen also learned that Devier’s
blood type was ‘‘A’’, the same blood
type as the rapist’s, as was determined
from tests of the seminal fluid found in
the victim. The only problem here was
that blood type is not a specific form of
evidence. At least 40 percent of the pop-
ulation has Type ‘‘A’’ blood.

One other problem facing the prosecu-
tor and lawmen was the fact that Devier
had passed the polygraph examination
when he was first brought down to
headquarters. But a team of FBI profile
experts studied Devier’s past record and
came up with a sound reason for this.
Devier was the kind of criminal who
could completely obliterate his past ac-
tions from his memory. Later, this
theory would prove an accurate explana-
tion, for during interviews with Devier,

FBI Agent Bob Leary was well known as a
skillful interrogator. In the Stoner
case, he once again proved himself.

to the probe were investigators from both
Bartow and Floyd County as well as GBI
and FBI agents. Working the Bartow end
of the investigation were Sheriff Roy
Bell, Chief Deputy Charles Lanham, In-
vestigators Ray Sullivan and Jimmy
Spradley. In charge of the Floyd County
end were Sheriff Bill Hart, Deputy Bob
Kerce and Floyd County Police Depart-
ment Detective-Sergeant Jerry Boyd.
The bulk of the probe was handled by
GBI Agent Vernon Keenan and De-
tective Ray Sullivan.

These lawmen had already learned
that the person who abducted Mary Ston-
er was a white male with a beard and had
been driving a Ford Pinto or some other
small car that was dark blue or black in
appearance. The fact that the killer had
dumped the victim in Floyd County
might mean that he was a resident of
either Floyd County or Adairsville. Au-
thorities launched a thorough canvass in
the area where Mary Stoner was kidnap-
ped, focusing most of their questions
on evidence they had so far gathered.
They asked residents if they knew of
anyone in the area who had a dark com-
pact car and a beard, or if there were
anyone visiting the area who lived in
another county or if there were any re-
latively new residents in the area. Using
this method of questioning, probers were
able to develop several suspects but most
came out clean.

The investigators, however, learned
that there were indeed many visitors in
the area lately, workers for a tree trimm-
ing company.

The sleuths decided to focus on these

workers for a short time and see if they °

could come up with anyone who match-
ed their eyewitness description and
who possibly lived in the Floyd County

area. Bartow County Sheriff’s In-
vestigator Jimmy Spradley did some
checking and learned that some of these
men had beards but only one of them
owned a black Ford Pinto. Further
checking revealed this worker lived in
Floyd County. Since he fit the bill of a
suspect, detectives decided to bring him
down to headquarters for questioning.
Floyd Sheriff's Deputy Bob Kerce but-
tonholed him at his job and told him there
were some questions regarding the Ston-
er murder which he would like to ask
him. The man, Darrell Gene Devier, was
cooperative, telling his supervisor he
would return soon, and he went with
Deputy Kerce.

At police headquarters, Devier was
questioned by GBI Agent Vernon
Keenan and FBI Agent Bob Leary. He
explained that he had heard about the
murder but he knew nothing at all about
it. If he could help them in any way he
certainly would, but as far as he knew he
hadn't ever laid eyes on the girl.

‘*What if we told you someone saw
you outside the house of Mary Stoner in
your Ford Pinto?’’ a detective prodded.

Devier replied that no one could say
that since it wasn’t true.

The investigators decided to put him
in a lineup, contacted several of the
crime eyewitnesses, and brought them
separately down to headquarters. But
none of the witnesses could point out
Devier as the killer. No one had actually
seen the driver of the car that well, so
they just weren’t sure if they could pick
him out. Asked if he would take a poly-
graph test, the suspect willingly com-

Sergeant Jerry Boyd took charge of the
Floyd County end of the murder probe.

plied. After the examination, the de-
tectives released him. He had passed the
polygraph test with flying colors, and
there was just no reason to hold him any
longer.

With no evidence against Devier, de-
tectives decided to let him go. He may
have fit the description of the murderer,
but that still didn’t mean he was the actu-
al kidnapper or killer.

Meanwhile, the medical examiner
from nearby Cartersville, Dr. Harvey
Howell, as well as coroner W.G. Bed-
ford, had completed a full autopsy on
Mary Stoner and was ready with some
important evidence. First of all, from all
indications he would have to place her
time of death at approximately 5:30 on
November 30th, which meant she must
have been killed only an hour and a half
after being abducted.

As for cause of death, there was no
way he could determine whether the
choking or the blunt force injuries had
caused death, but he was certain it was
either one of them. He could also say
with certainty that the girl had been
savagely raped, evidenced by at least
three discernible tears in her vaginal wall
and the presence of male seminal fluid.
Dr. Howell had tested the semen and
typed it as coming from a blood type
**A’” individual. The pathologist also
stated there was loose pubic hair on the
victim, possibly the killer’s, but for that
information, the detectives would have
to check with the crime lab.

Dr. Howell also added that the clothes
of the victim were sent to the lab for
processing.

After speaking with Dr. Howell, in-
vestigators contacted the lab and were
told the pubic hairs found on Mary Ston-
er appeared to be her own. The rocks
found near her body contained blood,
which indicated they had been used as
murder weapons. But, sadly, there were
no fingerprints on any of the items reco-
vered.

Detectives decided their best tactic
thus far would be to thoroughly check the
Suspects in the case at this point. Other
than Darrell Devier, the tree trimmer,
detectives had developed another sus-
pect, Bill Ferguson, who lived in Mary
Stoner’s neighborhood. Ferguson, it
turned out, had a record of physical
assaults and menacing. There was noth-
ing, however, to indicate that he was
either a rapist or child molester. But
there was something else about Fergu-
son. He owned a dark blue Ford Pinto,
and had recently sported a light beard.

When detectives went to question
him, however, they saw that his beard

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was complete!)
ers, Ferguson
tensive grilling
on the date of *
imately 4:00 |
**There ain
na pin this or
got more wit
where I was
head. Just che
you.””
Ferguson t
general contra
contacted his
verified Fergu
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as a suspect. s
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his rap sheet
very interesti!
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Floyd Count
vestigators Bo!

j
tecti y * | arry almor

26 The Master Detective

visit of investigation should not be delayed any longer.

They walked over the path to the McGee cottage. All
was still, No smoke curled from the solitary chimney,
although it was bitterly cold, As they came up to the
front steps Mr, Bartlett called out several times but echoes
were his only response.

They cautiously mounted the steps and crossed the porch.
For a moment they stood silent, listening for some sound,
but nothing stirred within, A dog bayed furiously in a
distant field.

PRESENTLY Mr. Bartlett took a step or two and
rapped soundly upon the door. It was not answered.
Mechanically he reached for the door knob but on second
thought withdrew his hand before touching it:

Father and son then retreated from the door and both
went around to the side of the house where they discov-
ered that a window had-been smashed.

Peering through the jagged opening they gasped, falling
back horrified. They had beheld a ghastly sight!

Hamp McGee, bus driver, miser and hermit of “Lonely
Cottage,” lay on his face in a pool of crimson. He was
apparently stone dead!

They sped swiftly away to give the alarm and notify

the authorities.
A short time later | reached the scene with officers E. W.

Wilson and Lucian Clay. A crowd of country-folk had -

already gathered.

On the ground directly beneath the broken window were
spread bits of shattered glass. My first.task on arrival was
to rope in this little area and deputize a man to guard it
until the arrival of Captain S. E. Woodson, finger-print
expert of the Atlanta Police Department, who had been
called. | then utilized a section’ of the Georgia penal code
and deputized other men, posting them at. strategic points

about the cottage, with instructions to keep everyone away
and allow nothing to be touched until Captain Woodson
came on the scene. vious

In the meantime one of my men found a 12-gauge gun
shell in the grass near the broken window. Immediately |
guessed it had been ejected from an automatic and figured
that the slayer had stood outside and had fired through
the window. ,

These preliminaries over, I next forced the front door,

. taking care to see that no others entered the premises.

The body of Hamp McGee lay huddled grotesquely in a
corner of the room, arms hidden beneath the twisted torso,
as if the dead man were hunching himself into a knot to
protect himself against the bitter cold. A load of shot had
torn a great hole in his back. It took only a glance at that
ghastly hole to realize he was beyond aid.

” But terrible as was the wound, there were even more
horrifying details. McGee had been shaving before a mir-

‘ror. He wore his trousers, but was without a shirt.

When we turned him over, half his face, stiffened in
death, was covered with lather, and an old-fashioned
straight razor still was grasped in his clenched hand.

Across the mirror on the wall before his body was a long
splash of dried blood!

There were signs to indicate that a bulky roll of money
had been sewn into the victim’s trouser pocket, but the
slayer had slashed out the entire pocket and its contents

‘with a keen knife.

Captain Woodson now arrived on the scene and first
examined the door knob for possible finger-prints, None
was found, The murderer evidently had climbed through
the broken window. ti

In a pool of coagulated blood Captain Woodson found
the clear imprint of a rubber shoe heel where the slayer had
stepped. The manufacturer’s trade name was ‘outlined
distinctly. Pictures of this were carefully made

-and a general view of the room taken. Not a
single finger-print could be found. .

Part of a watch chain was discovered beneath
the corpse and we surmised that the man’s watch
had been hastily snatched from his trouser pocket,
where he was known to wear it.

Near the window we discovered the wadding
from the exploded shell. The few particles of glass
within the room were carefully saved by Captain
Woodson for further laboratory study, along with
the glass found on the ground beneath the window.

Previously I had called John B. Winn, scientific
criminologist on the staff of the County Solicitor-
General, and he now joined us. | handed him the
exploded shell and the wadding. Number 6 bird
shot had been used. He put these objects care-
fully away for later comparison, in the event we
should be lucky enough to find the instrument of

’ death. :
_ It was apparent that McGee never knew from
whence came the shot that blasted life from his
body. It was my theory that the slayer, peering

shot him as he stood before the mirror, his back to

the murderer,
Under the house, beneath the window,, we found

signs that led us to conclude the slayer had lain
in wait until the hermit driver returned from his
trip on the night he was last seen, The man usually
shaved just before re-
(uate, county Palgg TNE
Wells, co-author, ex- — So many people had
amines the jagged glass gathered about the
of the window; . glass place that I concluded
which was to furnish the it was now too late for
bloodhounds to find

“oy 4 means of by ee
e antom murderer “
4 any trail, The paved

was to be trapped

through the window, had taken careful aim and.

highway
Captai
hands ar
broken ¥
“T bell
piece of
distinct.
“Whe:
“In tl!
but it n
dusted
Wet
forced
house, |
clues he
I no
Corone

O UR
cini
tled ar
about
to the
We
had b:
during
could
Not
had e
tage”
shred
finally
chanc«
trade
we W:

(Righ
inolog:
and t
comps
labor:
to prc

* used

(Belc
Hend:
woun
inch ¢
into

re away
Voodson

uge gun
liately I
| figured
through

nt door,
rises,

uely in a
ed torso,
. knot to
shot had
e at that

ven more
re a mir-
t.

iffened in:
-fashioned
ind,

vas a long

of money
:, but the
s contents

and first
ats. None
d through

son found
slayer had
; ‘outlined
ally made
n, Not a

-d beneath
in’s watch
ier pocket,

» wadding
es of glass
ry Captain
along with
1e window.
1, scientific

Solicitor-
-d him the
ver 6 bird
jects care-
2 event we
trument of

knew from
e from his
er, peering

‘| aim and.

his back to

, we found
‘+r had lain
‘d from his
nan usually
t before re-

people had
about the
| concluded
too late for
ds to find
The paved

The Mystery of the Half-Shaved Man 27

highway passed only a short distance from the cottage.

Captain Woodson, who had been crawling around on
hands and knees outside in the weeds and grass near the
broken window came in excitedly.

“I believe I’ve got a print,” he said, holding up a small
piece of glass, It was the print of a huge thumb, fairly
distinct.

“Where'd you find it?” I asked,

“In the grass about fifteen feet away from the window,
but it matches the other pieces,” he answered, The glass was
dusted and photographed immediately.

We turned now towards the garage. The doors had been
forced and it was apparent the slayer, after leaving the
house, had attempted to steal McGee’s taxi. There were no
clues here. 4 *

I now called in Paul Donehoo, Fulton county’s blind
Coroner, and he ordered the body sent to the undertaker.

OUR next task was to interview people living in the vi-
cinity of the cottage. The neighborhood was sparsely set-
tled and inquiry elicited no results. No one had been seen
about the cottage the day or night previous
to the slaying,

We had a report that a group of hunters
had been in the woods some distance away
during the afternoon of the fatal night but
could secure no definite description of them.

Not a single person with whom we talked
had ever heard of the “hermit of lonely cot-
tage” having an enemy. We traced every
shred of information about the man but
finally were forced to admit that our only
chance lay in the hope that the slayer would
trade or pawn the watch he had stolen and
we would be able to get our hands on it,

(Right) John B. Winn, crim-
inologist, studies the empty
and the test. shells with a
comparison microscope in his
laboratory. He was able
to prove which weapon was
used by the killing fiend

(Below) For five hours, Sam

Henderson, though severcly

wounded, fought inch by

inch across the floor, slipping

into unconsciousness at in-
tervals

and trace ‘him, But it seemed: like a slender chance.
Also, we did not even know positively that McGee had
been wearing the watch at the time he was felled. He may
have left it at some shop to be repaired or might have
traded it for another one, though we considered this as
unlikely.

A wave of-horror swept the entire section at the terrible
murder, Strangely enough, the death of Hamp McGee, the
recluse, was more stirring to the imagination than if it
had been the killing of some popular citizen of Atlanta.
Details of his reputed hidden wealth were told in whispers
—at church, street corners, drug stores and gatherings
everywhere. They filled the newspapers.

The feeling over the McGee slaying was such that the
investigation was relentless, It was still going at fever
heat three weeks later when there was a second outburst
of sudden death in the neighborhood.

A little boy was playing in a field just off Childress Drive,
less than a mile from the McGee cottage. It was the morn-
ing of ‘February 18th, 1933, clear and cold, and the child

(Above) Crowds mill
around “Lonely Cot-
tage” the home of
the murdered bache-
lor recluse. His slay-
ing was but the
beginning of a series

fied Georgia

(Left) Captain S. E.
Woodson, Bertillon
and finger-print ex-
pert of the Atlanta
Police Department,
as he studies the
finger-prints of the
fiend slayer

was moving rapidly as he played to keep himself warm.

The boy seemed to hear someone calling. He stopped to
listen, From the direction of the house of Sam H. Hender-
son, a young worker in an automobile assembling plant in
Atlanta, he caught quivering cries for help.

Half frightened out of his wits, the boy dashed for the
nearest house, where he notified two men. They hurried
over to the Henderson home and forced an entrance,

On the floor near the front door they found young Hen-
derson. The charge from a shotgun fired at close range had
torn away part of his shoulder and neck, leaving a great,
gaping wound. He seemed to be gasping out the last ves-
tiges of his life.

In the bedroom they found his pretty young wife stiff

of crimes that horri-

and cold in death. Her head had been almost blown off
by the charge of a shotgun. She had been dead for hours.

Lying beside his mother, two-year-old Sam, Jr., was ‘un-
conscious in the bed. The baby’s head had been beaten
into a single raw bruise in a fashion that sickened the men
who saw it,

ONCE more a hurry call was put in for County Police
and once more the quiet community was thrown into a
furore of excitement.

Henderson and the baby had been packed into an auto-
mobile by the first arrivals and rushed to the Municipal
Hospital in’ Atlanta. Sending some men post-haste to the
scene I turned toward the hospital as it had been stated
that it was unlikely either Henderson or the baby would
live. He was still unconscious when I reached the hospital
ward but he momentarily came to his senses and gasped
out a story to me of a night of amazing horror, which for
sheer cold-bloodedness is perhaps unparalleled in this sec-
tion of the country. ‘

Henderson, his wife and baby had retired early and
were sleeping soundly when Henderson was awakened by
the sound of the window crashing by his bed. He sat up
to be confronted by a shadowy figure that flashed a strong
light in his eyes. A single-barrelled shotgun was pointed
directly at him, the marauder holding the flashlight up
against the barrel with his left hand while the right hand
was on the trigger,

Blinded by the light Henderson blinked his eyes against
the pain as his wife sat up with a scream. She was gruffly
ordered to silence. Then placing the flashlight on a table
at the foot of the bed the intruder proceeded to ransack

the roon
Sudder
“Wher:
where,” |
Hende
there in
$15.75.
“Wher
sharply.

SHE re’
fearin
complete!
The ba
“Shut
“He w:
the cover
“Well,
swered as

With t)

cautiousl)
and the

He the:

heaved a

His eye
‘on a rack
ing towa:
returned
up. Afte
he calm]:

“T gue:
want an\

The di
derson ki
would su

(Right)

Policemar:
(center)

ant Willi
co-author
Henders:
shotgun v
tified as
hia woun

vil significance,
an a clock-like
he same ‘stops,
machine, That
2e, the elderly

of McGee, He

racter when he.

2d alone in ay
1idway on: his 4

ills of his cot-

Sere

MERI IBIS ane wy att

tage, but it was reputed that he had a vast store of wealth
hidden there, the savings of a lifetime as well as the ever-

*. mounting profits of his lucrative business,

*, That McGee would purposely miss: a_ trip that would .

bring him extra dollars was unthinkable! -
Gradually the little groups of belated customers gathered

at the regular stops began to realize that something must.

‘be seriously wrong. i505 1 iti eh ‘
*\ Throughout the day McGee had not been seen, but be-
cause of his aloofness and desire to be let alone, no one ven-.
tured to visit his cottage to investigate. =
*. That night, at. the supper table, S. V. Bartlett, his near-
‘est neighbor, was discussing with his young son the old
UL Sait Shs la saneeemaper ory ort is .

3 a geri DON Liss Ree 9)

‘man’s strange absence’ from -his regular omnibus route.

“After eating | think I’ll step over and see if there’s any-
thing I-can do for Hamp—he's probably sick,” Bartlett
remarked, casually,

“No, don’t you do that, Dad,” the son replied. “You
know’ someone tried to:break into his house several weeks

‘ago and since then he’s kept a loaded shotgun at his bed-
‘side.” ae

Not wishing an acquaintance with the business end of a

-shotgun, Mr. Bartlett decided. to let the matter rest. But

on the following morning, when the phenomenon of Mr.
McGee's non-appearance was repeated, it became a matter
of grave concern; so. Mr. Bartlett and his son decided a

scallion

> Darrell Gene Devier
died in electric chair
almost two hours after a

stay of execution was
lifted

Associated Press

JACKSON, Ga.

After a final prayer, Darrell
Gene Devier was put to death
Wednesday in the electric chair
for raping-.and murdering a
12-year-old girl who was return-
ing home
from school.

Devier, 39,
of Rome was
convicted in
the 1979 kid-
napping, rape
and beating

death of 12-
year-old
Mary _- Fran-

ces Stoner Devier
near her home in Adairsville, in
northwest Georgia.

The girl’s parents, Roy and
Mary Stoner, were inside the
state prison near Jackson when
Devier was executed, but did not
witness it.

Mrs. Stoner’s brother, Vince
Stewart of Cartersville, told re-
porters afterward that the fam-
ily had to wait too long for
justice.

“My niece ... was kidnapped
and raped, then she was stran-

gled and her head was crushed
with a 50-pound rock,” he said

“Today’s execution, after wait-
ing far too long, was a punish-
ment. ... Not once in the last
15-and-a-half years did her killer
ever say he was sorry, or try to
apologize.”

Nine friends of the Stoner
family, all wearing blue ribbons,
gathered at the entrance to the
prison to show their support.

They cheered and held up
pictures of the girl as a black
hearse drove by, carrying De-
vier’s body to a funeral home.

Devier was pronounced dead
at 1:28 p.m.

His execution originally was
scheduled for Monday, but the
U.S. Supreme Court issued a
temporary stay so it could
consider his final appeal. The
court denied the appeal and
lifted the stay about 11:45 a.m.
Wednesday.

Devier watched intently as six
guards strapped him into the
electric chair at about 1:15 p.m.,
wiggling his head to adjust the
chin strap.

Warden A.G. Thomas asked if
he had anything to add to his
final statement, and Devier re-
plied, “I didn’t make a final
statement.”

Asked if he wanted a prayer,
he said, “I’ll take all I can get
when it comes to that. I don’t
have no objection to a prayer.”

An unidentified minister
prayed that God would “be with
him to the end.”

Devier appeared calm as elec-
trodes were attached to his head
and right leg.

At 1:20 p.m., Devier’s body
stiffened, his fists clenched and

LEDGER-ENQUIRER Cop VMBOS,
Thursday, May 18, 1995

GEORGIA / ALABAMA
Killer of 12-year-old girl is put to death

there was a whooshing sound as
2,000 volts of electricity surged
through his body. The current
automatically reduced from
2,000 volts to 1,000 and then to
208 before shutting off.

Two doctors pronounced him
dead.

Speaking to reporters after the
execution, Attorney General Mi-
chael Bowers said the state and
federal courts need to speed up

death penalty cases and adopt
fixed guidelines for appeals.
“The people have decided
through their elected represen-
tatives that we’re to have the
death penalty,” he said. “But
when you wait 12 to 16 years, it
certainly loses its deterrent val-
ue. ... We forget what it was
we're executing this person for.”
Steve Lanier, district attorney
for the Rome Judicial Circuit,

AP
Ginger Stoner Brown (left to right), Paul Todd, Patty Cochran and Pat Black wave pictures of victim Mary Frances
Stoner outside the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson, Ga., where Darrell Gene Devier was executed
Wednesday for the 1979 kidnapping, rape and killing of the 12-year-old.

where Devier was tried, was
among 16 state witnesses at the
execution.

He said the long delay in
executing Devier had _ been

heartbreaking for the Stoner
family.
“What ... makes me mad is

that Mr. Devier showed abso-
lutely no remorse whatsoever,
did not apologize or make a last
statement,” Lanier said

oeTe fayTyM foeuen TTeizeq *yTTATa

‘\ e
}

G66L S2L Sew (MO9dTeg) gy

Phones go out a

— eee

> Attorney general
jumps in car with
cellular phone, drives
into signal area and
learns of stay

Associated Press
JACKSON, Ga. -

Minutes before Darrell Gene
Devier was to go to the electric
chair, a storm knocked out the
phones that were supposed to
bring word of any reprieve.

Georgia’s attorney general,
carrying a_ cellular phone,
jumped in his car, drove until he
found a signal and learned that
Devier had gotten a stay.

The execution could have tak-
en place during the power
failure Monday night because
the electric chair has its own
power source and backup gener-
ator. Both were working during
the storm.

But prison officials were quick
to dismiss a worst-case scenario:
the courts issue a Stay but the
execution proceeds because no-
body could get word to the

If Attorney General Michael Bowers hadn’t had his cellular
phone, or if he hadn't gotten it working, prison officials would
have delayed the execution. “They would never go ahead with
an execution without making every effort to find out what the

court has done,” Gavalas said.

’ prison.

“Not on your life. I think that’s
a mistake that nobody wants
hanging over their head,” state
corrections spokeswoman Vicki
Gavalas said Tuesday.

If Attorney General Michael
Bowers hadn’t had his cellular
phone, or if he hadn’t gotten it
working, prison officials would
have delayed the execution.

“They would never go ahead
with an execution without mak-
ing every effort to find out what
the court has done,” Gavalas
Said.

The state filed its response
Tuesday to Devier’s appeal to
the Supreme Court, urging the
Supreme Court to reject his plea
to review the case.

Devier said the state failed to
comply with the Open Records
Act during his trial, but state
attorneys said Devier wasn’t

diligent enough in seeking the
records.

As both sides awaited a ruling
from the court, Georgia officials
tentatively rescheduled Devier’s
execution for 1 p.m. today.

The state corrections chief
gives the final OK to proceed
with an execution only after
asking the attorney general if
any court has ordered a delay or
a Stay.

The attorney general remains
in constant telephone contact
with his Atlanta office and also
has staff members stationed at
the various appeals courts to get
quick word of any rulings.

Bowers was on the prison
telephone talking to his office at
the time the prison’s backup
generator failed and cut off the
phones — about 20 minutes
before the 7 p.m. execution.
That’s when he jumped in the

LEDEER- EX OulXER

Anh, Ga. S[17 [09 9S—

t prison before execution

car with his cellular phone.

Cellular phones typically do
not work at the prison because it
is located between signals. Bow-
ers drove about half a mile up
the highway to pick-up a signal
and connect with his office.

Meanwhile, Devier sat calmly
in a cell next to the death
Chamber, his head and one leg
already shaved. He had eaten
his requested last meal: a quart
of strawberries, two bacon-let-
tuce-and-tomato sandwiches and
a glass of milk.

The 39-year-old Rome man
“did not seem particularly sur-
prised or elated” when told of
the stay, Gavalas said.

His attorney had left the
prison three hours before the
scheduled execution, she said.

Devier was convicted in the
1979 kidnapping, rape and beat-
ing death of 12-year-old Mary
Frances Stoner after she got off
a school bus near her Adairsville
home.

The victim’s parents, Roy and
Mary Stoner of Adairsville, were
at the prison near Jackson when
Bowers told them of the stay.

Georgia Killer.

And Illinoisan
Are Executed

By The Associated Press

A man who raped and killed a 12::
year-old girl in 1979 was executed,
yesterday in Georgia’s electric,

chair, and a convicted killer who
took his case to the Internet was
executed by injection in Illinois.

The Georgia man, Darrell Gene:
Devier, was pronounced dead at 1:28
P.M. at the state prison near Jack-
son. Mr. Devier, 39, was convicted of.
the 1979 kidnapping, rape and beat;
ing death of Mary Frances Stoner.

He watched intently as six guard
Strapped him into the electric chair,,
wiggling his head to adjust the chin:
strap. He told the warden, A. G.
Thomas, he had no final statement..

After the execution, an uncle of the,
murdered girl, Vince Stewart of Car-
lersville, Ga., told reporters that the.
family could now begin to heal. “We
are relieved it is over,” he said.

Mr. Devier was to have been put to.
death late Monday. But minutes be-,
fore he was to go to the electric.
chair, a storm knocked out the pow,
er. Because of a generator problem,
telephones that would have brought
word of a reprieve were also out.

The Georgia Attorney General,
Michael J. Bowers, jumped in his car
with a cellular phone, drove until he.
found a signal and learned that the
United States Supreme Court had
granted a temporary stay. ‘3

The Court lifted that stay today. ,.

In the Illinois execution, Girvies
Davis was put to death early yester-
day for the murder of an 89-year-old
man who was shot in his wheelchair
during a robbery of his house.

“Il wish Godspeed to all,” Mr. Da-:
vis murmured just before lethal
chemicals were fed into his arm.
Officials at the prison in Crest Hill

- said it took him six minutes to die.

Gov. Jim Edgar turned down pleas
for clemency.

Mr. Davis, 37, was convicted in the
1978 murder of Charles Biebel of
Belleville, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis.
He was also convicted of three other
murders.

NY. THES

His lawyers said Mr. Davis signed
a confession after police officers
drove him to a deserted road and
threatened to shoot him. The confes:'
sion said Mr. Davis robbed the house:
with an accomplice, who shot Mr.
Biebel. That man is serving a life
sentence for another murder.

Mr. Davis’s lawyers’ also noted
that their client, who was black, was.
convicted by an all-white jury and
that blacks were excluded. The Su-
preme Court later found that prac-
tice unconstitutional, but the ruling
was not retroactive.

Defense lawyers put the case on
the Internet computer network last
month: stories about the case, a
copy of the clemency petition and a’
recording of Mr. Davis saying he
was ‘‘not a murderer.”’

Mr. Davis was serving two 80-year,
sentences for two of the other mur-
ders. He was sentenced to death for

‘the third, the 1980 killing of an 83-

year-old blind woman, but the sen-
tence was overturned on appeal and
he was never resentenced.

THURS. May 18,1995

coo, ee eee Pee ae gee Pe | aa

|
-S-rpeeewnu cu CULL ‘ f |

first trial ended in a mistrial and th
overturned. A third trial ended with a death sentence.

> Girvies Davis, 37, convicted of four murders, was exe-

Biebel, 89. He was Shot in his wheelchair during a burglary
at his home in Belleville. 3

4A - THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1995 - USA TODAY

Affirmed: Memorandum, 78 SE 115

DEWBERRY, Oscar, black, hanged, Atlanta, Georgia, July 11, 1913.

"A last attempt to save the neck of Oscar Dewberry, the negro in the Fulton County
Tower sentenced to hang on Friday for the murder of Horace Dodson, a white youth (15),
will be made Thursday afternoon at 3 o'clock when Attorney Lowndes Calhoun, repre-
senting the negro, will urge Governor Slaton to commute Dewberry's sentence to life
imprisonment. The prison commission having failed to make a recommendation for
executive clemency, Attorney Calhoun asked the governor for a hearing which was
granted, Attorney Calhoun will present a letter from Solicitor General Hugh M, Dor-
sey urging a commutation of sentence, Solicitor Dorsey wrote the prison commission
that he had urged Judge ™% E,. Thomas, who prestided at the trial of Dewberry, to grant
a new trial and permit the negro to take a life sentence, He said that he never

did think that the negro should hang, as he had never felt that Dewberry fully in-
tended to kill Dodson, Dodson was ttabbed to death at the corner of Pratt and De-
catur Streets in May of last year." JOURNAL, Atlanta, GA, 7-10-1913 (7-7.)

"One year from the day and hour when his victim died, Oscar Dewberry, negro, paid

with his own life the penalty for murder, Friday morning, He was hanged in the Ful-
ton County Jail for having killed Horace Dodson, a white youth, on Decatur St. Dod-=
son lingered several weeks with knife wounds in his body, and died on July 1l, 1912,
shortly before noon, Dewberry, his convicted murderer, dropped through the trap of

' the gallows Friday at 11:05 o'clock, Thirty minutes later City Physician M. C.

Martin and County Physician J, W. Hurt declared him dead, H, H. Proctor and J, fT,
Dorsey, negro ministers, were with the condermed man during his last hour, They and
his father and some other negroes accompanied him to the gallows, where they sang hymns
while he was being tied up for execution, 'Pinky' Dewberry, a sister of the mur-
derer, was confined in the jail under a burglary conviction, She was admitted to
see her brother and then was returned to her own cell on the same floor where she
shouted and screamed while Oscar was being hanged, The negro made no public con-
fession, but before he went to the gallows, made a confession to Rev. H. H, Proctor,
admitting the crime but claiming self-defense, He was convicted upon the testimony
of three eye=-witnesses, the murder being done in the open street, Sheriff Mangum,
after reading the death warrant, asked the negro if he had any statement to make,
The condemned man muttered 'No.' Deputy Sheriff J, S. Owens released the lever
which dropped the trap beneath the negro, W. A, Dodson, a brother of the youth who
was murdered, was one of the few unofficial witnesses of the hanging," JOURNAL,
Atlanta, GA, July 11, 1913 (3/3.)

‘i r aleve f

{

DIBELL, Will, black hanged Thomasville, Ga., June 1), 1889.

|
"WILL DEBILL: HANGED: ‘THE. UAST BAYS OF A TERRIBLE ‘BLACK WRETCH. THE CRIME. -
Thomasville; Ga,, Juneoll).-(Special,)-At 10:30 this morning Sheriff Hurst,
and his deputies éntered the jail, Policeman Gordon stood at the gate to KX
keep back the crowd of 300 or ],00 who ‘had assembled about the’ jail. At
10@50 Debill appeared at.the erated:window, and made 4 short speech to the
crowd. At 10:55 your correspondent entered the jail. The doomed man was
in a perfect frenzy of religious excitement, talking KK wildly. A prayer,
a few more broken sentences, a few earnest goodbyes and the dreadfully
frightened creature mounted the gallows where he stood erect. The noose
was fitted around his neck, his legs tied together, his hands pin ioned,
the fatal cap placed over his head, and exactly at 11:08 the trap was
sprung and the awful six feet plunge into eternity was made, His neck
was broken, and he died without a struggle or a quiver. At the end of
fifteen minutes his heart beatwas forever still in death, and the soul of
Joe Dorr had gone from an earthly court before the Eternal Judge ef all
the universe,

"THE CRIME OF WILL DEBILL.
"Will Debill, alias Joe Dorr, is a powerful ginger-bread colored negro.
The crime of Debill was one of the most shocking and unerevoked murders
in the annals of crime. On the evening of the 12th of Yecember last,
Walter Long, © negro living near Leb in this county, was quietly eating his
Supper, sarrounded by his wife and children. Will Debill was boarding with
Long. Jealousy had entered this humble thoughpeaceful home, and murder
most foul had entered the wicked heart of Debill. Without any premonition
of evil, the simple hearted Walter Long was enjoying his har@ earned
evening meal, as only a man wearied with the day's toil, and with an appe-
tite whetted by much physical exercise, can enjoy his food, The faithful
wife, whose skin was black, but whose heart was true, was perfroming some
simple service. In the stillness of the night, in rushed Debill with an
ax in his hand, and suddently and furiously assaulting Long, he struck him
down; and, with the ax almost entirely severed his head from his body. He
then rushed into the darkness and made his escape. Sheriff Hurst finally
succeeded in arresting him while at work on the Alabama Midland, andhe was
brought back to Thomas county for trial. At the April term of court his
case was called for trial. Having no lawyér, able advocates were
appointed by Judge Hansell for the defense, A jury was selected. He
offered to plead suilty, with the understanding that he should be sent to
the penitentiary. The wife of the murdered man objected and his case went
to trial, Witnesses were sworn and examined, All testified to the awful
nature of his crime, The defendant's attorneys and the state's solicitor
allowed the case to go to the jury without argument. The judge made his
charge and the jury retired and returned immediately with a verdict of
guilty of murder without a recommendation to mercy. The com plete trial
occupied one hour and fifty-five minutes. This is thought to be the
shortest murder trial on record where a defendant was convicted of murder
in the first degree.

"DEBILL'S RECORD,

"Debill is a very bad man, While he was being remanded to jail, prepara-
tory to the giving of the death sentence, he swore with a fearful oath
that if he were free he would 'kill the last d--- one of them,! meaning
the people in the courthouse. He looked back over his shoulder and
laughed a diabolical laugh at the crowd, which stood amazed at the man's
fiendish behavior. While sentence was being pron ounced against him he
stood absolutely unmoved before the judge, who spoke as follows: 'Your
crime is one of the most awful this court has ever been called upon to ad-=
judigcate. There has not appeared the slightest provocation for your dread-
ful crime. There is not a single alleviating sirchmstance., While quietly

sitting in the sanctity of his own home, surrounded by his family, you fell

upon and slew your fellow man. Without a moment's warning, you sent

his soul into the presence

of his Maker. I can mot tell’ what there .

was in your heart or what drove you to this desparate deed. The law

will be kinder to you than

time to prepare for death,

world which you have, failed
body to ai Te SPOR LS £OP
CONSTITUTION, A

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to, give; in this: lifa.! 'Debill sold his
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Assign 7o Georgia.

Can rule out North Carolina
because the County of which
Sparta 's The Seat was not
Dunded! unt! 1859. Can also
rule out Tenn€ss€eE Because
burglary had Ceased To be. a

Capital offence. by /820./n
that State.

ares =

Slave Dick

(Not carrying #s confirmed es this could be NC, GA, Tenn,

or some other Southern State. Am filing in North Cero.
"On Friday, the ?%th ult. (says the Missionery) was execu-
ted at Sparta, in pursuance of his sentence fur the crime
of burglary, 2 nervro man named Dick, belengine to Mr. Tra-
wick. #s the aime ef wiich he was convicted was not
attended with eny agerevated circumstances, @ number of
the humane citizens cf Sparts petitioned the Governor for
a reprieve. if reprieve was obteined, but the bearer of it
was prevented by unavoidsble circumstances from arriving
n sezson to stop the axecution, though it was delayed to
st_moment allowed by the sentence." DATLY NATIONAL
Ff

as :
INTSLLIGENG 2, Washington, De Gs, 9-16-1820 (2-]).)

Metadata

Containers:: Box 11 (2-Documentation of Executions), Folder 22
Resource Type:: Document
Description:: Arthur Darden executed on 1952-04-25 in Georgia (GA)
Rights:: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Date Uploaded:: June 29, 2019

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