Crime and Criminals in Georgia: For Georgia Genealogy and Georgia History Research, Researchers

Crime in Georgia

Some people find it interesting, others find it embarrassing. No matter what the feelings, there just may be one or two unsavory characters in your family tree. And, sadly, one of your ancestors might have been a victim. Here is some data about crime in the state of Georgia, USA.

>> Atlanta Children Murders:
From 1979 to 1981, 29 young African Americans disappeared in Atlanta, Georgia. Twenty-eight were found dead. The murders terrified the city and the rest of the country supported and sympathized. Green ribbons, "symbolizing life," and green-lettered buttons reading, "SAVE THE CHILDREN," appeared everywhere.

Vice President George BUSH took a trip to Atlanta to show national concern. President Ronald REAGAN authorized a $1.5 million grant to aid the investigation. Huge rewards were offered for any information leading to the capture of the killer(s). Celebrities (like Frank SINATRA, Sammy DAVIS, Jr.) gave money to pay for the investigation and aid to the families of the victims. Thousands of letters containing checks, bills, and coins poured into Atlanta.

The manhunt was plagued by bickering between local and federal investigators. FBI Director William H. WEBSTER stirred local feelings when he proclaimed 4 of the cases, apparently unrelated to the others, solved. The next day a bureau agent in Macon, Georgia claimed the 4 children had been murdered by their parents. An angry public demanded to know why no arrests had been made. Atlanta Mayor Maynard JACKSON said this was because there was not enough evidence to warrant an arrest. He complained the FBI had undermined the confidence of the public in the investigation.

A large number of the murders were so similar they appeared to have been commited by the same person(s). Nineteen of the 28 were belived to have died from strangulation or other forms of asphyxiation. Nine were found nude, or almost nude, in rivers. More than 12 had traces of similar fibers (a blanket or carpet) on their bodies. Evidence of gog hair was also found on a number of the victims.

Many suspects, some found far away from Atlanta, were questioned without success. Then, on 3 June 1981, 23-year-old Wayne B. WILLIAMS (who had worked as a TV cameraman and a part-time talent scout and booking agent) was ordered by FBI agents to come downtown for questioning. After being held for 12 hours he was released due to lack of evidence. Privately, however, the FBI implied WILLIAMS was a definite suspect.

Following his release, a search warrant was obtained for WILLIAMS' home. Authorities confiscated a yellow blanket, a purple robe, samples of dog hair, and fibers from a beadspread and carpet.

WILLIAMS first caught the attention of police when officers staking out a bridge across the Chattahoochee River at 3AM on 22 May 1981 stopped WILLIAMS car after hearing a loud splash in the water. According to the police, when asked if he had thrown anything into the river, WILLIAMS said he had dumped some garbage. Later, he would claim he told them he threw nothing into the river. Two days later, the body of 27-year-old Nathaniel CATER floated to shore about a mile downstream from the bridge, within 500 yards of where the body of 21-year-old Jimmy Ray PAYNE had been found a month earlier.

On 21 June 1981 WILLIAMS was arrested and charged with murdering CATER. An Atlanta grand jury indicted him on 17 July for the murders of both CATER and PAYNE. The authorities acted as though several of the cases had been solved with WILLIAMS arrest and indictment. In August, WILLIAMS plead not guilty to the charges.

By September 1981, when the new school year started, there had been no further unaccountable murders of young African Americans.

On 27 February 1982, WILLIAMS was convicted of the 2 murders and sentenced to life imprisonment.

>> Newspaper Account of the Murder of Bibb County, GA Resident John BRASWELL

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>> From The Daily Constitution; Atlanta, Georgia: 22 May 1878:
[All the original articles (and more) can be viewed online at Ancestry with
the Historical Newspaper Subscription...]
City Court of Atlanta
Hon. Richard H. Clark, Presiding
The city court resumed the call of the criminal docket yesterday morning at 8 o'clock, and disposed of the following business:

State vs. Bob Green. Larceny from the house; charged with stealing on the 25th of April last from the gentlemen's saloon, in the passenger depot, a pistol worth $5, the property of Mr. J. S. Porter. The defendant was adjudged guilty by the court and sentenced to work 13 months on the public works.

The State vs. Jordan Johnson. Charged with receiving stolen goods; charged with receiving from Bob Green the above pistol knowing that it was stolen. Adjudged guilty by the court, and sentenced to pay a fine of $20 and cost or six months labor on public works.

The State vs. Emeline Parker. Simple larceny; charged with stealing diverse articles of personal apparel, the property of Mrs. Mary Lagomasino. The defendant plead guilty, and was sentenced to pay a fine of $5 and cost or to serve six months on the public works.

The State vs. Wilkins Wiggins. Larceny from the house; charged with stealing from the Calloway house diverse articles of personal property, worth ten dollars. The defendant was tried by the court and adjudged not guilty, and was discharged.

>> From The Daily Constitution; Atlanta, Georgia: 3 January 1890:
[All the original articles (and more) can be viewed online at Ancestry with
the Historical Newspaper Subscription...]
A Bundle of Bones
The Tragic Death of Annie Martin, Who was Burned to Death
A House That is Well Known to the Police Department is Burned to the Ground - A Notorious Woman Perishes
Burned to a crisp!

That was the fate of Annie Martin last night. She perished in the burning of her home on Railroad alley, between Calhoun and Butler streets.

It was a tragic death, and the cause of it remains a mystery. It looks like a case of arson.

But nobody knows.

Kittie Stribling, a negro woman who lives not far from the scene of the fire, happened to look out and saw the flames bursting from the roof of the house.

She ran out, and then she observed a commotion in the east room nearest Calhoun street; while watching the progress of the fire she saw a woman run out of the room, and as she reached the hallway, fell to the floor.

A man ran to the door and broke it in, but it was too late. The fire was then bursting through the doors and windows, and the man staggered backward and gave the alarm.

Patrolman Pat McCullough pulled the nearest box. The department responded, but before the engines arrived, there were five hundred people standing on the railroad embankment looking down on the scene.

Front and rear and on every side men rushed to and fro trying to save buildings adjoining. And the cry went up: "A woman is burning to death in there!"

Soon as the fire department got water on the building the flames subsided, but the smoke was startling. Chief Joyner entered the house with the hook and ladder men, and amid the blinding smoke he discovered by the flickering light of his lantern a ghastly sight in the form of a human skeleton stretched at full length on the floor.

The body was burned to a crisp. There was no flesh on the limbs; no flesh on the body; the skull was as bare as marble, and there were no features left to even hint at the terrible story of the last moments of the unfortunate.

The fragments were removed by order of Sergeants Moss and Cartright, and four stout negroes bore the half-burned shutter on which they were laid. They were carried up the steep embankment and to the house of Willie Burton, on Collins street.

Undertaker H. W. Patterson was summoned and prepared the body for burial.

Annie Martin was well known in police circles. She kept as assignation house, and for ten or fifteen years was prominent in the criminal annals of Atlanta. Among the later crimes charged against her was the inveigling[?] and abduction of young girls into her house for immoral purposes.

She is said to have come to Atlanta from Athens, Ga. She was forty-two years old, and has borne a dark reputation ever since her advent in Atlanta.

For two or three weeks she has been ill, and most of the time she was confined to her bed. Nobody lived with her, consequently there is no witness to the beginning of the catastrophe. It is supposed that she was too weak to escape from her room when she saw that the house was on fire.

The origin of the fire is a mystery, and likely to remain so. There are many theories. It might've been the explosion of a lamp, or many other small accidents that fequently cause disastrous accidents.

But there is a strong suspicion that the house was fired by somebody through revengeful motives, and a desire to put a stop to the nefarious practices of her who lived there.

The unfortunate woman has neither kith[?] nor kin in or around Atlanta, and Willie Burton only took charge of the funeral out of compassion.

The house was worth about two or three hundred dollars.

>> BURNS, Robert Elliott (1890-1965) - Chain Gang Fugitive:
Author of I Am a Fugitive From a Georgia Chain Gang, Robert Elliott BURNS, through his book and a movie about his life, was responsible for the exposure and eventually the end of the inhumane Georgia chain gang system.

A World War I veteran out of a job, BURNS and 2 strangers burglarized $5.80 from a grocery store. For this crime, he was sentenced to 6-10 years on the chain gang. In June 1922 BURNS escaped and was not located until 1930, by which time he had risen to a high position on a magazine in Chicago. BURNS voluntarily returned to Georgia after he was promised by state officials that he would get a pardon. Instead, he was returned to the chain gang. BURNS then escaped again (something no other prisoner had ever done) and assumed a double life in New Jersey. During this time, BURNS began writing magainze articles describing his personal story and exposing chain gang conditions. These articles wer expanded into a book, and in 1932 a movie about his prison life starring Paul MUNI commanded enormous public sympathy.

Georgia officials were outraged. After locating BURNS later that year, they demanded his extradition. New Jersey Governor A. Harry MOORE held a special hearing in the Senate chamber of the State House at Trenton. Heading BURNS defense was Clarence DARROW. The hearing soon turned into a trial of Georgia'a penal system. Described in detail was the "sweat box," a barrel with iron strips on top, in which "bad" prisoners were kept, often with near-fatal results. It was revealed that prison cages built for 18 men actually housed 34 prisoners. Bolstered with endorsements by several other governors, Governor MOORE rejected the extradition request. BURNS was a free man inside New Jersey. Still Georgia did not cease its efforts to recapture it famous fugitive. In 1941, Governor Eugene TALMADGE tried again to extradite BURNS, citing improvements made in the system. The claims were countered by reformers who said the changes were in name only.

In 1945, Governor Ellis ARNALL finally ended the chain gang system and invited BURNS to return to Georgia. He did and ARNALL immediately commuted his sentence to time served. A free man at last, BURNS returned to his New Jersey home and continued to lend support to penal reform movements until his death in 1955.

>> Some of Georgia's Death Row Inmates and Executions

>> FRANK, Leo (1884-1915) - Lynch Victim:
Probably the most infamous anti-Semitic lynching in America was that of Leo FRANK, a 29-year-old Atlanta businessman. FRANK, born in Brooklyn, a graduate of Cornell, and president of the Atlanta chapter of B'nai B'rith, managed the National Pencil Company factory for his wife's uncle. On Saturday, 26 April 1913 (Confederate Memorial Day), the factory was shut, but FRANK was there catching up on some paperwork. At noon, he later told police, 14-year-old Mary PHAGAN, all dressed up to go to the holiday parade, stopped by the factory to pick up her wages. FRANK said she left immediately, but her body was found in the basement sometime after. She had been strangled and beaten. Penciled notes found by her body were supposedly written by the girl. One, addressed to "Mum," described her murderer as a tall African American male.

The next day Leo FRANK was charged with the rape-slaying. James CONLEY, a semiliterate African American employed at the factory made some startling accusations against FRANK, among them that he had been summoned by the white man, shown Mary's dead body, and told to carry it to the basement. In addition, he charged that FRANK had ordered him to write the notes.

Lynch-law pervaded the atmosphere during the 30-day trial. Mobs cheered the prosecutor and harangued the defense attorneys.

While the jury deliberated, crowds outside the courthouse kept chanting the "...monster" had to hang. FRANK was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Leo FRANK defense committees were formed in various parts of the nation. In Chicago 415,000 people signed petitions asking Georgi'a Governor John M. SLATON to commute the death sentence, but the chief executive was also under considerable pressure, and threats of death, not to do so. The FRANK defense brought in William J. BURNS, perhaps the nation's leading detective, to investigate, and he turned up considerable proof of a police frame-up. The police would not open any of their records to BURNS other than those he obtained with a court order; on one occasion BURNS and his assistant barely escaped from a lynch mob determined to make the case against FRANK stand. Ironically, this was perhaps the first murder case in the South in which the word of an African American was taken over that of a white man.

BURNS discovered a witness, an African American woman, who had been CONLEY's lover from time to time, and she signed a statement that CONLEY had told her he had killed the white girl. In response to the BURNS findings, Governor SLATON commuted FRANK's death sentence; it proved to be an act of political suicide. "The Annie Maude CARTER notes, which were not before the jury, were powerful evidence in behalf of the defendant," he wrote.

A Northern newspaper editorial announced, "The reign of terror in Georgia is over." But it was not. On 17 August 1915, 2 months after the commutation, 25 members of a secret vigilate group - the Knights of Mary Phagan - entered the Milledgeville Prison Farm and, without any resistence from armed prison guards, took FRANK away with them on a ghastly 175-mile ride to Marietta, the murdered girl's home town. Leo FRANK was lynched there before a howling, gloating mob. The lynchers then proudly posed for pictures around the hanging corpse.

Two months after the hanging, the Knights of Mary Phagan congregated on the top of Stone Mountain near Atlanta to burn a cross.

>> HARSH, George S. (1907-1980) - Murderer and War Hero:
Once sentenced to death for a senseless "thrill killing," George S. HARSH went on to become a much-storied World War II hero and an author and spokesman against capital punishment.

In 1929 HARSH and Richard G. GALLORY confessed to the shooting of a drugstore clerk during an Atlanta holdup that the newspapers called a thrill killing. The 2 were also charged in 6 other robberies and the killing of another clerk. Both defendants came from wealthy and socially prominent families. HARSH's family put up an elaborate and expensive defense, including testimony from 12 psychiatrists that he suffered from "psychological irresponsibility and hereditary taints." HARSH was nonetheless found guilty and sentenced to die in the electric chair, but this was later commuted to life imprisonment on a Georgia work gang. In 1940 he was granted a parole after helping to save a fellow inmate's life by performing an appendectomy on him.

HARSH joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. Shot down by the Germans, he was captured and sent to a Nazi prison camp. He played a key role in the tunnel breakout of 126 Allied soldiers from the camp, 50 of whom were later apprehended and executed. The movie entitled The Great Escape was based on this incident. HARSH was eventually freed from captivity, and after the war he turned to writing about his life and his moral redemption, relating his experiences in a book entitles A Lonesome Road (can be purchased here). He also crusaded against capital punishment, writing in 1972: "Capital punishment is a law zeroed in on the poor, the underprivileged, the friendless, the uneducated, and the ignorant. I was convicted of a senseless crime and sentenced to die in the electric chair. This sentence would have been carried out had I not come from a white, wealthy , and influential family. This Mosaic law of death is drawn from the worst of all human motives, revenge."

HARSH died 25 January 1980 in Toronto, Canada.

>> JUMP, John (?-1943) - Murder Victim:
When one December morning in 1943 the dismembered body of John JUMP was found on the train tracks near Fort Valley, Georgia, the authorities' first theory was that the man had obviously been drunk and fallen in front of the train. However, the police soon discarded this theory and began looking for a murderer.

Inspection of the JUMP home showed that the kitchen walls had recently been washed halfway to the ceiling and chemical tests revealed blood stains on the walls. Finally, JUMP's young widow admitted killing him, claiming self-defense. After splitting the victim's head open with an ax, she cut the body in 3 parts and in 2 trips in the dark, carried the pieces to a desolate section of train tracks.

Given a long prison term for second-degree murder, she might have well have gotten away with the crime but for one glaring miscalculation. There were 3 sets of tracks on the right-of-way where the body was found, but she had chosen to place its parts on the one set of tracks over which no train had run for eight months.

>>ROBERT MARTIN MURDER:
"Macon Daily Telegraph." Saturday, January 16, 1864. Page 2
SHOCKING AFFAIR - About 6 o'clock last evening, ROBERT MARTIN of this city was fatally stabbed, on 3rd street in front of Mrs. Sullivan's by JAMES BURNS of Twiggs county. The parties had been in each others' company the greater part of the day, in the course of which some trifling dispute arose, but which, after a few words appeared to be settled. Subsequently the affair was renewed when Burn cut Martin, inflicting a desperate gash below the right arm, the knife ranging in between the lungs and liver. Another blow severed the main artery in the left arm, near the shoulder, and in fact, nearly cut the limb entirely off. This last cut was the immediate cause of his death, although the first wound in all probability, have killed him. Martin as soon as cut, staggered forward exclaiming: "He has killed me," until he reached Mr. Jaughsteter's, a few doors distant, where he turned in and expired in a short time.

We were unable to learn what resistance, if any, Martin made. At all events Burn made his escape and had not been arrested up to a late hour last night.

"Macon Telegraph." Monday Morning, Jan. 18, 1864. Page 2
James C. Burns who killed Martin on Friday night about dusk, was arrested by the Sheriff about eight o'clock the same evening. He was examined and committed yesterday, and will be tried at the adjourned session of the Superior Court, which commences on Monday the 25th.

"Georgia Journal & Messenger." January 20, 1864, Wednesday. Macon, GA. Page 2, Column 4
HOMICIDE A shocking affair occurred in this city, on Third street, about six o'clock on Friday evening last, between ROBERT MARTIN of this city and JAMES BURNS of Twiggs county, in which Martin was killed. It appears that a short time previous, there had been some difficulty between them of a trivial character, at which time Martin drew a pistol on Burns, who, it would appear, was then unarmed, and the affair seemed to be quieted. They soon after met again on the the side walk, on Third street, when Martin received five or six very severe cuts and stabs, of which he died in a few minutes. Of what occurred at this second meeting it would be improper to speak of particularly, as it will probably be duly investigated before the Superior Court of this county, which convenes again on the 25th. A brother of Burns was present, and the facts were noticed only by one or two other persons although it occurred in a public place. Burns immediately fled, but was soon captured. The case was examined into before Justices Grannias, Wyche and Hughes on Saturday, by whom he was committed for trial on the charge of murder.

Burns is a man of respectable standing at home, and came here as a member of a company of State Troops on their way to Savannah; but now has a more fearful ordeal to pass through than that of facing any enemy in the field he would have been likely to have met about Savannah.

"Southern Recorder," Milledgeville, Georgia. Jan. 26, 1864
James Burns, a soldier from Twiggs County, has been arrested for killing Robert Martin in Macon.

[I found James C. Burns in the 1850 Twiggs County Federal census. He was age 20 and Overseer of his father's (James C. Burns, Sr.) plantation. His father�s worth was $25,000/$100,250. He had 3 younger brothers & sisters.

"Record of Interments for Rose Hill Cemetery of Bibb County, Georgia 1840 to 1871"
ROBERT MARTIN - Date of Interment: Jan 15, 1864; Age: 32; Male; Residence: Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, CSA; Cause of Death: Stabbed; Lot: 5; Block: 1; Page Number 63 in Interment Book.

**His father and Mother, and his sister Leora Martin are interred in the same and Block, but are in Lot 12.]
Submitted by Jeanie Smith Zadach

>>R. V. SMITH Murder:
[R.V. SMITH, s/o JOHN I. SMITH]
"The Macon Daily Telegraph," Friday Morning, November 11, 1910, p. 7-A
JONES COUNTY FARMER IS SHOT BY DEPUTY
R.V. Smith Charges That Deputy Sheriff Norton of Macon Attacked Him Without Any Provocation Whatever ~
Shooting Occurred Four Miles from City ~
Charging that while driving to his home in Jones County, about eight miles from Macon, he was stopped by Deputy Sheriff Norton and without the least provocation, shot through the leg. R.V. Smith, a prominent and prosperous farmer, was brought to the city last night, and after the refusal of Jailer Roberts to lock him up in jail, was sent to the home of his sister, Mrs. O'Neal who lives in East Macon. Mr. Smith stated to Telegraph reporter last night that he would swear out a warrant for the arrest of Officer Norton.

According to the statement of Mr. Smith, he came to the city yesterday to dispose of several bales of cotton and late in the afternoon started to his home in Jones County. He claims that when he was about four miles from the city, on the Cross Keys road, he noticed an automobile approaching from the rear and stopped his mules to one side of the road to permit the car to pass by.

Instead of going by the automobile came to a sudden halt in front of the team Mr. Smith was driving and according to his story, a man whom he afterward learned was Deputy Norton climbed into the rear end of the wagon and shot him in the leg.

According to information gained last night, Deputies Norton and Lavender had been summoned to round up a crowd of Negroes who had shot at a dog belonging to Lamar Clay, in East Macon, and they succeeded in placing several of the Negroes under arrest, loading them all into a wagon preparatory to bringing them back to the city, and then went on down the road in the automobile until the came upon Mr. Smith's wagon.

Mr. Smith complained bitterly of the treatment that had been accorded him last night, stating that after he had been wounded he was placed under arrest and Deputy Norton tried to force him to return to town in the wagon with the crow of darkies, but upon the interception of Deputy Lavender, he was allowed to return in the automobile with the two officers and Lamar Clay, Jr., who accompanied the officers in their pursuit of the Negroes.

"The Macon Telegraph," Sunday Morning, November 13, 1910, p. 5-A
WARRANT ISSUED FOR ARREST OF NORTON
Bibb County Deputy Sheriff Who Shot Jones County Farmer, Is Charged Shooting With Intent To Kill ~
Efforts To Locate Him Yesterday Failed ~
Where is Deputy Sheriff Will Norton? Since Friday morning efforts to locate the missing deputy who last Thursday night shot R.V. Smith, a well-known Jones County farmer, have failed. Repeated inquiries at the sheriff's office have been met by the statement that Norton had not been there and his whereabouts were unknown.

Yesterday Deputy Sheriff Charles Roberts, of Jones County, was sent to Macon by Sheriff Brooks to serve a warrant for the arrest of Deputy Norton, charging him with shooting with intent to kill, but up to last night the deputy had failed to locate Norton.

Several stories of the affair of last Thursday night have been published, but Mr. Smith, the man who was shot, made his first positive declaration yesterday to a representative of The Telegraph. He charges that Norton shot at him five times and also struck him over the head with a pistol, despite the fact that he had done absolutely nothing to warrant the attack.

Mr. Smith's state of the shooting follows:
"I was returning from the gin and was on my way home. When the automobile came up behind me, it frightened my mules and they started running down the road. The auto with the man and driver followed me in the road, and when the auto drew near the man fired at me three times. By this time I had stopped my mules and the man in the auto jumped out and shot at me two more times, the first shot missing, but the last shot struck me in the leg. He then jumped in the wagon and hit me over the head several times with his fist. I asked him not to kill me, and told him I had done nothing. He then grabbed hold of the reins, and drove my wagon down the road a short distance, where the other two deputies were with the four Negroes who had been arrested. He took my mules out and tied them to a tree. After this they put me in the wagon, but finally put me in the auto. He said that he was going to bring me to the hospital but instead carried me to the jail. Reaching the jail, Jailer Roberts, whom I know well, recognized me, and he refused to take me in, as he had no charge against me. I was then taken over to East Macon with my relatives."

Mr. Smith says he was shot without provocation, and that he intends prosecuting the man who shot him to the fullest extent of the law. A warrant charging Deputy Norton with assault with intent to murder has been sworn out before Sheriff Brooks, of Jones County.

Mr. Smith also said he was shot about 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon, when it was light enough to tell the difference between a white man and a Negro.

Mr. Smith says he believes if he had made any effort to resist his assailant, the man would have killed him. He said when he reached the place where the other deputies were, with the Negroes arrested, he tried to find out the name of the man who had shot him, but they refused to tell him. He said he did not know the name of the man who had shot him until he reached the jail.

"Jones County News." Gray, GA., Thursday, November 17, 1910, p. 1-A
R.V. SMITH SHOT BY DEPUTY SHERIFF
While returning from the gin house, on the Macon and Plenitude road, to his home last Thursday afternoon, Mr. R.V. Smith, a quiet, inoffensive and hardworking farmer of this county was shot and beaten over the head by one Will Norton, a Deputy Sheriff of Bibb County.

It appears that two or three white boys from Macon were out on the above named road, a few miles from the city, and some Negroes in a wagon coming out from Macon shot at the boy's dog and afterwards at the boys themselves. The facts were immediately reported to the boy's father who sought the aid of the Sheriff. Several Deputies were hurried into an automobile and the race for the Negroes began. They were finally overtaken and arrested. On that same road in his wagon was Mr. Smith, who as before stated, was returning home from the gin. The auto frightened his mules and they ran a short distance before they were stopped, the machine still following him. He was ordered by Norton to hold up his hands, but Mr. Smith having violated no law, failed to do so when Norton began to fire upon him. One of the balls struck him in the leg and he is seriously wounded. After shooting him, the officer jumped in the wagon and proceeded to beat Mr. Smith over the head with his pistol. He was arrested and carried back to Macon and turned over to the jailor, Mr. Jack Roberts, formerly of this county and who knew Mr. Smith well, recognizing the fact that Mr. Smith had violated no law refused to lock him up and he was allowed to go his way.

Norton and his friends have given different reports about the uncalled for attack - giving as the main excuse that it was too dark to distinguish Mr. Smith from a negro and it appears that he wanted to arrest every negro on the road.

He had no warrant for the arrest of any one, and if he had, he should have ascertained who he was arresting, and his shooting and abusing this innocent man is inexcusable.

A warrant has been issued for Norton but he cannot be found. Deputy Sheriff Charlie Roberts was sent to Macon last week to serve the warrant for the arrest of Norton, charging him with shooting with intent to kill, but up to now has failed to locate him.

Several stories of the disgraceful affair has been published, but Mr. Smith the man, who was shot makes the following positive declaration to the Macon Telegraph: (See above Macon Telegraph article-verbatim through the end of the article)

"The Macon Daily Telegraph," Wednesday Morning, November 23, 1910, p. 8-A
MAY OFFER REWARD FOR DEPUTY NORTON
People of Jones County Much Wrought Up Over Shooting of R.V. Smith ~
Though Sheriff W.S. Brooks of Jones County and his deputies have made a diligent search for Will Norton, who shot R.V. Smith, one of the most prominent farmers of Jones County, two weeks ago, their efforts have so far proven fruitless, and the Bibb County deputy is still at large.

The friend of Mr. Smith, it is understood will offer a reward of $500 in a few days for the capture of Norton. The people of Jones County are very much wrought up over the affair, believing that Norton shot the popular farmer without any provocation whatever. Mr. Smith is still confined to his bed from the effect of the shot.

"The Macon Daily Telegraph," Saturday Morning, December 3, 1910, p. 1-A & 2-A (Front Page)
R. V. SMITH DIES, NORTON FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE
Blood Poisoning Developed Few Days Ago, and Victim Died Friday Morning at the Hospital.
Reward for Missing Deputy Sheriff $350
Warrant Has Been Changed to Read Murder, Instead of Shooting With Intent to Kill.
Smith Funeral to Be Held This Afternoon
Unable to survive a pistol wound in his thigh, R.V. Smith, the Jones County farmer, who was shot by Deputy Sheriff W.B. Norton about a month ago on the Clinton road, died at the Macon Hospital yesterday morning at 11 o'clock. Mr. Smith had been at the hospital about ten days, having been sent there when he developed blood poison from an aseptic wound, caused by the leaden bullet passing through his thigh.

The death of Mr. Smith has aroused considerable feeling among the farmers and people of Jones County, and several of his friends, who were in the city yesterday, expressed themselves freely about the shooting and Norton.

After the shooting Norton left the city and nothing has been learned of his whereabouts. He is now a fugitive from justice with a reward of $350 for his capture. Shortly after the shooting, relatives of Mr. Smith offered $150 reward for Norton's arrest. Yesterday it was learned that John Smith, one of the sons of the Jones County farmer, would increase this amount by adding another $100. With the reward of $100, which Governor Brown will offer for the state the total reward for the arrest of Norton will aggregate $350.

Deputy Sheriff Simpson made a statement yesterday about the shooting telling of the call received over the phone from Lamar Clay that some Negroes had shot at his sons. Deputy Sheriff Norton and Deputy Sheriff Lavender got in an auto driven by a chauffeur, and went to the place. He said when they got to Lamar Clay's place, Mr. Clay and one of his small sons got in the auto with them. They drove on down the road and after the little boy had pointed out the Negroes who had done the shooting, four Negroes were arrested and handcuffs placed on them. Norton came to Mr. Simpson and said: Wait here till I come back."

"Leaving me and Deputy Lavender in charge of the prisoners, he jumped in the auto and with the driver went further down the road. After Norton had gone about a quarter of a miles I heard one shot fired, and after a short interval, heard four more shots fired. I heard Mr. Smith scream and knew that some one had been shot. It was too dark at this time to be able to tell a white man from a Negro."

Simpson says when Mr. Smith was brought back to where he and Lavender where, he had to flash his light in his face to tell whether he was white or black.

Sheriff Robertson yesterday made a statement about the affair. He told of the message from Lamar Clay to send some one to his place. He said he was in the superior court room at the time, but came down stairs afterward. He said he cautioned Norton and told him not to let Lamar Clay get him into trouble. He cautioned him particularly not to go over into Jones County. He told Norton if the Negroes had shot at the boys to arrest them and bring them back.

The next he heard from the deputies some one phoned him at his office the next morning, telling him that Norton had shot Mr. Smith, a Jones County farmer. The Sheriff stated that since the shooting he had not seen Norton, and knew nothing of his whereabouts.

The warrant against Norton charging him with assault with intent to murder, will be changed to murder.

Mr. Smith was 57 years old, and leaves a wife, Mrs. Mollie Edward Smith, four sons, and two sisters, the latter being Mrs. J.P. King and Mrs. T.J. Christian of Macon. Two brothers, Messrs Jim and Sparks Smith, also survive him. The funeral will be held this afternoon at 3:30 o'clock at the family graveyard in Jones County. Rev. J.P. Lee will officiate. The funeral party will leave the home of his sister, Mrs. J.P. King on Main Street, this afternoon at 1:30 o'clock.
.........
"Bill" Norton Surrenders To Stand Trial in Jones - Will B. Norton, a former Bibb deputy sheriff, wanted in Jones County for inflicting a fatal wound on J.A. Smith (sic) a farmer of that county, arrived in Macon between 4 and 5 o�clock yesterday afternoon in company with Sheriff I.C. Avera of Nashville, Ga., on his way to Jones County to give himself up to the authorities there. Sheriff's deputies here found him at the home of Mrs. Julia A. Parrish whom Norton had shown marked attention prior to his leaving Macon last November following the shooting. Three hours before the authorities here had found Norton a letter from him saying he had given himself up to stand trial in Jones County reached The Telegraph, through a friend of his, the letter being written by J.P. Knight, Norton's attorney, and authorized by Norton over the telephone...
His letter to The Telegraph, delivered early last night, is as follows:
To The Macon Telegraph:
I ask at your hands the space to say to the people of Jones County, Macon and the public at large that I have returned for the purpose of standing trail at the April term of the superior court of Jones County. I have come back because I am conscious of no wrong intention, and while I regret the unfortunate affair which cost Mr. Smith his life more than any one else, I know that I would not have harmed a hair on his head except under the circumstances which made it necessary for me to to do. I therefore ask that the public withhold its criticism of me until the facts are known, and confident that when the truth appears it will establish my innocence. I am, yours truly.
W.B. Norton, Gray, G., Feb. 28 (1911)
Submitted by Jeanie Smith Zadach

References:
- The Encyclopedia of American Crime by Carl Sifakis
- The Daily Constitution of Atlanta, Georgia dated 22 May 1878, as viewed online at Ancestry with the Historical Newspaper Subscription

Some of Georgia's Death Row Inmates and Executions

Georgia Historical Newspaper Items

Jones County, GA Crime & Criminals

Washington County, GA Crime & Criminals

Wilkinson County, GA Crime & Criminals

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