Murder of Frank J. Lee

 On April 18, 1878, 33-year-old Frank J. Lee, a farmer, was driving his wagon home from the market in Chatham County, Georgia. A black youth, 18-year-old Frank Perry, would rob Frank Lee and in the process would shoot him. He would live a little bit after but passed away. 

Frank Perry would flee to North Carolina where he was caught. He would go on trial and would be found guilty and set to hang. He would be hanged in Savannah on June 26, 1878.

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in Georgia pg 26

Georgia Weekley Telegraph, Journal, and Messenger April 23, 1878

Georgia Weekley Telegraph, Journal, and Messenger May 7, 1878

UNIDENTIFIED: April 24, 1924 Valdosta, Georgia Jane Doe

On April 12, 1924, a woman died from heart disease and kidney problems in Valdosta, Georgia. She had been in the city for around 20 days and was doing housework for a living.  She was buried in the Lowndes County Poor Farm Cemetery in Mineola.

On the death certificate, there is a name on there. The only thing I can make out is last name was Howell but next to that it is noted as Don't Know. So it may be the name she was using, but it's unknown if it was actually her name. She was a widow but don't know is also listed beside it.

Jane Doe is a black female and was around 50-years-old at the time. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Unidentified Wiki

Murder of Berry Adams

On March 30, 1874, Primus Edwards (black) would kill 25-year-old Berry Adams (black) at the plantation of Captain John A. Cobb in Sumter County, Georgia. He would claim that the murder happened because Berry was ogling Primus's woman. There is little information about the murder that I could find. One source said that Berry died because Primus was defending himself.

On November 13th Primus would be the first man hung in Sumter. He was quiet and claimed to be a child of God. Between 250 to 300 people came to witness the execution. Before his execution, a large portion of the people who came to witness his execution was able to come and visit him at his cell to say goodbye.

He would have a 6-minute speech before the hanging. He stated that he was being wrongfully hung and that the colored witnesses were the cause of this. His photo was then taken on the scaffold. At about 11:20 a.m. Primus would be hanged in the jail yard and pronounced dead 17 minutes later.

SOURCES:
Legal Executions in Georgia page 18
Sumter County History
The Sun and ColumbusWeekly Enquirer April 7, 1874
Georgia Weekly Telegraph, Journal, and Messanger November 17, 1874

UNIDENTIFIED: February 27, 1991 Adel, Georgia Jane Doe

On February 27, 1991 skeletal remains would be found in Adel, Georgia. It's believed that these may be historical remains. There is little information in this case.

Jane Doe was a female between 30 to 60 years old. 

SOURCES:

NamUs

Murder of Luke Crawford

 On December 15, 1873, in Calhoun County, Georgia, Bill Roseman (black) killed Luke Crawford (black) by shooting him with a musket. Bill would claim that Luke owed him money. 

Bill would be tried and found guilty. He was hung on January 29, 1875. 

I could not find much information on this case. 

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in Georgia page 18

Murder of John Ledbetter

 In 1879 African American brothers Jordan and Wylie Sheats were contract workers on the farm of Joseph Williams in Maddison County, Georgia. They wanted to leave the farm, but Joseph Williams would remind them of their contract for the whole year. 

On the night of February 24th Joseph saw a wagon in front of where the brothers occupied. He went to investigate and ask why the wagon was there. Wylie responded, "It's a wagon from Harmon Grove.". Jordan who came out of the house said "Wylie there's no use in telling a lie about it. It's Tom Smith's wagon to move me and my things."

Joseph asked them to stay till the next day so they can settle things. He then remineded Jordan that he owed him $27 and must pay it. While the conversation was going on Joseph's son, J.Y. and a white tenant 31-year-old John Ledbetter the two on Joseph's side.

The two brothers still prepared to leave as the conversation continued. The conversation would turn into an argument. Jordan would go and retrieve a shotgun and told them,"We'll leave if we want to." In response the J.Y. and John went to the house to retrieve revolvers. When they returned the brothers were cursing and arguing with Joseph. 

John would look at Jordan and yell "Don't curse so." In response he pointed the shotgun at him and asked "Is it any your business?" John respoded angrily and the gun was lifted almost touching Johns chest and went off. John sank to the ground and died several minutes.

Almost as soon as the gun had gone off the brothers fled on foot into the darkness. They were shot at about 6 times by Joseph, but it was too dark for accurate aim. The next dary Maddison County Sheriff gathered a posse to hunt them down.

The brothers would be found in Athens. They were ordered to surrender, but instead refused. They began firing at the posse and the posse fired back. Wylie would end up dying, and Jordan fled again. It seemed as if he had disappeared and search for him sizzled out. Nobody had known where he'd gone for months. 

In August in West Virginia claimed to have been outraged. The desription of the man matched Jordan, who was working on a farm. A lynch mob would go to his house and drag him out. He swore that he was innocent. They would begin to hang him as they did not believe, but when he put his fingers to his mouth as if to speak they loosened it up. He told them he did not know of a rape, but he was wanted for a murder in Georgia.

He asked the leader of the group to write to Georgia to see if he was telling the truth or not. If it was a lie he would let them hang him. The mob believed him and did not believe he did the assault. 

He would be brought back to Georgia for his trial. He not once denied the murder, but claimed it was self defense. He was found guilty and set to be executed on November 14, 1879.There was a large crowd at the execution, but no excitement. Jordan accepted his fate and said he was ready to die. At 1:30 p.m. he was dropped and his death was long and painful. He struggled violently for 12 minutes before being pronounced dead.

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in Georgia pg 28

The Marietta Journal September 18, 1879

The New York Times October 26, 1879

St. Louis Globe-Democrat November 15, 1879

Perrysburg Journal November 21, 1879

The Abbeville Press and Banner December 3, 1879

Murder of Jim and John Denningfield

 On Sunday, December 18, 1927, The bodies of 55-year-old Jim Dennifield, and his son 9-year-old John were found murdered in their Dacula, Georgia by a neighbor. When they were found the two hounds stayed with John laying with him as if trying to protect him from further harm. 

It's possible that this happened on the Friday night before being found. Jim had quartered and fed his stock. His son was already preparing to go to bed when they were attacked. Jim was known to be distrustful of banks and was likely hiding money in his home. This is possibly why the killers/robbers followed the farmer home and took a cracked door as an opportunity.

Jim would fight the intruders and his son would hide under a lint pile in the adjoining room. The killer would hit Jim with an ax or similar weapon under the chin almost decapitating him and then crushed his head. The killers would drag out the 9-year-old and make him tell them where the money was hidden. He told them that the money was hidden under planks. They left no witnesses after they got the $500 (equivalent to$7,358 today). They killed the boy hacking him with the ax on a cot. 

There were bloody fingerprints found at the scene. There was some on the mantle and on the door. Tracks lead to an abandoned sawmill near the home about 500 yards away. There was evidence of them leaving in a car. 

I could only find the initial articles on this case on December 19th. I couldn't find if this case was solved or not. 

SOURCES:

The Atlanta Constitution December 19, 1927 (Part 1) (Part 2)

The Orlando Sentinel December 19, 1927

The Knoxville Journal December 19, 1927

Johnson City Staff News December 19, 1927

Murder of James "Jim" Monroe

On the night of September 17 or 19, 1883 around 9 p.m. 18-year-old Ambrose West was at the plantation of J.E. Billups in Worth County, Georgia. A number of colored people were gathered when Ambrose attacked James "Jim" Monroe. 

He would hit James in the head with a woode maul and when he was down he was hit again. This would kill him. Ambrose would be brought to authorities by those who witnessed the murder. Ambrose would admit to the murder stating another party encouraged him to do it. It wouldn't be stated why he attacked and killed James.

He would be set to hang. He would be seen as indifferent when his sentence was read to him at trial. Before he was hung he was accepting of his fate. 

On November 30, 1883, Ambrose would be hanged twice. His rope would break on the first drop and after an hour a second attempt was done. He would be pronounced dead after 26 minutes from strangulation. 

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in Georgia, Page 36

The Atlanta Constitution December 1, 1883

The Watertown News December 5, 1883

Murder of Thomas A. Byne

In 1865 44-year-old Thomas A. Byne was a slave owner, physician, and noteworthy landowner. He lived in upper Burke County, Georgia. At this time 6 or 7 of his newly freed slaves began to plot against him. They believed that they would get his land split among them.

On July 18, 1865, one of the former slaves, Essex Walker, shot Thomas to death with a shotgun. It was unclear if Essex was the ringleader or just the trigger man. He was arrested and convicted of the crime. Essex was hanged on March 23, 1866, in Augusta, Georgia.

SOURCES:
Legal Executions in Georgia page 6

Murder Ballads: Murder of Delia Green

The murder of young African American Delia Young may have been the inspiration for the folk songs "Delia" and "Delia's Gone"

By Christmas Eve 1900 14-year-old Delia Green and14-year-old Cooney Houston (sometimes referred to Mose or Moses) had been dating for months by then. The two were at the home of Willie and Emma West on 113 Ann St. which was one block from Delia's home in Savannah, Georgia.

The West's were having a Christmas Eve party at their home. There were quite a few people who joined the party. At 3 A.M. on Christmas day Delia and Cooney were still at the party. It was said that Cooney was loaded. There are contradictions on whether he was the only one drunk or not at the party.

Witnesses claimed that Delia was mad at Cooney. He was teasing her, calling her his wife. He was joking around that they'd had a sexual relationship and wasn't talking to him at the party. Sometime during the argument, she called him a "Son of a Bitch." This angered the boy.

A shot was fired into Delia's groin area. She was dead and Cooney had the gun. He decided to run. Willie West then caught the 14-year-old and handed him over to patrolman J.T. Williams. J.T. Williams said that Cooney confessed to shooting her. That they had gotten in a fight and she called him a son of a bitch. This angered him and he shot her and said he would do it again.

At his trial, he wore shorts to make people realize he was young. He also backtracked on his confession and claimed that the gun had gone off accidentally. He said the Willie West asked the boy to retrieve his pistol from the gunshop. He still had the gun on him when he came back from a second errand of getting more alcohol. Willie Mills told the court that he witness Eddie Cohn and Conney fighting over a gurn and it accidentally went off.

Other witnesses called out the lies. They stated that Willie Mills wasn't at the party at the time. He had left earlier. Eddie had also left the party earlier and didn't even struggle with the boy over a pistol. No one believed this story.

He was found guilty, but because of his age, the judge gave him life in prison instead of the death penalty. He was then paroled by Governor John M. Slaton 12 years later 1913. His life is unknown, but he had died in New York City in 1927.

The ballads never state or ignore the fact that the two were in their early teens. The Delia's gone version (found above) makes it seem as if  Cooney or the killer was intentionally seeking out to kill Delia that night. Which wasn't true it was a bad and childish decision. It's doesn't excuse Cooney's crime, but it wasn't intentional. But now you know the tragic background to this murder ballad.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia
Country Daily 
Murder By Gaslight 
Find a Grave
Haunted Savannah Tours

Murder of William Wise

Alice Riley arrived in America in December of 1733. The teenager came bound to be an indentured servant to escape the famine happening in Ireland. She was sent to work for a man named William Wise. She worked for William in Savannah Georgia and knew that she had to work for him for several years to pay off her debt.

It was said that William wasn't a good man to work for and was cruel and sadistic. He was a plantation owner and not only did his servants despised him, but the people of town also did. Alice initially thought she was to be a housemaid or field hand. William had other plans for the girl.

Alice was described as pretty and decided to use her for his own pleasures knowing she couldn't say no. He would mistreat and beat her daily much like he would an African slave. He would often make her and other female servants/slaves bath and groom him.

Alice met Richard White on the plantation and fell in love with him. He was working as a butler for William Wise. During the night of March 1, 1734,  while Alice bathed William Richard heard her screams, and together they killed William. It's unknown if it was planned ahead of time or not.

Alice was said to have suffocated William with a handkerchief which was still tied around his neck and Richard finished him off by drowning him in a bucket of water. They left his body still laying on his bed. They had fled the house and his at the Isle of Hope but were found.  The two were arrested and set to hang for the murder of their master.

They hung Richard first. It was found that Alice was pregnant at the time and the people of Savannah didn't want to hang a pregnant woman. She stayed in jail until the birth of her son James and four weeks after his birth she was hung on Jan. 19 1735 at Wright Square in Savannah Georgia. Her body was left hanging for three days before being cut down. To the end, Alice maintained she was innocent.

James did not live long after his mother's death. He died around two months later.

There's a legend of a ghost woman looking for her child in Wright Square. She asks everyone to help her look for her baby and often tourists will call the police reporting her. A woman with dated clothing from Alice's time is never found.

SOURCES:
Murderpedia
Victims of Homicide Wiki
Georgia Info
Freeman's Rag
Capital Punishment UK
Mostly Ghosts
Savannah Now October 30, 2014
Savannah Now October 22, 2015