Homicides of Adults in Franklin County, Georgia, to 1900

Crime: Unknown Category: unknown Mob: Terrorist

Race: [w]

Gender: m

Age: adult

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Victim: Willis Dyar
Ethnicity:

Race: w

Age: adult

Literate:

Marital Status: m. or widowed

Children: yes

Occupation: [farmer]

Town: FRA

Birthplace: FRA

Religion:

Organizations:

P
Class: probable

Crime: HOM

Rela: UNK

Motive: UNK

Intox?:

Holiday?:

Time of day: night

Days to death: 4

S
Suspect(s
USPECT(s):
VICTIM(s): William Reade

Weapon: rifle
Circumstances: Reade saw his assailant but did not know who it was. Near Sloan Bruce's.
Inquest:
Indictment: fled
Term:
Court proceedings:


Legal records:

Newspaper:
Toccoa News, 8/13/1886: "Shot.--Capt. Mead A. Adams was in Toccoa Wednesday. From him we learn that William Reade was shot last Sunday night near Sloan Bruce's in Franklin county by some unknown party. The ball was thought to be a rifle ball and it entered the left breast very near the heart. The wound is considered very dangerous.

"Later.--We learn since the above has been in type that Mr. Reade died Thursday. We also learn that Mr. Reade saw the party who shot him but did not know who it was."

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Victim: William Reade
Ethnicity:

Race: [w]

Gender: m

Age: adult

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Occupation:

Town: FRA

Birthplace:

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P
NOTE: Ed. says that FS had murdered his wife in South Carolina by cutting her throat, which was why he had been imprisoned.

Crime: HOM: 2 adults & 3 children

Rela: HHLD FAMILY by CONVICT LABORER

Motive: UNK [ROBBERY]

Intox?:

Day of week:

Holiday?:

Time of day: [night]

Days to death: 0

S
Suspect(s

Crime: murder Category: murder Mob: Mass

"After murdering the four, he then set fire to the house, leaving the baby to the tender mercies of the flames.

"The annals of Indian brutality and barbarism may be searched in vain for an instance which will surpass this in cold-blooded fiendishness, and it is no wonder that a body of men took the law into their own hands and sent his soul, stained with the blood of five murdered and burned victims, into another world. Sanders showed no mercy to his unsuspecting victims and no mercy was shown him.

"Human life is sacred and must be protected and if courts, and officers of the law, do not avenge crimes and punish criminals, it is not surprising that outraged and defenseless humanity should assume the province of punishing offenders.

"Lynch law cannot be justified upon any principle of government or morality, and it is doubtful if it can be justified upon the ground of expediency or necessity. To admit its justification is to admit weakness of government. If ever a lynching occurred which is justifiable it is the lynching of Sanders, the five-fold murderer and incendiary. No form of death ever known to human ingenuity or cruelty would be severe enough for the devil man who could cold-bloodedly murder father, mother, two children and leave a helpless infant to perish with the dead bodies of its parents in the flames.

"It seems that Sanders was nothing more nor less than a devil in human form even before this crowning piece of Satanic fiendishness. Before leaving South Carolina, he cut his wife's throat from ear to ear. (We learn that she was related to a prominent citizen of Toccoa.) We are also informed that he robbed his father of all his money and also burnt his barn. He was sent to the penitentiary for this, but by some means, was released. Coming to Georgia, he violated the law, is convicted and sentenced to pay a fine or go to the chaingang. John Swilling comes forward and pays his fine and takes him to his home. He murders his benefactor, wife and three children and burns down the house that had been his home and shelter.

"In the 'wee small hours of the night,' a horse is led from under him and he swings between the earth that he has disgraced and the heaven which he defied.

"Hell itself must be the worse for his citizenship, and surely the lost spirits of that lower world will refuse to bear him company."

Race: w

Age: adult

Literate:

Marital Status: had been married

Children:

Occupation: [farm laborer for the Swillings]

Town: FRA

Birthplace: father lived in South Carolina

Religion:

Organizations:

Victim 1: Mr. John Swilling
Ethnicity:

Race: w

Age: adult

Literate:

Marital Status: m

Children: yes

Occupation: [farmer]

Town: FRA

Birthplace:

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Race: w

Age: adult

Literate:

Marital Status: m. John

Children: yes

Occupation: [farm wife]

Town: FRA

Birthplace:

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Victim 3: ___ Swilling
Ethnicity:

Race: w

Age: child

Literate:

Marital Status: s

Children:

Occupation:

Town: FRA

Birthplace:

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Victim 4: ___ Swilling
Ethnicity:

Race: w

Age: child

Literate:

Marital Status: s

Children:

Occupation:

Town: FRA

Birthplace:

Religion:

Organizations:

Victim 5: ___ Swilling
Ethnicity:

Race: w

Age: infant

Literate: n

Marital Status: s

Children: n

Occupation:

Town: FRA

Birthplace:

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1886, Dec. 20 FRA

P
NOTE: See the account of his lynching above.

Crime: HOM

Rela: NONDOM LYNCHING of MURDERER

Motive: REVENGE for FAMILICIDE

Intox?:

Day of week: M

Holiday?:

Time of day: 2am

Days to death: 0

S
Suspect(s

Crime: murder Category: murder Mob: Mass

Race: w

Age: adult

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Victim: Frank Sanders
Ethnicity:

Race: w

Age: adult

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CT

P

Crime: HOM

Rela: NONDOM

Motive: UNK

Intox?:

Day of week: Sat

Holiday?:

Time of day:

Days to death: 35

S
Suspect(s

CARNESVILLE TRIBUNE, 4/8/1891: "Our readers will remember that Wm. G. Manley, an aged citizen of this county, received a severe beating from some unknown parties last October from the effects of which he died on the 16th of October. Suspicion fastened on G. T. Cary, Rebecca Jordan, Emma Jordan, and Joe Jordan. At the last term of the Superior Court, the grand jury found a true bill against those parties and G. T. Cary is now confined to jail."

"G. Thomas Cary now languishes in Carnesville jail. He is charged with being the murderer of Uncle Wm. Manley. On the 13th of last September W. G. Manley, an old gentleman who lived about six miles south of this place, was brutally beaten, and he died on the 18th of October. An investigation was made by the coroner's jury, but enough evidence could not be found to fasten the crime of murder on any one. The grand jury sifted the matter and found a true bill against G. T. Cary as principal in first degree, and Rebecca Jordan, Emma Jordan, and Joe Jordan as accessories after the fact. The principal is now in jail awaiting a hearing by the superior court, and the accessories will probably be arrested soon. As the matter will undergo a judicial investigation, we withhold any comments."

Race: [w]

Gender: m

Age: adult

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Race: [w]

Gender: f

Age: adult

Literate:

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Race: [w]

Gender: f

Age: adult

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Race: [w]

Gender: m

Age: adult

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Victim: William G. Manley
Ethnicity:

Race: [w]

Gender: m

Age: adult "aged" [70]

Literate:

Marital Status:

Children:

Occupation: "gentleman"

Town: FRA

Birthplace:

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Organizations:

CT

P

Crime: HOM

Rela: SPOUSE WIFE by HUSBAND

Motive: ADULTERY

Intox?:

Day of week: M

Holiday?:

Time of day: evening

Days to death: 0

S
Suspect(s

CARNESVILLE ENTERPRISE, 3/20/1891: "Is It Murder?" "Has Dr. J. M. Glover Killed His Wife?" "Very Strong Circumstantial Evidence That He Did." "He Is Behind the Bars in Carnesville Jail--A Post Mortem Examination Being Held On the Dead Wife."

"Mrs. Dr. J. M. Glover died at her home in the western portion of this county last Monday evening. Circumstances lead the people to believe that there was foul play that caused her death, and that her husband is the culprit. The evidence was promptly put before Coroner Sorrows, who impanelled a jury, and secured the services of Drs. Freeman, Rampley, and Burruss, and started to Nails Creek church, where she was buried, to exhume the body and hold a post mortem examination. The coroner and his jury are still out at this writing (Thursday afternoon) and it will be impossible for us to receive the verdict before going to press.

"Dr. Glover first came to this county about seven months ago, coming from somewhere about Augusta, Ga. He brought another woman, and not his wife, with him. Our people soon found it out, and had both brought before the court, and the woman went to jail, where she now is, Glover giving bond. Later on his wife followed him, and they again began life together, though he and his paramour occasionally said things that lead the people to know that the wife was in the way.

"When the news went out that Mrs. Glover was dead the neighbors made inquiry as to the nature of her sickness, which led them to believe that she had been poisoned. To further strengthen the evidence against Dr. Glover's guilt, he came to town on Wednesday night, the next day after the burial of his wife, and tried to secure bail for his paramour, stating that he wanted to marry her at once. This action, with the other damaging evidence, caused Dr. H. M. Freeman, who was his bondsman, to turn him over to the proper authorities, and he was at once placed in jail. When told that he was suspicioned of poisoning his wife, he said that they might find she had been poisoned, but some one else gave it to her, and not him. We will give full particulars of the case next week."
CARNESVILLE TRIBUNE, 3/25/1891: "Behind the Bars" "Charged With Poisoning His Wife" "A Sad Tale of Man's Perfidy and Woman's fidelity."

Dr. J. M. Glover is behind the bars in Carnesville jail, awaiting to answer to the charge of poisoning his wife. Dr. Glover deserted his wife in Augusta and came to this county with another woman about six months ago. He and the woman were promptly lodged in jail as soon as the people learned of Dr. Glover's Augusta wife. Glover was released on the bond of Dr. H. M. Freeman. The woman is still held in jail.

Dr. Glover's wife joined him here a short time ago, they were apparently living together amicably. On the evening of the 17th inst. Mrs. Glover died. The day following the burial of his wife, Dr. Glover came to Carnesville and endeavored so [sic] secure the release of the woman in jail, intending to marry her at once. This course, together with some facts connected with the death of Mrs. Glover and previous efforts of her husband to get rid of her, led to the suspicion that she had been poisoned. Dr. Freeman gave Dr. Glover over to the authorities, he was lodged in jail, Coroner Sorrow impanelled a jury, the body was exhumed, a post mortem examination held and the following verdict returned:

"GEORGIA, FRANKLIN COUNTY:

"In accordance with an inquisition taken the 19th and 20th of March in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and ninety-one, before W. H. Sorrow, Coroner of said county, upon the body of Mrs. Glover, who died at the residence of Dr. J. M. Glover in said county. Upon the oath of J M Little, D C Cochran, J W Brawner, J P Volis, M J Payne and J C McConbell, make and return the following presentment in reference to the aforesaid matter and things considering which we were sworn to inquire by the said W. H. Sorrow, Coroner:

"We, the jurors aforesaid, upon oath, after hearing the statement of Drs. L K Burruss and S P Rampley who held the post mortem examination, and other evidence produced to us, find that the said Mrs Mary Glover came to her death from congestion of the lungs and gastri" [did not copy the last few lines--see below for full inquest]

"Dr. J. M. Glover is now on trial for the killing of his wife. The coroner's jury found a verdict of not guilty. The grand jury, however, found a true bill against him, and his case comes up for trial this morning. Glover is wanted in Jefferson county on a charge of theft, and the sheriff of that county is here to take charge of him in case he is released. Public sentiment is very strong against him, and it is thought that it will be very difficult to get a jury. Below we give the verdict of the coroner's jury:

"Later." "It has been ordered by the court that the body of Mrs. Mary Glover be exhumed for further examination. It is very probable that there will be adjourned term of the court for the trial of Dr. Glover.

"The Coroner's Verdict." "Georgia, Franklin County: In accordance ... Upon the oath of J. M. Little, D. C. Cochran, J. W. Brawner, J. P. Voils, M. J. Payne and J. C. McConbell ... find that the said Mary Glover came to her death from congestion of the lungs and gastritis. We are unable to ascertain what caused said gastritis and congestion of the lungs. J. C. McConnell, foreman; J. P. Voils, M. J. Payne, J. W. Brawner, D. C. Cochran, J. M. Little."

"Dr. J. M. Glover is guilty of poisoning his wife, according to the verdict of the grand jury. The grand jury found a true bill against Dr. Glover, and he will be held till the next term of the court to answer the charge of poisoning his wife. It seems that his nuptials will have to be delayed indefinitely. It would be a pity for an innocent man to suffer, or a guilty man to go unpunished. If Dr. Glover is guilty of nothing else, he owes some expiation for the cruel desertion and neglect of his wife."

"Dr. J. M. Glover who has been held in the Carnesville jail for the past six months, charged with poisoning his wife, has been found guilty. The Glover case excited greater interest than any other on the criminal docket at this term of the court. The case was called up late Thursday afternoon, and all day long Friday and Saturday the court room was packed with an eager crowd listening with breathless interest to every word of evidence for or against the accused man.

"Cols. Russel Shannon King and Camp represented the State, and Cols. Pike Tribble, Walker and Little represented Dr Glover. Able speeches were made on both sides. Col. Little's appeal in behalf of the accused man was able and pathetic in the extreme. Quite a number of ladies assembled in the court house on Saturday to hear Col, Sam Tribble's maiden effort. To say that Col, Tribble covered himself all over with glory is expressing it mildly. Bench, bar and people are enthusiastic over his future.

"One of the most pathetic features of the case was the aged father's devotion to his guilty son. The verdict of the jury recommending Dr. Glover to the mercy of the court was no surprise to those who heard the evidence on both sides of the case."

The State vs. Dr. J. M. Glover, murder; guilty. Sentenced to the penitentiary for the term of his natural life. Application for new trial."