Newspaper Page Text
The Butler/Herald
Volume XXXXII.
BUTLER. TAYLOR COUNTY. GEORGIA. THURSDAY. MAY 23 1918.
Number 28
MRS. HAMP SMITH, FORMERLY OF THIS
SECTION, AND HER HUSBAND VICTIMS
OF ATROCIOUS CRIME IN BROOKS COUNTY
NICE TIME FOR EDITORS
Mr. Smith, Who Was Shot Five Times Through Body
With Rifle, Died Instantly. Mrs. Smith, Being
Mortally Wounded, Passed Through Trying Ordeal
During Long Hours of the Night.
Four Negroes Have Already Paid Death Penalty, While Officers
Are Still in Pursuit ot Leader ot Gang.
Intense interest is felt throughout Taylor and adjoining Counties
in the killing of Mr. Hamp Smith, at Barney, Ga., and the probably
fatally wounding of Mrs. Smith in their home on Thursday night last
by negroes, who were employed on the farm of Mr. Smith.
Mrs. Smith is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Simmons, of
Garden Valley. She and Mr. Smith were married about two years
ago, since which time they have lived happily together and prosper
ed on their farm in Brooks County, until the night of the tragedy
herein related.
Mr. and Mrs. Simmons and other relatives from this section left
Friday to be with Mrs. Smith and render all possible assistance.
Some members of the family have returned from South Georgia and
report the condition of Mrs. Smith extremely serious.
The following is a very accurate account of the crime and the
results up to Monday:
Fifth Negro Pays Death Penalty.
Valdosta, May 22nd,—In a small
house in the southern part of Val
dosta late to-night, Sidney Johnson
was surrounded, and, after firing
upon and wounding three of the
men seeking him, including Chief
of Police Dam pier, was riddled with
bullets.
Valdosta, May 20.—Between 9
and 10 o’clock tonight armed men
began gathering in Valdosta as
the result of a widespread ru
mor that Sydney Johnson has
been found three miles from the
city. The men are said to be
here to give to Johnson the same
treatment four'other negroes have
received in Brooks county al
though talk of burning the ring
leader at stake is heard most fre
quently,’some declaring any other
method of punishment entirely in
adequate to meet the situation.
It is known that Valdosta of
ficers, accompanied by a few
picked men, have quietly slipped
out of the city. They have ef
fectually blocked all means of
egress leading from Mud Swamp
toward Valdosta in which section
the negro was last seen. He can
not, it is claimed, get out any oth
er way. All railroad crossings
and possible points where the ne
gro could slip away are under
guard and men on duty will shoot
if any order to halt is not obeyed.
The man hunt has settled down
to real business tonight and of
ficers are hopeful of develop
ments before another day breaks.
Valdosta, May 20.—“Death at
the hands of parties unknown” is
.the substance of verdicts returned
today by a coroner’s jury investi
gating the lynchings of three ne
gro men and a negro woman in
Brooks county last Friday night,
the trouble starting Thursday
when Hampton Smith, well
known white farmer was shot to
death at his home and his wife
outraged and shot.
Officials apparently are una
ware of who made up the parties
lynching the negroes and wheth
er there will be any effort made
later to definitely establish blame
for the four lynchings is a matter
for speculation.
Mrs Smith is threatened with
pneumonia, according to latest re
ports from her bedside.
Penned Up in Swamp.
Interest in the man hunt today
shifted from Brooks and other
counties to Lowndes, where it is
believed Sydney Johnson, ring
leader of the negroes who killed
Smith and assaulted his wife, is
penned up in what is known as
“Mud Swamp, 'southeast of Val
dosta.
The large mob whieh has work
ed without rest since the chase
started, last , Thursday night has
virtually disbanded, leaving the
hunt in the hands of Chief of po
lice Dampier, Marshal 0 T Hill, of
Valdosta, Sheriff Wade of Brooks,
Sheriff Passmore of Lowndes,
Sheriff J V Nix, of Berrien Sheriff
Lee, of Clinch, and two Florida
sheriffs.
It is understood here in the
event Johnson and his partner, a
negro known as “Black Terror,”
or “Black Trouble,” until recently
of Macon, are caught they will
immediately be delivered to
Brooks county authorities. It is
general acknowledged that friends
of the /-Smith family will exert
their every effort to take the law
into their own hands.
Four Negroes Lynched.
Conflicting reports have been
numerous since Smith was killed
Thursday night, but it was defi
nitely established today that only
four negroes have been lynched
They were: Will Head, who paid
the death penalty at Troupeville;
Eugene Rice, his brother-in-law,
who was lynched near Morven;
Hayes Turner, hanged near the
Okapilco bridge, between Quit-
man and Moultrie, and bis wife,
Hattie Turner hanged Sunday
afternoon not far from the spot
where her husband was put to
death.
Sydney Johnson is armed, hav
ing the shot gun stolen from the
Smith home and with which he is
alleged to have killed Smith.
Details of the attacks upon Mrs.
Smith, who was soon to give
birth to her first child, aroused
not only the Brooks county peo
ple, but those in adjoining coun
ties.
The story of how one negro
held her to prevent her screaming
while another attacked her and
how this was repeated until the
woman was almost unconscious,
had none other than a natural
effect. The mob formed quickly
and acted rapidly once the identi
ty of the negroes was estab
lished.
No Hurried Exodus.
In all such times rumors fly
fast, and this proved no excep
tion. Secret lodge meetings, gath
erings to plot revenge on the
whites and the like turned to be
mere immagination. The law-
abiding negroes have been in no
danger and there has been no
hurried exodus from Brooks be
cause of the lynchings. Leaders
among the colored race express
the opinion that those who have
met death because of the murder
of Smith, who was shot by .Syd
ney Johnson, according to the
confession made by Hayes Tur
ner, had with Turner. The latter
was working for Smith and quit
Wrigntsville People Planning for
Some Real Entertaining.
WRIGHTSVILLE, May 18—The
Georgia Weekly Press Associa
tion will hold their annual meet
ing in Wrightsville July 15 and
16. The editors request that the
citizens of Wrightsville, in their
entertainmentshall do no violence
to the food conservation plans
of Mr Hoover.
Among the things planned for
their special entertainment are a
banquet or reception, an auto trip
to Sandersville, a barbecue at
Idylwild and a visit to Dublin, with
a boat trip down the Oconee river.
It would seem that a conference
is necessary between the editors
and the entertainment commit
tee if the members of the associa
tion and Mr Hoover are . all to be
pleased.
before he finished his contract.
He wanted to move his goods,
which Smith would not permit
The negro sought legal recourse,
having a possessary warrant serv
ed on Smith Saturday a week a patriotic work
ago. A debt of $30 was also in
volved, and this was satisfactor
ily adjusted.
Plotted to Kill Smith.
Trouble with farm labor was not
new to Smith, it was learned in
Quitman. The Turner negro sta
ted that a meeting was heid at
Will Head’s home at which last
Monday plans were made for
killing Smith.
Sydney Johnson and Head were
scheduled to shoot Smith, Turner
agreeing to get the gun for the
deed. The arrival of the Macon
negro at Smith’s farm caused the
plan to be changed and the time
was postponed until “Black Troub
le” was made a party to the
crime.
Robbery was a secondary mo
tive, it is believed, and the as
sault upon Mrs. Smith evidently
decided upon at the sour of the
moment. However, it is main
tained that the negroes included
the attack upon her after Smith
was dead in their scheme and this
is what made the white men “see
red.”
Mrs. Smith’s mother, Mrs. G. W
Simmons, of Reynolds, is with her;
Mr Simmons, Mrs G H Boles, Mrs.
R L Green and Miss Carinerine
Huitt, all of Reynolds, who came
to be with Mrs. Smith, have re
turned home.
No German Plot.
Quitman, May 20.—“American
citizens determined to keep sacred
the honor of American women
have revenged the fiendish at
tack upon Mrs Hampton Smith in
Brooks county. No German plot
to provoke an uprising of negroes
is in the least indicated by any de
velopments,” said W. R. Knight,
Clerk of Superior Court of Brooks
County, tonight. He said reports
scattered broadcast the tragedy in
Brooks was part or a plot of pro-
Germans to arouse the negroes
was not true and nothing had
been discussed at any of the in
vestigations held so far to give
such a §tory the least semblance
of truth.
“The negroes know why there
has been trouble in Brooks coun
ty,” said Mr. Knight, who knows
the people and the county like a
book and who was driving the
machine held up by masked men
Saturday night when the third
lynching party victim, Hayes
Turner, was taken.
“Just as long as there is a drop
of American red blood in an Amer
ican, attacks upon our women by
brute negroes will be resented,”
he said. Of course, it is bad to
have a lynching in your commu
nity, but some unfortunate af
fairs will occur.”
WHAT ARE THE TOWN FOLKS
IN' THIS COUNTY DOING TO
ASSIST THE FARMERS?
This county has lost much farm
labor in the past year or two. So
has the next cojinty, and the next
State. The condition is Nation-wide.
What Can be Done About it?
There is no law to conscript labor;
the Government caji’t create it; ship
building and other war ii.-lust: ies
must be speeded to the limit.
.'•'hall the' cj nit;, tail to pro her
share of food? Must the town safe;
in business b. the loss of firm pros-
fiiitv at a time when farm product
are so high?
L.nder similar conditions what have
other communities done?
In many, pla es all buhotiSiS
h-.e closed for a few days at a time
in i rder that e«ery town person fitted
for- such work might go to farms in
tire county to help cultivate or liar-
vest the crop-:.
M: i y Chami ers of Commerca ha e
canvassed their towns and counties,
listing all men of farm experience,
scuring their promise to go when
needed and pledging their employers
to give them leaves of absence for
Many communities and counties are
requiring every loafer and idler to go
to work; urging every person engag
ed in work that is not of war impor
tance to work on near-by farms dur
ing rush seasons; organizing high
school boys; abandoning the half Sat
urday holiday on the farm.
■ County Agents in a number of
places have called mass meetings; re
sulting in a “county war council,” as
it were, composed of leading farmers
and business men, organized to secure
and utilide emergency town labor fur
the farms.
Some of these methods, or similar
ones, can be applied in every town and
countv.
Negro To Hang In Macon
County For 13-Year-Old Murder
Oglethorpe, Ga., May 17.—Mitch
Williams, a negro, caught in r '’or-
ida a month ago for killing Foster
Deal, of Macon county, thirteen
years ago, has been convicted in
the superior court and is under
sentence of death, June 14 being
the date named for his execution
here.
Evidence submitted in the ne
gro’s trial showed Deal went to
the home of Williams on business
one night about 8 o’clock and
called Mitch from the gate. The
negro, it was alleged, came to the
door and fired upon Mr. Deal, kill
ing him instantly. Williams made
his escape and remained at liberty,
despite a thorough search for him
Will Taylor, tried for the mur
der of Roosevelt Simmons, was
found guilty of manslaughter and
given a penitentiary sentence.
Court adjourned yesterday after
noon.
S. A. L. Depot Burns.
Loss Estimated at $25,000 Is Caused
by Americus Fire.
AMERICUS, May 19.—Fire, the
origin of which is mysterious, de
stroyed the Seaboard Air Line
freight depot here Saturday
morning. L. W. Slappey, a fire
man, was hurt. A pile of mason
ry narrowly missed burying him
alive. Two detonations, one of
great volume, which occurred
during the. progress of the fire
shook the entire city. These, it is
said, were caused by explosions of
two cylinders of oxygen gas con
signed to the Americus Lighting
Company, which were received
the day previous.
Two minutes before the fire
was discovered a switch engine
placed several cars on the trgck
alongside the building but none
of the crew noticed any signs of
fire, while the night watchman,
who passed shortly afterwards,
saw nothing suspicious.
COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES
BUTLER MALE & FEMALE COLLEGE
Sunday Morning, May 26, 1918, 11 O’clock.
Hymn, Selected
Invocation,
“Song of Victory” Chorus
Scripture Reading,
Anthem, ' “March on, .Ye Soldiers,”
Sermon,
Hymn, Selected,
Benediction.
Sunday Evening at Methodist Church.
Hymn,—“Day is Dying in the West.”
Prayer.
Scripture Reading.
Offertory.
Hymn,—“O Love That Wlit Not Let Me Go.”
Special Selection.
Sermon.
Prayer.
Hymn,—“Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me.”
Benediction.
7.
10.
11.
13.
14.
15.
Monday Evening, May 27th, 8:15 O’clock
By Pupils of Miss Tippin’s Music Class.
Soldier’s Chorus, “Faust” ; Girls’ Chorus
Duet,—“Good Humor Waltz” Leduc
Miriam and Elizabeth Riley.
Duet,-—“Meadow Play” _* Hiller
Annie Windham and Gussie Wilson.
Trio,—Im Auto Durk der Welt, R. Leonard
Margaret Benns, Mable Searcy and Cleo Young
Solo,—“Showers of Stars,” Paul Wach
Louise Hammock
Duet,—a. “Waltz” P. Willy
b. “In Happy Song,” Kohler
Marie Payne and Miss Tippins.
Solo,—“Danse Pitteresque,” Eggeling
Cleo Young
Song,—“Italian Love Song,”_I
Myrtice Rogers, Harry Peagler and Chomp
Duet,—“Mirthful Moments,” - Engelman
Margaret Benns and Mable Searcy
Trio,—Gypsy Rondo,” Hadyn
Jewel Bartlett, Eloise Peed, Louise Hammock
Solo,—“Second Mazurka,” Gonaud
Eve Stewart
Duet,—“Capricanta,” Paul Wach
Eve Stewart and Jewel Bartlett
Solo,—“The Brooklet,” Fritz Spindler
Margart Benns
Duet,—Qui Vive, Ganz
Eve Stewart and Eloise Peed
“Good Night,” Song
Martha Benns and Louise Daniel.
Tuesday, May 28th, 8:45 P. M. ,
Class Song,
Invocation, T Rev. L. A. Harrell
Piano Solo, - Jewel Bartlett
Class History, Caroline Adams
Class Prophecy, Helen Wilson
Class Address, Foy Rustin
Piano Solo, Eve Stewart
Class Will, Clayra Shealy
Song, Class
Baccalaureate Address, Rev. H. O. Fowler
Presentation of Diplomas.
ALL YOUNG MEN TWENTY-ONE
MUST REGISTER ON JUNE 5TH NEXT*
Only Those-Who Have Become -Twenty-One- Since June. 5th, .1917. Are
Effected by The New Law.
Washington, D. C., May 20th —
Upon appraving today the act of
congress bringing under the army
draft law all men attaining the age of
21 years since the first registration
day, June 5th, 1917, President Wil
son issued a proclamation formally
lxingfixing June 5th as the date for
new eligibles to appear before their
local boards.
Male persons, whether citizens pr
not, are required to register. “Ex
emptions under the original act, in
cluding men already in the military
service, apply, and to these the new
law adds ministerial and medical stu
dents now pursuing their studies.
The president’s proclamation quot
es the law 2nd gives notice to all per
sons subject to it in the states and the
District of Columbia to appear for
registration on June 5th between the
hours of 7 a. m and 9 p. m. State
governors and members’ of local
boards are called upon to perform the
buties already assigned to them.
It has been estimated that about
800,000 men fit for actic military serv
ice will be made availabe to the army
by the next registration. Hereafter
it is planned to have registrations
oftener than one year, probably quar
terly.