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^/OFFICIAL ORGAN OF GRADY COUNTY.
VOL. 4
CAIRO, GRADY COUNTY, GEORGIA. FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 190.
NO. 4
MID-NIGHT BUTCHERY OF BODIFORO FAllLY
Desperate negro Ed Leconte, Steals into
s Bodiford Home to Committ Rape,
Is Discovered and Attempts to Ex
terminate Entire Family.
This report of the facts in connection with the attempt
ed butchery of the Bodiford family, the best report we
have seen,4s taken from theThomasville Times-Enterprise
One of the most brutal crimes
•ever reported in this section ol.the
state occurred last Friday night . at
eleven o’clock, when a negro at
tempted to kill the entire family of
Mr. George Bodiford, with an axe.
The crime occurred twelve miles
northwest of Thomasville and six
miles northeast of Cairo, where Mr.
Bodiford lived.
Mr. Bodiford was struck on the
forehead and his skull crushed.
Mrs. Bodiford sustained the most se
vere injuries, her entire forehead
■being mashed in by the force of a
blow administered at. short range.
A small child in the bed with Mr.-
and Mrs. Bodiford cam* out un-
tpuched, except for a slight scar on
the head where the axe glanced from
the head of its father.
Mary Bodiford, a sixteen-year-old
girl, was hit with the axe across the
■face, a large part'of her nose being
taken off and her mouth horribly
mutilated. iRhody Bodiford was hit
over the head with the axe and in a
scuffle with the negro, received sev
eral other severe Injuries. .Charlie,,
the eleven-year-old son, sustained a
blow on the shoulder and another
slight cut on the head. Georgia May,
eight-years old, was also hit on 'the
shoulder, but not injured to any ex
tent. Gene, the flve-year-old hoy,
■was the only one In the family to es
cape without any bruises.
Brutally -Vicious Crime.
The crime, as related by the
young children to a Times-Enter
prise reporter, Friday, showed
beyond a doubt that it was a delib
erate attempt on the part of the
negro to kill both Mr. and , Mrs.
Bodiford and without any reason or
cause. He came to the house at 11
o’clock last night and tried to open
a window, leading from the porch
to the room which was occupied by
Mr. and Mrs. Bodiford. R'hody, in
the next-room, heard him and tried
■to call both her mother and 'father.
By that time the negro had gotten
into the room and the girl came in
and saw him strike, her father, who
was in bed. The thirteen-year-old
child, realizing the danger of her
parents, attempted to stay the blow
from her mother, and grappled with
the negro. She was not able, with
her Ineffective strength, to dislodge
the blow, which descended on the
forehead oif her sleeping mother,
crushing her skull horribly.. The
. girl clung to the negro’s arm, fight
ing ana biting him all the time,
making the most desperate effort to
stay the murderous hand.
Instead of accomplishing this, she
brought the Tegroe’s attempt to
herself and he slashed her across
the forehead with the Instrument,
felling her to the floor. He then
saw her older sister and hit her
across the face, the blow glancing
and the butt end of the axe cutting
off her nose. ' The other children
received Ills attention then and the
bruises as noted above resulted.
Leaves and Conics Back.
- Rliody stated that while she had
not lost consciousness ,she was not'
able to get around but yelled at the
top of her voice, hoping that the
neighbors would hear and come' to
her rescue. The negro went to the
porch, returned and choked her
into complete silence, and then went
away.
Mr. Henry Simms, who lives
about three hundred yards away,
heard the child’s scream an V ran
to the place with his wife, carrying a
lantern. When he arrived at the
home, his eyes beheld the result of
one of Grady courfty’s most atrocious
crimes. Mother and father lying on
the bed, both in a .pool of blood,
three children on the floor uncon
scious . and blood ' streaming from
wounds In head and shoulders and
another small child, placing over the
bodies of its parents, who lay on
eithef side of him, wounded unto
death.
/Mr. Slmins did everything possi
ble for the Injured and awakening
some other neighbors went at once
to Cairo for physician^. They ar
rived toward early morning and
the wounds of the whole family were
dressed and they were made as com
fortable as possible. Drs. Walker,
Lindsey and Arline responded.
The Negro Lived Nearby.
It is absolutely certain that the ne
gro. who committed the crime was
Ed. Lacorite, who lives within a
stone’s throw of the place, and who
worked' at a. turpentine still nearby,
owned .by Mr. Burroughs. One negro
A pair ,of shoes were found outside
the gate and further down the road
p. banjo, which this negro, had pur
chased from another negro, a short
time before, was found.
The woman who was living with
Ed.- Laconte, was brought to the
scene and she readily identified- the
shoes as those of Ed’s, and when
shown the axe which was left in the
room, where the crime had been
committed, stated positively that this
was his instrument. She was taken
with her 12-year-old son, and a ne-
Continued on Page 7
On 12 months time certificates we pay 5 per cent interest
On 6 months time certificates vs e pay 41-2 per cent interest
We also solicit your active account which shall
have Our prompt and careful, attention at all times.
We keep a complete record of every transaction
made with this institution, and same is- filed sys
tematically for the protection and" convenience of
our customers, and we are always glad to give you
a history of any transaction which you make with
us. If we can be of service to you call on us
whether our customer or. not.
“Make Our Bank Your Bank”
FARMERS & MERCHANTS BANK
W. T. Crawford,
President
J. E. Forsyth,
Thomas Wight, V-president. 5c Cashier •
WAS mi SUCCESS
The meeting of the Farmers
Institute held last Friday at the
Court house, was a splendid
success.
'This was the first meeting of
this organization? which is a lo
cal or county affair, but it was
quite well attended and was.in-
esting from the first.
The chairman, - Mr. J. B.
Wight, called- the meeting to or
der at 10 o’clock. In his preli
minary remarks he made .some
good points as to j|hy it was
necessai’y for farmers to have
these organizations.
The first subject discussed was
food crops, and Mr. Wight dis
cussed the raising of sweet and
Irish potatoes. He told how a
fall crop of Irish potatoes might
be raised as readily as the spring'
crop; how to plant, how to ferti
lize, etc. He discussed also’ the
growing of sweet potatoes at a
profit, marketing, etc.? and made
ah interesting and profitable
talk...
Dr. Glower followed Mr. Wight
Dr Clower, as most of our read
ers, know, is a real farmer. In
fact, he has a model farm and
has experimented quite largely
with different • crops. The Doc
tor told of his experiment with
cotton. He kept an accurate ac
count of expense, profit—or
rather income. After two years
of cotton, he. figured up, and
found that he had lost money.
He was after the long green, so
he quit cotton. He next tried
sugar cane. Again he went “in
the hole.” Then he tried food
crops, hogs, beef cattle, cabbage,
sweet potatoes, oats, corn, etc.
Dr: Clower stated that the balan
ce on the.ledger was now on- the
right side. He has been selling
sweet potatoes since June at
$1.15 per bushel; he sells pork
and beef to the local market in
season about twice or three times
a week. The Doctor’s talk was
highly profitable from an agri
cultural point of view.
Mr. W. L. Williams and sever
al other present added some
thing. good to this subject, and
then the meeting passed to the
next subject, Live Stock. Mr.
W. B. Roddenbery was the prin
cipal speaker on this subject and
there was “good stuff” in every
word. Mr. Roddenbery told
about his success with beef cat
tle. Some time back he bought
some common piney wood steers.
He kept them for four months,
feeding them on Japanese cane,
velvet beans ' and cotton seed
meal and hulls. On April 20th,
he sold the bunch, making a clear
profit of $4.87 on each of the 82
head of steers. He estimated
that the. fertilizer from the
stock was worth $1,000 addition
al. Mr. Roddenbery went on to
show then that if he had a better
grade of cattle his profits would
have been more than doubled, as
the better grade would have eat
no more tnat the common stock
and yet would have weighed 50
per cent more at selling time.
Mr. Roddenbery said that he was
going to have the better stock.
He has recently been to Tennes
see investigating the cattle busi
ness. In the fall he will buy
some fine cattle from that state
and will continue in the cattle
raising business on a much larg-
BYLIN! SINGLETARY SATURDAY NIGH!
A deplorable killing occurred
about five miles east of Cairo
Saturday night when Hardy
Rawls was shot dead by Linton
Singletary.
Last Saturday night, about
eleven o’clock, Hardy Rawls,
Jack Hall Henry Adams Crate
Singletary and a son of Craton
Singletary were in the road near
the home of George Cook. Near
the road a fence and on the other
side of the fence was Cook’s cane
patch. From beyond the fence,
some one called out, so it is al
leged, “Down the road over
there”, and there was the report
of a gun, and Hardy Rawls step
ped back two or three steps and
fell dead, with the words, “boys,
I’m a dead man” on his lips.
At the report of the gun Cray
ton Singletary and Jack Hall
fired at a man running through
the field, filling the back of the
fleeing man with small shot.
That man'was Lint Singletary.
The wounded man ran about forty
yards and fell in a cane patch.
Hardy Rawls was shot it the
Dreast, the load making a fright
ful wound. It was only about
ten steps from where Rawls stood
to where the man stood who shot
him. Five shots were firee; two
from the field and three from the
men in the road. The hat of
Jack Hall was also pierced with
shot.
Singletary is not • seriously
hurt, and is under arrest, charg
ed with the. murder' of Hardy
Rawls.
Rawls and his party were out
looking for the negro Lecont, and
Linton Singletary and Archie
Adams were supposed to be
watching a negro house, where
they hoped to get information
from another negro of the.where
abouts of Lecont, the negro
wanted for the attempted butch
ery of the Bodiford family.
Mr. Rawls, the dead man, was
the son of Mr. Bill • Rawls. He
was a young man and had many
friends. He was in the prime of
or scale. We have given only
one illustration from Mr. Rod-
denbery’s talk, and all of it was
just as good.
The next meeting of tjie In
stitute will be held on the 1st
Friday -in September, and the
prograimfor that meeting will be
announced later.
of life and as fine specimen of a
man as there is in the county,
weighing more than 200 pounds.
There are rumors concerning^
the killing, but as we do not
know the truth of any of them,
we give simply the bare facts
as giyen to us by those who are
in position to know.
The remains of Mr. Hardy
Rawls were interred at Pearce
Chappel Sunday afternoon and
the funeral was largely attended.
BIG ODD FELLOWS PICNIC
FOR AUGUST 221.
The Independent Order of Odd
Fellows in the county of Grady
are going to hold a big rally on
Friday, August 22.
This was decided at the last
meeting of the local lodge at
Cairo. The matter was discuss
ed among the members and com
mittees were appointed to look
after the big affair.
The picnic will be held at
Copeland Springs in this city.
Every lodge in Grady county has
been invited to come, bring well
filled baskets and join the Cairo
lodge in a grand rally for the
good of the Order.
The program committee is now
at work on the program, and
the speakers will be announced
next, week. It is aimed to make
this occasion one of the best of
its-kind ever held in this section
of the State.
Committee o n Program.—
Mack Johnson, Pryor Jones, C.
S. Stewart.
Committee on Arrangement,—
J. W. Miller, chairman, T. S.
Copeland, Henry Prince, W. D.
Barber, John Sword and Herbert
Maxwell.
The above committee is re
quested to meet at the office of
Crawford-Miller Co., Saturday
morning at 10 o’clock.
PROGRAM
Exercises called too rder at
10:30 a. m. by Hon. M. L. Led-
ford^master of ceremonies.
11:00—Address— “Friendship,
Love and Truth,” Hon. Roscoe
Luke, of Thomasville.
12:30—Dinner.
1:30—Address—“Histroy of
Odd Fellowship”—Hon. R. C.
2:30—An Address—“Our vVives -
and Mothers”—Hon. S. R. Blan
ton.
P. A. Jones, B. M. Johnson and
C. S. Stewart.
Statement of condition of Citizens
Bank-of Cairo, Ga.
At close of business May 22, 1913 published under call from
State Bank Examiner •'( ' |
RESOURCES
LIABILITIES
Time Loans... •‘?178.9:10.97 8 Capital Stock J 60,000.00
Banking House 7,975.531 Surplus and Undivided Profits 26,345.74
Furniture and .Fixtures 5,530.37 j Cashier's Checks 138.78
Duo from Banks and Gash in
Vault 55,239.84
Total.
$247,676.71’
Deposits
Time certificates 47,012.24
Subject to check 125,179.95
Total Deposits 172,192.19
Upon the strength of the above statement we solicit your
account, it is the policy of this bank to, at all times take care of
the needs of it’s customers, and this fact together witn courteous
treatment to all has made our business what it b.
If yoii are not already one of our customers we. would be glad to
have you open an account with us and be satisfied with your
banking connection.
W. S. WIGHT, Pres.,
H. G.
W. H. SEARCY, Vice-Pres & Cashier
CANNON, Vice-Pres.
