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Volume 19
OFFICERS HOT IN
BEHIND COW THIEVES
County Policeman Long and
Sheriff Sears did a bit of detect
ive work this week in capturing
two white men in the western
part of the county, just over in
Dodge, Jim Smith and Rowe
Clark, it is said the two white
men butchered a cow, after driv
ing it into a swamp, where it be
came boggy and the animal was
knocked in the head with a limo.
The story goes that the meat
was civided -between the two,
each taking a hind and four quar
ter to their homes, which they
feasted on for some time, but
something happend in one of the
families that caused some one to
notify Mr. Long, and then the
fat was in the tire. He and the
Sheriff went to the secene and
after a little investigation found
a portion of the hams lowered in
to an abandoned well. With the
assistance of a large hook the
meat-was brought to the surface.
After some questioning they
confided to the officers where
they might find the hide, and
taking one of them along to the
swamp where the cow was
butchered, the hide was fished
out from under a long, standing
in water about two feet.
They were given a prelimi
nary hearing yesterday before
Judge P. M. Mosley and bound
over to the grand jury under
ssoobond each,which so far they
have been unable to give.
The cow is said to have belong
ed to Otis Fowler.
Car Captured Stolen
in Uvalda Sunday.
Learning of a suspicious car
running up and down the road
near Snow Hill church last Sun
day, County Policeman Long and
Sheriff Sears captured Lester
Johnson, Colored after quite a
long chase. The car was later
found to be the property of Dr.
Moses, of Uvalda, where it had
been stolen on Saturday before,
and was returned to its owner.
When the man wa, captured it
was not known that he was driv
ing a stolen car, but the fact was
scon learnend and the property
returned to its owner and the
Negro placed in the Mt. Vernon
jail.
.^jlval Services
at Methodist Church.
Great interest is being shown
in the revival services at the
Methodist church here, which
began last Monday evening. Rev.
Roy Gardner, the pastor, is be
ing very ably assisted by Rev.
Monroe Yarbrough, of Beuna
Vista.
Two services are being held
daily, at ten o’clock in the marn
jng and eight o’clock in the even
ing, Large crowds attend each
service and much interest is be
ing manifested.
Veterans Dropping Out
Dublin, Ga., April 19.—-The re
cent death of Wiley Stephens,
C ^federate veteran, reduced i
number of male veterans left in !
this county to six, while the death
of Mrs. M. D. Autrey, of Rock
ledge, reduced the number of
widows to 34, leaving a total of
40 veterans in this county.
In 1920 there were 1470 f these
veterans and widws, but now
that 11 years have passed there
are only forty.
Btekr County lEaglr
BIDS CALLED
ON PRISON SITE
Offers, for a site for the new
state prison farm must be in the
hands of the special commission
authorized to make the purchase
not later than May 1, Viviu.ii
Statdey, chairman, stated Wed
nesday in urging that all bids
submitted to the Prison Commis
sion at once.
The commission will hold its
next meeting on May 11 in Ameri
cus, Ga., at which time bids will
be opened, but it is necessary for
the bids to be in the hands of the
commission by May 1, Mr. Stan
ley said.
Over 5,000 questionnaires have
been submitted to land owners
by the commission, Mr. Stanley
declared, but to date only a very
few have been returned to the
commission properly filled out.
FULTONAPPROVES
PLAN FOR MERGER
Atlanta, April 22. —Fulton
county voters today approved a
merger with Campbell county,
and on Jan. 1, 1932, the state of
Georgia, will have 1601‘counties
instead of 161.
The vote, as complied by the
Atlanta Constitution, showed 2,-
767 for the merge, and 1,853
against.
Campbell county voters approv
ed the merger 893 to 245 in a
special election held March. 17.
By a provision of the act of legis
lature, a two thirds majority was
necessary in Campbell county,
but a majority only inF u) ton
By the merger, Fulton county
will take an additional 211 square
miles of territory, giving Fulton
a total square milege of 396. Total
assessed valuation of F u 1 t o n
is $285,000,000, and by acquiring
Campbell it will have an addi tioual
assessed valuation of $4,000,000.
Fulton’s total population is 318,
587, to which will be added that
of Campbell which is 9,903.
In Memory.
Elkanah Harrelson departed
this life in good old Montgome
ry, now Wheeler county in 1900,
thirty one years ago April 22,
1931.
Our dear father hath left us,
and our loss we deeply feel, but
tis God that dwells within us,
who can all our sorrows heal.
Father how we miss you, and
how we love you none can tell.
How we sigh for you dear father,
as the tears for you do flow every
day, we look up yonder in the
skies up there above in the far
off sweet forever.
Dear father your life was
spent in service for your children
and your home, but now your
trials are over and your resting
time has come, bo sleep on dear
father and take your rest. I’ve
not forgotten your love and every
day I talk to Jesus, guarding
here thy life with care to be
worthy of a mansion and to meet
my father there.
It cannot be very long till
Jesus comes for me, for the end
of time is almost here and with
you I’ll be. I shall always watch
and pray and wait till the sunset
bright I see, then I’ll meet you
at the gate where I know you’ll
welcome me.
W. B. HARRELSON.
Adel, Ga.
Isador Sawulski of Westfield,
Mass., was sent to jail for 30 days
because, within an hour and a
half, he telephoned to police head
quarters 20 times “just for fun.”
ALAMO, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1931
Four Held in Connection
With Death of L. J. Clegg
Macon, April 22. —DeLois Clem
ents, 19-year-old son of a Telfair
county legislator-elect, is prepar
ed, he said, to subscribe to the
old adage “and honest confession
is good for the soul,” after he
had told Bibb county officers the
story of how he and two Negros
murdered and robbed Luther J.
Clegg, Scotland, merchant, on
the night of April 8, and threw
his body into a dense thicket of
buslj.es where it was found sev
eral days later.
Clements made a full confess
ion in in the county jail here in
which he implicated the two Ne
groes. and then patted his stom
ach, noting the disappearance of
a "bump that left as soon as I
told the truth.”
His a 11 e g e d co conspirators,
Will Chandler and Jim Starks,
however, deny the truth of the
Clements’ version. They, too, are
being held in the Bibb county jail.
The legislator’s youthful son
said he furnished the gun with
which the murder was committed
took part of $470 found in the
merchant’s pockets, took the
Clgg automobile and drove to the
residence of bis sweetheart, at
Milan, and returned “early next
morning” to hide his victim’s
body.
He left the girl’s residence
after filling a date, and went to
his own home.
In the meantime,however, he had
driven the automobile to the
woods and abandoned it.
Clements said that Chandler
fired the fatal shot.
“He just did miss me, I holler
ed and told him not to shoot any
more. I had already cocked the
gun. We divided the money right
there in the car. I.'took S7O and
told Chandler to divide the other
with Starks.”
Clements was persistent in his
implication of the two Negroes.
“You understand this DeLois,”
Officer Luther J. Stevens, of Bibb
county querried, “you have
already committed murder and
should you implicate someone
who is innocent and cause them
to suffer, it would be double
murder?”
“Yes, sir, I understand,” the
youth replied.” “I am not telling
any story about it.”
Clements said he had been ap
proached in the afternoon by
Clegg who, the young man said,
wanted some whisky. They
had made arrangemenes to get it
It was Chandler, he said, who
suggested “we rob some body
and get some money.” The two
Negroes are employed by Clem
ents’ father, J.H.Clements, in
the turpentine business,
“I suggested to Chandler that
Mr. Clegg was around, and he
always carrid a lot of money.
The youth watched the mer
chant closely, he said, until soon
after dark when he stated to his
home. Monroe Clements, a dis
tant cousin, was with Clegg.
“I went to the house and got
my daddy’sshotgun, a Winchest
er pump, and loadedit with
buckshot. I went on down to the
turpentine still, and found Chand
ler there. I gave him the gun
and told him to go. I went from
there on up to the shop just as
Mr. Clegg was about to get in
the car. I walked up there and
he said’are you ready,’ and I
said ‘yes.’ Then I said,‘old man,
are you going home?’ just for a
sham.
“From there we went across
the railroad down there at the
lower crossing and went on down
to where he was killed.’’
Clements said Starks appeared
on the scene while the mer
chant’s money was being devided
“He came up with two half
gallons of whisky that he had to
the left of Mr. Clegg, and from
there I got in the car. The two
Negroes went on up the road.”
"How did Jim Starks get into
it?” Officer Stevens asked Clem
ents.
“He was down there with the
whisky. Chandler said he was
going to tell him about tne plans.
I had not seen him at all.”
When the two Negroes went
up the road, Clements said he
got in the Clegg automobile.
"I took my gun and put it in
the car. I drove on to the turpen
tine still again, and parked the
car there. I caried my gun to the
house, pulled off my shoes, wash
ed my feet, and changed my
clothing.
“I called my girl from a tilling
station and told her that I would
be over in a few minutes. After
my date, I would say about 12:30
o’clock in the morning, I went
back by the cross roads and turn
in there, put the car over the hill
where it was found later by a
searching party and went home.”
Next morning early, Mrs.
Clegg, the wife of the murdered
man, had started a frantic search
for her husband, who had failed
to come home. She went to the
Clements home because of close
family friendship.
“Mrs. Clegg woke me up,”
young Clements said. “I got up,
and went and pulled Mr. Clegg
from out of the road behind
some bushes. I told friends that
I had been fishing. It must have
been 6 or 7 o’ clock in the morn
ing. I had breakfast at the home
of Alvin Johnson, and then we
went to town together.
“I spent the money most any
and everywhere I could. I let
Alvin have'three or four dollars
and hid a twenty, a ten, and two
five dollar bills.”
The youth’s confession was
made to Officers Stevens, T. J.
McComon, Bibb county jailer, in
the presence of Claude Joiner,
Jr., deputy clerk and court re
porter, at noon Tuesday, but it
was not made public until yester
day.
It was in that confession that
Clements implicated the Negroes
Officer Stevens and Officer Ro
mas Raley left immediately for
Telfair county to search for the
Negroes. Aided by County Polce
man Tom Jackson, of Telfair
county, they were arrested ano
brought to Macon late Tuesday
night.
Clegg’s disappearance on the
night of April 8 remained a mys
tery for severel days untl a
searching party discovered the
body. A corner’s jury announced
it was murder, and last Satur
day Officer Stevens was called
from Bibb county to conduct the
investigation. County Policeman
Jackson was designated to assist
Clements was brought to the
Bibb county jail the following
night, and ordered held incom
municado. It was Tuesday be
fore he made a complete confes
sion, implicating the Negroes.
Officer Stevens, in the meantime
however, had questioned him at
length and had carefully checked
his story. The officer had found
several false statements in the
check, he said.
The young confessed murderer
attended the funeral of Clegg,at
which his father, J.H. Clements,
FOUR NOW HELD IN
SLAYING OFLJ. CLEGG
Alvin Johnson, a white man of
Scotland, is the fourth to be ar
rested in connection with the
slaying of L. J. Clegg at Scot
land ten daysago. Johnson was
arrested at his home and taken
to Macon yesterday afternoon
by County Policeman Tom Jack
son, of Tefair county, who it is
said denied his connection with
the murder, just as did the two
negroes, and claimed an alibi.
Clements said Johnson was
not actually at the scene of the
murder, but that he planned it.
Johnson has three little children
without a mother, said young
Clements in explanation of his
not having mentioned Johnson’s
name in his confession Tuesday.
Young Clements said Johnson
planned the whole thing. The
plan was to rob, not to kill, Clem
ents said. The purpose was to
obtain sufficient money for a
trip to Cincinnati. Johnson had
come from Cincinnati about three
weeks before, Clements said and
“I wanted to go back with him.”
J. D. Nash
Baxley, Ga., April 21.—J. D.
Nash, 69, formerly a wealthy
planter in Dodge county, was
stricken with paralysis Friday at
the home of his brother, J. W
Nash, 5 miles west of Baxley,
and died at 9:35 p. m. Monday.
His body was taken to his farm
at the home of his youngest son,
Claude Roscoe Nash, of near Jay
Bird Sprir gs, where the funeral
services were held at 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday.
His wife, Mrs. Mary Frances
Clark Nash, died February 23,
1908, at his home in Eastman.
He is survived by the following
children: Mrs. Dan Browning of
Helena; L. O. Nash, of Roanoke,
Va.; Harlow Clark Nash, of Hel
ena, Route No. 1; Claude Roscoe
Nash, of Chauncey; also one sis
ter, Mrs. E. H. Mclnturff, of
Jacksonville, Florida; one broth
er, J. W. Nash of near Baxley.
Five grandchildren, Albert
Nash Browning and Daniel
Browning, Jr., of Helena, and
Geraldine, Dorris and Burch
Nash of near Jay Bird Springs;
two aunts, Mrs. Mary Jane Nash,
of Lumber City; Mrs. Virgie
Clements Browning, of Towns;
one uncle Gabriel Clements, of
near Mcßae; sister in law, Mrs.
A. R. Hargroye and Mrs. Lula
Donaldson, of Tampa, Bhorida;
Mrs. W. E. Burch, of Helena.
Dr. J. B. Clark, of Eastman, is
a brother in law.
There are thirty-two nieces
and nephews surviving.
Players of a band of Chicago
who recently set a world record
for endurance by playing dance
tunes 11 hours, ate without inter
rupting the dance.
was a pallbearer.
Yesterday, the young prisoner
said that he felt extremely good
because he had “got it off his
chest.”
On Clements’ statement the
officers recovered some of the
stolen money in places where it
was hidden, it was said.
Late yesterday afternoon, in
an interview with a Telegraph
reporter, Clements told of how
he took part in the search for
Clegg’s body “just as a sham.”
He said he was attempting to
carry out a promise to Chandler,
made on the scene of the mur
der, to go to hell before we'll
tell.”
N umber 9
BROTHER DIES AS BOY
FIRESALANOTHER.
Wrightsville, Ga., April 19 —
The story of how three little boys
of Johnson county figured in a
quarrel and then of how one of
them, only seven years old, shot
the top of his brother’s head off,
while trying to tire on another
boy, was revealed before Sheriff
W. D. Rowland and a coroner’s
jury in a remote section of John
son county late last night.
The dead boy was Ernest Wilch
er 13.
He was shot, officers stated,
by B’red Wilcher age 7.
The third boy in the quarrel
was James Gilpin age 10.
The three boys had been fast
i riends for some time, residing
on the J. B. Wiggins plantation
between Bartow and Kite, in
Johnson county.
The father of the Wilcher boys,
Gordon Wilcher, was in Bartow
yesterday at the time of the
shooting and the mother was
visiting friends in another part
of the county,
The two Wilcher boys and the
Gilpin boys, officers were told,
tssembled at a ! neigbor’s'?house,
where they played until a quarrel
arose.
Sheriff Rowling stated that
from the Gilpin boy he ascertain
ed that while thequrrel was at its
height the boys desired to go to
their homes. On the way the
younger Wilcher boy shouted to
the Gilpin boy, “Hl get you when
you pass my house.” He had to
pass the house to reach his home.
The smaller Wilcher boy reach
ed home first. He rushed in, ob
tained a shotgun and poked it
through a window, aiming at the
Gilpin boy, who was aproaching.
Pbe older Wilcher boy rushed
toward the gun, intending to dis
arm his brother, the sheriff as
certained. He was only a few feet
away when the younger brother
pulled the trigger. The charge
olew the top of Ernest Wilcher’s
head off.
Fred Wilcher made no move to
leave the house. Instead he called
for help and James Gilpin, the
boy with whom he had qurreled,
was one of the first to respond.
Other neighbors rushed in.
Then the sheriff and coroner
were notified last night of the
tragedy and they conducted an
investigation.
The coroner’s jury rendered a
verdict that "Ernest Wilcher
came to his death from gunshot
wounds at the hands of his bro
ther, Fred.”
There was no arrest. The offi
cers said that the slayer was too
young to know what it was all
about.
Senior B. Y.P. U. Program.
Senior B.Y,P.U. Sunday night
at eight o’clock.
Topic —The heart of Missions.
Interduction—Group captian.
The passing of Jesus in giving
himself—Mr. Miller.
The passing of Jesus in His
commission —Mrs. O.P. Hartley.
The passing of Jesus in Paul’s
missionary work—B’annieFoster.
The passing of Jesus in the
work of missions—C. C. Hartley.
The passing of Jesus in us
—Margaret McDaniel.
That there’s no accounting for
tastes is again evidenced by the
fact that Europe’s greatest re
ceipient of fan mail is a hangman,
Anton Broumansky of Prague.
Last year he is said to have had
some 6,000 letters offering mar
riage from girls and .women,
ranging in age from 15 to 60,