22 January 1897: Prisoners Saw Bars Off Cells in "Daring Escape" from Clarke County Jail

On this day (well, earlier this week) in 1897, the Weekly Banner shared this daring story of a six-person escape from the Clarke County jailhouse:

Physical descriptions of the suspects were provided in the paper:

John Spratlin is about 22 years old, 6 feet tall, weight about 180 pounds, ginger cake colored.

 Taylor Findley, about 27 years old, 5 feet 10 inches, weight about 160 or 165 pounds, ginger cake color.

Linton Findley, black, about feet 10 inches, weight about 160 pounds, short beard on face when escaped, about 27 years old. 

Robert Harris, mulatto, about 22 or 23 years old, thin mustache, right leg a cork one, weight about 130 pounds. 

Henry Armstrong, about 23 or 24 years old, 5 feet 7 inches, weight about 150 pounds, black. 

George Whitfield, very black, about 5 feet 10 inches high, weight about 160 pounds, 22 years old.

The escape actually occurred several days before, but daily papers from the week of the event are not available. Despite one of their escapees having only one good leg, the sheriff and the special deputized officers searched all night and found "not a clew," calling the escape with a saw "a profound mystery." The paper reassured its readers that "It is believed they will be captured...sooner or later."

By February 26th, the $25 reward offered for Armstrong, Harris, and Whitfield were withdrawn, but kept in place for the Findley brothers and John Spratlin. Linton Findley was later caught in Putnam county in March, where officers there collected a $175 reward (the $25 from Clarke and $150 offered by the state of Georgia). He was tried and found guilty of murder in April, and scheduled to hang on May 7th. There is no mention of his brother or the other escapees being captured within the next year.



Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Aug. 1895 - Jan. 1897 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• I Am A Fugitive From a Georgia Chain Gang! by Robert Elliot Burns in the biography collection.
• Criminal Justice, edited by Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld in the Reference collection.
• The Writer's Complete Crime Reference Book by Martin Roth in the general collection.
• It's All the Rage: Crime and Culture by Wendy Kaminer in the general collection.
• Careers in Focus: Public Safety in the general collection.
• On the Run by Al Browning in the general collection.
• Most Wanted: A History of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List by Mark Sabljak and Martin H. Greenberg in the general collection.

2 December 1904: Love Locked Up

On this day in 1904, the Weekly Banner published news of a recent local marriage that required some persuasion of the bride's parents:

LOCKED

Up Young Bride, But Parents

Finally Give Blessings

to Happy Couple.

   Love laughs at locksmiths is true but sometimes love forgets and gets locked up again.

   The first part of the aphorism was proven true on Sunday afternoon when Mr. Pink Hilyard and Miss Ophelia Hughes were married at the home of a friend near Winterville.

   Mr. Hilyard brought his bride back to the city and they went to the home of the bride's parents. A stormy scene followed and the parents refused to let Mr. Hilyard see his wife.

   Later during the evening the refusal was still adhered to and not until yesterday morning did the parents of Mrs. Hilyard relent and give the young couple their blessing.

--Weekly Banner, 2 December 1904, p. 5, col. 7.

Alas, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes had good instincts. Robert Pink Hilliard was well known in town for being arrested as drunk or disorderly (or both) rather than for being an industrious young man with a bright future. He was also only 18 years old, and Ophelia had only turned 16 a month earlier. In the 1904 Athens City Directory, his profession is listed as painter.

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According to the 1910 U.S. Census, Ophelia and Pink were living with his parents on Lumpkin Street, with Ophelia at home, caring for their two sons, Hughes, age 4, and Douglas, age 2, and Pink listed as now working as a "hackman," or public carriage driver. 

However, the 1909 Athens City Directory lists Ophelia as living with her sister on Oconee Street, indicating the marriage was already showing signs of strain. Pink continued to rack up fines from his frequent appearances the Mayor's Court, to account for his for disorderly drunken behavior, at a cost of $2.50 to $30.00 per conviction. In 1912, he and two of his friends were convicted of robbery and sent to prison. Pink was pardoned and released in 1915.

In the 1920 U.S. Census, Pink is found living in a boarding house in Augusta, Georgia, with an occupation of "painter" and marital status of "married." Ophelia and her boys are still living with her older sister, Alma, who worked as a bookkeeper for Bernstein Brothers Furniture Store and was active in the Y.W.C.A. Extension Club. Though Ophelia lists her marital status as "divorced," she would not officially file for divorce from Pink until August, 1928. 

Neither Ophelia nor Pink would ever remarry. Pink would live out his days in boarding houses and Y.M.C.A. rooms in Augusta, dying in 1958 at the age of 70. Ophelia spent her life in Clarke County, dying in 1965 at the age of 77.


Learn More: 

• Clarke County, Georgia, Ordinary Records. Marriages, Book K, 1901-1906 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 1900 - 1940 U.S. Censuses in Ancestry Library Edition in GALILEO.
• Clarke County Marriages 1803-1909 by Faye Poss Stone in the Heritage collection.
• Athens City Directories, 1889 - 1927 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia Death Certificates, 1919-1998 in Ancestry Library Edition in GALILEO.

20 October 1899: A Burglary by "Dastardly Miscreants"

On this day in 1899, the story of the burglary of the "bedding, furniture, crockeryware, and clothing" of Mr. Joe Brightwell was published on the front page of the daily Athens Banner as well as the Weekly Banner:

Unfortunately, no further news was published about the robbery, so it is thought that Mr. Brightwell's goods were never recovered, nor the guilty parties ever brought to justice.


Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Aug. 1898 - Oct. 1899 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crimes by Roger Wilkes in the general collection.
• The Barefoot Bandit: The True Tale of Carlton Marris-Moore, New American Outlaw by Bob Friel in the New Books collection.
• Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief by Bill Mason in the biography collection.
• Crime Scene: The Ultimate Guide to Forensic Science by Richard Platt in the general collection.
• Best American Crime Writing, edited by Otto Penzler in the general collection.
• The Calamity Papers: Western Myths and Cold Cases by Dale L. Walker in the general collection.
• Malicious Intent: A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists, and Other Criminals Think by Sean P. Mactire in the general collection.

28 May 1897: Local Bull Commits Multiple "Violations of the Law" near Boulevard

On this day in 1897, the Weekly Banner alerted the city to the following incident of "lawbreaking:"

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The mid-1890s were not a great time for Mail Carrier Duncan. The previous May, he and his wife returned to their Bloomfield Street home to find it had been ransacked, with two revolvers and two razors stolen. By 1899, he had relocated his family to Atlanta, working with the post office there.




Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Feb. 1897 - Jul. 1898 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Clarke County Registered Marks and Brands 1802 - 1869 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• A Field Guide to Cows: How to Identify and Appreciate America's 52 Breeds by John Pukite in the general collection.
• Postal Clerk and Carrier by John Gosney in the general collection.
• Creatures of Empire: How Domestic Animals Transformed Early America by Virginia DeJohn Anderson in the general collection.
• Country Life: A Handbook for Realists and Dreamers by Paul Heiney in the general collection.
• Master the Postal Exams by John Gosney in the general collection.
• The Joy of Keeping Farm Animals by Laura Childs in the New Books collection.
• How to Build Animal Housing by Carol Ekarius in the general collection.
• Going Postal by Terry Pratchett in the CD collection.
• Moo by Jane Smiley in the adult fiction collection.

25 October 1892: Outsmarting the Jailbreakers

On this day in 1892, the Weekly Banner  explained the problems faced by Sheriff John W. Wier in his jail:

At the time, the courthouse and jail were on Prince Avenue; the jail Sheriff Wier was trying to secure is still standing on Meigs Street, where it now houses offices for the Oconee River Land Trust, the Georgia Land Conservation Center, and the studio for artist Charles Pinckney. The bars are still on the windows.

John W. Wier was elected Sheriff of Clarke County in 1880, and served a total of 26 years. He died while in office, and was replaced in a special election one month later by Walter E. Jackson. His family was allowed to stay in the Sheriff's house on the courthouse square during the election period. Wier was also known for keeping several pets in the jail, including a frog.

Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Jul. 1892 - Dec. 1893 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Banner, Mar. 1906 - Dec. 1907 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage collection.
• Athens, Georgia: A Pictorial History, 1801-2001 by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society, edited by Norval Morris in the general collection.
• Mastering Hand Tool Techniques by Alan and Gill Bridgewater in the general collection.
• Civil War Prisons and Escapes: A Day-by-Day Chronicle by Robert E. Denney in the general collection.
• A Museum of Early American Tools by Eric Sloane in the general collection.
• The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill in the general collection.
• The Great Escape in the DVD collection.
• Voices from a Southern Prison by Lloyd C. Anderson in the general collection.
• Getting the Most Out of Your Abrasive Tools by Rockwell Manufacturing Company in the general collection.
• Escape from Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War by John D. Lukacs in the general collection.
• Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons by Stephen King in the large print collection.
• The Shawshank Redemption in the DVD collection.
• You Got Nothing Coming: Notes from a Prison Fish by Jimmy Lerner in the biography collection.
• Tools: A Tool-By-Tool Guide to Choosing and Using 150 Home Essentials by Steve Dodds in the general collection.
• Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War by Bruce B. Henderson in the general collection.
• Miracle at Sing Sing: How One Man Transformed the Lives of America's Most Dangerous Prisoners by Ralph Blumenthal in the general collection.
• Handy Manny's Pet Roundup in the children's DVD collection.

24 August 1921: "Precarious Quality" White Lightning

On this day in 1921, the Athens Banner ran this small story about a discovery on Clayton Street downtown:

Federal alcohol prohibition had been in effect since 1920, but in Georgia had been in effect since 1908. Even after the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was repealed in December, 1933, Georgia did not allow the sale of alcohol until 1935, with some counties choosing to remain "dry" even today. 

One of the possible additions to the "drink," paregoric, was a common household medication that included opium. By 1921, the ingredients of medicines had to be disclosed to consumers, but it was still available over-the-counter, primarily as a treatment for diarrhea. The drug was used into the 1970s, and is still available as a prescription. 

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jun. 1921 - Oct. 1921 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage in the general collection.
• Alcohol: The World's Favorite Drug by Griffith Edwards in the general collection.
• Alcohol: Customs and Rituals by Thomas Babor in the general collection.
• Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent in the general collection.
• Battling Demon Rum: The Struggle for a Dry America, 1800-1933 by Thomas R. Pegram in the general collection.
• Prohibition: Thirteen Years that Changed America by Edward Behr in the general collection.
• Farewell, John Barleycorn: Prohibition in the United States by Martin Hintz in the general collection.
• Prohibition by Renee C. Rebman in the general collection.
• Drugs in America: A Social History, 1800-1980 by H. Wayne Morgan in the general collection.
• Drugs Through the Ages by Jean McBee Knox in the general collection.
• History of the Temperance Movement in Georgia from the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
• Paregoric warning on U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Patient Safety News website.
• Paregoric on the National Center for Biotechnology Information's  PubMed Health website.

1 December 1910: The M. G. Michael Family of Athens Attends the Selig-Frank Wedding in Atlanta

On this day in 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Moses G. Michael and their daughter, Helen, attended the wedding of Miss Lucille Selig of Atlanta and Mr. Leo Max Frank of Brooklyn, New York.

The wedding was held at the East Georgia Avenue home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig. Rabbi David Marx of Hebrew Benevolent Congregation performed the ceremony before a small gathering of family and close friends. The Athens Banner described the evening as "a pretty event," noting that "the house was artistic with quantities of smilax and vases of pink carnations in all the rooms."

The paper reported that "Miss Michael sang several beautiful selections before the ceremony and was accompanied by Miss Regina Silverman, who also played the wedding march." The two young women also wore pink, with Helen Michael in "a white lingerie gown over pink silk" and Regina Silverman in "a pink chiffon cloth gown over silk, trimmed with lace and black marabou."

Other out-of-town attendants at the wedding included the groom's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Frank of Brooklyn, New York, and the best man, Mr. Milton Rice of Rochester, New York. The paper stated the couple would "spend several weeks at the Piedmont before going north for a wedding trip." They would live with the Seligs upon their return.

Leo and Lucille Frank would be married less than three years when the Atlanta media circus surrounding the murder of Mary Phagan at the National Pencil Factory on Confederate Memorial Day, 1913, would destroy their lives. Though the Atlanta newspapers published any rumor or innuendo that would sell extra editions, the Athens newspapers admonished the Atlanta media for such low behavior and published only the barest of stories about the case as it endured.

Leo Frank was murdered on 17 August 1915 by a mob that was angry his death sentence had been commuted to life in prison by Georgia Governor John Slaton. His body was returned to New York, where he was buried at New Mount Carmel Cemetery. Lucille Frank never remarried, and always signed her name as "Mrs. Leo M. Frank," until her death at age 69. Even then, in 1957, her family was unsure of burying her in Atlanta, and it wasn't for another 45 years, in 2002, that nephews buried her ashes between her parents' graves in Oakland Cemetery, but without a marker.

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles pardoned Leo Frank in 1986, based on the 1982 testimony of then-83-year-old Alonzo Mann, who had been a 14-year-old office boy in the National Pencil Factory in 1913. Mann had seen janitor Jim Conley carrying Phagan's body on the day of the murder. Conley threatened to kill him if he told, and Mann's mother told him to keep quiet. Over the years, Mann repeatedly tried to tell the story, but it wasn't until 1982 that a reporter from the Tennesseean took him seriously enough to publish his eye witness account, and give him a lie detector test, which he easily passed. Members of the Phagan family still believe Leo Frank was the murderer.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jul. 1910 - Dec. 1910 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Banner, Feb. 1913 - Jun. 1913 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive via the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Leo Frank Case by Leonard Dinnerstein in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Silent and the Damned: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank by Robert Seitz Frey in the general collection.
• Screening a Lynching: The Leo Frank Case on Film and Television by Matthew Bernstein in the general collection.
• Parade: The Original Broadway Cast Recording in the CD collection.
• Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America by Allen James  in the Heritage and general collections.
• On Lynchings by Ida B. Wells-Barnett in the general collection.
• The People v. Leo Frank: A Georgia Roundtable on the Georgia Public Broadcasting website.
• The Temple Bombing by Melissa Faye Greene in the general collection.
• The Nature of Prejudice by Gordon W. Allport in the general collection.
• Atlanta newspapers on Footnote Library Edition in GALILEO (call 706-613-3650 for current password)
• Images of the people and documents associated with the trial on the GPB Georgia Stories website.