Holmes County
FLGenWeb
BROXTON, BESSIE H vs. BROXTON, W H - Jun 1908
FREE, MARGARET
REBECCA vs. FREE, DAVIS F - Nov 1907
HOUSEMAN, EMILY vs. HOUSEMAN, FRED B -
Feb 1908
MAYO, GEORGIA vs. MAYO, J C - Dec 1907
MOSES, MINNIE vs. MOSES,
MAJOR - Sep 1910
PATE, SARAH S vs. PATE, JOEL - Jul 1908
SMITH, LAURAH vs.
SMITH, ISSAH - Nov 1907
STEPHENS, EMMA vs. STEPHENS, J R - Aug 1907
WENTWORTH, RENEY vs. WENTWORTH, GEORGE W - Aug 1907
YOUNG, IDIE vs. YOUNG,
ALEX - Nov 1907
Source: Holmes County Advertiser, Bonifay FL, various issues.
The DeFuniak Breeze publishes the following regarding the foul and
brutal murder near Ponce de Leon last Sunday night:
"One of the
most horribly cold blooded murders ever committed in Walton county, was
that of Sunday night in front of Luther Russ's house near Ponce de Leon,
where according to his own confession Mose Daniels shot and killed Rev
Jesse J Jones a Methodist minister, and for which crime Mose Silas,
Union, Isaac and Manuel Daniels and Luther Russ were lodged in jail.
"Monday the matter was reported to Sheriff Campbell who immediately
went there to investigate the matter, and arrested Mose and Silas,
Daniels and Luther Russ and lodged them in jail. Tuesday a coroner's
jury consisting of J H Laird, W F Hall, H M Wadsworth, D A Gillis, W A
McCallum and D J Adkinson went down from there, and from information
received by them, Isaac, Union and Manuel Daniels were arrested. They
then adjourned until yesterday morning when the investigation was
further continued at the courthouse.
"Mose Daniels was the first
witness brought before them and he without hesitation or seeming
reluctance made a full confession of the crime, insisting that he, and
he alone, committed the murder and that none of the others had anything
what ever to do with it.
"His story was substantially as follows:
"Jones had been harassing me in every way he could since last January.
He had repeatedly cursed and abused me, and told false tales on my wife
and I had become desperate and resolved to kill him or be killed. I had
told others that I would do it. That night I had an idea that he was
down the road and about 11 o'clock I took my gun and went down the road
and met him near Luther Ross'. When we meet, he started towards me and I
threw up the gun but it snapped the first time, and he started to run
and I shot him. He fell on his knees and halloed and when I went to him,
he tried to grab me, and I hit him over the head with the gun, and then
dragged him out of the road. I went to Union Daniels' house and got my
wagon with my oxen, went back to the body, put it in the wagon and took
it to the old well where it was found, drove back home, unhitched my
oxen and took my hoe and covered up the blood in the road and where the
body lay while I was gone. There was no one with me did any one else
know anything of it."
"During the whole recital Mose was as cool
as if he were telling of killing hogs, and was the most unaffected one
in the room. Luther Russ and Silas Daniels were examined but both denied
any knowledge of the matter, and their stories as to other matters did
not materially differ from that told my Mose.
"Mose also denied
telling any one anything about it further than to say that he knew that
he knew that Luther and Silas who were accused of it had nothing to do
with the crime.
"Manuel and Union Daniels had told on Monday
however that Mose had told them that Silas and Luther were with him but
when he fired the gun they got scared and run off, and had told them
where he had hid the body, and in this way it was found circumstances
which indicated that either he did tell a part of this or that there
were other parties concerned in the crime.
"All the parties are
colored, and the Negroes in the community where the crime was committed
were much wrought up and had it not been for the counsel of white men
there would doubtless have been a lynching and the county saved the
expensed of the hanging which seems sure to follow."
Submitted by Mona Spears
Ed Shirley Shot and Killed by Woodie Gates Last Friday at Brown's Still: Last
Friday afternoon, a negro, Ed Shirley, shot and killed Woodie Gates, colored,
thus adding one more to the list of murders in Holmes county.
The murder
was committed in the woods near H H Brown's naval stores camp, about fourteen
miles north of Westville. It was while Gates was at work that Shirley, armed
with Gates's own shotgun, slipped upon him and shot him in the back, killing him
instantly. Gates's wife, Classie, is charged with being accessory to the murder.
Out of infidelity to her husband and too much admiration for Shirley the trouble
came, and she demanded that Shirley put her husband out of the way. It is
alleged that the job did not appeal strongly to Shirley till Classie took her
husband's old shotgun down and told Shirley, it is reported, if he didn't put
Gates out of the way she would kill them both. Thus impelled, Shirley took the
gun and did murder as above stated.
Deputy Sheriff R A Brown arrested
Shirley and the woman and took them before Justice of the Peace, T R McDonald,
who committed them to jail. Sheriff Hickman went and brought them to Bonifay
where they languish in the iron cells of the county bastile (sic).
Transcribed by Cathy Strickland Popp
Laura Infinger, a white woman, is in the county jail, charged with a
most brutal and horrible crime, that of killing her infant child of only
a day or so old, afterwards making an effort to burn it up in a trash
pile.
The crime occurred Dec. 6th, at or near Paul's Still in the
western part of the county. The Advertiser has been able to secure only
meager information concerning the revolting crime with which this woman
is charged. It is alleged, however, that she killed the child after its
birth and hid the body by some manner in the room and later endeavored
to completely destroy it by burning it up in a trash pile. The latter
plan did not succeed, however, and parties in passing the place
discovered the badly charred body lying in the ashes. Officers were
notified and an inquest was held with the result that the woman was sent
to jail.
The woman was arraigned before county Judge Tew
yesterday afternoon and entered a plea of not guilty. Her preliminary
hearing will be held next Friday, at which time a large number of
witnesses will be examined and the true facts made known concerning what
is at present a deep mystery.
Transcribed by Mona Spears, March
1999
One of the most shocking disasters
that has perhaps ever occurred in the state, took place Wednesday
morning when one of the buildings at the state Reform School in Mariana
was destroyed by fire and ten inmates were burned to death.
A
special dispatch from Marianna to the Pensacola Journal gives the
following account of the awful holocaust:
"The fire was
discovered only after it had gained great headway and nothing could be
done to stop its progress. It is supposed to have originated in the
office on the first floor of the building, from which it crept to the
upper floors.
The building was occupied by about one hundred
white boys, besides Superintendent Bell and several guards. All sleeping
apartments were on the second and third floors.
When
Superintendent Bell was awakened the stairways were in flames. The two
fire escapes being locked, he could only made his escape through the
roof and this he did. Climbing to the tower her jumped to the roof and
from this to the fire escape from which he reached the ground an tried
to enter the office to obtain the days to the fire escape.
The
office being in flames he procured an as and with the assistance of Mr.
Allen, one of the guards, he claimed to the landing of the fire escape
at the second floor, where three men were trying to make their escape.
He succeeded in breaking the locks of the bared grating to the window,
but was unable to get the fetal frame out of the window. In the meantime
the floors gave way and the wretched inmates were hurled to their doom.
The men at the window were R. B. Evans, a carpenter, C. M. Evans his
son, a guard, and one other who was an inmate. The seven others who
perished are supposed to have been suffocated before they were burned,
as their charred bodies were found on the bed springs of their beds. All
were in the same ward in the north wing of the building.
The list
of the dead is as follows: R. B. Evans, carpenter, Marianna; Clarence
Parrott, Sutherland; C. M. Evans, guard, Marianna; Joe Weathersbee,
Jacksonville; Louis Fernandez, Key West; Harry Wells, Jacksonville; Earl
Morris, Lakeland; Chiford Jeffords, Clearwater; Walter Fisher, Tampa;
Waldo Drew, St. Petersburg.
All of the boys were inmates. The
body of the last named boy has not been discovered and it is thought
that he may have escaped, thought it is possible that his body was
entirely consumed.
Transcribed by Mona Spears
Decomposed Body of Man Discovered at 'Double Hole." No Clue as to His
Identity.
A special dispatch from Marianna to the Pensacola
Journal Tuesday says:
"This city and section are horrified over
the gruesome details of a story of the finding of the decomposed body of
a man in a pond near here. The corpse was found Saturday by negroes in
what is known a "Double Hole," half mile west of Natural bridge on the
Chipola river five miles north of this city, its presence being betrayed
by buzzards. When news of the discovery reached Marianna Sheriff H. A.
Bowles, County Judge J. Bowers Campbell and State Attorney Rivers II.
Buford went immediately to the scene. Upon viewing the body it was
decided that an inquest was unnecessary as it could not be told whether
the body was that of a white man or a negro, nor could any incriminating
facts be ascertained at the time as to how the man came to his death. It
was found upon examination, however, that the man had been shot in the
abdomen by a thirty-eight caliber firearm, and that his legs had been
fastened together with hay wore and the body placed in the pond with a
sack of sand fastened to the feet. An examination of the sack of sand
showed that it had been cut loose from a bank with an as, pieces of
roots being found which fitted the ends of the roots in the ground. From
this, some idea of the time could be had, and this is placed at
something like three weeks.
"In spite of the awful state of
decomposition of the body it could be seen that it was that of a rather
large man, fairly well dressed, and wearing a number nine shoe. The skin
was gone as was the hair of the head, which had either been shaven off
or eaten away by fish.
"The officers left the body with negroes who
buried it yesterday."
Transcribed by Mona Spears, March 1999
Jackson county Officials Find Clue, Which leads to Arrest of White
Couple. (From Pensacola Journal) Marianna, Aug., 25. - Through the
untiring efforts and splendid detective work of sheriff H. A. Bowles and
State Attorney Rivers H. Buford, the mystery of the dead body discovered
near Marianna a week ago has been cleared up and the alleged
perpetrators of the crime are now in the toils of the law.
By the
aid of some small scraps of paper sound near the body of the dead man
Mr. Buford established a clue which led to the identity of the deceased.
Piecing the scraps together he made out a grocery store order on a store
in Columbus, Ga. Taking the matter up with the chief of police of that
city her ascertained that the order had been filled by a clerk in
Starkie's grocery store and the groceries sent to the home of a Negro by
the name of Jeff Davis, living at No. 532 Second avenue, and accepted by
the wife of the Negro.
Going to Columbus, Sheriff Bowles and Sate
Attorney Buford ascertained by inquiry that the wife of the Negro had
died some weeks ago and that since her death the man had appeared
partially demented. That on July 8th he left Columbus in company with
Walter and Milly Barrentine, white, with a horse and buggy belonging to
the Negro and traveled through the country as gypsies, telling fortunes.
It was understood that the couple had induced the Negro to leave his
home and accompany then for the purpose of learning fortune telling and
other occult mysteries in which the woman professed to be proficient.
Following the trail of the company the officers found that they had
crossed the Chattahoochee river at Fort Gaines and that on July 28th in
Henry county, Alabama, the couple had in some way obtained a bill of
sale to the house and buggy for an alleged consideration of $250 in
cash. On July 31st the party reached Jackson county, Florida, and went
to the Double Hole west of natural Bridge on the Chipola river
ostensibly for the purpose of fishing. Only the white man and woman
returned from the fishing trip and spent the night at the house of Sam
Speight, a Negro living half mile from the double Hole. On Sunday,
August the 1st, the couple left in the direction of Cottondale, and on
August 2nd, Monday, they came to Marianna to the home of the woman's
sister, Samantha O'Connor. There they claimed to have won the horse and
buggy from the Negro in a crap game and to have left the Negro in
Alabama from where he was to return home on the railroad. They later
claimed that the Negro left them at the home of Charlie White, colored,
but maintains that neither the Negro nor anyone else accompanied them to
the Double Hole.
Having obtained the chain of evidence against
the white man and woman they were trailed eastward from Marianna towards
Tallahassee where on Sunday they were apprehended by Abner Denham of
this city, accompanied by a deputy sheriff of Leon county, and brought
back to Marianna and lodged in jail.
State Attorney Buford
states the is in possession of evidence to further identify the body of
the Negro, and also to prove that he bore the reputation of a peaceful,
law abiding man.
Transcribed by Mona Spears, March 1999
Washington, Oct 16 -- A headstone sent recently to the widow of a
civil war veteran in Kansas to makr her husband's grave has been
returned to the quartermaster general of the army without thanks on the
ground that as the government had denied her a pension she would not
permit a government headsone to mark his grave.
Contributed by
Mona Spears, April 1999
E P Creel and four others of this city meet tragic death.
A terrific
boiler explosion at the E P Creel Sawmill located on highway just west of Ponce
de Leon yesterday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock took a death toll of five and
wounded three others, almost completely wiped out the force of thirteen working
men. The dead are:
E P Creel, 55, owner of the mill and a life-long
resident of Bonifay.
Walter Redman, 55, of Ponce de Leon, mechanic at the
mill, survived by a wife and four children.
William Jenkins, 35, Ponce de
Leon, laborer, survived by a wife and four children.
Wesely (DeDe) Smith, 40,
fireman, survived by a wife and four children.
Theodore Martin, of Ponce de
Leon, 15 years of age, an orphan.
The injured are Elbert Whitehead of
Ponce de Leon, Claude Redman of Bonifay, bruised about the head, Edgar McDonald,
of Chipley, broken arm and foot.
Arthur Creel, son of E P
Creel, was badly shocked but, otherwise unhurt, first reports were he was
killed.
The exact cause of the explosion is not known, but it is believed
that the boiler was out of water, and when the fireman turned water into the
boiler it exploded. Arthur Creel, said the indicator had shown a gage of water
just a few minutes before the explosion. But the indicator might have become
clogged. None of the men think the boiler was defective.
The explosion
was heard for miles around and so terrific was the force of the combustion that
hardly a trace of the plant was left. Pieces of the boiler and parts of the
machinery were found many feet from the mill. A large piece of the boiler was
hurled several yards through the air and cut the top from an oak nearby.
The mill had been in operation about ten days. E P Creel, the owner, has been in
the timber and sawmill business in this section practically all his life. He was
well known throughout West Fla. He has a large circle of friends and business
associates in Bonifay. Left to mourn his loss is a wife and three small sons, as
well as a daughter and six sons by a former marriage. He is survived also by his
aged mother, Mrs S A Creel and R W Creel, Clerk of Court.
Mr Creel was
struck many times as shown by the bruises and contusions on his body. One injury
in itself fatal, was a large wound in the side.
Wesely Smith, the
fireman, was instantly killed, by a blow which tore off the entire top of his
head. Redman was torn literally to pieces. Both Jenkins and the Martin youth
were killed instantly.
The remains of both Creel and Smith were brought
to their home in Bonifay last yesterday afternoon, while the other victims were
taken to their homes in Ponce de Leon.
The funeral of Mr Creel will take
place at his home Saturday morning at 10:00 o'clock and the internment will be
at the Bonifay Cemetery.
The funeral of Mr Smith will take place this
afternoon, at the St John's Church south of Bonifay.
Submitted by JoAnn Beagle via FAX, transcribed by Cathy Strickland Popp
In 1903 the Birmingham Columbus (BC) and Southport Railroad was built to
establish trade development of coastal areas. This railroad was later
extended to Chipley, connecting Chipley to Southport. In 38 miles, the
BC had 14 stations. The passenger train made a one-way trip in two
hours. Passenger fare was $1.50 per person one-way. On July 4, 1908 the
local newspaper reported that 470 passengers had ridden the BC to
Chipley for the Fourth of July Celebration. The BC was abandoned in
1939.
Courthouse History: The first courthouse was built at
Hewett's Bluff and on 5 July 1848, a post office was established and
named Cerro Gordo. The legislature didn't change the new of Hewett's
Bluff to Cerro Gordo until 1861. It's former existence was recorded by
Secretary of State in a report to Congress in 1871. He said the
courthouse had burned about a year ealier and that court was being held
in the open woods.
1889 a new courthouse was built in Cerro
Gordo.
1894 the courthouse was moved from Cerro Gordo to
Westville. In 1902, the courthouse in Westville burned. The county seat
moved to Bonifay in 1905. From 1905 - 1907, a new courthouse was built.
1963 the present day courthouse was dedicated.
Submitted by
Maggie Ripke
Holmes County FLGenWeb Copyright
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