20 Georgians Die Violently Over 1940 Labor Day Weekend

One of those newspaper articles I feel is important to share with the genealogy community.

Columbus Daily Enquirer (Georgia)
Tuesday, 3 September 1940 -- pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank]

20 GEORGIANS DIE VIOLENTLY

Drownings and Auto Wrecks Take Heavy Toll Over Week End

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The number of Georgians killed in accidents over the Labor Day week-end climbed to at least 20 as drownings and automobile wrecks took a heavy toll...

Joyce Royal, two-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Royal, who live near Millhaven, died at Sylvania of injuries received Sunday afternoon. She was fatally hurt when she apparently opened the back door of the car in which she was riding and fell out.

Joseph Daniel Pritchett, 22-year-old Thomaston youth, was fatally injured yesterday in a highway crash two miles from Griffin.

A 37-year-old negro chauffeur was killed instantly yesterday when he was impaled on an iron fence post after falling from the second-floor of a building in Atlanta. A Manchester negro was killed in a two-car crash between Raleigh and Manchester.

R. E. McDonald, 43, superintendent of industries at the federal penitentiary, drowned in the surf at St. Simon's Island, Ga., yesterday.

Drowning also took the life of Mrs. Elizabeth E. Bishop of Columbus, Ga., yesterday while she was bathing at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Joe Sherman, 30, of Augusta, was killed last night when a car in which he was riding overturned after leaving the highway seven miles east of Thompson.

Marshall P. Adams, 43-year-old Chamblee Carpenter, met death yesterday when struck by a train on the outskirts of Chamblee.

Dr. W. E. Hutto, 36, Atlanta physician, and Harvey C. Lloyd, Atlanta insurance salesman, were killed in an automobile accident Saturday night near Demopolis, Ala.

At Wrightsville, Harvey Hatcher, 30, parts manager for a Wrightsville automobile firm, was fatally injured Saturday night when his service wreck car left the highway.

Miss Irene Stancil, 19, of Eastonollee, Ga., was killed near Tocoa Saturday when a car in which she was riding locked bumpers with another and overturned.

Three negroes were killed near Midville Sunday when their car left the road.

Four other negroes were drowned Saturday afternoon when an automobile in which they were riding hit a soft shoulder of the highway and ran into Brushby creek, four miles south of Keysville.

A Bruke [sic] county negro girl was fatally injured when a car struck the mule she was riding.

(How infuriating is the practice of not dignifying "negroes" with the publishing of their given names?)

*Note: If you are interested in Mr. Harvey Hatcher (1910-1940) and the family he married into (wife was Reba ABEL), you will find a descendant report of interest here.

The Naming of Atlanta (Tombstone Tuesday)

Plainly put, Atlanta was built on the railroad. Lucian Lamar Knight, in Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends, says it this way:

...[T]he chief factors in Atlanta's phenomenal growth are the railway lines which converge at her civic center, there forming a web of steel, from the bi-focal points of which they radiate in every direction.

In an effort to connect railroad lines within the state, a point seven miles east of the Chattahoochee River was picked as a spot "best suited for running branch lines to various towns within the State." This point was called Terminus, defined as "an end point on a transportation line or the town in which it is located."

A man named Hardy Ivy was the first person to purchase a tract of land and build a shanty, before the town was surveyed, in 1836. It wasn't until 1842, when a new track was tested -- and considered a success, that the town began to really come to life with the building of new stores and churches.

Wilson Lumpkin, an ex-Governor of the state, was at this time one of the commissioners appointed to supervise the building of the Western & Atlantic Railroad. Lumpkin helped re-survey the land, fixed a site for the depot, and negotiated enough property for terminal facilities. Many wanted to rename the town after Lumpkin in appreciation for the prominent part he played in laying off several land lots. He refused, so people circumvented his protest a bit by renaming the town after his youngest daughter, Martha.

In This Spot Set Apart By The City Is Buried
Martha Lumpkin Compton
August 25, 1827 - February 13, 1917
Wife Of Thomas M. Compton
Daughter Of Governor Wilson Lumpkin
And His Wife Annis Hopson Lumpkin
In Honor Of This Lady, Atlanta Was
Once Named Marthasville

Oakland Cemetery at Atlanta, Georgia

ATLANTA'S NAMESAKE DEAD
(Associated Press)
DECATUR, GA, Feb 13 -- Mrs. Martha Lumpkin Compton, after whom the city of Atlanta was twice named died at her home here tonight at the age of 90 years. In 1844 the village now called Atlanta, was named Marthasville in her honor. Four years later it was named Atlanta after the nickname of "Atalanta," which Mrs. Compton's father, Governor Wilson Lumpkin had given her. [Montgomery Advertiser (Alabama), 14 February 1917]

Cora Lou Jackson Tallen (Talent?) Vinson & the Principal Players

This post will show you what I have found out about Cora Lou Vinson thus far. My only research has been the online kind, and that is of course limited. I am very intrigued by her, and would love to know her ultimate fate. Did she live out the rest of her life in prison, or was she eventually able to get clemency? She doesn't strike me as a woman that would stop after just one attempt at that. I would also personally be thrilled to know her final resting place.

I do also understand that this really did not happen all that long ago. Less than 100 years, and some of Cora's and/or William's grandchildren might be living their lives without the desire to have this relatively recent past drudged up. Having said that, if there is anyone with information they are willing to share, I would greatly appreciate a comment or email.

OK! Here's what I've found:

Newspaper articles provided a bit of information. As chronicled when her nephews were testifying against her, Cora's maiden name was possibly JACKSON. She was described as a sister of "Simp" Jackson, whose sons J. S. and Roy took the stand. That same article brings out the fact that her marriage to William D. Vinson was a second one. Her first was "to a man named Tallen," by whom she had a daughter named Mary.

The article by Dudley Siddal states this: "...Married first at 14, she had only the education that falls to a mountain-born woman whose childhood was spent in the cotton mills. But she is intelligent, answers questions directly..."

I have not yet found Cora in census records before she was married to Mr. Vinson, but I did find this entry in the Georgia Marriages database at FamilySearch: Cora Jackson married M. L. Talent 24 June 1893 in Cobb County.

In 1910, having been married to William D. Vinson for seven years, they were in Atlanta on Ponders Avenue. William was a practicing physician. It is listed that Cora (aged 33 years) had four children, three living. Two of Mr. Vinson's sons from a previous marriage were listed: William B. and Tilley D. The two girls listed were from the union of William and Cora: Pauline and Ruby.

1920 finds a 38 year old Cora listed by herself with three children. Her marital status is already listed as widowed, even though it's two years before Mr. Vinson would be killed. Her likely attempt at "keeping up appearances" proved to be a bit ironic. The three children are Pauline, Ruby, and Louis J.

In 1930, Cora is exactly where you would expect to find her -- in the Georgia State Penitentiary at Baldwin County. She was a 52 year old widowed prisoner.

As you can see, Cora's birth years range from 1877 to 1882 to 1878. Newspaper articles at the time of the murder estimate her birth year to be 1878 or 1879. I have found three possible entries for Cora in the Georgia Deaths database at Ancestry and the Social Security Death Index (one might could argue there are more, but not one I viewed fits perfectly):

· Cora L. Vinson, d. 13 Feb 1953 Fulton Co, GA, aged 68;
· Cora Vinson, d. 23 Feb 1971 Baldwin Co, GA, aged 86; and
· Cora Vinson, b. 1 Jul 1889, d. Feb 1971, last residence at Milledgeville, Baldwin Co, GA.

Cora and William's daughter Pauline is found with her husband and three children still in Atlanta in 1930. Her husband, William T. Brown, is still a city fireman as stated in a newspaper article. Pauline was married about 1920 at age 15, sometime after the January census enumeration when she was still listed with her mother.

Here are two possible entries for Pauline in the Georgia Deaths database. I think the first is likely our subject:

· Pauline V. Brown, d. 6 Apr 1979 Fulton Co, aged 73; and
· Pauline V. Brown, d. 10 Jan 1985 Coweta Co, aged 77.

William "Willie" B. Vinson, son of W. D. and his first wife, is listed with his divorced father at Fulton County, Georgia in 1900. By 1930 he is married to Minnie L. and has three daughters in Dekalb County. His occupation was life insurance salesman.

Georgia Deaths, 1919-98 shows a William B. Vinson d. 25 Oct 1945 in Dekalb County at age 57. FindAGrave provides us with the burial location of East View Cemetery in Atlanta.

After Tillie D. is enumerated with his divorced father in 1900 as was brother William, we find him still in Atlanta in 1920. He is married to "Viola" Miller, and they are listed in her parents' household. Tillie was a practicing dentist. In 1930, Tillie and "Violet" are in Atlanta with their young son. Tillie is still a dentist, and we can add a veteran of World War I.

Tillie registered for the draft about 1917, while he was living with his father and step-mother on Ponders Avenue in Atlanta. His occupation was even listed then as dentist. Tillie was described as having brown eyes and dark brown hair on his draft card.

The only Tillie D. Vinson in the Georgia Deaths database states he died 6 August 1956 at age 61 in Dekalb County.

...Does this family connect to yours?

Suffrage is Bringing Woman Down from Her Pedestal (Battered Wife or Cold-Blooded Killer Part V)

Woman Slayer Facing Gallows: Though condemned to
hang July 28 for slaying her husband, Mrs. Cora Lou
Vinson, behind bars in Atlanta prison, is hopeful public
sentiment may save her from the gallows.
- Muskegon Chronicle, Michigan, 14 June 1922

And public sentiment was divided.

While Cora sat in the women's ward of Atlanta's "grim jail called the Tower," waiting for the results of her appeal, a debate raged outside as to whether or not a woman should be given the death penalty. News articles spoke of how Cora would be the first execution of a white woman "since before antebellum days."

There was a wonderful article written by Dudley A. Siddall that ran in several newspapers in June 1922. I'd love to share with you the entire piece, but it is just too long for a post. Here are some highlights:

Leading Suffrage Workers Declare There Must Be Equality Before Courts As Well As At the Polls
Now that women vote like men, should they pay the same penalty for crime as men? Even though the penalty is hanging?

Col. William Schley Howard, former member of congress who aided in prosecuting the case, said in an interview: "Women have demanded equal rights in business and politics. In every way they have indicated their desire to be treated as men. Why then should a woman -- solely on sex grounds -- be accorded any special privilege by a jury? The time has come when they should be treated like men before the bar of justice."

...If it is true that sentiment toward women is changing from a chivalrous to man-to-man attitude, defense lawyers in future woman murder trials may have to shift their tactics. The old sympathy pleas and sympathy stage setting will be relegated to the place of outworn things in legal practice.

Miss Eleanore Raoul, Atlanta, Ga. president Atlanta League of Women Voters: "Woman has passed through the age of dependents into an age which regards her as an intelligent being. Consequently there should no longer be a question as to whether she should be treated as a human being fully responsible for her acts. I believe we women are prepared to accept our responsibilities along with our privileges."

Ruth Hale, New York, president of the Lucy Stone League, which believes women should retain their maiden names after marriage: "If I were the woman in the Georgia case, I would insist on being hanged. As a citizen any woman must bear the same responsibilities as a man. It is wrong for her to expect even Georgian chivalry."

[To the contrary] Sheriff J. I. Lowry, Atlanta, Ga, charged with executing condemned prisoners in Fulton county: "A woman should not be hanged -- well, simply because a woman is a woman."

Another interesting aspect to this case involved the property of Cora's husband. Should she get it? Especially since this property was a point of contention between the two, and possibly a reason why she killed him? This was 50+ years before Son of Sam laws prohibiting a criminal from profiting from their crime.

Well, she got it. "Condemned, She Shares in Estate of Her Victim: Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson, under sentence of death for the murder of her husband, W. D. Vinson, several months ago, was awarded a share in his estate in a decree handed down by Judge George L. Bell, in Fulton County Superior Court. Mrs. Vinson...was given the Vinson home and a share in other property..." (Dallas Morning News, Texas, 6 October 1922)

Later that month, the final ruling came (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, 21 October 1922):

Slayer of Husband Escapes Gallows
ATLANTA, Ga. Oct 21 -- Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson, convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her husband here last March, today escaped the gallows when she appeared in superior court, was given an immediate new trial, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 1926, four years after Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson began her life term in the Georgia State Penitentiary, she requested a pardon or parole. The request was denied.

So ends the story of Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson and the murder of her husband. (Link takes you, dear reader, to the beginning of the series.) However, as we genealogists know, that does not end the story of the life of Cora Lou Jackson Tallen Vinson. In fact, it is only a portion of it.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Easter! After the weekend, I will share with you some genealogical particulars about Cora Lou. And unless a miracle comes my way in the next 48 hours, I will likely end that post with a plea for help. See you then!

Twelve Southern Men Have Voted to Hang a Southern Woman (Battered Wife, or Cold-Blooded Killer Part IV)

Cora Lou Vinson to Hang July 28 for Husband's Murder

Hangman's Rope for Slayer of Dr. W. D. Vinson

Death Penalty for Mrs. Cora Vinson

"Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson was convicted by a jury in superior court here tonight of the murder of her husband, Dr. W. D. Vinson, and sentenced to be hanged July 28.

The verdict without a recommendation to mercy was more than even Solicitor General Boykin had asked, as he had urged the jury to convict the woman and fix her sentence at life imprisonment, saying he had never asked that a woman be hanged. Under Georgia law a murder verdict without a recommendation carries the death penalty which the presiding judge formally imposes." (Montgomery Advertiser, Alabama, 4 June 1922)

From 4 June 1922 edition Macon Telegraph, Georgia article by John W. Hammond:

Mrs. Vinson sat calmly by the defense table, chewing gum, while the jurors filed into the court room, and the verdict was being read by Assistant Solicitor E. A. Stephens. She gave no sign of emotion when the fateful word 'guilty' was sounded through the intense stillness of the big court room.

Mrs. Pauline Brown, daughter of the condemned woman, sat by her mother. She, too, appeared unmoved.

Judge Humphries asked Mrs. Vinson if she had anything to say why the sentence of death should not be pronounced on her. The woman, still chewing gum, merely shook her head.

So why was she given the harshest penalty of death when it wasn't even asked for? The article continues:

There has lately been very widespread discussion in Atlanta of the fact that "too many women have been shooting up men and getting away with it," and at the outset of this case, even though the court officials apparently did not work to that end, there was reason to believe Mrs. Vinson would get the extreme penalty if the evidence justified it.

Feeling of Unrest.
It is a fact that, ever since the case of Mrs. Williams, the young woman who shot to death an engineer on a drinking party, and drew practically no sentence at all at the State prison farm, there has been an evident feeling of unrest. That had been added to by the fact that it is reported here, and has been for some time, that Mrs. Williams is no longer at the prison farm, but is somewhere "out in the State having a good time."

In the past few years there have been no less than half a dozen cases of this kind, in each one of which the verdict has been mere nominal punishment.

So is that the finale of the saga of Cora Vinson? Not by a long shot. Her attorneys immediately filed an appeal "to the higher tribunals" for a new trial. Pending that ruling, Cora's execution was automatically stayed.

Her words on the matter: "I don't believe they will hang me for what any woman would have done under the circumstances."

Tomorrow: the feminist debate rages, and the final ruling.

Nephews on the Stand Tell His Side of the Story (Battered Wife or Cold-Blooded Killer Part III)

Yesterday I gave you Cora Lou Vinson's side of the story. Today I'll tell you what he said. This will have to be in the form of testimony from his nephews, though, since Dr. William D. Vinson was dead.

Atlanta Constitution, Georgia
2 June 1922

Nephews, On Stand, Claim Mrs. Vinson Threatened Husband

Say That She Had Stated She Would Shoot Him to Prevent His Sons Getting Property

Roy Jackson Tells of Visit to His Home by Mrs. Vinson, Who Was Hunting Her Husband
Testimony by two nephews of Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson, on trial in the Fulton superior court for the murder of her husband, Dr. W. D. Vinson, to the effect that she had on numerous occasion threatened to shoot her husband, concluded the third day of the trial, which began Tuesday.

"Yes, sir," exclaimed Roy Jackson, nephew of the defendant, "my aunt came to my house Christmas night, 1919, and said she would shoot the hell out of Dr. Vinson, Willie and Tillo B. [printed as Tillie in other articles], too, before they'd ever get any of that property. Willie and Tillo B. are Dr. Vinson's sons."

J. S. Jackson, also a nephew of the accused woman, testified she had stated to him she would kill Dr. Vinson, and one time, in his presence, told Dr. Vinson she would pick up an ax and knock out his brains if he "did not get the hell out of there."

...[Roy Jackson, referring to 1919] "She had been drinking, or was on one of her high horses," he said...

..."Nearly every time I saw her she said she would kill Dr. Vinson and the two sons before she would let them have the property." When questioned as to her exact words, the language used was not printable.

I referred to the nephews as "his," and the newspaper article refers to them as "hers." Both are correct of course, but just so you know, Roy and J. S. Jackson were sons of Cora's brother Simp Jackson. Willie and Tillo (Tillie) were sons of Dr. Vinson from a previous marriage.

I found Dr. Vinson's death certificate online at Georgia's Virtual Vault. Cause of death was "multiple gunshot wounds of head (homicide)."

Just about every news article I read pointed out that Dr. Vinson had filed for divorce, citing that "she" had threatened to kill him.

Tomorrow: The Verdict.

"It was hell. I could endure it no more," She Said. (Battered Wife, or Cold-Blooded Killer Part II)

Yesterday we discussed the newspaper reports regarding the killing of Dr. W. D. Vinson in 1922 Atlanta, Georgia. Today's post will inform you of Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson's side of the story.

Before Cora officially went on trial for the murder of her husband, she and her lawyers tried the insanity defense: "Special plea of insanity was being heard in [Atlanta] superior court today for Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson, widow and slayer of Dr. W. D. Vinson...The daughter of Mrs. Vinson testified that her mother is insane." (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Georgia, 2 May 1922.) It didn't work. Cora's trial began the first of June.

Cora Lou Vinson Makes Statement

The article the following appears in was published in the 4 June 1922 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Georgia) after the verdict was rendered, as highlighted in the title which I do not yet want to give. :-) I will tell you this: A subheading was TWELVE MEN WERE OUT BUT TWO HOURS... Not exactly a jury of her peers. On with the statement!

The statement of Mrs. Vinson, which was given late Friday afternoon, was the sole testimony offered by the defense and as a result of this move, they have the opening and closing speeches in the argument.

The bitter story of a woman scorned was told to the jury Friday afternoon by Mrs. Vinson.

Mrs. Vinson, weeping the while, said she slew her husband [because] he had been cruel to her, had threatened her life, and said he was going to divorce her because of her wrecked physical condition and marry another woman young and wealthy [printed as "young and healthy" in other articles].

Ethel Robertson & Cora Vinson

She took the stand at 3:15 and delivered a dramatic recital for more than an hour. When she came to the description of the actual shooting, feeling in the court room was intense, and her daughter, Mrs. Ethel Robertson, who had been sitting with her mother all during the trial, fainted and had to be taken from the court room.

Mrs. Vinson at the outset took up the thread of the story leading up to the fatal shooting.

"I went to my husband's office to obtain funds to buy groceries on the afternoon of March 30. He only allowed me $7 a week for household expenses, and it did not give me enough to provide for myself and children."

"He was writing a prescription when I came into his office. I begged him to come back and live with me. He told me to sit down and shut up; that he was going to marry a young and healthy woman; that he was tired of me."

"I told him I loved him. I love him still, but he was so cruel to me I could not stand it any longer. When he told me there was another woman in his heart I became enraged. His coat flapped back and I saw the butt of the revolver he carried night and day. He previously had threatened to kill me, so I thought my time had come."

Tells of Shooting.
"I decided I would not be shot down like a dog. I drew my revolver from my coat pocket. I pointed the weapon at him...I was so weak I could hardly pull the trigger. Finally I heard a crash and knew the gun had gone off. They say I fired four shots, I only remember firing once."

"I had been in servitude for nineteen years. He treated me unkindly. He frequently threatened my life. On one occasion he tried to poison me and I was between life and death for five days. It was hell. I could endure it no more. And the problem took the natural turn of the whole sorry mess."

"But I loved him when I married him. And I love him now."

Mrs. Vinson spoke nervously and rapidly with occasional lulls when she would stop, evidently trying to concentrate. She had notes in her hand to which she referred from time to time.

Charges Assault
Mrs. Vinson prefaced her story of the shooting with a sordid story of alleged mistreatment during her nineteen years as Dr. Vinson's wife, charging that on various occasions he had threatened her life and on one occasion he shot at her and barely missed her baby's head.

She charged him with malpractice, with having made a dope fiend out of her, with having given her a social disease which was transmitted to one of the children, and with infidelity as far back as the time previous to the birth of their first child.

"I deprived myself of all pleasures to help him get a start in life," she declared. "He made me do all the work around the house, refusing to hire a servant because he said he had married me to work for him."

"He tried to run me away -- said I was a fool to live with him -- that I was so bony I would rattle if he held me up. But I loved him and begged him to stay in the house and avoid the disgrace of a divorce for our children's sake."

Cora Lou's attorney, Samuel Hewlett, in closing "declared the evidence showed that Mrs. Vinson shot in self-defense, and pictured her as a woman hounded by her husband, deprived of the necessities of life, and suffering great mental anguish as well as physical pain, at the time of the shooting." (Macon Telegraph, Georgia, 4 June 1922.)

"Dread of the hangman's noose is nothing compared to the fear I lived under before I killed my husband...

I killed my husband in self-defense. Therefore I have committed no crime."
- Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson
Tomorrow: "He Said."

Battered Wife, or Cold-Blooded Killer?

I first posted a news item about Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson and the death of her husband at the Southern Obituaries blog. A single short comment by Marian Pierre-Louis of Marian's Roots & Rambles encouraged me to learn more about the story. I found a fascinating tale of questionable sanity, battered wife syndrome (about 50 years before it was even acknowledged), infidelity, divorce, murder, capital punishment history and debate, feminism, and more. I cannot possibly retell the tale in a single post, so look for this series to continue over the next few days.

The Killing

When Cora Lou Vinson fired the shot that killed her husband, it seems it was heard "round the world" (or at least the United States). Newspapers from every part of the country ran the headlines:

· "Wife Kills Husband: Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson Fires Fatal Shot"

· "Atlanta Woman Kills Husband"

Two articles that set the stage for the "he said, she said" fight (though the "he" was dead) are below.

Daily Record, North Carolina
31 March 1922

Called Her Husband Cruel and Beat Him Frequently, at Last Ending His Life With Bullet
ATLANTA, Ga. March 31 -- Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson, who was held in the county jail here, today charged with killing her husband, Dr. W. D. Vinson, who was shot to death in his office here late yesterday, had by threats forced him to deed all his property to her before they finally separated, according to a copy of his petition for divorce.

The petition charged that she had frequently threatened to kill the physician and that once she met him in a downtown drug store talking to other men and kicked him. It cited occasions where she is alleged to have attacked him with tongs, a hatchet and an umbrella. Her counter petition to the suit claimed that she had been a faithful wife and accused him of inhumane treatment.

The divorce suit was to have been heard next Monday while a suit by which Dr. Vinson sought to recover his property, he is alleged to have deeded to Mrs. Vinson, was pending, and a warrant charging Mrs. Vinson with being insane had just been settled last Tuesday by a lunacy commission refusing to send her to the asylum...

Dr. Vinson was shot while writing prescriptions in his office in the rear of a drug store, one shot being fired before he knew his wife was in the room,...a clerk in the drug store told the police that after the doctor fell from the chair to the floor with his face towards Mrs. Vinson, she fired three more shots directly into his face and walked out of the drug store to a waiting taxicab.

Dr. Vinson, who was 65 years old, died shortly after being shot without having regained consciousness. His wife is 44 years old.

Marietta Journal, Georgia
6 April 1922

DR. VINSON SHOT BY WIFE; DIES IN ATLANTA THURSDAY

Both Dr. and Mrs. Vinson are well known in Marietta and by Cobb County People

Marietta and Cobb county people, who know both members of the Dr. Vinson family, were shocked to learn of the tragic death of the doctor in Atlanta last Thursday. The following extract is taken from Friday's Constitution:

Dr. W. D. Vinson, 65 years old, was shot four times by his wife, Mrs. Cora Lou Vinson from whom he had been separated for several years, at 4:30 o'clock Thursday afternoon while he was writing prescriptions in his office located in the rear of Pierce's drug store, 790 Marietta street, and died an hour later at the Grady hospital as the result of the bullets, all of which entered his head. Mrs. Vinson is being held at the Fulton county jail, without bond, charged with murder...

Dr. Vinson came to Atlanta nearly half a century ago from Roswell, where he was born and raised. He comes of a family of well-known physicians.

He is survived by three sons, Dr. T. D. Vinson, W. B. Vinson, and Master Louis Vinson; two daughters, Mrs. Fred Brown and Miss Ruby Vinson; a sister, Mrs. Fannie Robinson; and four brothers, Dr. George Vinson, of Marietta; Dr. Sam Vinson, of south Georgia; and Luther and John Vinson.

Funeral services will be held from St. James church at 2:30 o'clock Sunday and Atlanta Lodge F. & A. M., No. 59, will have charge of the funeral. Interment will be in West View.

Tomorrow: "She Said."

Julia Force Will Not Be Hanged, To Be Placed in an Asylum (A Southern Family Secret Part III)

Part III of A Southern Family Secret, the saga of Julia Force.

New York Herald
27 June 1893
(Viewed online at GenealogyBank.)

JULIA FORCE WILL NOT BE HANGED.

Insanity Successfully Pleaded in the Trial of the Girl Accused of Double Murder.

KILLED TWO OF HER SISTERS.

Notwithstanding the Strong Defense the State Will Try Hard to Secure a Conviction.

TO BE PLACED IN AN ASYLUM.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.]
ATLANTA, Ga. June 26, 1893 -- Miss Julia Force will find herself an inmate of the insane asylum to-morrow. Her trial for the murder of her two sisters opened today in the criminal courts of the county of Fulton, and before the day's work was over it was apparent to all that the crime was committed because of the woman's insanity; that the State almost abandoned the case...It is a certainly that a verdict of insanity will come within fifteen minutes after the jury retires...

MISS FORCE IN COURT

The prisoner, dressed in a claret colored street costume, with her face heavily veiled, walked into the court room leaning on the arm of her aunt, Mrs. Conley. The two women took seats in the centre of the room, immediately opposite the Judge. Miss Force closed her eyes, rested her hands on the arms of the chair and sighed...

[Mrs. Force, the mother of the prisoner, and Julia's brothers (G. H. and A. W.) testified in support of insanity.]

...Chief of Police Connolly testified that when he met Miss Force in his office she refused to say anything to him about the crime or who committed it. Soon afterward, however, she unpinned from her throat a breastpin containing her father's picture and handed it to him, saying she was unworthy to wear it...

TALKED COHERENTLY
...Witness told her of the awful crime, but she seemed to take it as an everyday affair, and said she had been maltreated by those who should have loved her.

[While speaking to a doctor the morning after the shootings]...She had told him then that her brothers were cruel to her and she had to get her sisters out of the way, as they were instrumental in the treatment given by her brothers. She said she prayed for deliverance and added, "But it had to be."

DEFENCE IS INSANITY
[Two doctors] said in conclusion he believed Miss Force was a monomaniac. [From Wikipedia: "In 19th century psychiatry, monomania is a single pathological preoccupation in an otherwise sound mind...In 1880, it was one of the seven recognized categories of mental illness." Example = Paranoia.]

STORY OF THE CRIME
[Julia was age 38; Florence was age 30; and Minnie was age 25.]...The news of the tragedy created intense excitement, owing in some measure to the prominence of the Force family, two members of which, G. H. and A. W., are successful shoe manufacturers in Atlanta. The general impression was that Miss force was insane, and her erratic conduct on many previous occasions seemed to furnish good grounds for such an impression.

...This gray haired woman with the strong but stern face was brought before a jury on February 28, and heard a writ read, in which the members of her family expressed their beliefs that she was insane...[doctor stated she was "under the influence of an insane delusion" that "her family were her enemies..."].

Mrs. Force then testified that her daughter Julia had not been mentally balanced since October 16, 1892, on which day she had acted very strangely and altogether like an insane person. Finally Mr. Albert W. Force testified that his sisters's mind was unsound, that all her grievances were imaginary and that for some days before the tragedy he had fully expected to be shot down every time he went home to dinner or opened the door. He also pointed our that one of his brothers was in an insane asylum and that his aunt's mind has been at one time unbalanced. In regard to his sister's complaint that storekeepers had been instructed not to give her credit, he said that he had given such instructions, as he did not consider his sister responsible. The jury then questioned Miss Force and in reply she said that she was not insane, that her family has always wronged her, and that, though she had a high temper, she had ever tried to do right. The jury declared her insane, at which she protested loudly, saying "I am not insane!" Finally, on March 9, the Grand Jury indicted her for murder. [End]

Tomorrow: To an Asylum Goes the Murderess Julia Force.

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Part II: Miss Julia Force's Story: Why She Murdered Her Two Sisters.

Part V: Julia Force is Dead

Miss Julia Force's Story: Why She Murdered Her Two Sisters (A Southern Family Secret Part II)

Part II of A Southern Family Secret, the saga of Julia Force.

The State, South Carolina
28 February 1893
(Viewed online at GenealogyBank.)

MISS JULIA FORCE'S STORY.

WHY SHE MURDERED HER TWO SISTERS.

Slighted All Her Life by the Other Members of the Family -- Details of the Horrible Tragedy

ATLANTA, Ga. Feb 27 -- Today's sensation is the publication of the full statement of Julia Force who murdered her two sisters. It is a statement probably ten thousand words in length, and was found by the police in possession of a friend of Miss Force, to whom it had been entrusted, but who knew nothing of its contents.

It is the story of the life of a high-strung, sensitive child, who grew to womanhood and to mature maidenly years in the belief that her mother, sisters and brothers at all times slighted her. She goes into minute details of many happenings in the family, which she takes as corroborating all she has claimed.

"They all loved my sisters better than they did me," the story goes. "Of course, they were younger while I was growing older. Everything in the house was for 'Sister Minnie,' or for 'Sister Florence.' A new dress or a new ornament would always look so well on them, without ever once referring to how it would look on me. I had the trouble of helping to raise them, because I was the oldest, and it made my blood boil to see them preferred before me in the love of brothers and mother. I could not stand it; no, and nobody else would."

After summing up a great many instances of imaginary wrong she goes on: "I was willing to bear my private griefs in private. I did not wish to harrow the public with the story of my personal griefs. But when public disgrace is piled upon me by notifying merchants not to credit me, the limit of endurance has been reached. When the clerks along the streets can thus point at me, for what have I to live? Just think of it! I am thus marked out, while my sisters are favored and fondled and petted. Public disgrace is too much, and I can't, will not, stand it."

"It is enough," she writes. "I have borne all I can bear. May God avenge, and, for every insult that has been given me, heap the crushing weight of insult, mortification and suffering, moral and physical, upon the heads of those scoundrels and traitors (meaning her brothers). Oh, my Father! help your child."

Thus was the climax reached on Friday. Miss Julia according to the story as told by herself, resolved to immediately execute the vengeance she had been plotting so long. She gave no sign of her intention. Her mother left home early in the morning to be gone until after noon. Miss Julia seized upon the opportunity to do the terrible deed. She went up town and purchased a good pistol and a box of cartridges. She loaded the pistol and laid it aside for use.

She then took from her trunk the statement which she had been preparing for so many months. She wrote a final entry upon its pages, and drawing a heavy line across the bottom of the page, signifying that the end had been reached, she hurriedly left home and went to a friend's house and left the statement. She then returned home.

The time for her deadly revenge had come. She sent Lula Jenkins, the house girl, off on an errand. The cook was first sent to the grocery store, and then after her brothers.

With the cook and house girl away, Miss Julia was alone in the house with her victims. No one knew of her fatal purpose. Without the quiver of a muscle she made her last preparations for the slaughter. Across the hall was her sister Minnie. The young lady was engaged in doing some fancy needlework, and as she worked she sang. Scarce ten feet away her murderous, maniacal sister was loading a revolver. Outside the sunlight gleamed and the street was full of noise of the noon of day.

Miss Julia crept across the hall into the room in which Miss Minnie, all unsuspecting, sat alone. Miss Julia held the pistol behind her. Miss Minnie looked up with an expression of displeasure as her elder sister entered her room. Her relations with her sister were always of an exceedingly acrid nature and she greeted her sister's appearance with disgust.

"Minnie, why did you tell the storekeeper not to sell me anymore goods?" asked Miss Julia venomously.

The young lady started to reply, but before she could do so Julia threw the pistol from behind her, and, placing it almost against Miss Minnie's head, fired. The young lady dropped to the floor with a groan. She writhed a little in the death agony. Blood spurted from the bullet hole. Julia bent over her dying sister and watched her expiring struggles. While she stood over her with the smoking revolver in her hand, Miss Minnie died. After being shot she never spoke once.

Miss Julia then locked the door and walked upstairs to Miss Florence's room. The invalid was standing beside the fireplace in her nightgown. Julia was in a terrible mood and Miss Florence received her coldly, Julia spoke to her sick sister roughly.

"Julia, will you leave the room?" Miss Florence said.

Julia's eyes gleamed with an expression of deadly hatred. She made a move toward her trembling sister. Miss Florence started toward her bed. Weak as a babe from long sickness, she tottered as she walked.

Behind her come her sister, bent on her terrible revenge. The younger lady reached the bedside in safety.

Florence had turned as she reached her bed to see if her sister was leaving her. Julia was beside her, the fatal pistol in her hand. Florence threw up her hands. There was a sharp report, and Miss Florence fell back upon the white sheets with a bullet in her brain.

Julia saw the blood stream from her sister's head and left the room. She locked the door behind her, and walking downstairs and out of the house she made her way to police headquarters. There was no undue haste; she was calm. The rest is known.

Miss Force will be tried on a writ of lunacy tomorrow. [End]

The articles posted so far were from the time Julia spent before the Grand Jury. She was indicted for murder and the trial was set for the summer.

Tomorrow, the verdict.

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Part IV: There Goes the Murderess

Part V: Julia Force is Dead

Crazy Julia Force Shoots and Kills Her Sisters: A Southern Family Secret

When reading through the Summer 2010 edition of Georgia Backroads magazine, I became thoroughly interested in an article by Gaynie G. Guy and Hugh T. Harrington entitled "Julia Force: Victorian Murderess." The crime depicted took place more than 11 decades ago and rocked not only the state of Georgia, but the nation.

Julia Force was the oldest daughter of B. W. and Julia Force. In February 1893, she shot and killed her two sisters, Florence and Minnie, in Atlanta, GA. She claims this was in retaliation to the treatment she received from not only them, but her mother and two older brothers as well. Julia claimed she was physically abused and treated like a slave. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, however, came in the form of public embarrassment. This occurred when her brother Albert instructed a local merchant to no longer extend credit to his sister Julia.

In Julia's mind, killing her two sisters not only would greatly pain the family, but also humiliate them. In the end, the family had to deal with the sorrow and loss of the two young women to be sure, but they managed to get back at Julia as well. They had her judged to be insane and committed to the state asylum. Instead of public humiliation, they received pity from the communities around the state, which likely also extended to the state of South Carolina, as they were a well known family there, as well.

I read several historical newspaper accounts of the crime and decided to transcribe and place some here. The story is quite fascinating and definitely part of Atlanta, Georgia (and consequently Milledgeville, Baldwin County) history. While it is clear the media is definitely slanted toward Julia being insane, I truthfully cannot decide one way or the other. What do you think? This will be a series of posts.

St. Louis Republic, Missouri
26 February 1893
(Viewed online at GenealogyBank.)

A HOME TRAGEDY

Crazy Julia Force Shoots and Kills Her Sisters.

DUAL CRIME AT ATLANTA

A Maniac's Hatred That Had Been Nourished for Years.

A SOUTHERN FAMILY SECRET

The Murderess a Physically Perfect Woman, but "Queer."

WALKED TO THE POLICE STATION
Special to The Republic.
ATLANTA, Ga. Feb 23 -- Miss Julia Force, a monomaniac, whose one fatal delusion, cherished for years, was that her mother and sisters were her bitterest enemies, to-day noon wreaked vengeance, which she had plotted for years, by putting a bullet into the brain of each of her younger sisters.

Miss Julia was alone in the house at the time, and it is believed that she crept behind her sisters and shot them while they were not looking. Miss Minnie Force, aged 28, was killed instantly and Miss Florence, aged 32, lingered in great agony for two hours.

Locking her victims in the room in which they had been shot, Miss Julia quietly donned her street costume, and walking hurriedly to police headquarters she surrendered herself. She had lost none of her steady nerve and the officers did not notice the maniacal gleam in her calm eyes. She told the officers of her deed without a quiver.

At the inquest held to-day it was found simply that the two young women had met their death at the hands of their sister.

A PHYSICALLY PERFECT WOMAN
Miss Julia Force, who did the killing, is the eldest sister of G. H. and A. W. Force, the proprietors of a shoe store on Whitehall street. She is about 34 years old, and is a fine specimen of physical womanhood, though not beautiful in face. Since the family removed here, some years ago, Miss Julia Force has made her home with her two brothers. She received every situation that brotherly love could prompt. She had always been regarded as queer, was willful, and would become melancholy and wretched for days at a time over some fancied slight. She was of an extremely jealous nature, and it was a favorite delusion of hers that her mother and two younger sisters were her enemies and were continually plotting to make her unhappy.

The family is one of the oldest and best of Charleston, S.C. Before the war they were prominent in the social life of the Carolina city, and were types of the old Southern aristocracy. After the war George H. Force and his brother Albert W., came to this city, and have lived here since. They are excellent business men.

ONE SHADOW IN A HAPPY HOME

11 Jun 1880 Federal Census
Atlanta, Fulton County, GA

After the death of their father they brought their mother and three sisters here to live with them. Of recent years they have lived at 44 Crew street, on the corner of Woodward avenue. The elder of the two brothers, Mr. A. W. Force, has been married for 22 years, but lost his wife two months ago. He has two sons, about grown. Mr. George Force has never married, although he is past middle age. He has devoted his time to the care of his widowed mother and fatherless sisters. The only shadow that hovered over the happy home was that thrown by the peculiar delusion of the eldest sister, which was as unfounded as it was unreasonable. On all other subjects she was perfectly sane. But her mad idea that her own mother and sisters were against her poisoned all her life and made her morose and discontented. It grew upon her to such an extent that she became insane.

THE CUNNING OF MANIA
This mania is responsible for today's terrible tragedy. After her mother had left the house this afternoon, Miss Julia sent the two servants off on errands, one to a grocery store near by, the other to her brother's store, sending him word that his sister Minnie was worse and for him to come home. As soon as the servants had left she seems to have set about to take terrible revenge for her fancied wrongs. Quietly she stepped into the room where her sick sister lay. Placing a pistol at her right temple, she fired. Death may have been instantaneous.

Quickly she stepped into the next room and put a bullet in the brain of the other sister, who was doing some light work.

...After the shooting she laid the pistol down, put on her hat and cloak and walked leisurely to the police station, and there she announced what she had done. The officers thought she was simply crazy, that there was no truth in the story, but soon came confirmation from the brother, who had rushed home, as he thought, to the sickbed of his sister.

Miss Force is calm and serene. She declares that she is perfectly sane and what she has done has been simply to get even for her wrongs. This tragedy, coming as it did as a climax to a week of blood and sensation, has caused the greatest excitement here. [End]

Tomorrow, Part II: Miss Julia Force's Story: Why She Murdered Her Two Sisters.

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Part III: The Verdict.

Part IV: There Goes the Murderess

Part V: Julia Force is Dead