The Lizzie Borden Society archive

Forum URL:

1. "Horrific axe murders"
Posted by harry on May-18th-02 at 1:07 AM

Here's a "cute" little item on a book about a 1887 case. This brief article has an Oct. 2000 date:

MURDER OF THE CENTURY
Years before Lizzie Borden used an axe to kill her family or Jack the Ripper stalked his prey, a famous murder case occurred in Macon, Georgia. Shadow Chasers: The Woolfolk Tragedy Revisited by Carolyn Deloach recounts the true story of this 1887 mass murder where a family of nine was killed by an axe murderer. The lone survivor, a son of one of the victims, was executed for the murders. Deloach exposes evidence that this son was innocent and reveals that the actual killer was a serial mass murderer, protected by the political forces of the State of Georgia, who went on to kill again!

Now here is a crime far more horrific (at least in numbers) than the Borden's  and I'll bet hardly anyone has ever heard of it.  I certainly hadn't.

That murder case didn't have an Edmund Pearson to keep it alive. According to Gabriela Adler, (and I am paraphrasing), Pearson credited Lizzie with his entire career as a true-crime writer. He wrote about the case in suceeding years what five times? Keeping it before the public's eyes years after the acquittal.

Plus the case was front page news all over the nation, sparking a national interest. Oh, and most importantly I think, the Borden case was one of the very first news stories carried by the newly established Associated Press, who fed the stories to newspapers and syndicates all over the nation----it was easy to print it as it was "pre-written" for them. No need to send their own reporters as the AP sent theirs then distributed the story to them.

So the power of the press played perhaps the greatest role in making this case the sensation that it was and it.

Has anyone read a book called THE BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER written by Sharyn McCrumb?  It's a mystery based on fact.  Frankie Silver was/is an ancestor/reletive of the author.  I don't want to give anything away, but allow me to say "chop-chop to it".  A fantastic read! Actually all of her "ballad novels" are!

http://www.sharynmccrumb.com/

Nope...but I've read a couple early McCrumbs.
I didn't know about the BALLAD series...thanks.
(Did she write:  "IF I'D A KILLED HIM WHEN I MET HIM" ?
My girlfriend just passed me that book, but I can't find it in my house...)