The Woolfolk murders

[Harry]

Here's another mass murder by axe that I believe tops Villisca by one (not that it's a contest), the 1887 Woolfolk murders in Georgia:

http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/profil ... mains.html

[Tina-Kate]

Very interesting, Harry.

The murderer was born one month & one day before Lizzie. He also had a stepmother, who got the axe.

[terrie]

For goodness sake...what could possess someone to do something so monstrous?

I always thought that, if I was a movie producer or an historian, I would focus almost exclusively on cases like these... there has to be something to learn here, to discover, and, perhaps, to prevent in the future. Of course, I may be being totally naive. Perhaps such atrocities are just part of the human condition.

[Susan]

Thanks, Harry, interesting article. I wonder if the trial testimony is available anywhere? I'm so curious as to what the reason, if any was given, why the murderer went off the deep end?

[Nadzieja]

Thanks Harry, That was a very interesting article. What surprised me was that there were 10,000 spectators when they executed him. That's not exactly something I would want to see.

[SteveS.]

Interesting story Harry. I can't even imagine the energy and stamina extended to murder nine people with an axe. One would have to definitely be insane to murder one's entire family because how else could you live with your conscience?

[Bobbypoz]

Thanks for finding this Harry, how do you discover all these things? What a fascinating history. I googled Woolfolks's name and found this site, hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!
http://halloweensunseen.com/Susan.html

Thanks again Harry.

~B

[Harry]

You're all more than welcome.

I stumbled across the Woolfolk murders because of an item I read in an 1892 newspaper regarding the Borden case.

There was an anonymous letter written to a Pittsburg newspaper, The Dispatch, claiming that Lizzie was innocent and that the writer knew who did it. The part that referred to the Woolfolk murders is as follows:

" ... This man and one or two of his friends were in the South about four years ago, and while they were in Georgia, near Macon, they had a little trouble with a farmer named Woolfolk. So they went to his house one night and killed all of them but the son, and he got away. So they took some of his clothes and threw them, with blood on them, into the well. The clothes were found, and as they could not find any other clew to work on, the son was arrested, tried and hanged." The police are skeptical as to the genuineness of the information, but are trying to find the writer of the letter."

Prior to finding this article I knew nothing about the crime itself but just wanted to see if there was anything on the web about it. Google to the rescue!

[Harry]

Thanks Bobbypoz for the site.

I think we can read a lot into photos that is not necessarily there. Shoot enough photos and there will always be something that appears to be a face.

As far as orbs go, IMO, pshaw! They have been explained to my satisfaction on many web sites. If I was a spirit coming back I'm not coming back as an orb.

The whisps of smoke are far more impressive. That's kinda creepy.

[Barbara]

Don't you wonder if Lizzie happened to read a news account of the mass murder. Maybe that is where she got the idea. She may have read about his strange behavior,so she decided to act more neutral, instead of weird.I always thought it was a very calculated murder of Mrs.B,and Mr.B was just an extra thrown in due to cicumstances beyond her control.

[twinsrwe]

Harry, this is a very interesting fine. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Yooper]

Five years apart, almost to the day, must be something about that first week in August! Didn't Andrew buy Abby a half-interest in the Whitehead house about that time? Hmmm...

[Kat]

That's too weird Har! Thanks! In the timeline it shows the son was tried for the murder of his father. They left out 8 people!

Yooper, here's the first page of the deed with Abbie- it's from the UMASS site. It's dated May 2, 1887.

[Harry]

Interesting story Harry. I can't even imagine the energy and stamina extended to murder nine people with an axe. One would have to definitely be insane to murder one's entire family because how else could you live with your conscience?

The choice of an axe as the weapon is interesting. Since the killings occurred in a rural setting perhaps that is, to some degree, understandable. It just seems like the slow way to do in 9 people. Why not shooting?

Of the 4 murders we've discussed that were committed with axes, 3 were committed in a rural setting. (Woolfolk, Manchester and Villisca). True, the Manchester murder technically occurred in Fall River but it was in a farm area in the then rural north part of the city.

The Borden murders were committed in an urban area which makes the choice of an axe even more curious to me.

[Yooper]

It's quite a stretch, but maybe Lizzie made some connection between an axe murder and an event which greatly angered her three months prior. This assumes Lizzie was aware of the Woolfolk murders.

Thanks for the copy of the deed, Kat! The street which the Whitehead house is situated on must run at quite an angle off of true north/south if the lot is symmetric. Is the lot located on a curve in the road? The north property line runs 39 degrees north of west and the west property line runs 39 1/4 degrees west of due south. It seems that Abraham Wilson was the neighbor to the north, Allen Pitman probably to the northwest, Ezra Marble to the west, and John Fish to the southwest or south.

[Kat]

If you go to this link:

http://ccbit.cs.umass.edu/lizzie/images ... 0_269.html

and click on "Page 2" you will get the rest of the land deed in true copy form.

[Harry]

There appears to be at least two books available on the Woolfolk murders. Both are by Carolyn Deloach.

"Shadow Chasers: The Woolfolk Tragedy Revisited" (2000)

"The Woolfolk Tragedy: The Murders, the Trials, the Hanging & Now Finally, the Truth!" (1996)

That second title sounds a little too close to Arnold Brown's title. Hope there no Billy Borden involved.

[Yooper]

If you go to this link:

http://ccbit.cs.umass.edu/lizzie/images ... 0_269.html

and click on "Page 2" you will get the rest of the land deed in true copy form.

Thank you for the link. The lot seems to be situated on the west side of Fourth Street, and the street runs 39 1/4 degrees east of north. The lot is symmetric, 1/4 degree off of rectangular, approximately 66 feet wide and 99 feet deep.

[Yooper]

There appears to be at least two books available on the Woolfolk murders. Both are by Carolyn Deloach.

"Shadow Chasers: The Woolfolk Tragedy Revisited" (2000)

"The Woolfolk Tragedy: The Murders, the Trials, the Hanging & Now Finally, the Truth!" (1996)

That second title sounds a little too close to Arnold Brown's title. Hope there no Billy Borden involved.

I was thinking the same thing as I read the titles, sounds a lot like Brown! Come to think of it, we could introduce "Billy Borden" (substitute aliens, Sasquatch, or the Loch Ness monster if you like) into almost any unsolved murder case and come up with a solution if we contort enough!