Evening journal., 1890-10-30

- ~
n a voafrotr IL as relief from
his long prison
life. He did not want the governor 10 In.
terfere Voolfolk, It is believed. offered
the warden 1900 and history Of his life ii
he gave him chance to escape. This be
ing refused, be offered him 500 il he
would give him a small phial Of morphine.
Died Protesting His Innocence.
Facing the crowd that surged around the
scaifold he said: Before the ali wise God
who reads all the secrets OF our hearts,
do solemnly protest and affirm that / am
Innocent of the crime of killing my father
or any member Of his family, and that !
do not know anything OF the person who
did commit the crime.n
The prisoner then bade his friends oood.
by and was pinioned The cap and moose
were adjusted and the trap was sprung.
Worse Than Electrieide.
The body shot downward six and one.
half feet. II turned partially. aud IN dong
SO the moose slipped ont OF position ana he
was slowly strangled 10 death.
The Story of woolfolis's Crime.
Woolfolk's crime is one OF the nost
horrible on record. Four years ago one y
the happiest homes in Georgia was the
home Of the Voolfolk family in Hazard
district, Bibb county. There for years
Capt, Richard II. Voolfolk had lived
There Tom Voolfolk was born. Aud there
his father, his fathers wife and his sisters
ana brothers were massacred one night by
him alone. The horrible crime was com.
mitted cn the night Of Aug. z. 1857. The
next morning the nine bodies were found
in the house, and that day the murderer
was placed in Jail Since then voolfolk
has had three trials, three convictions and
three sentences OF death.
On the evening Of the murder Capt.
Voolfolk, his wife and children and Mrs
Tempe West were at the Voolfolk man
sion. Tom Voolfolk was there. too. That
night about 2 or 3 o'aloek negroes living
upon the voolfolk plantation heard noises
at the mansion. An hour or two later Tom
Voolfolk awoke several OF these negroes.
saying: Come over to the house as quick
as you can; some one broke in and every
body has been murdered Voolfolk then
walked back to the mansion.
A Horrible Scene.
When the party entered they came upop
a scene that beggared description. On Inc
bed lay Capt. Voolfolk, next the wall. his
features and limbs naturally composed,
but with the whole corner OF his head
burst in and the brains scattered on the
bed, floor and walls
lie had been struck just over the left ear,
in the left eye and on the forehead with an
AK On the same bed, with her form
doubled up on that OF her dead husband.
lay Mrs. Matte Voolfolk, his wife. She
had been stricken down with a single blow
that was delivered on the back Of the head
with the edge of the AK But the cruelest
sight of all were the bodies Of young lady
and a little babe lying dead by their par.
ents Miss Pearl Voolfolk, young girl
Of II, had apparently been thrown across
the bed after her young soul haa fed. Her
head had been literally hacked to pieces
Six More Of the Victims.
BY the side Of its fathers mutilated body
lay little Matte, a babe Of eighteen months.
One wicked stroke with the blunt part OF
the ak had killed her On the floor near by
lay Richard +. Voolfolk, Jr., a young man
just in the dawn of useful manhood. He
had apparently run from another room To
his fathers assistance and was met with 4
blow from the edge Of the fatal ak Close
by his side lay little Charlie Voolfolk, 5 !
years old, and to slay him the hendish muir |
derer resorted 70 the wicked blade Of the |
AK. Across the hallway in another room
little Annie, aged TO- had been awakened |
by the noise and ran screaming with fear |
as II she would have escaped by the win |
dow She was dealt rufiianly blow behind |
the ear
On bed adjoining lay little Rosebud, |
aged Z, as IL she had never been awakened
by the entrance Of the flend. A terrible
blow behind the left ear showed how well |
the weapon had done its work. BY the
side OF the little girl lay Mrs. Tempe West
81 years old, with her withered features
distorted by two ugly wounds, one behind
the left ear and the other in the left temple
Words are inadequate TO paint the picture |
as those with Tom Voolfolk, the only liv- |
ing member Of the family, saw il that
morning. And among them all Voolfolk |
was by far the coolest
Betrayed by a bloody Hand.
Woolfolk's coolness continued at the in /
quest He pointed nonchalantly to the
dead bodies, describing the position they |
were in when he came and felt of them /
There was not quiver in his voice as he
spoke Of lifting hs mother and sister on to
She bed. In the jury room he broke down
once or twice. but finally became self
possessed. He first said he heard no out
cry, but afterward said he heard the chill
dren crying as he ran off. He was stripped, |
and the faint outline Of bloody hand was
discovered on his thigh. He said he prob
ably got that when he changed his clothes
The motive for the crime was found in
Tom Wooifolk's enmity for his stepmother
and his desire to have undisputed possess
sion OF his fathers property. Capt. Wool
folk was twice married, having by his first
wife two daughters and one son, Tom. On |
account OF certain business complications
he settled the bulk OF his property on his
second wife, first, however, giving his elder
children their share. Tom was not salts |
fled with his, and hated his stepmother
and her shildren in consequence. At the
time Of the murder Voolfolk was q years