Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-10-30
A GREAT CRIME
In Georgia Avenged by Pro-
cess of the Law.
A MURDERER OF NINE PERSONS
Hung After Three Years Grace Story
Of the Murder.
HOW A SON BRAINS HIS FATHER.
A MURDERER OF NINE PERSONS
HOW A son BRAINS HIS FATHER.
StepmOther, Sisters and Brothers Because He
Thought He Was Not Treated Right
A Sensational Turn in the Birch
all-Benwell Case---The
Colonel in the Case.

all-Benwell CaSe---The
Colonel in the Case
PERRY, GA. October 29.-Tom Wool
folk was hanged here at 1880 p. M. for
the murder OF nine persons.
Just before dawn on the morning Of
August &, lss7, in Hazard district. Bibb
county, some twelve miles from Macon.
nine people were brutally murdered by
single assassin. The victims Of the
awful butchery were: Captain Richard
L. Voolfolk. Sr., his wife, Mrs. Matte
Voolfolk, their children, Richard T..
Jr.. aged 20; Susan, aged l.: Annie.
aged 10: Rosebud, aged =; Charlie. aged
;; Matte, aged Is months. and Mrs.
Temple West, aged 81.
The scene Of the crime was the Wool
folk homestead, an ordinary Southern
farm house Of frame. one story high.
containing six rooms: The surround
ngS betolencd the home of a we'll
to-do Southern planter Of the better
class.
1t was in this home that Capt. Wool
folk and his family were living AT the
time Of the tragedy. On the Saturday
night preceding the fatal Sunday morn
ing there We're ten members of the
household present, including Mrs West,
who was a visitor at the house. Thomas
G.. Voolfolk tthc eldest som, Richard
and Charley were sleeping in the first
room on the left of the single front
room. In the next apartment Capt. and
Mrs. Voolfolk and their infant child
occupied the one bed in the room.
The other three children, Misses
Pearl and Rosebud and Annie and
old Mrs. West occupied the room on
the opposite side OF the hallway from
the parents ROOM The first alarm OF
the tragedy came from Tom Voolfolk,
the only survivor Of the massacre. The
news that a terrible crime had been
committed at the Voolfolk house spread
with phenomenal rapidity. and soon a
great crowd was gathered about the
place. Hurried investigations revealed
that the crime had not been cXaggcr-
ated Nine dead bodies were lying in
horrible confusion in the house, every
one Of them Drained with an ordinary
wood axe that had evidently been
secured from the yard.
Three other bodies lay still in death
in the girls room on the other side of
the corridor The corpse of Mrs. West
and OF Rosebud, the 7-ycar-old daugh-
ter, rep0sed where they had slept side
by side in one Of the two beds in the
room. The body Of lO-year-old Annie
Voolfolk laymear the window, as II she
had been warned of the approach Of the
murderer. and had sought to escape out
of the window. Here. as with those in
the first room. the assassin had dis
patched his victims with blows on the
head with his axe. Nothing in the
house had been disturbed, and a small
amount OF money in the pockets Of
Richard Voolfolk, Jr.. had not been
touched. There were no indications
that robbery had been the motive for
the deed,
There was nothing unusual found in
the first room on the left rs one entered
the house. but In the room occupied by
the parents communicating directly
with the front apartment were slX
bloody corpseS. The bodies OF Capt.
Voolfolk, his wife. their infantand Miss
Pearl Voolfolk lay on the bed in the
corner. the father, mother and babe
having been struck on the head with
the murdcrou> axe apparently before
they wakencd, while the eldest daugh-
ter's body had been east upon the bed
after death. On the floor were the
lifeless bodies of Richard Voolfolk and
his Younger brother Charles, wcltering
i'm pools Of blood. Death had been in
nicted in each case by blows with the
butt Of an axe, save in the case Of the
little hoy. whose head had been clOven
with the axe. Not blow had been
struck except on the mead of the vie
tins. and they lay in their night gar
mcnts where they had been struck
down. and the blood and brains from
their crushed skulls had run ont until
the room was a sea Of gore.
The story told by Tom Woofolk was
thai ne had been awakened by hearing
his father cry ont little before day.
Inst then Richard had jumped out OF
he'd and run into his fathers room.
He heard Richard knocked down.
and then. fearing for his own life, he
had fled. jumping from window ln his
room and running TO Sockets cabin 10
raise the alarm and secure help. Wool
folk's account Of the crime was unsatiN-
factory and few believed IL. Suspicion
quickly fell on him as the murderer and
he was taken into custody. lnyestlga-
tion showed that the only tracks about
the house, traced in blood from the
blood -bestrewn floor. were those oi
Voolfolk. Tom admitted they were
his. but said he made them when he
went into the bloody room alone after
The murder. lie was search ID, and on
one leg abou, the kncc was found the
IMPRINT Of bloody hand. lie had on
A Shirt much too large FOR him when I.
searched. and afterwards his own shirt /
was found In the well, blOod-stained /
and clottcd with human brains.
The motive Of the crime was found in f.
Tom Woolfolk's euemity for his step /
mother and his desire TO have undis-
putcd possession Of his fathers property. /
CAPTAIN Voolfolk was twice married I
having by hi, first wife two daughters /
and one son. Tom. On account Of Ger
-ain business complications be settled /
the bulk Of his property on his second
wife. first. however. giving his elder
children their share. Tom was not sat
sized with this and hated his step
mother and children in consequence.
Voolfolk was twenty-seyen years OF
,oe He had always been Of sullen
and made few friends. lis
Ii.iike for his stepmother and her chill /
iron was well known. and be had said .
hat he ought 20 have the ola man .
property and he intended To nave IL /
some day. Voolfolk was charged with +
the murder OF the nine members Of MS /
fathers household by the coroner's jury /
md In December. lss7. he was brought /
IN trial I'm Macon before Judge Gustin /
IF the Bibb County Superior Court. (
The theory Of the defence was that .
,razv negro Of the neighbOrhood had I
the crime, but the theory /
failed and was practically abandoned be-
fore the trial ended. The jury found .
Voolfolk guilty after being out but I
few minutes and be was sentenced .
,o deat.. The Supreme Court
granted new trial, however, and In
March. lssg. he was tried at Perry, |
Uouston county. a change Of venue
having been granted because a jury
,ould not be secured in Bibb. Again