The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1890-11-05
AT THE ROPES END.
TOM VOOLFOLK PAYS THE
DEATH PENALTY AT
PERRY, GA.

| PERRY, GA.
His Horrible Crime-Hatred o
His Step-M0ther and Avaris
| Alleged as the Motives
| His Trial,
Thomas G.. Voolfolk was hange'
at Perry, Ga, last Friday for muir
dering nine persons, all members O.
his fathers family, on August 10
1887. The doomed man slept wei
from two o'clock until four. HI,
got up at eight, and had a interview
with party of newspaper men
with whom he conversed for half an
hour, laughing and ., exchanging
jokes.
About one o'clock he was con.
veyed, under the escort Of the locaI
military, to the gallows which had
been built in a little valley in the
outskirts Of the town. Seven OF
eight thousand people swarmed the
hillsides around to watched the ex-
ecution. On the gallows Voolfolk
was cool and composed.
After the ministers had PRAYED,
he himself prayed fervently, declar-
ing his innocence in his invocation.
A written statement, signed by
Voolfolk, was read, in which he
gave it as his dying declaration that
he was innocent Of the crime for
which he was being executed.
At 1:51 the drop fell. The fall
failed to break his neck, and death
resulted from strangulation, his
pulse continued to beat for eleven
minutes after the sall. Twenty
five minutes later the body was cut
down.
The victums Of the awful butch
cry were: Capt. r. Richard +.
Voolfolk, Sr,; his wife, Mrs,
Matte Voolfolk; their children,
Richard f., Jr, aged 20; Susan
Pearl, aged II; Annie, aged 10;
Rosebud, aged z; Charlie, aged 8;
Martha, aged s months, and Mrs.
Temple West, aged 81.
The first alarm Of the tragedy
came from Tom Voolfolk, the only
survivor ofthe massacre. Tom went
TO the house Of a negro tenant
named Green Socket, not far from
the Voolfolk house, about daybreak,
and called to him that someone had
killed his father.
Hurried investigation revealed
that the crime had not been exag-
gerated. Nine dead bodies were
lying in horrid confusion in the
house, everyone of them bralned
with an ordinary wood-axe that had
evidently been secured from the
yard. In the room occupied BY the
parents were six bloody corpses. The
bodies of Captain Voolfolk, his wife,
their infant and Miss Pearl Wool
folk lay on the bed in the corner,
the father and mother and babe
having been struck on the head with
the murderous axe apparently be-
fore they awakened, while the eldest
daughters body had been cast upon
the bed after death. On the floor
were the lifeless bodies Of Richard
Voolfolk and his younger brother,
Charlie, weltering in pools Of blood.
Death had been inflicted In each
case by blows with the butt Of an
axe.
Three other bodies lay stiff in
death in the girls room on the side
Of the corridor. The corpse Of Mrs.
West and Rosebud, the 7-year old
daughter, reposed where they had
slept side by side in one Of the two
beds in the room. The body Of 10
year-old Annie Voolfolk lay near
the window, as if she had been
warned Of the approach Of the mur-
derer and had sought to escape by
jumping out of the window.
Suspicion quickly fell upon Tom
as the murderer, and he was taken
IN custody. Investigation showed
that the only tracks about the house,
traced in blood from the blood
betrewn floor, were those Of Wool.
folk. Tom admitted they were his,
but said he made them when he
went into the bloody room alone az
ter the murder. He was searched,
aud on one leg about the knee was
found the imprint Of a bloody hand.
He had on a shirt much too large
| for him when searched, and after
ward his own shirt was found in the
we'll, blood-stained and clotted with
human brains. The motive for the
crime was found in Tom Woolfolk's
enmity for his stepmother and bis
desire TO have undisputed possession
of his fathers property.
Voolfolk was charged with mur.
der Of the nine members Of his
fathers household by the coroner's
jury, and in December, 1887, he was
brought 10 trial in Macon before
Judge Gustin, Of the Bibb County
Superior Court. The theory Of Che
defense was thata crazy negro Of ths
neighborhood had committed The
CRIME, but the theory failed, and wa,
practically abandoned before th,
trial ended. The jury found Wool.