The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-06-22
ONE MAN ENOUGH
FOR HIN TO Hang
ANCIENT HISTORY RECALLED BY
RECENT HANGING OF NEGRO
IN BROOKS equity.
THE STORY OF THE WADES

happy Experiences. Elder Wade q
Companion of Davy Crockett.
QUITMAN, Ga.-Sheriff Jesse
Wade of Brooks county hanged his
first man here Friday. 1t will be
seen whether he will follow the ex-
ample of his grandfather, the first
Jesse Wade, for whom he was named,
who was sheriff of Newton county in
1880, writes Miss Edna Cain. Sher-
if Wade of Newton county perform
ed his first legal execution all right,
but when the second one was due he
mounted his gray mare, rode by the
postoffice and mailed his resignation
to the governor, George Gilmer, and
| kept on riding until he crossed the
Alabama line. He did not return
home until two months had passed
and the sheriff appointed to fill his
unexpired term had performed the
execution.
Sheriff Wade of Newton county
said his first hanging made a coward
| of him so far as legal executions were
concerned. He declared that every
time he found himself in the dark
| for year after the hanging he saw
the dangling form of the man at the
end of the rope, swaying uncertainty
in the shadows.
Was Never a Coward.
The first Jesse Wade was never a
coward, however, in the ordinary ac-
ceptance of the term. He was one
of the finest types of the early pion-
GERS of this state, of amazing physical
strength, and always ready to take
any personal risk. The every day in
cidents of his life comprise more haz-
ards than the present generation will
ever experience, and his refusal to
hang a man is an interesting sidelight
on his character.
After resigning as sheriff of New
ton county he moved to Whitfield
county, at that time Murray county,
and settled at Red Clay near the Ten
nessee line. Here he became the boon
companion of Davy Crockett and it
may we'll have been that Crockett's
famous saying, "Be sure you are right
and then go ahead" originated be-
tween these two in some of their ex-
periences. In later years Davy Crock
EFT lost his life as the hero of the
Thermopylae had it's mes
senger, the Alamo had none" Ger
tainly the qualities that made such
heroism possible found place in the
rude frontier life of these two men
before the Alamo.
"reminiscences of His Grandfather.
Judge j. D. Wade of Quitman,
grandson of the first Jesse Wade, did
not read the Had but his boyhood
delight was the personal reminis-
cences of his grandfather who told
him many moving tales of the rude
times in which he and Crockett and
their companions figured.
In those days life was not complex
and the sophistication of cities was
unknown, the chief perils being from
wild animals and Indians. Prohibit
ton was not thought of and every lit
tie trading post sold rum and brandy
along with linsey wooIens and pow
der for flintlocks.
Pelts were mostly used at the trad
ing posts instead of money and one
of the pioneer Jesse Wade's faVorite
tales was of how he and Davy Crock
EFT got drunk on one coonskin. They
had only one skin, and it was good
for possibly one or two drinks. The
trader received the skin fr the first
drinks and dropped it on the floor
under the rude counter. He was not
watchful and one of the two reached
under the counter and got the COON
skin and again rendered it for drinks.
This trick was worked again and
again so successfully that the two got
very drunk.
Reformed at 25.
Jesse Wade reformed from drink
ing, however, when he was rs years
old and never took another drink He
was married when he was 1S and at
the age of % had promising family.
One Saturday night he returned from
drinking bout with some of his
companions and, feeling in fine fet-
tie, was dancing before the fire. He
thought the children were all asleep,
but the oldest boy was not, and next
morning the father heard the younger
children shrieking with laughter.
Looking out he saw the oldest boy
giving an imitation of his fathers an
tics the night before for their bene-
fit Then and there he vowed never
to drink again, and kept his vow.
AS proof of his physical fitness he
boosted that for 40 years he weigh
exactly $50 pounds. 1t was also his
boast that no man ever got the better
of him in a wrestling match or
physical contest of any kind. Word
was brought him one day that Berry
Bishop over at Spring Place said he
could lick him. Jesse Wade stepped
ont ono morning and walked over
to Spring Place, 80 miles away, to
dispute the statement.
When he returned he was terribly
beaten up. 1t had taken Berry Bishop
and four of his friends to do it and
they had done a good job. Jesse
Wade vowed he would whip each of
the men before he quit, and he did.
WANTS AN EXTRA SESSION.