Memories of Charlton County - by Gibson and Mays Back to Table of Contents 9. CALAMITIES AND COMMOTIONS (Pp 9-11) I have had some terrible experiences in
my life, and one of them happened when I was about fifteen years old. Sheriff Wiley Wainwright told Papa one day, "Come with me and bring Madison with you." So Papa took me with him to the courthouse in Folkston for there was a big event happening that day -- a public hanging. There were people everywhere, just like they were attending a picnic. Why in the world people would go to a thing like that, I never understood. A gallows with a
platform had been built about three hundred feet in the woods behind the courthouse, and a man stood there with his ankles tied together and a rope around his neck. He had murdered a man. When Sheriff Wainwright asked him if he had anything to say, the man gave a mighty good talk. He told those on the ground. "Keep good company. That's the reason I am here, I didn't keep good company." Then the sheriff asked the murdered man's widow if she
wanted to cut the rope to the trapdoor and she said "No!" I stood by a post and watched him drop. It was awful to watch a person die like that. I left and didn't stay to see them cut him down. Another dreadful event happened when I was working for my brother, Elvie Gibson, at Hopkins, Georgia in the Okefenokee Swamp. There was going to be a big picnic on Billy's Island and lots of people were going. At that time the log trucks ran on the tram
road rails and they were constructed with two sets of wheels which were connected with a twenty-foot flat-sided sill of wood. The trucks were pulled by a steam engine and one was on its, way to Billy's Island. Instead of hauling logs, it had a load of happy men, women and children. They were all sitting on the wide sill that connected the front and rear wheels. Hamp Colson or Joe Colson, one or the other, was the engineer that day. A sapling which was growing in the marsh
near the tram tracks had been leaning toward the rails for a long time, but just before the train came by, had fallen even further. As the engine moved by, it pushed the tree forward and then as it passed, the tree flew backward with a terrible force, sweeping all the people from their places into the water. Many were killed and some were badly hurt. That was a terrible calamity and an awful day for us at Hopkins. The Charlton County courthouse burned in 1928 and that also
created a big commotion. I was living in Waycross at that time but was visiting Papa who lived near Homeland. He was serving as the county Ordinary with an office in the courthouse. We could see smoke from Homeland and knew that there was a big fire in Folkston so I drove there to find out what was burning. The courthouse was on fire and people were carrying out everything that could be picked up. Under the oak trees on the courthouse square were piles of furniture and
equipment and record books that had been rescued. In one corner of the yard were the books and furniture from Papa's office. Mr. Billy Mizell, who owned the bank, stood there and when I drove up he said, "Where's your daddy?" I told him he was at home and didn't know about the fire. Nr. Mizell then told me, "Well, go get him and we'll haul this stuff to the bank." I drove back home and got Papa. We put all of his record books in the
back of Mr. Mizell's car and took them to the Citizens Bank. Mr. Mizell opened the bank and we stacked the books in a corner. That was an upsetting time for those working in the courthouse. But within a week or two temporary offices had been set up in the bottom floor of the Masonic building. The county commissioners held their meetings upstairs in the Masonic hall. A new courthouse was soon built right where the old one was. | 
