The Last Hanging At Traders Hill in 1884, Recalled.

March 7, 1884: The day dawned at Traders Hill as another beautiful spring day. However, today would be different. A man was to be hanged today for killing a neighbor with a double barrel shot gun.

Sheriff John Brooks was visibly disturbed. He didn't look forward to his chore of hanging a fellow townsman. 48 year old David McClain. McClain was to die for killing William F. Saxon in February 1879. For much of the five years since the murder, McClain had been held prisoner in the log stockade that served as the Charlton County jail at Traders Hill. Brooks and McClain had become close friends as the sheriff brought meals to the prisoner. In fact, Brooks had become quite fond of the illiterate farmer.

 McClain was married to Sarah Smith, a sister of Lydia Stone, Queen of the Okefenokee. Sarah, after her husband was hanged, would move to Dade County, Florida where she became known as the "Ox-Woman". Mrs. McClain drove an ox-cart from Racepond to south Dade County, Florida in 1907, and created a legend as the "Ox-Woman". Her sister, Lydia Stone, rode a red mule from Racepond to visit her sister in Florida. Both women were giants, measuring around 6 feet 4 inches tall.

Sheriff Brooks recalled the incident in 1879, leading to the fatal shooting of Saxon. Saxon had bought a small tract of land at Traders Hill, and the McClain family had gone to the home demanding payment for improvements they had made to the home, including building a rail fence, before Saxon took title to the property. Saxon refused to pay the $50 dollars demanded by the McClains. David McClain had cursed in the presence of Saxon's family, which triggered an angry response from Saxon. Saxon threatened to whip David McClain, but walked away. It was then that McClain fired two rounds of buckshot from his double barrel shotgun into Saxon as he walked away from the confrontation. Saxon died almost instantly, and the McClain family hurriedly left the Saxon farm.

 McClain fled with his wife Sarah to Suwannee Shoals, Florida, in Columbia County. But, word spread in Columbia County that McClain was wanted for murder in Charlton County, Georgia.

A merchant there, John V. Brown heard the report and sought to claim any reward that might have been offered. On July 17, 1879, Brown wrote a letter to the sheriff of Charlton County.

"Dear Sir: I wish you would let me know at once if there is any reward offered for McClain, and if so, how much and by whom. The reason I write is there is a man around here who is reported as having killed a man in your county. Let me know all about the reward and the full name of McClain. Do not delay as he may remove." The letter was signed "yours truly, John V. Brown. "P. S. I heard there is a reward offered by the governor and by private individuals. JVB."

 Sheriff John Brooks sent to Suwannee Shoals, where with local officers, took McClain into custody and returned him to the Traders Hill jail. There he remained a prisoner for five years, until his trial in January 1884, in the log courthouse at Traders Hill.

At that trial in the crowded tiny log courthouse at Traders Hill, Judge M. L. Mershon sentenced McClain to death by hanging. McClain was to be housed in the Chatham County jail until the day of the hanging. The date of the hanging was set for March 7, 1884, McClain's 44^th birthday.

Mershon ordered The Charlton County Commission to build gallows on the lands of Sheriff Brooks from which to hang McClain. The orders were carried out, and the gallows were reported to be ready just days ahead of the scheduled hanging.

County work crews repaired the road off Tracy Ferry Road, leading to the gallows. The commissioners knew there would be a crowd to witness the hanging. The hanging would take place between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

On that fateful day, crowds gathered early near the gallows. The family of McClain's victim, William F. Saxon, pushed their way to the front of the gallows. One person however, was not to be found on the day of the hanging. Sheriff John Brooks could not bear to see his friend, McClain, die at the end of a rope. Brooks left Traders Hill on the day of the hanging and commissioned deputies to carry out the order of the court. He returned late in the evening, several hours after McClain had paid with his life the penalty demanded by the law. Friends said it would be days before Sheriff Brooks shook off his depression.

The body of McClain was cut down from the gallows, and taken to the Traders Hill Cemetery for burial. The crowd began to break up, and as night fell, Traders Hill was again its usual quiet place. The day of excitement was over.

That hanging at Traders Hill, then Charlton County's seat of government, came just twenty years after the end of the Civil War. McClain, twenty-one when the war began, apparently never served in that tragic war but remained with his family in Charlton County throughout the war years.

Today the crumbled cement headstone of David McClain lies at the foot of a scrub oak tree in the Traders Hill Cemetery. Nearby the headstones of other McClain family members, also broken, lie beneath the shade of the scrub oak trees, silent witnesses to the last hanging at Traders Hill. The gallows used then were quickly taken down and stored. They were never used again.

John Brooks, a gentle  man, did not offer for re-election that year. Brooks stepped down from the Sheriff's office, tired of the rigor of his office. He never recovered from the loss of a friend that he had made with daily trips for five years to the stockade-jail to carry McClain's meals to him.