John S. Williams and Clyde Manning

John S. Williams & Clyde Manning

February - March 1921

Covington, Georgia

 

 

    John S. Williams was a man of high esteem in Jasper County, Georgia but he was also a man known to travel to Atlanta to purchase peons. Peons were men whose debt he paid off in exchange for them working on his 2,000-acre plantation. During the early 1900's owning peons was illegal and slowly becoming frowned upon in the South. However, it wasn't John's use of Peons that caused such an issue in Georgia, it was how he treated his peons that became an issue. John was known to beat his peons for minor infractions and often refused to pay them, so they couldn't pay off their debt to him. It soon became a family tradition to release their dogs to chase after one of the peons through the woods, every Sunday. 

 

    After one too many beatings, Gus Chapman, escaped from the plantation in November 1920; he did the only thing that made since to him, which was to head straight to the Bureau of Investigations in Atlanta, now known as the FBI. They listened to Gus spin a wild tale of abuse and mistreatment and even murder; however, they dismissed his claims but agreed to investigate when they had the opportunity. In February of 1921, months after Gus reported the abuse, the investigators finally made their way to John's plantation after there were several reports of farm owners owning peons in the area. They arrived at the farm and interviewed the "farm hands" who all claimed that they were treated well and wanted to stay at the farm. The investigators left, with not a worry on their mind. However, John soon became convinced that he was going to go to jail for owning the peon's and decided he needed a plan. 

 

    On March 13th, 1921, a young boy was playing by the Yellow River near Allen's Bridge, when he noticed a shoe sticking out of the water; he ran back to his father's home and told him everything that he had seen at the river. The father and a group of men went to investigate this young boy's claim. They spotted the shoe floating in the water and waded out to grab it; as they began to pull the shoe, a body came with the shoe, and then another, and yet another. Before the week was over the men pulled 5 men from the waters of the Yellow River. All the men were chained and weighed down with bags of rocks weighing between 75 and 100 pounds, they were all alive when they went into the water. Before long, the investigators received word of the bodies and returned to John's plantation because they had recognized some of the men as John's farm hands and putting two and two together decided that he had killed the men. 

 

    John, a father of 12, believed that he would be found innocent by a jury of 12 white individuals, boy was he wrong! He was found guilty within minutes, but the Jury spent the remainder of the time debating if he should be hung or not. They ultimately decided that he should be sentenced to life in prison along with his accomplice Clyde Manning. Clyde was just 13 years old when he found his way to John's farm, he was practically raised by the man but still treated as though he was a peon. Clyde lived on the farm with his wife and children; he claimed the only reason he helped with the murders was so that he would not be killed. The following is a list of victims and the known facts of each.

•   Johnnie Williams was the first to be murdered after the investigators arrived at the Plantation, he was hit in the head by an axe and buried on the farm. 
• John "Big John" Gaither was hit in the head with a pickaxe by Charlie Chisholm, another peon, after he was instructed to by John. Big John had been digging a "well" when he was murdered, he was thrown into the hole and buried there. 
• John Brown was chained and weighed down with rocks before he was thrown off of the Water's Bridge on February 25th, 1921, along with Johnny Benson. 
• Johnny Benson was chained and weighed down with rocks before he was thrown off of the Water's Bridge on February 25th, 1921. 
• Willie Preston was chained and weighed down with rocks before he was thrown off of the Water's Bride on February 26th, 1921.
• Harry Price was chained and weighed down with rocks but before they could throw him from the bridge, he managed to escape from one of the chains and told the men that he would jump rather than be pushed. He jumped from the Water's Bridge on February 26th, 1921.
• Lindsey Peterson was chained and weighed down with rocks then thrown from the Water's Bridge on February 26th, 1921.
• Johnny Green, was murdered with an axe on February 27th, 1921, he was buried where his body landed on the field.
• Willie Givens was murdered with an axe on February 27th, 1921, he too was buried where body landed on the field. 
• Charlie Chisholm was murdered on March 6th, 1921, after helping murder Big John. He was thrown from the bridge while wrapped in chains and weighed down.
• Fletcher Smith was shot in the head a couple of days later. He was buried in the cornfield and corn was planted on top of his dead body. 

 

Some of John's former peons would later claim that John also murdered Aleck Dyer after he attempted to escape for a second time and Nick and Mamie Walker after they became too old to work although he was never officially charged with their murder.

 The Macon Telegraph, 26 March 1921 and 27 March 1921.