Sneak Peek

This is Marnie's latest release, a true story from the "Morton" line of her family history. Learn more about "An Uncertain Justice" here

Prologue

Walker County Jail , Lafayette , Georgia
April 27, 1923 11:50 a.m.

"I hope it's a good easy death," the prisoner said as he approached the gallows inside the Walker County Jail. Deputy Tom Tarvin looked at the clean shaven man. With his straight posture, suit and tie, he looked like a fine young man. If Tom had seen him on the street he never would suspect him of murder. Then again, Tom had his doubts about the man's guilt.

Tom's eyes met Rupert Merewether's. The big city reporter sure had stirred the pot around here, stirred it so much that Tom now feared they were hanging the wrong man while the guilty one remained alive in prison. If only Merewether had left things alone, maybe justice would have taken its proper course. Merewether's articles produced a public outcry that forced the Governor's hand, forced it in a way that led this man to the gallows in another’s place. Tom pressed his fingers to his gray temples and rubbed, trying to soothe his headache. He reminded himself that he was just doing his job. Just doing his duty.

"How far is the drop?" the prisoner interrupted Tom's thoughts. He could have been inquiring about the weather on an ordinary day. His voice was that calm. But this was no ordinary day. It was the day -- the very hour -- he would die.

"Six feet, eight inches," Deputy Aknow answered. A wave of nausea washed over Tom. His eyes riveted on the prisoner’s boots and the trap door beneath. He hoped that was the right distance… prayed it was the right distance. None of them had ever hanged a man. Sheriff Harmon had gotten a book on hanging which explained that the drop from the trap has to be just right. If the drop is too far, and the man is heavy, it can snap the head clean off. The thought of it made bile rise to the back of Tom's throat. He swallowed hard, forcing it down.

Not for anything in the world would Tom agree to be the one to spring that trap. Just being here, helping this man to the gallows was enough to haunt him all his days.  No one had ever been legally hung in Walker County , Georgia . Tom did not like knowing he would go down in history as being involved in the first.

Tom's eyes shifted toward Sheriff Harmon's closed office door. The poor man had been sequestered in his office all morning, refusing to talk to reporters, letting Tom and Deputy Aknow take care of things until the final moment.

The subdued voices of a couple hundred people rose in volume as the jailhouse door opened and the group of family members began their exit, unwilling to watch the final act. A lump formed in Tom's throat as he watched the prisoner's family clinging to one another, dabbing hankies to their bloodshot eyes. The father draped an arm around them, and ushered them outside.

Those poor parents! What would it be like to know your son would die in such a horrific manner, knowing he’d declared his innocence to the bitter end? After the family made their exit and the doors were closed once more, Deputy Aknow asked the prisoner if he wanted to say anything else.

The man stood up straight, his arms tied behind his back and his feet bound together. "Boys," he said, "I'm going to leave here grinning. A body would like to stay on this earth awhile longer, but when you've got to go, there's no use in crying." His weak smile faded somewhat. "Would someone please comb my hair?"

Tom and Aknow patted their pockets but had no comb. The other lawmen and reporters began a search of their own, but no one found anything. Tom straightened the prisoner’s dark hair the best he could with his fingers until someone in the small crowd produced a comb. Tom raked it through the man’s hair and straightened the prisoner’s black tie. He buttoned his checked suit neatly and patted the prisoner’s shoulder.

Breathing deeply, Tom took the noose from Aknow. With trembling hands he put it around the young man's neck. The rope slid through his fingers as he drew it tight, giving him a slight burn, but it was nothing compared to the fire searing his soul knowing he played a part in this hanging.

Deputy Aknow held up the cap, about to place it over the young man's head when he interjected, "Before you do that, tell Mrs. Harmon I said good-bye."

"We will," Tom nodded. He knew the Sheriff's wife had been kind to the prisoner, bringing him meals.

"How should I stand to make it spring easier?" he asked as an afterthought.

"Just put your feet right there on the trap," Tom pointed down at the wood and helped him shift into place. Once settled, Deputy Aknow covered the prisoner’s head with the black cap of death. Only then did Sheriff Harmon step into an adjoining room to spring the trap.

An eerie silence filled the chamber as the two deputies stepped back. Tom held his breath. Everyone in the room held their breath. The only thing Tom could hear was the hammering of his own heart.

Suddenly, as if no one expected it to really happen, the trap snapped open, slicing the silence.

The body dropped six feet, eight inches. Gasps. Tears. The onlookers stood in horror. Even the pencils in the hands of local reporters hovered over their pads of paper, forgetting what they had come there to record, unprepared for the reality of what they had come to witness.

Tom looked down, as once again the bile threatened at the back of his throat. The drop wasn't far enough! The man dangled there, struggling, kicking, until several eternal minutes passed and the body fell still.  

"At five minutes after 12, the prisoner had paid the inexorable penalty of the law for those who violate the sacred commandment, 'Thou Shalt not Kill.'"

                        - The Chattanooga Times April 28, 1923.  

The true story behind the last legal hanging in the state of Georgia
begins 13 months earlier…


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