Atlanta, Ga., March 26—Near-slavery, brutality and charges of murder mingled here tonight in gruesome revelations on the plantation of John Williams, wealthy Jasper county resident, where five bodies of slain negroes were found by a posse of 25 officials of Jasper and Newton counties this afternoon. Clyde Manning, negro farm hand, led the posse without hesitation to the exact spot where the five were found buried. Almost at the same time, sheriff’s deputies dragging the Yellow River near Covington, brought to the surface the body of negro.
This brings the total of bodies found in the “murder farm” to nine. Theree were previously found, chained and weighted, in the river. It was the confession of manning that started the probe. He declared following his arrest on suspicion of having caused the deaths of three men, that 11 negroes have been slain. Some of these, he said, were buried on the Williams farm. Others, he declared, were taken to the Yellow River and tossed in with weights chained to them.
Manning was taken from the Atlanta jail early today by a party of Newton county officers and, after directing the officers to the graves of the dead negroes, was brought back to Atlanta and again placed in jail. Williams is already here, having been brought in from Jasper county because eof fears that influential friends would be able to effect his release. His three sons probably will be arrested tonight. Warrants have been issued implicating them in the murders.
While Manning charged in his alleged confession that only 11 negroes were slain, officers are investigating clues which ihndicate that many more than this number have been killed.
The Williams plantation consists of about 2,600 acres. Part of it is in Newton county, part in Jasper county, and some more in Butte county. It is indicated that some of the killings, as charged by Manning, took place in Jasper county and some in Newton county, thereby complicating legal procedure. The sons all own farms adjoining that of their father.
Within a few minutes after arrival of the posse of searchers at the Williams farm today, Manning started out on his grim mission of searching for the bodies. The men entered vehicles and were driven for two hours to a secluded spot, where Manning unerringly pointed out the spots where the men were buried. Within a few minutes the first one was found and soon all five, just as Manning’s confession said, had been disinterred.
The murders all took place within the last 60 days, Manning’s confession said. The first man was slain, he declared, because Williams feared he would “squeal” on conditions declared to approach slavery on the plantation. The man who killed this negro then was slain to hush him up and then began an endless chain. Manning declared he feared he would be next because he had knocked several of the men in the head with an axe and had helped drown others.
From the front page of The Charlotte News, Sunday morning, March 27, 1921
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