The Chattanooga News
Chattanooga, Tennessee
12 Oct 1929, Sat • Page 1
YOUTH ADMITS ATHENS MURDER; BLAMES HUNGER
Garrett Williams, 22 Confesses Clubbing Miss Mahala Long, 58, In Her Store.
HIGH FEELING SUBSIDES
Special Session of Grand Jury Called for Monday to Act on Murder Warrant.
Athens, Oct. 12— (A. P.)— The McMinn county grand jury has been called to meet in special session here Monday to act upon a warrant charging Garrett Williams, 22,with the fatal clubbing of Miss Mahala Long, spinster storekeeper, last Thursday.
Circuit Judge John Blair authorized the special jury session today after being notified Williams had confessed he struck Miss Long with club, hit her twice while she was lying in blood on the floor of her store and fled after taking her watch. He got no money.
Williams was held in jail here today. Feeling against him. extremely intense, when he was arrested Friday, night appeared to have subsided, officers said.
Williams, a former state reformatory inmate, was held under close guard today following Sheriff Duggan's announcement that he had confessed.
Hunger and the desire tor better clothes led Williams to kill Miss Long, Sheriff Duggan said, after grilling him for six hours.
The account given by Sheriff Duggan was that Williams met Miss Long in her store near here Thursday noon, struck her to the floor with a wooden cub, and left her still alive after hitting her twice again. Her body was found later, William told the sheriff he "just couldn't take anything" from the open cash register.
Linked with the killing through his attempts to earn a scanty living by selling mountain herbs to Miss Long, Williams was traced to Knoxville and arrested there yesterday. He was returned and questioned here last night.
The sheriff said that Williams, shown the short, blunt stick with which Miss Long was killed, said, "Yes, this is what I hit her with."
Plans to take him to Chattanooga for finger-printing were abandoned, Sheriff Duggan said enmity toward him had lessened and that it would be better to keep him in the McMinn county jail until a special session of the grand jury, which Circuit Judge John Blair said would be called next week.
Grilled Six Hours.
Worn to the breaking point after six hour of questioning behind doors barred and guarded against the outspoken rage of townsmen and farmers who lived near Miss Long's country store, Williams told Sheriff Dah C. Duggan and several deputies that hunger and weeks without money had led him to plan the killing for several days.
The sheriff said Williams told how he had become acquainted with Miss Long when he came here about four weeks ago and attempted to earn a living by selling her mountain herbs.
Williams, the sheriff said, confessed that he went to Miss Long's store shortly after noon Thursday and, finding she was at her home nearby, called her to the building.
As she entered the door and started behind the counter, Sheriff Duggan said, Williams struck her with a wooden club and knocked her to the floor. Sheriff Duggan quoted Williams as saying he then went to the open cash register but "couldn't take anything."
Officers Thursday found the drawer opened, but unrifled.
Then the sheriff said William told him, he picked up the club again and struck Miss Long twice as she lay on the floor. Sheriff Duggan said Williams related Miss Long was alive and struggling on the floor when he left the store. Her body was found about 4 o'clock that afternoon, surrounded by blood. The club was on the floor by her body.
William said when arrested at Knox-
(Continued on Page 6.)
The Chattanooga News
Chattanooga, Tennessee
12 Oct 1929, Sat • Page 6
YOUTH CONFESSES MURDERED WOMAN
(Continued from Page 1)
ville that a watch found on him and identified as Miss Long's by her brother and uncle had been purchased at Knoxville this morning. Knoxville detectives said they had verified this but Sheriff Duggan asserted Williams had admitted he tore the watch from a cord around Miss Long's neck.
Williams, until a year ago an inmate of the state reformatory for boys at Nashville, was said to have gone from the store at Long's Mill to Etowah and to have ridden from Etowah to Knoxville on a freight train.
Sheriff Duggan said feeling against Williams subsided somewhat late Friday night, and that he would be removed immediately to the McMinn county jail from the courthouse, where he he had been in an upper story room tor safety.
Caught In Knoxville
Athens, Oct. I2. – (Special.) – Garrett Williams, 22, charged with the murder of Miss Mahala Long, 58 years old, Thursday afternoon in her store, seven miles south of Athens, was apprehended Friday at noon in a poolroom on Central avenue in Knoxville.
Chief Deputy D. S. Payne and Deputy Sheriff G. W. Strickland went to Knoxville early Friday morning on an intuition that Williams would be in that city.
The local officers secured the services of Detectives F. G, York and Joe Kimsey of the detective force in Knoxville and the party by chance went into the poolroom where Williams was sitting in a corner. He was identified by Fred Barnes and taken by local officers for purpose of identification. He was brought to Athens Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock and officers are keeping strict guard over the prisoner in the courthouse. He was not put in jail for fear of mob violence.
The most damaging evidence was a watch taken from Williams which was identified by an uncle, Walter Long, and a brother as the property of their dead sister. The watch was also identified by a local jeweler who had repaired it this summer John Ayles, mall carrier saw Miss Long with the watch about three hours before she was killed.
Williams has a dark criminal back ground in his family. He himself has only been out of reform school one year. He has a brother in the state penitentiary. His father Ed Williams killed his mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law at Topton, N. C. about fifteen years ago and, sentenced to life imprisonment, died two years later.
Funeral Services.
Funeral services for the murdered woman will be held Sunday morning at 10 o'clock in Liberty Baptist church. Interment will be in Liberty cemetery.
Miss Long was one of the most highly esteemed women in the community, and for several years had operated the country store following the death of her uncle, W. C. Long. In early years she taught school in McMinn county and for two years was an instructor of a school in Georgia.
Surviving are one brother, Fred Long, of Greeneville; four sisters, Mrs. H. Y. Broyles, Athens; Mrs. C. H. Carver, Chattanooga; Mrs. Clay Aytes, Greeneville, and Mrs. Allen Goodrich, of Rhode Island; two aunts, Mrs. E. P. Phillips of Rockwood and Mrs. Ed Hall, Rockwell, Tex.; two uncles, O. C. Long of Rockwell, Tex., and Walter Long, who lived with Miss Long at the old Long home, widely known as Long's Mill, which was owned and operated by Dr. John Long several year ago.
Chattanooga, Tennessee
12 Oct 1929, Sat • Page 1
YOUTH ADMITS ATHENS MURDER; BLAMES HUNGER
Garrett Williams, 22 Confesses Clubbing Miss Mahala Long, 58, In Her Store.
HIGH FEELING SUBSIDES
Special Session of Grand Jury Called for Monday to Act on Murder Warrant.
Athens, Oct. 12— (A. P.)— The McMinn county grand jury has been called to meet in special session here Monday to act upon a warrant charging Garrett Williams, 22,with the fatal clubbing of Miss Mahala Long, spinster storekeeper, last Thursday.
Circuit Judge John Blair authorized the special jury session today after being notified Williams had confessed he struck Miss Long with club, hit her twice while she was lying in blood on the floor of her store and fled after taking her watch. He got no money.
Williams was held in jail here today. Feeling against him. extremely intense, when he was arrested Friday, night appeared to have subsided, officers said.
Williams, a former state reformatory inmate, was held under close guard today following Sheriff Duggan's announcement that he had confessed.
Hunger and the desire tor better clothes led Williams to kill Miss Long, Sheriff Duggan said, after grilling him for six hours.
The account given by Sheriff Duggan was that Williams met Miss Long in her store near here Thursday noon, struck her to the floor with a wooden cub, and left her still alive after hitting her twice again. Her body was found later, William told the sheriff he "just couldn't take anything" from the open cash register.
Linked with the killing through his attempts to earn a scanty living by selling mountain herbs to Miss Long, Williams was traced to Knoxville and arrested there yesterday. He was returned and questioned here last night.
The sheriff said that Williams, shown the short, blunt stick with which Miss Long was killed, said, "Yes, this is what I hit her with."
Plans to take him to Chattanooga for finger-printing were abandoned, Sheriff Duggan said enmity toward him had lessened and that it would be better to keep him in the McMinn county jail until a special session of the grand jury, which Circuit Judge John Blair said would be called next week.
Grilled Six Hours.
Worn to the breaking point after six hour of questioning behind doors barred and guarded against the outspoken rage of townsmen and farmers who lived near Miss Long's country store, Williams told Sheriff Dah C. Duggan and several deputies that hunger and weeks without money had led him to plan the killing for several days.
The sheriff said Williams told how he had become acquainted with Miss Long when he came here about four weeks ago and attempted to earn a living by selling her mountain herbs.
Williams, the sheriff said, confessed that he went to Miss Long's store shortly after noon Thursday and, finding she was at her home nearby, called her to the building.
As she entered the door and started behind the counter, Sheriff Duggan said, Williams struck her with a wooden club and knocked her to the floor. Sheriff Duggan quoted Williams as saying he then went to the open cash register but "couldn't take anything."
Officers Thursday found the drawer opened, but unrifled.
Then the sheriff said William told him, he picked up the club again and struck Miss Long twice as she lay on the floor. Sheriff Duggan said Williams related Miss Long was alive and struggling on the floor when he left the store. Her body was found about 4 o'clock that afternoon, surrounded by blood. The club was on the floor by her body.
William said when arrested at Knox-
(Continued on Page 6.)
The Chattanooga News
Chattanooga, Tennessee
12 Oct 1929, Sat • Page 6
YOUTH CONFESSES MURDERED WOMAN
(Continued from Page 1)
ville that a watch found on him and identified as Miss Long's by her brother and uncle had been purchased at Knoxville this morning. Knoxville detectives said they had verified this but Sheriff Duggan asserted Williams had admitted he tore the watch from a cord around Miss Long's neck.
Williams, until a year ago an inmate of the state reformatory for boys at Nashville, was said to have gone from the store at Long's Mill to Etowah and to have ridden from Etowah to Knoxville on a freight train.
Sheriff Duggan said feeling against Williams subsided somewhat late Friday night, and that he would be removed immediately to the McMinn county jail from the courthouse, where he he had been in an upper story room tor safety.
Caught In Knoxville
Athens, Oct. I2. – (Special.) – Garrett Williams, 22, charged with the murder of Miss Mahala Long, 58 years old, Thursday afternoon in her store, seven miles south of Athens, was apprehended Friday at noon in a poolroom on Central avenue in Knoxville.
Chief Deputy D. S. Payne and Deputy Sheriff G. W. Strickland went to Knoxville early Friday morning on an intuition that Williams would be in that city.
The local officers secured the services of Detectives F. G, York and Joe Kimsey of the detective force in Knoxville and the party by chance went into the poolroom where Williams was sitting in a corner. He was identified by Fred Barnes and taken by local officers for purpose of identification. He was brought to Athens Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock and officers are keeping strict guard over the prisoner in the courthouse. He was not put in jail for fear of mob violence.
The most damaging evidence was a watch taken from Williams which was identified by an uncle, Walter Long, and a brother as the property of their dead sister. The watch was also identified by a local jeweler who had repaired it this summer John Ayles, mall carrier saw Miss Long with the watch about three hours before she was killed.
Williams has a dark criminal back ground in his family. He himself has only been out of reform school one year. He has a brother in the state penitentiary. His father Ed Williams killed his mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law at Topton, N. C. about fifteen years ago and, sentenced to life imprisonment, died two years later.
Funeral Services.
Funeral services for the murdered woman will be held Sunday morning at 10 o'clock in Liberty Baptist church. Interment will be in Liberty cemetery.
Miss Long was one of the most highly esteemed women in the community, and for several years had operated the country store following the death of her uncle, W. C. Long. In early years she taught school in McMinn county and for two years was an instructor of a school in Georgia.
Surviving are one brother, Fred Long, of Greeneville; four sisters, Mrs. H. Y. Broyles, Athens; Mrs. C. H. Carver, Chattanooga; Mrs. Clay Aytes, Greeneville, and Mrs. Allen Goodrich, of Rhode Island; two aunts, Mrs. E. P. Phillips of Rockwood and Mrs. Ed Hall, Rockwell, Tex.; two uncles, O. C. Long of Rockwell, Tex., and Walter Long, who lived with Miss Long at the old Long home, widely known as Long's Mill, which was owned and operated by Dr. John Long several year ago.
The Chattanooga News
Chattanooga, Tennessee
12 Oct 1929, Sat • Page 1
YOUTH ADMITS ATHENS MURDER; BLAMES HUNGER
Garrett Williams, 22 Confesses Clubbing Miss Mahala Long, 58, In Her Store.
HIGH FEELING SUBSIDES
Special Session of Grand Jury Called for Monday to Act on Murder Warrant.
Athens, Oct. 12— (A. P.)— The McMinn county grand jury has been called to meet in special session here Monday to act upon a warrant charging Garrett Williams, 22,with the fatal clubbing of Miss Mahala Long, spinster storekeeper, last Thursday.
Circuit Judge John Blair authorized the special jury session today after being notified Williams had confessed he struck Miss Long with club, hit her twice while she was lying in blood on the floor of her store and fled after taking her watch. He got no money.
Williams was held in jail here today. Feeling against him. extremely intense, when he was arrested Friday, night appeared to have subsided, officers said.
Williams, a former state reformatory inmate, was held under close guard today following Sheriff Duggan's announcement that he had confessed.
Hunger and the desire tor better clothes led Williams to kill Miss Long, Sheriff Duggan said, after grilling him for six hours.
The account given by Sheriff Duggan was that Williams met Miss Long in her store near here Thursday noon, struck her to the floor with a wooden cub, and left her still alive after hitting her twice again. Her body was found later, William told the sheriff he "just couldn't take anything" from the open cash register.
Linked with the killing through his attempts to earn a scanty living by selling mountain herbs to Miss Long, Williams was traced to Knoxville and arrested there yesterday. He was returned and questioned here last night.
The sheriff said that Williams, shown the short, blunt stick with which Miss Long was killed, said, "Yes, this is what I hit her with."
Plans to take him to Chattanooga for finger-printing were abandoned, Sheriff Duggan said enmity toward him had lessened and that it would be better to keep him in the McMinn county jail until a special session of the grand jury, which Circuit Judge John Blair said would be called next week.
Grilled Six Hours.
Worn to the breaking point after six hour of questioning behind doors barred and guarded against the outspoken rage of townsmen and farmers who lived near Miss Long's country store, Williams told Sheriff Dah C. Duggan and several deputies that hunger and weeks without money had led him to plan the killing for several days.
The sheriff said Williams told how he had become acquainted with Miss Long when he came here about four weeks ago and attempted to earn a living by selling her mountain herbs.
Williams, the sheriff said, confessed that he went to Miss Long's store shortly after noon Thursday and, finding she was at her home nearby, called her to the building.
As she entered the door and started behind the counter, Sheriff Duggan said, Williams struck her with a wooden club and knocked her to the floor. Sheriff Duggan quoted Williams as saying he then went to the open cash register but "couldn't take anything."
Officers Thursday found the drawer opened, but unrifled.
Then the sheriff said William told him, he picked up the club again and struck Miss Long twice as she lay on the floor. Sheriff Duggan said Williams related Miss Long was alive and struggling on the floor when he left the store. Her body was found about 4 o'clock that afternoon, surrounded by blood. The club was on the floor by her body.
William said when arrested at Knox-
(Continued on Page 6.)
The Chattanooga News
Chattanooga, Tennessee
12 Oct 1929, Sat • Page 6
YOUTH CONFESSES MURDERED WOMAN
(Continued from Page 1)
ville that a watch found on him and identified as Miss Long's by her brother and uncle had been purchased at Knoxville this morning. Knoxville detectives said they had verified this but Sheriff Duggan asserted Williams had admitted he tore the watch from a cord around Miss Long's neck.
Williams, until a year ago an inmate of the state reformatory for boys at Nashville, was said to have gone from the store at Long's Mill to Etowah and to have ridden from Etowah to Knoxville on a freight train.
Sheriff Duggan said feeling against Williams subsided somewhat late Friday night, and that he would be removed immediately to the McMinn county jail from the courthouse, where he he had been in an upper story room tor safety.
Caught In Knoxville
Athens, Oct. I2. – (Special.) – Garrett Williams, 22, charged with the murder of Miss Mahala Long, 58 years old, Thursday afternoon in her store, seven miles south of Athens, was apprehended Friday at noon in a poolroom on Central avenue in Knoxville.
Chief Deputy D. S. Payne and Deputy Sheriff G. W. Strickland went to Knoxville early Friday morning on an intuition that Williams would be in that city.
The local officers secured the services of Detectives F. G, York and Joe Kimsey of the detective force in Knoxville and the party by chance went into the poolroom where Williams was sitting in a corner. He was identified by Fred Barnes and taken by local officers for purpose of identification. He was brought to Athens Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock and officers are keeping strict guard over the prisoner in the courthouse. He was not put in jail for fear of mob violence.
The most damaging evidence was a watch taken from Williams which was identified by an uncle, Walter Long, and a brother as the property of their dead sister. The watch was also identified by a local jeweler who had repaired it this summer John Ayles, mall carrier saw Miss Long with the watch about three hours before she was killed.
Williams has a dark criminal back ground in his family. He himself has only been out of reform school one year. He has a brother in the state penitentiary. His father Ed Williams killed his mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law at Topton, N. C. about fifteen years ago and, sentenced to life imprisonment, died two years later.
Funeral Services.
Funeral services for the murdered woman will be held Sunday morning at 10 o'clock in Liberty Baptist church. Interment will be in Liberty cemetery.
Miss Long was one of the most highly esteemed women in the community, and for several years had operated the country store following the death of her uncle, W. C. Long. In early years she taught school in McMinn county and for two years was an instructor of a school in Georgia.
Surviving are one brother, Fred Long, of Greeneville; four sisters, Mrs. H. Y. Broyles, Athens; Mrs. C. H. Carver, Chattanooga; Mrs. Clay Aytes, Greeneville, and Mrs. Allen Goodrich, of Rhode Island; two aunts, Mrs. E. P. Phillips of Rockwood and Mrs. Ed Hall, Rockwell, Tex.; two uncles, O. C. Long of Rockwell, Tex., and Walter Long, who lived with Miss Long at the old Long home, widely known as Long's Mill, which was owned and operated by Dr. John Long several year ago.
Chattanooga, Tennessee
12 Oct 1929, Sat • Page 1
YOUTH ADMITS ATHENS MURDER; BLAMES HUNGER
Garrett Williams, 22 Confesses Clubbing Miss Mahala Long, 58, In Her Store.
HIGH FEELING SUBSIDES
Special Session of Grand Jury Called for Monday to Act on Murder Warrant.
Athens, Oct. 12— (A. P.)— The McMinn county grand jury has been called to meet in special session here Monday to act upon a warrant charging Garrett Williams, 22,with the fatal clubbing of Miss Mahala Long, spinster storekeeper, last Thursday.
Circuit Judge John Blair authorized the special jury session today after being notified Williams had confessed he struck Miss Long with club, hit her twice while she was lying in blood on the floor of her store and fled after taking her watch. He got no money.
Williams was held in jail here today. Feeling against him. extremely intense, when he was arrested Friday, night appeared to have subsided, officers said.
Williams, a former state reformatory inmate, was held under close guard today following Sheriff Duggan's announcement that he had confessed.
Hunger and the desire tor better clothes led Williams to kill Miss Long, Sheriff Duggan said, after grilling him for six hours.
The account given by Sheriff Duggan was that Williams met Miss Long in her store near here Thursday noon, struck her to the floor with a wooden cub, and left her still alive after hitting her twice again. Her body was found later, William told the sheriff he "just couldn't take anything" from the open cash register.
Linked with the killing through his attempts to earn a scanty living by selling mountain herbs to Miss Long, Williams was traced to Knoxville and arrested there yesterday. He was returned and questioned here last night.
The sheriff said that Williams, shown the short, blunt stick with which Miss Long was killed, said, "Yes, this is what I hit her with."
Plans to take him to Chattanooga for finger-printing were abandoned, Sheriff Duggan said enmity toward him had lessened and that it would be better to keep him in the McMinn county jail until a special session of the grand jury, which Circuit Judge John Blair said would be called next week.
Grilled Six Hours.
Worn to the breaking point after six hour of questioning behind doors barred and guarded against the outspoken rage of townsmen and farmers who lived near Miss Long's country store, Williams told Sheriff Dah C. Duggan and several deputies that hunger and weeks without money had led him to plan the killing for several days.
The sheriff said Williams told how he had become acquainted with Miss Long when he came here about four weeks ago and attempted to earn a living by selling her mountain herbs.
Williams, the sheriff said, confessed that he went to Miss Long's store shortly after noon Thursday and, finding she was at her home nearby, called her to the building.
As she entered the door and started behind the counter, Sheriff Duggan said, Williams struck her with a wooden club and knocked her to the floor. Sheriff Duggan quoted Williams as saying he then went to the open cash register but "couldn't take anything."
Officers Thursday found the drawer opened, but unrifled.
Then the sheriff said William told him, he picked up the club again and struck Miss Long twice as she lay on the floor. Sheriff Duggan said Williams related Miss Long was alive and struggling on the floor when he left the store. Her body was found about 4 o'clock that afternoon, surrounded by blood. The club was on the floor by her body.
William said when arrested at Knox-
(Continued on Page 6.)
The Chattanooga News
Chattanooga, Tennessee
12 Oct 1929, Sat • Page 6
YOUTH CONFESSES MURDERED WOMAN
(Continued from Page 1)
ville that a watch found on him and identified as Miss Long's by her brother and uncle had been purchased at Knoxville this morning. Knoxville detectives said they had verified this but Sheriff Duggan asserted Williams had admitted he tore the watch from a cord around Miss Long's neck.
Williams, until a year ago an inmate of the state reformatory for boys at Nashville, was said to have gone from the store at Long's Mill to Etowah and to have ridden from Etowah to Knoxville on a freight train.
Sheriff Duggan said feeling against Williams subsided somewhat late Friday night, and that he would be removed immediately to the McMinn county jail from the courthouse, where he he had been in an upper story room tor safety.
Caught In Knoxville
Athens, Oct. I2. – (Special.) – Garrett Williams, 22, charged with the murder of Miss Mahala Long, 58 years old, Thursday afternoon in her store, seven miles south of Athens, was apprehended Friday at noon in a poolroom on Central avenue in Knoxville.
Chief Deputy D. S. Payne and Deputy Sheriff G. W. Strickland went to Knoxville early Friday morning on an intuition that Williams would be in that city.
The local officers secured the services of Detectives F. G, York and Joe Kimsey of the detective force in Knoxville and the party by chance went into the poolroom where Williams was sitting in a corner. He was identified by Fred Barnes and taken by local officers for purpose of identification. He was brought to Athens Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock and officers are keeping strict guard over the prisoner in the courthouse. He was not put in jail for fear of mob violence.
The most damaging evidence was a watch taken from Williams which was identified by an uncle, Walter Long, and a brother as the property of their dead sister. The watch was also identified by a local jeweler who had repaired it this summer John Ayles, mall carrier saw Miss Long with the watch about three hours before she was killed.
Williams has a dark criminal back ground in his family. He himself has only been out of reform school one year. He has a brother in the state penitentiary. His father Ed Williams killed his mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law at Topton, N. C. about fifteen years ago and, sentenced to life imprisonment, died two years later.
Funeral Services.
Funeral services for the murdered woman will be held Sunday morning at 10 o'clock in Liberty Baptist church. Interment will be in Liberty cemetery.
Miss Long was one of the most highly esteemed women in the community, and for several years had operated the country store following the death of her uncle, W. C. Long. In early years she taught school in McMinn county and for two years was an instructor of a school in Georgia.
Surviving are one brother, Fred Long, of Greeneville; four sisters, Mrs. H. Y. Broyles, Athens; Mrs. C. H. Carver, Chattanooga; Mrs. Clay Aytes, Greeneville, and Mrs. Allen Goodrich, of Rhode Island; two aunts, Mrs. E. P. Phillips of Rockwood and Mrs. Ed Hall, Rockwell, Tex.; two uncles, O. C. Long of Rockwell, Tex., and Walter Long, who lived with Miss Long at the old Long home, widely known as Long's Mill, which was owned and operated by Dr. John Long several year ago.
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(COMPLETE DATES FROM FUNERAL HOME RECORD)
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