Americas First Mass Murder

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Oh she would have plugged in. It's like plugged in.

We're live. Hold on. I got in a position. Oh, I'm in a position.

Listen, I know you're accustomed to night set the, you know, back alley in. Yeah, we're at the syphilis. We got the stiff from. Welcome back.

Hello, all. You haven't heard our last episode. I don't actually have syphilis. She doesn't.

Well, but we can't rule it out. It's no. So, you know, have the stiff until proven otherwise. Yes, yes.

You just use my potty. So, we bleach in that. Yeah, you probably should. You probably should.

No. So, okay. No. Tell Holly, tell me what you know about the stick mata.

I know that there's a scary ass movie in regard to it. Okay. I know that it has to do with Jesus. Is it about?

So, okay. You're really testing me now. It has something to do with... You're like Catholic and Jason.

Right. Right. Isn't it like with the shroud and the... Like the sign of the cross.

All this. No. Okay. Okay.

Oh, all right. Well... I mean, maybe. I don't know.

Anyway, the reason I ask is because I was sitting at work the other day. And I have these scratches on the back of my hand. They were much more prominent in my nurse. Not my nurse, but our nurse for the school was sitting there beside me.

And she like grabs my hand and she's like, what did you do? And I was like, I don't know. I was like, I just woke up and they were there. I was from a cat or something.

I just don't remember. And my other friend Kathleen, who is Catholic, was sitting there. And she's like, let me see those. And so she looks at them and there's three scratches on the back of my hand.

And she's like, she's like, that's Catholic. That's a Catholic thing. And I'm like, well, you mean it's a Catholic thing. And she's not like a super practicing Catholic.

But she's like, it's the Catholic scratches. You know, the Catholic scratches. I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm as Baptist as they come.

Like... You can do the closet with the rest of them. I was like, I don't know what's happening here. So we look it up and she's like, it's the stigma.

And I was like, what does that mean? A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person. So her version that she Googled said it was maybe a good thing. Well, it says, Mark's corresponding to those left on Jesus's body by the crucifixion.

And said to have been impressed by divine favor on the bodies of St. Francis. Yeah. Of the CC.

Yes, we did. I think that's what we read. So I was like, okay, well, that's cool. And then we had another one of my students walked in and we were talking about it.

And she's Catholic. And she's like, oh, no, that's a bad thing. And I was like, I don't know who to believe, either Kathleen and the Google or my student who was a practicing Catholic. Here's what I will say.

When I Googled Stigmata, the first one that came up is the mark of disgrace. Okay. And then the second that came up is in the Christian tradition. Mark's corresponding with those left on Jesus's body.

So I'm either. No, that's not the one I'm going to go with. I'm going to say a disgraceful person with a sift nailed it. Yeah.

Oh, oh, sorry. Oh, that's a bad pun. Is it? Well, we're talking about Jesus and the cross and nailed to a cross.

So nailed it's probably not the best. Yeah, no, no, not great. Not great. No, I just went right over my head.

Well, you do have a cat. I do have a cat. So I told I was showing my dad and I was talking to him about it because he's he's not Catholic, but he's like into all the world religious stuff. He likes cats.

He knows like cats as well. But he I told him about it. And I was like, I have the stick model. And he's like, no, you don't.

I'm like, what? Yes, I do. What are you talking about? Wow.

And he's like, no, you like you have to have that. It would be like you have to go through the whole process and like pretty much the pope has to say like, yes, that's what it is. After they like talk to Jesus or whatever they do. I don't really like all of this.

After the pope talks to God or something. I don't know. And I was like, well, right now we all have a pope. So what am I supposed to do?

And he's like, well, I guess you'll have to wait. And I said, I don't need to wait. I have Kathleen and Google. And they said I had the stick model.

Wow. So we're just going to lean on someone who's semi Catholic and Dr. Google. Yeah.

OK, I just don't think that's here. Here's what I'm going to say. OK. You have a cat, honey.

I know. But the stick model sounds a lot cooler. It does. Why?

Why can't you have normal stuff? Why? Why does it have to be my toe is throbbing, my joints are aching. Now I've got arthritis.

Maybe it's stiff. I may have stiffer. I've got the stick model. Like why can't you have normal shit?

I also got bit by spike. I think it's what made me really sick. OK, I was in the shower and I was like, oh, I'm making myself as one does. And I look down on my right calf as I'm like washing my leg.

And I'm like, oh, that's a weird place to get a zit. So there's this spot on my leg that's got a little bit of a white head. And I'm like, oh, that's disgusting. Like, how do you get a zit on your calf?

So I get out of the shower, put my PJs on, call my boyfriend in the bathroom. I'm like, hey, you got to pop this nasty zit on my calf. It's real gross. So he tries.

You can't get it to pop. We get a little tool out that you do to pop the zits with. And it just explodes. It was a blister.

It wasn't a zit, which is how spider bites appear. So somehow I got bit by spider. And then about 12, 24 hours later, I was so sick. And then my thumb decided to freak out.

And then I may have syphilis, so I don't know. You know, maybe it is this tic-mata because Jesus is just like, you know, he's taking the wheel. His puddings, me through some trials and tribulations. He's saying like, can we take this world now?

What is happening? I mean, Jesus, I'm ready. Like, I mean, I'm with you. And honestly, Jesus, I'm ready to.

And not for me, for Haley. Oh, okay. I'm ready for, you know, I'd like to live, you know, a long, happy life. But I know it's probably not.

But me and Jesus are cool. So I feel like, you know, whatever he's ready, I can be ready. So what was I having? My adorable camera went off and I had to see what was happening.

Was it Jesus coming to me? No, it was great. Oh, she's going to be on my dog. Great.

Great. I worry a lot about you. Really do worry a lot about you. But I mean, you know, what you got for me this week?

I wish the medication, but I'm on still on that. Okay, don't worry. Good. You're going to be pumping iron with all the roads.

All the roads. All the roads. Let's just spread this up. She's like lifting me up over her head.

No, I mean, I should be off of them by now. By the time you'll hear this palm, I should be done with them. Okay. So today we are going to be talking about the first mass murder in America.

Wow. I know. What year is that? 18, seven, no, 1887.

Sorry, 1887. Okay. So when we're talking mass murder, we're obviously not including like the murder of Native people. No, because that was a lot.

That was absolutely. No, no, excluding that excluding that. Exactly. So we're headed to making Georgia.

Okay. That's right. So we're taking it way back to August of 1887. I'm here.

Oh, yeah. Some of the best. I mean, it may be more likely that I had syphilis back in that day. I can see that.

Yeah. You can see that back with the tavern the tavern. Yeah. When I get around the syphilis cocaine.

Okay. It's fine. Maybe that made you feel better. Maybe.

But you and I are on the strong address. You hear a new. Wait a minute. Are you implying something?

I didn't give you the stiff. I got it from somebody. I've only been sharing a strong mattress to you. Nope.

It wasn't me. Was it? No, I think. I think that I was probably sleeping deeply.

You got out of the strong mattress and went to one of the other strong mattresses and picked yourself up a little. Yeah. Syphilis. Keeps on giving.

Yeah. I think you're some people. I don't know. So that's why no longer are we sharing the strong mattress, you're going to have to be on the floor.

That's a bummer. It's far from the course. You know what's the point? You get what I'm throwing out and you've gotten a lot of stuff and I want to throw that out.

All right. So at this point, we are about 22 years post-level work. The south is still in the midst of reconstruction trying to rebuild and it's here in Macon that we find the Woolfork family. Woolfork.

Woolfork. W-O-O-L-F-O-R-K. Woolfork family. Yeah.

So it includes Dad, Richard, his wife, Maddie, and their six children. Richard has been married previously. He met his first wife, Susan, Wiling College at the University of Georgia in Athens, which is fun fact is where many of my family members went to college. Got their PhDs.

Cool. So I'll shout out. Nice. They married in 1852 and had two daughters and one son.

The son they named Thomas or Tom as he liked to be called. When Tom was just a baby, his mother died. It's unclear whether it was like complications due to birth, but it was 1860. So it was kind of like by down on the strap of leather and hope for the best.

Push that sucker out. Push that sucker out. Yeah. Hopefully you or the baby don't die.

Yeah. So unable to care for the infant, Tom went to live with his maternal aunt Fanny. Love that. Love that.

I had like a great grandmother named Fanny. Really? Great aunt named Mutt. Mutt?

I think they called her Mutt. So I'm assuming. Like a Mutt-T? Like a Mutt?

Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Okay.

Percy. I'm just going to call you Sip. Probably should. Here's your answer.

So he adored his aunt and lived with her until he was about seven. By this point, his father, a wealthy plantation owner, had married for the second time, the lady named Maddy, which I mentioned earlier. So they sent for Tom and he moved in with a family. So Maddy and Richard would go on to have six children together, making Richard the father of nine.

Whoa. And a lot of kids. A lot of them. A lot of kids to be.

But he was well off. I mean, they probably all didn't survive. Right? I don't know.

I mean, well, so far they have. Yeah. Yeah. So as the years went on, Tom came to despise his stepmother.

He felt that she treated him differently than her own children, that maybe she had it out for him. He even came to hate his stepbrothers and sisters. So kind of seems like he just had a lot of unresolved feelings, maybe related to his mom's death. Yeah.

And maybe the separation. Yeah. The separation again from his aunt and you know, I don't know. I'd be pretty pissed off too.

It's like, and it's also the 1800s. It wasn't like they were like, let's unpack your trauma. And you know, trauma informed and sensitive manner. Yeah.

It was like, get out there. Shuck that corn. They had slaves for that. Oh.

He was on the plantation. Get out there and stand. Yeah. I don't know.

Maybe. Give directives. I don't know. Maybe.

I don't know. Great. So in June of 1887, when Tom was about 27 years old, he went to visit his aunt in Athens. Fanny welcomed him back with open arms, but noticed that he was acting a little odd.

His behavior was downright strange and he was talking about how people were out to get him. Not a great sign. Yeah. He's a little paranoid.

That's not a great sign. No. No. So this was a sharp contrast to what Fanny had known of her nephew.

He was mumbling a lot. And most of what he said appeared incoherent. How old is he? 27.

Let's get for you. Mm hmm. He spent much of his trip pacing the floor with a pistol. Oh, grip tightly in his hands.

No, no. No. His aunt thought he was plum crazy, Acton. Yeah.

He had done lost his mind. I don't know if you're fanny. I fanny. She got off her fanny.

Yeah, she did. But I don't know if she did anything about it. She just was like, nah. She's like, mmm, send it back to Megan.

So she did. So he returned back to his father's house in Megan where he still lived. But his mental health continued to deteriorate. His pacing and mumbling to himself increased and drew a worry from his family.

So apparently they even asked, like, you're plum strange Acton. What in tarnation's going on with you, boy? What in tarnation. What in tarnation?

So, you know, he really didn't have an answer. And they saw the decline happen. So now we're going to jump to sunrise on Saturday, August 6, 1887. The Wolf Works have had company, apparently a relative of Maddie's and 84-year-old woman by the name of Temperance West.

I kind of like that name. That's kind of cool. I just think about like the Temperance movement. See, I think about bones.

Bones? The show? Bones? The main character's name, her name was Temperance.

Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. I just think about, you know, women fighting for, you know, how well. Nice.

Or lack thereof. Right, right. Anyway, so she was visiting them for a short stay. So the night before, the family enjoyed dinner, had a fun little evening prior to everybody retiring to bed.

Right. So around 6.45 in the morning, Tom, the son, goes running to the neighbor's house and frantically knocks at the door. Hold on. Exactly.

Son? He told the neighbors that someone had broken in and killed his entire family. Whoa. He stated that he had only survived because he was able to escape out the window.

Listen. Yes. I mean, when the guy that's been pacing around mumbling to himself with a pistol comes knocking on my door and says his entire family's dead. I feel like it's pretty solvable.

Maybe to pros like me and you. Okay. However, this guy not so much. Well, you know, I mean, good country folk.

You want to take it for what? I mean, first of all, you're terrified. I'm sure. I'm also like, oh boy, come on in and sit down.

Have, you know, some sweet tea. I don't know. I'm like, get out of here. Now, here's the interesting piece of Tom's story.

He didn't escape through the window immediately and seek help. No, no, no. He says that an attacker came in the house and he escaped through the window. He waited for a few minutes, came back into the house, saw the killer or killers.

It's kind of unclear if it's one to one. Leave the house and slam the gate behind them. That's when he went in to check on each victim and noticed they were all dead. It does make you wonder if there was some blacking out.

Yeah. So anyway, I will say that again, instead of quickly seeking help, he went in and cleaned up like the bodies. No, himself. Oh, but you got in.

He threw his blood soaked clothing down a well. Okay. Then went to the neighbor's house and knocked on the door. As one does.

If you're guilty? Sure. Yeah. So pretty odd behavior, but here's what I'm going to say.

I'm going to play this devil's advocate here. Okay. When you're dealing with mental health issues, strange things happen amongst trauma. So like, you know, the neighbors at this point, they run to fetch the police who come to the house and discover nine bodies of the Wolforg family.

Well, each have been stabbed to death with an axe. So I mean, not a clean kind of murder. They got axed. They got axed.

Yes. With Tom's help, they were able to identify the deceased. That included Tom's father, Richard age 54, his wife, Maddie age 41, and their six children, Richard Jr., 20, Pearl 17, Annie 10, Rosebud 7, Charlie 5, and the youngest baby Maddie 18 months. Oh, and let's not forget their visitor 84 year old temperance.

She didn't make it out. I'm thinking, though, like what a way to go. You survive to be 84 in the 1800s. Yeah.

She was on her last leg. Anyway. Honestly, he was doing her a favor. I mean, I don't know if it was chosen to be axed rather than die peacefully in my sleep.

However, it's true. I mean, one of the two is bound to happen soon. First you throw the diamond into the ocean and then you get back in your sleep. They die in your sleep.

But no, you get axed. Oh, wow, that's a whole ending to that movie that did not happen. Alternate ending. So, I mean, but like an accomplishment itself, you live to be 84 and then you get taken out with an ax.

That makes you think I should have taken that trip. Yeah. You know, stupid family members. So, you know, I think we're like, just a par failure versus like the ax.

So each victim have been struck in the upper torso in the back of their head with a short handed ax which was found covered in blood in the back room. Haley's doing the gesture of it. Well, like short handles, you could easily go like one hand. This is like a two handed ax situation.

Right, like not heavy. Like because it's on one hand. Yeah. Yeah.

This is like a hatchet. Kind of. Yes. Yes.

So the six victims were found in their beds except for the two sons, Charlie and Richard, who were found on the floor of their parents' bedroom. Okay. So I don't know if maybe they were attempting to like come in and do something. Maybe they heard some noises.

I don't know if they were bunking in there. Maybe they were letting temper and choose their bedroom. You know what I mean? Right.

Maybe they were sleeping on the floor. Right. Right. So I don't know.

I mean, it does seem odd to let your 20 year old son sleep in your bedroom. I bet they heard noises and went in. Probably. That's my son.

Especially being the two boys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

10 year old Annie was found kneeling in front of an open window and police believe that Annie was trying to escape the killer when she was attacked and killed. Yeah. So the house was covered in blood, tissue and brain matter. It was on the ceiling, on the floors, on the walls and betting.

Yeah. That was sense. Yep. There was one set of bloody footprints throughout the crime scene that appeared to be based on size, male.

Okay. And again, there was one set. So this kind of legit leave, one killer instead of multiple. It did not take long for the coroner to have an inquest, actually just a few hours.

Obviously, the police were suspicious of Tom. Don't say. He says he was the only one to survive this gruesome attack. They asked him to undress so that they could examine his body.

When they examined his ears, they found dried blood in them. They also noticed a bloody handprint on his leg. Was it wearing shorts? I don't know.

It was just so saturated that it. So, you know, back then men used to wear almost like nightgowns. Yeah, you're right. So that's what I would assume.

Like someone like grabbed at his leg with a bloody hand. There was no evidence on Tom at all that he had been attacked. So why then was there blood all over him and he had to get rid of his clothes? So he also had cleaned himself up and admitted that both the bloody footprints and the axe belonged to him.

Well, gentlemen, I believe this is a... He's close. Well, he admits that the footprints were his. He says that they were from coming back into the house to check on his family.

So he heard all this go down. Correct. He gets out the window. Correct.

Hangs out for a bit while everybody's getting murdered. Swings back around. Yeah. Checks on everybody.

He's like, yep, they're dead. Yep. Takes his clothes off. Washes up.

Washes up. He's down the well. Those to the neighbors. Does he go back and get more clothes or is he naked at this point?

So I think he washes up. He puts on fresh clothing. Chucks the clothing. That would make sense because of what you washed up and then silly and your bloody eye got you.

Right. Right. I didn't connect all the way. No, it's all right.

It's kind of the sift just starting to eat away. Yeah, it's starting to eat away. So throughout the interview, which by the way takes place at the crime scene. Of course it is.

I mean, it is the 18th. Why would it not? Yeah, exactly. So, oh, and did I add when people in the town heard about this?

They whole came running to the house to check it out with themselves. And I'm sure they walked through the crime scene. I took souvenirs. Yeah, we actually discussed this a few years ago in the Christmas murder episode, the one that happened in North Carolina.

If you haven't checked out that episode, it's called a Christmas massacre. Yeah. Christmas tat massacre. So basically once news broke, people came out of the woodwork to see for themselves and just kind of walk through the house looking at the bodies, you know, you know, just a random Saturday.

I mean, there's not cable TV at this point. So what else do you have? Well, there's not reality. This is their reality.

There's no Kardashians. So you just got mutilated bodies. Exactly. So keep in mind we're interviewing Tom surrounded by his dead family members and a crowd of onlookers who are now gathered outside because police kind of push them out.

Like, wait a minute, y'all, you got to wait out here. We're talking to Tom. That's right. So they noticed that Tom is acting very odd.

He's not crying. He's not upset. He's very matter of fact. So again, playing devil's advocate here.

He may be in that freeze mode or shell shock as it sometimes all when trauma occurs, we move into our downstairs brain where cortisol levels are high, executive function is low. Basically our body takes over and we go into that fight, flight, freeze, fond mode. Please get into our lizard brain. That's right.

So the trauma responses, this is your therapist's minute. So the one emotion he does emote appears to be apprehension. So he seems nervous when he's talking to the police. I mean, I would imagine so.

I mean, yeah, you committed murder. You're out scared of what's going to happen next. So he tells them that the ax was next to the front door as he had been using it the day before to cut someone. See, he was working.

There you go. Okay. So police just don't believe a story largely because there's no sign of robbery or forced injury. And if a killer had come into the house, they had to have been let in.

It was someone the victims knew. Yeah, it was Tom. Ta-da-dong. Calling it right now.

It also seemed highly suspect that everyone else died, but Tom didn't. And because he murdered the cops. It's just clothes. I mean, this is going to be the easiest case for these guys.

Yeah, I mean, but I imagine they're going to eff it up somehow. Probably. Yeah. Well, you know, this feels all OJ's and I went to the airport and I ditched the weapon.

So the inquest determined that they had enough evidence to charge Tom. There you go, Haley. The murder of his nine family members before the charges could be publicly announced. The sheriff quietly arrested Tom and brought him to the making jail.

Probably. Yeah, they were worried that a lynch mob might have their way to Tom if they weren't fast and quiet about it. Yeah, good. Yeah, smart.

So once the charges were announced, the story of the murders made national headlines. The New York Times even wrote about the gruesome details calling it quote, the bloodiest, blackest chapter in Georgia and quote, one of the most heinous crimes committed in this or any other state end quote. The newspapers referred to Tom Wolforc. They labeled him as quote, the greatest monster of the age, the cruelest and most bloodthirsty brood on record.

They also wrote that he was quote, the most notorious criminal of modern times. It sounds like you had pretty horrifically untreated schizophrenia. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, but also that's doesn't make you murder people. And a trauma history. Yeah.

To go with it. Yeah. So it's important to know here that his crime happened three years before Lizzie Borden took an axe to her family. So maybe she was inspired.

Maybe. Who knows? He was given the moniker of bloody Wolforc. That almost sounds like bloody Wolforc.

That's not my pencil. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe.

I don't know. So Tom's arraigned. He's charged with nine counts of first degree murder. His trial begins in December of 1887 at the Superior Court of Bibcownian Macon some four months after the murder.

So they were worried about a lynch mob, but they were like, let's just have the trial and make it. Yeah. But we're going to wait four months to do it. And devil's advocate again, I don't feel like this is a fair trial if the jury is part of the community that was on looking.

That was at the scene. That was at the scene. Probably not. They have a fair trial back in 1887 in Georgia.

Defendants were not allowed to take the stand in their own defense. Interesting. However, they could offer a letter, a statement that they wrote to the court. Okay.

So Tom had a very good defense lawyer by the name of John C. Rutherford who believed that Thomas innocent. Rutherford. All right, Rutherford.

Come on now. That poor boy. Rutherford worked pro bono and spent countless hours on the case trying to prove that police just pinned it on him and didn't look at any other suspects. She else is there to look at him.

He's covered in blood. He's the only one who survived. He had the axe. He just disclosed who else could be.

Lizzie Borden. She came down south. I know. So I guess Tom's lawyer may have suggested that Richard, Tom's dad had some enemies.

I think that was brought up in court. So Tom wrote a written statement declaring that it was someone else and that he was innocent of the crime, that he would never do something like this to his family. Rutherford, his lawyer, argued that yes, Tom was struggling mentally as his aunt had testified to, but that he would never hurt his family. And keep in mind that at this point in the judicial system, there was no insanity plea.

So he was either guilty or innocent. So really the case against Tom was considered circumstantial. Yeah, he had blood on him. They were footprints.

There was his axe. He did all these things, but there's explanations for them, Haley. He was chopping blood. He doesn't throw their bloody clothes down a well.

Tom's lawyer just kept saying it was someone else. But no. We don't know, maybe, temperance lost her mind. She just acts to everybody.

Yep, and then acts to her. Well, yeah. Yeah, in the back of her head. Well, the arthritis was taking her down.

It's asking me right now that I've got the back. No way I'm like a show. Thank God. I could go left hand.

I can live another day. Yeah, no. Oh, so as the prosecutor was giving his closing argument to the jury, a crowd of spectators in the courtroom started screaming, hang him, hang him, hang him. The room erupted in chaos and the judge ordered everybody to leave the courtroom because it got out of hand.

Yeah, good call. All of a sudden down the jury didn't pay Tom's proclamation of innocence and the attention. They came back with a guilty verdict on all nine victims. Tom was given the death penalty, which at that point in Dorjo was hanging.

Tom's lawyer fought this. Instead, it wasn't a fair trial because the jury was coaxed into the guilty plea by the crowd spectator screaming, hang him. I mean, he has a point. I mean, he's not wrong.

He's not wrong. However, I highly sit down. However, yes, they probably should have had the trial somewhere else. Yeah.

I was shouldn't have had a crowd in the courtroom. However, I feel pretty confident at all. Like I'm not mad about this guilty verdict. However, the way we got there might have needed some work.

How we got there probably didn't need some work. It sure did. So the court actually agreed and issued a new trial, which took place in February of 1889 with a change of venue. Very good.

Very good. So the new trial was to take place in Perry, Georgia, some 30 minutes south of Meghan at the Superior Court of Houston County. The new trial took about a month, which is a pretty long time for the 1800s, and both as Tom's lawyer and the prosecutors, closing arguments get this Haley took over 13 hours apiece. Why?

I don't know. I mean, I can give here's the closing statement. He's guilty. Hang him high.

Here's the closing statement. He was at home, decided I'm a murder my family, axed them all, went out the window, walked around, walked back in. Oh, God, they're dead. Took his clothes off, put him in a well.

Who has he cleaned up? He cleaned up, but missed his ears. So clearly not great at bathing. It is a leg.

Yeah, missed crucial parts of the body here. And ditch just clothes went to the neighbor and it's like they're dead. There's only one ax. It's his, one set of footprints.

It's his. Yeah. I don't know, man. Seems like it's broken.

He may have just cleaned up at the well if you think about it. Maybe. So maybe he didn't even go back in. I had to go get clothes.

Oh, a solid point. Unless he got the clothes as he was coming in. I don't know. No, then he would go and blow it on those.

I don't know. Anyway, this sounds like hell on earth. 13 hours apiece of a closing argument. I think I would die.

If I was the judge, I'd have shut that shit down at a 30 minute. I'll give you 30 minutes to an hour. Guess how long the jury deliberated? Five minutes.

15. Never like you're over this. We understand. In the end, the jury still came back with a guilty verdict and a sentence of death for Tom.

I'm going to say that's probably right. Tom's lawyer tried to appeal the death sentence, but it was upheld. Rutherford, but it's the loss cause. On October 29, 1890, Tom was taken to the gallows in front of a crowd of 10,000 on the 30th.

And Haley in their screaming. I mean, ah, your name back then would have been like Ruth or something. I mean, I would have been like, Copperheads of mental health care by a benefit. Sit down woman.

Don't make me wish. What's the role? Sorsary. Exactly.

Exactly. This is even before for a wait. Yeah. So in 1890 and Georgia hangings were only public if a judge allowed it.

The judge was like, let it roll. Everyone come. Three years later, the Georgia General Assembly would outlaw all public hangings. So this was the last one in the state.