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MARION PATE, YOUNG WHITE MAN, SLAIN NEAR PAVO; NEGRO WHO CONFESSED TO CRIME, SEIZED BY MOB AND KILLEDMurder and Lynching Shatters Sabbath Calm At Pavo As Mob Violence Avenges Slaying of Youth.—John Rushin, Negro, Taken From Deputy, Shot to Death.The horrible murder of a young white man by a negro and the avenging of his death by mob violence shattered the peaceful Sabbath calm of Pavo, yesterday.Marion Pate, a young farmer in nis early twenties, was stabbed to death 1 near Pavo before dawn, and a com-I panion, Will Galey, was wounded by a butcher knife in the hands of a ,1 drunken, mad-crazed negro., i Before sunset the negro, John ,. Rushin, was caught by a crowd of about two hundred men with the aid I of bloodhounds, and was carried near the scene of Pate’s murder. For a 1 brief interval he was in the custody of Deputy Sherifr Herbert Kennedy . during which time he confessed to the r murder. The mob closed In then, 3eiz-e ed the negro from the lone deputy and whisked him away in a truck.Not long afterward the negro’s body, pierced by several bullets and with a deep gash on the back of his head, was found dumped into a shal-rlow stream in the woods a short distance from a country road and about two and a half miles from the spot where Pate was murdered and wherePate stopped the car and leaped out, running off into the woods, with the knife wielding negro in pursuit. Burgess is reported to have telephoned for help at a nearby farm house and Deputy Kennedy said yesterday afternoon that Burgess then drove the wounded Will Galey into Pavo lot-medical aid, leaving Pate and the drunken, crazed negro in the woods.Pate's body, badly slashed was found in the woods not long afterward.The Thomas County Sheriff's office was notified yesterday morning, and Sheriff Gordon R. Davis, Deputy Jim Joines and Coroner J. D. Cooper went to Pavo. An inquest was held, and the coroner’s jury reached a verdict that Marion Pate came to his death by being stabbed with a knife in the hands of John Rushin.Witnesses testifying were Bobby Burgess, i’om Giddens, Will Galey and A. A. Wood. The jury was composed of N. S. Fulford foreman; G. W. Holloway, G. B, Nazworthy. A. J Thompson and C. C. Daniels.Blood hounds, said to have been secured from Brooks County, wereKithe lynch mob siezed him from the j put on the trail of the negro, and deputy. j-early yesterday af ternoon he wasIn a deplorable aftermath of the | caught by a crowd of men in the day's grim violence, the negro's body jPavo section.was tied on to an automobile, dragged j Deputy Kennedy who lives in that from the woods and dragged through!part of the county, said he was told the streets of Pavo and dumped near j of the negro's capture and that he a negro school house at Pavo. jwent to the spot where the negro was“Parties Unknown (reported to be. He said that he foundA coroner's jury impanaelled yester-i Ruahin in the hands of a crowd nurn day afternoon could obtain no infor-ibering about two hundred near the illation about the negro's death from I spot where Pate was murdered.a crowd of curious persons gathered at the scene, and at the conclusion of an inquest held on the bank of the stream from which Rushin's body had been removed, the jury rendered a verdict that he came to his death “by gunshot wounds at the hands of parties unknown.The Murder of Pate Pate was stabbed to death in thewoods near a road leading into Pavo guns in the hands ol any members ofafter a fight reported to have started in a truck occupied by Pate, Will Galey, another white man whose name was given as Robert Burgess, and the negto John Rushin and another negro boy,Rushin is said to have given a fish supper l'or negroes at his home Sat urday night and to have struckThe deputy stated that he went alone to the crowd and took custody of the negro. He said that someone called to him and when he turned his head, the mob rushed in between him and the negro and spirited the negro away to a truck. He said that he had a pistol but would not use it for fear of shooting some members of the crowd. He also stated that he saw nothe crowd.Mr. Kennedy stated that the crowd whisked the negro away down the road and that he was prevented from following immednately because someone had taken the ignition switch key from his automobile and that it was some time before he could find it, and that meanwhile the mob was out of sight and he could not catch up withanother negro in the head with a fry ing pan in a row there, leaving his the crowd,home after that fight and walking \ Kennedy said that while ne hadoff down the road. the negro in his custody someone ask-Deputy Sheriff Kennedy said he ,-d Unship if he killed Pate, and thatlearned that Patje. Galey and Burgess picked Rushin up on the road in their truck and also picked up another negro boy whose name was not known.A Pavo resident here today said that there had been trouble near a beer stand before the three young white men allowed Rushin to ride in their truck. Rushin, reported to have been drunk fs said to iiave cursed Pate who is said to have struck himDespite all of them, the young white men, headed toward Pavo, allowed Ruahin and the negro boy to ride in the rear of the small truck. An argument is said to ba\*e started, and testimony was that Rushin whipped out a butcher knife andthe negro replied, “yes, and added that he also robbed Pate. That ap patently was a signal for the rush that took the , negro away from theoft leer.Later it was reported to iiirn that the negro had been lynched and he went to the scene and found the negro’s body lying on the bank of the stream from which it had been pulled. ISheriff Davis was notified of the j lynching and accompanied by Deputy Joines, Cot oner Cooper and a reporter they went to the scene.The negro’s bod • was found lying on the bark ol the stream. His overalls weie wet and half torn from his body. An investigation showed that several... . ..I brhet hoes were in his body and thighslashed Galey and then Pate in the . , . „ ,___,, , jr...--- and a deep cash was in the back of hisback, Burges, riding in the middle of | the front seat between Qaley and Pate 1 was not cut, *(Continued on Page Four)
Newspaper Details
Thomasville Times Enterprise
Thomasville, Georgia, US
Mon, May 04, 1936
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Tu G.
USA 03 Jun 2025
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