Woman once hanged by angry mob in Centre

By Dawn Treglown

CENTRE — Plenty of folks in Cherokee County have skeletons in their closets, but a local historian is looking for two sets of bones that history suggests may have wound up in another part of the county.

According to genealogist and novice local historian Darrell Roberts, Jane Wade was the only woman known to be lynched in Cherokee County. James “J.R.” Dorsey was her accomplice and partner-in-crime and was hanged alongside her by an angry mob from Georgia over a century ago in Cherokee County.

During the summer of 1884, J.R. Dorsey, a white man in his 70's, had an invalid wife who required special care. Dorsey's niece, Mrs. E.C. Davis, cared for Mrs. Dorsey on many occasions, according to information Roberts has found. Mrs. Davis lived in the Broomtown valley, about a mile from Alpine in Chattooga County, Ga.

Dorsey was known to have an affinity for the ladies and apparently was of questionable character. Sometime earlier, he had moved from White County, Ga., to Cherokee County to escape gambling debts and a gung-ho sheriff. Dorsey soon began keeping company with Jane Wade, a white lady in her 40's who was suspected of being a prostitute, Roberts said.

According to Roberts, Dorsey and Wade decided they wanted to drink and have some fun on otherwise quiet night in the autumn of 1884. They wanted Mrs. Davis to care for Mrs. Dorsey, who they figured would be a burden to them, so they loaded her up and headed for Chattooga County.

When Dorsey and Wade, with Mrs. Dorsey in tow, approached the Davis home that afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Davis and their son were preparing to leave for church. Mr. Davis said he would remain at home to care for Mrs. Davis so that his wife and son could attend the church service.

Early in the evening, Mrs. Dorsey somehow returned to her home. Dorsey and Wade, after having drinks in Summerville, reappeared at the Davis home and remained there for about an hour and a half, until around sundown, Roberts said.

According to several reports in The Atlanta Constitution, including one from Oct. 10, 1884, Dorsey and Wade became belligerent after they returned to the Davis home and started swearing and using language that was “too obscene to put before the eyes of the public.”

Mrs. Davis told the two that they should go home, eat supper and go to sleep, the Constitution reported. She told them that they would be ashamed of themselves when they sobered up.

Tensions had grown between Mrs. Davis and Wade ever since Dorsey first began keeping company with Wade several years earlier. Rumors often circulated that Dorsey and Wade wanted Dorsey's invalid wife out of their lives. Mrs. Davis, Dorsey's niece, was well aware of the pair's feelings toward her aunt, and arguments often ensued.

On that particular night in October, Wade especially did not take kindly to another woman speaking to her in such a manner. Wade allegedly told Davis that she “had plenty of whiskey at home and plenty of money to buy more, and every man in Summerville was a friend of hers,” according to the newspaper.

Mr. Davis returned home, perhaps from taking Mrs. Dorsey home, only to find Dorsey and Wade shouting at his front door. The pair told Mr. Davis that he should “lie low that night.” They said they were coming back and that if Mr. and Mrs. Davis didn't settle down, “They would waylay him on the way to his cotton patch in Shinbone and come back and kill his wife,” the newspaper reported.

After the drunken pair left cursing, a stranger, Mr. C.C. Jones, asked if he could stay the night at the Davis home. He said he needed a place to sleep.

Mr. Davis was a good, kind-hearted man and told Jones he could stay the night. As Jones and Mr. and Mrs. Davis shared a conversation while sitting in the living room, Dorsey and Wade returned for a second time.

Mrs. Davis and Jones both went to the front door when they heard someone approaching. As they approached the door, they were fired upon with a double-barrel shotgun.
Jones suffered 18 buckshot wounds to his torso. Mrs. Davis, who was standing slightly behind Jones, was shot twice -- once in the head and once in the heart. Davis died instantly. Jones died within 24 hours.

Evidence leading to the arrests of Dorsey and Wade included “wads from an old-fashioned muzzle-loader in possession of Dorsey” that were matched to those near the murder scene and compared exactly with “an old newspaper in his home,” according to newspaper reports.

Circumstantial evidence against the pair included reports of the death threats they made against Mr. and Mrs. Davis. When Dorsey returned home that night, he also allegedly told a hired hand to set the gun in its accustomed place, as “Jane and I have played hell.”

Dorsey and Wade were arrested in Chattooga County and charged with two counts of murder. They were then placed in a jail in Centre.

Around 11:30 p.m. on the night of Oct. 20, 1884, a mob of about 40 men, all armed with shotguns, headed for the jail in Centre. Several of the men were apparently wearing masks.

The mob reportedly came from Chattooga County, crossing the Coosa River at Hardwick's Ferry about four miles above Cedar Bluff. They approached so quietly that the citizens of Centre were apparently not wakened.

The sheriff of Cherokee County at that time was not home, and his wife and younger brother were tending the jail. The mob entered the jail and demanded that the sheriff's wife hand over Dorsey and Wade. Three masked men then seized the keys to the jail, released Dorsey and Wade from their jail cells, and handed them over to the angry mob.

The mob halted about three-quarters of a mile from town and hanged the two from a large oak tree that stood near the old Cherokee County Fairgrounds, according to newspaper reports.

Local historian Roberts said that in later years, people would visit the fairgrounds and have their photographs taken standing under the tree. He said he would like to find the location of the county's old fairgrounds and maybe even the location of the Dorsey and Wade gravesites.

An article in The Gadsden Times on Oct. 30, 1884, reported that the murder suspects “were found hanging to a limb on a tree just over a public road that leads to Howell's X Roads (Crossroads), about ½ mile from town.”

They were hanged before they were ever given a fair trial, Roberts pointed out.

Roberts is a volunteer with Random Acts of Genealogy Kindness for Cherokee and Etowah counties through the Internet and has often researched family records for people. He said he learned of the hanging while helping locals trace their ancestry and was fascinated by its historical significance.

“I just wanted to dig further,” he said.

Anyone with any additional or interesting information about the hanging of J.R. Dorsey and Jane Wade may contact Roberts online at ethyl@tds.net.
 

Editor's note: The story of the hanging of J.R. Dorsey and Jane Wade is briefly mentioned in "Cherokee County Alabama, A Pictorial History 1836-1986," which is available for viewing at the Cherokee County Historical Museum and Cherokee County Public Library. According to the book, which was published to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Cherokee County, the hanging took place "at a tree 1/2 mile from Centre on the road to Howell's Crossroads."