Shadow Chasers : The Woolfolk Tragedy Revisited - Hardcover

DeLoach, Carolyn

3.55

29 ratings by Goodreads

9780970065605: Shadow Chasers : The Woolfolk Tragedy Revisited

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0970065604 ISBN 13: 9780970065605

Publisher: Eagles Pub Co, 2000

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It was called the "Murder of the Century". Years before Lizzie Borden used an axe to kill her family, or Jack The Ripper stalked his prey, a famous murder case occurred in Macon, Georgia, that was known world-wide. It was one of the most horrendous murders ever recorded in the state of Georgia. Reporters from around the world chronicled the case...it was well documented. This is the story...In the early morning hours of August 6, 1887, a respected gentleman farmer, Captain Richard F. Woolfolk, was savagely murdered along with his wife, their six children and his wife's eighty-four-year old great aunt. At day break, local authorities, crippled by mass hysteria, made an arrest. The state of Georgia abruptly awakened itself from its simmering post Civil War stupor amid rampant yellow journalism, unfounded rumors, prejudice, lies, and blatant confessions, struggled to prove the one survivor of that tragic night, Thomas G. Woolfolk, the Captain's eldest son, to be the lone axe murderer. Tom's fate placed him in the turbulent epicenter of the South's racial, moral, social, political and economic tempest. Unconvinced of Woolfolk's guilt, a single reporter fought the prejudiced system for the sake of justice. In the end, they all went to their deaths carrying the burden of the Woolfolk tragedy on their shoulders.

On October 29, 1890, after languishing in jail, chained to the wall of his cell for more than three years, enduring countless trials, Thomas G. Woolfolk, sentenced to die by hanging, calmly climbed the steps to the gallows, proclaimed his innocence for one last time, and forgave those who were about to kill him. Seventeen minutes later, he was declared dead, not by a broken neck, but by strangulation due to a poorly tied noose. To order click here.

That is the way history has viewed this case for over a century. Now, after almost 30 years of research and in vivid descriptions, Carolyn DeLoach proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Tom Woolfolk was innocent of the crimes for which he was hanged. In fact, Ms. DeLoach has documented evidence who the real killers were, that they were protected by the political forces of the state, and went on to kill again. This talented writer uses stunning descriptions that make you feel a part of the case, an impartial onlooker, ready to form your own opinion of guilt or innocence. Millie C. Stewart, a great granddaughter of one of the murder victims states "Immediately, I was drawn into the events as a participant. I was seeing, hearing, feeling it all as if I were actually there, standing beside my ancestors and the other residents of this region, experiencing this tragic drama as it unfolded." Shadow Chasers is a factual account of the Woolfolk case, as told by some of the actual participants, in their own words. This story is based on eyewitness accounts, trial testimonies, and exhaustive coverage by the news reporters of the day. Every important fact, every quotation, every shred of information presented in this book was documented in the original records.

Join us on that warm summer's night in 1887.....buy your copy today!

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About the Author:

Carolyn DeLoach is an analytical chemist by trade, and a gifted writer by destiny. She is an authority on the Woolfolk murders. A dedicated historical investigator and talented writer, she has spent almost 30 years invesitgating this case. She has literally lived these events, in ways impossible to describe here.

Ms. DeLoach is a dynamic speaker on investigative research. She is in high demand for speaking engagements concerning the analysis and investigation that culminated in this book. Through her investigation, she has recovered valuable artifacts from this case including what is believed to be the actual murder weapon use in 1887.

Emma Jones stirred. The silver rays of a bright full moon gradually illuminated her bedroom then faded again in the clouded night. She turned over and closed her eyes. There were hours yet before dawn and work.

The incessant barking of a dog in the distance comntinued to annoy her. She closed her eyes and waited patiently for the Captain or one of his boys to hush it up. Instead, the lone hound was joined by a loud, frenzied chorus. The snarling, yapping, howling brought Emma to her feet.

"What's goin' on up there?" she groaned aloud. Her husband, Aaron grumbled an incoherent response and stirred sligtly. He was not fully awake.

Emma remembered that Miz Mattie, the Captain's wife kept a lantern lit every night in the main hall of the big house. She knew if she looked at the summitt of the terraced hill, there would be the lights and shadows of activity.

There was no light.

The young woman stood at the window. Her eyes were transfixed on the distant grayness of the Captain's house. The hounds continued their relentless barking proclaiming to the countryside that there was something terribly wrong at the Woolfolk house.

As if a bolt of lightening had suddenly cut a brilliant jagged path through the night sky, a scream, followed immediately by another, ripped the darkness at the top of the hill and shot a flash of terror through the startled woman standing alone at a window in her cabin a thousand yards away.

There was still no light.

A third scream, and a loud, gutteral, "OH LORD!" seemed to thunder down the hill and penetrate her room. Emma caught her breath.

She knew the voice.

"Miz Mattie", she whispered as sounds of slapping and screams of terror and pain exploded from the Woolfolk house.

Aaron, finally disturbed by the commotion, joined her as she ran into the front room of their small two room shack. His brute strength nearly ripped the front door off it's rusty hinges.

The couple stood in the doorway and listened. Dogs barking and cows bellowing in the distance were the only sounds. The lone structure at the top of the hill stood silent in the darkness.

Off in the distance someone called out Anderson James, a neighbor. Then silence. Experience told Aaron to take Emma inside the cabin and turn his back to the trouble. He learned the lesson early in life. Stay out of white folks' business. The farm laborer gently pulled his anxious wife back inside, closed the door, and latched it.

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