Son of John C. Brauda and Sarah Ann Googe. Husband of Evner Florence Wells.
An article from a newspaper...
Brauda Murdered:
Body Found In A Gopher Hole
Mr William B. Brauda who lived near Screven was murdered last week. He had rented out his place and rented a lot of boxes from Nicholas and Chancey and hired some Negroes to help him work the boxes. He went to his work in the woods last Thursday morning, failing to return that evening or night his wife was uneasy about him and went and reported to one of the neighbors, saying there was something wrong with him, he was very regular in his habits, and always at home on time. The neighbor not knowing what else to do went to the station to inquire for him. Nothing was known of him there, the Negroes who worked for him said he left the woods about 11:00 0'clock in the forenoon.
Next morning (Friday) other searchers went out to hunt for him. Some of them went by Mr.Bennett Davis where Mr. Brauda passed each morning and evening going to and from his work. Mr Davis was away from his home and his wife said he was gone to see a sick uncle but she didn't know where the uncle lived but thought it was somewhere in Appling. She was asked when she saw Brauda last she replied not since Monday morning then she believed too that she saw him Monday evening. Mr. D.H. Roberson one of the questionnaires said you must be mistaken about his passing going to and from his work in the woods on Monday as he had let him have his horse to plow and plant slips on that day, she said then it was Tuesday that she saw him last. Mr. Roberson replied that might be. The woods were hunted thoroughly all day Friday and Saturday by about 75 men. They hunted in drifts everywhere in branches and bays as well as on the ridges, thinking he might have been snake bitten and died in the woods in bays or branches in the search of water. Some suspicioned the Negroes who worked with him of murdering and hiding him. The boxes through where the Negroes were chipping and working on examination showed that they had been at their work regular though some still wanted the Negroes taken up and lynched. Others decided that there was no Negro in it. Search continued Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the feeling growing stronger against the Negroes until 11:00 o'clock A.M. Sunday when they found a hole filled up where a gopher had been dug out. In digging out the gopher the mouth of the hole had not been dug or disturbed. The digging commencing back several feet in the near of the mouth of the hole that had not been disturbed by the digging out of the gopher nor the fresh filling up of the same came a stench and blow flies ever numerous in it.
The searchers supposed that Mr. Davis or someone had buried a hog or dog there being only between two or three hundred yards from Mr Davis' house. They went and asked Mrs.Davis if they had buried a hog or dog there she said not . They then got hoes and spades and commenced digging, at a depth of only a foot and a half they came to a foot.
Then securing someone to act as coroner they dug him out. He had been pitched into the hole head first. His head being about where the diggings reached the gopher hole that led out to the mouth of the hole, he was kind of doubled up and his old flopped hat that he wore daily to his work was put in on top of him, when the body was got out his skull had been crushed in on the forehead which looked like it had been done with an axe. They first thought he had been also shot as it looked like a bullet and decide the hole was not a bullet hole it being only shallow.
Upon searching for signs of where and how the murder was committed they found a puddle of blood near where the light wood knot and so forth were moved. It was believed that he was murdered somewheres in or about Davis' yard and that he was carried to where the blood and light wood knot was, and thrown down there, from there on to where he was buried looked like his feet kind of dragged on the ground. Brauda was an easy and good and an inoffensive kind of a man one that would be imposed on and not take his part.
Davis who is missing is a very hard working man and one who always attends to his own business staying close at home only going away when he had business. He is from North Carolina and came to this country a number of years ago. He has a wife and several children the largest of which was a girl who is about grown up she was born a short time after his marriage to his wife and is said not to resemble any of the other children.
There is a belief that Brauda's murder was a result of something he knew or saw of Davis and this girl and that Davis killed him rather than have him tell it. There are also rumors that his wife told an old mid-wife who had stayed with them some months ago that she had seen unbecoming actions of Davis with this girl, there has been also suggestions as to Davis being jealous of Brauda but there is believed to be nothing in this. From one circumstance and other it is thought Davis' wife knows about the killing.
Later
Davis' wife and daughter was arrested and they made affidavits that Davis sent the girl and children into the field and his wife was sick in the house and he shut the door and took a pistol and hand axe and went out and killed Brauda and buried him where found , that when he came back from killing and burying Brauda, his (Davis ) clothes were bloody and he pulled them off and buried them.
And that it was because Brauda had seen him with the girl and he killed him to keep from telling it. Davis was seen several miles below there by Mr. Griner, going toward Florida walking fast with his coat on his shoulder. His wife and daughter was turned loose.
His wife was making arrangements to sell out and leave.
End
Wrote down by John Elmer Brauda, Sr. from a newspaper article.
An article from a newspaper...
Brauda Murdered:
Body Found In A Gopher Hole
Mr William B. Brauda who lived near Screven was murdered last week. He had rented out his place and rented a lot of boxes from Nicholas and Chancey and hired some Negroes to help him work the boxes. He went to his work in the woods last Thursday morning, failing to return that evening or night his wife was uneasy about him and went and reported to one of the neighbors, saying there was something wrong with him, he was very regular in his habits, and always at home on time. The neighbor not knowing what else to do went to the station to inquire for him. Nothing was known of him there, the Negroes who worked for him said he left the woods about 11:00 0'clock in the forenoon.
Next morning (Friday) other searchers went out to hunt for him. Some of them went by Mr.Bennett Davis where Mr. Brauda passed each morning and evening going to and from his work. Mr Davis was away from his home and his wife said he was gone to see a sick uncle but she didn't know where the uncle lived but thought it was somewhere in Appling. She was asked when she saw Brauda last she replied not since Monday morning then she believed too that she saw him Monday evening. Mr. D.H. Roberson one of the questionnaires said you must be mistaken about his passing going to and from his work in the woods on Monday as he had let him have his horse to plow and plant slips on that day, she said then it was Tuesday that she saw him last. Mr. Roberson replied that might be. The woods were hunted thoroughly all day Friday and Saturday by about 75 men. They hunted in drifts everywhere in branches and bays as well as on the ridges, thinking he might have been snake bitten and died in the woods in bays or branches in the search of water. Some suspicioned the Negroes who worked with him of murdering and hiding him. The boxes through where the Negroes were chipping and working on examination showed that they had been at their work regular though some still wanted the Negroes taken up and lynched. Others decided that there was no Negro in it. Search continued Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the feeling growing stronger against the Negroes until 11:00 o'clock A.M. Sunday when they found a hole filled up where a gopher had been dug out. In digging out the gopher the mouth of the hole had not been dug or disturbed. The digging commencing back several feet in the near of the mouth of the hole that had not been disturbed by the digging out of the gopher nor the fresh filling up of the same came a stench and blow flies ever numerous in it.
The searchers supposed that Mr. Davis or someone had buried a hog or dog there being only between two or three hundred yards from Mr Davis' house. They went and asked Mrs.Davis if they had buried a hog or dog there she said not . They then got hoes and spades and commenced digging, at a depth of only a foot and a half they came to a foot.
Then securing someone to act as coroner they dug him out. He had been pitched into the hole head first. His head being about where the diggings reached the gopher hole that led out to the mouth of the hole, he was kind of doubled up and his old flopped hat that he wore daily to his work was put in on top of him, when the body was got out his skull had been crushed in on the forehead which looked like it had been done with an axe. They first thought he had been also shot as it looked like a bullet and decide the hole was not a bullet hole it being only shallow.
Upon searching for signs of where and how the murder was committed they found a puddle of blood near where the light wood knot and so forth were moved. It was believed that he was murdered somewheres in or about Davis' yard and that he was carried to where the blood and light wood knot was, and thrown down there, from there on to where he was buried looked like his feet kind of dragged on the ground. Brauda was an easy and good and an inoffensive kind of a man one that would be imposed on and not take his part.
Davis who is missing is a very hard working man and one who always attends to his own business staying close at home only going away when he had business. He is from North Carolina and came to this country a number of years ago. He has a wife and several children the largest of which was a girl who is about grown up she was born a short time after his marriage to his wife and is said not to resemble any of the other children.
There is a belief that Brauda's murder was a result of something he knew or saw of Davis and this girl and that Davis killed him rather than have him tell it. There are also rumors that his wife told an old mid-wife who had stayed with them some months ago that she had seen unbecoming actions of Davis with this girl, there has been also suggestions as to Davis being jealous of Brauda but there is believed to be nothing in this. From one circumstance and other it is thought Davis' wife knows about the killing.
Later
Davis' wife and daughter was arrested and they made affidavits that Davis sent the girl and children into the field and his wife was sick in the house and he shut the door and took a pistol and hand axe and went out and killed Brauda and buried him where found , that when he came back from killing and burying Brauda, his (Davis ) clothes were bloody and he pulled them off and buried them.
And that it was because Brauda had seen him with the girl and he killed him to keep from telling it. Davis was seen several miles below there by Mr. Griner, going toward Florida walking fast with his coat on his shoulder. His wife and daughter was turned loose.
His wife was making arrangements to sell out and leave.
End
Wrote down by John Elmer Brauda, Sr. from a newspaper article.
Son of John C. Brauda and Sarah Ann Googe. Husband of Evner Florence Wells.
An article from a newspaper...
Brauda Murdered:
Body Found In A Gopher Hole
Mr William B. Brauda who lived near Screven was murdered last week. He had rented out his place and rented a lot of boxes from Nicholas and Chancey and hired some Negroes to help him work the boxes. He went to his work in the woods last Thursday morning, failing to return that evening or night his wife was uneasy about him and went and reported to one of the neighbors, saying there was something wrong with him, he was very regular in his habits, and always at home on time. The neighbor not knowing what else to do went to the station to inquire for him. Nothing was known of him there, the Negroes who worked for him said he left the woods about 11:00 0'clock in the forenoon.
Next morning (Friday) other searchers went out to hunt for him. Some of them went by Mr.Bennett Davis where Mr. Brauda passed each morning and evening going to and from his work. Mr Davis was away from his home and his wife said he was gone to see a sick uncle but she didn't know where the uncle lived but thought it was somewhere in Appling. She was asked when she saw Brauda last she replied not since Monday morning then she believed too that she saw him Monday evening. Mr. D.H. Roberson one of the questionnaires said you must be mistaken about his passing going to and from his work in the woods on Monday as he had let him have his horse to plow and plant slips on that day, she said then it was Tuesday that she saw him last. Mr. Roberson replied that might be. The woods were hunted thoroughly all day Friday and Saturday by about 75 men. They hunted in drifts everywhere in branches and bays as well as on the ridges, thinking he might have been snake bitten and died in the woods in bays or branches in the search of water. Some suspicioned the Negroes who worked with him of murdering and hiding him. The boxes through where the Negroes were chipping and working on examination showed that they had been at their work regular though some still wanted the Negroes taken up and lynched. Others decided that there was no Negro in it. Search continued Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the feeling growing stronger against the Negroes until 11:00 o'clock A.M. Sunday when they found a hole filled up where a gopher had been dug out. In digging out the gopher the mouth of the hole had not been dug or disturbed. The digging commencing back several feet in the near of the mouth of the hole that had not been disturbed by the digging out of the gopher nor the fresh filling up of the same came a stench and blow flies ever numerous in it.
The searchers supposed that Mr. Davis or someone had buried a hog or dog there being only between two or three hundred yards from Mr Davis' house. They went and asked Mrs.Davis if they had buried a hog or dog there she said not . They then got hoes and spades and commenced digging, at a depth of only a foot and a half they came to a foot.
Then securing someone to act as coroner they dug him out. He had been pitched into the hole head first. His head being about where the diggings reached the gopher hole that led out to the mouth of the hole, he was kind of doubled up and his old flopped hat that he wore daily to his work was put in on top of him, when the body was got out his skull had been crushed in on the forehead which looked like it had been done with an axe. They first thought he had been also shot as it looked like a bullet and decide the hole was not a bullet hole it being only shallow.
Upon searching for signs of where and how the murder was committed they found a puddle of blood near where the light wood knot and so forth were moved. It was believed that he was murdered somewheres in or about Davis' yard and that he was carried to where the blood and light wood knot was, and thrown down there, from there on to where he was buried looked like his feet kind of dragged on the ground. Brauda was an easy and good and an inoffensive kind of a man one that would be imposed on and not take his part.
Davis who is missing is a very hard working man and one who always attends to his own business staying close at home only going away when he had business. He is from North Carolina and came to this country a number of years ago. He has a wife and several children the largest of which was a girl who is about grown up she was born a short time after his marriage to his wife and is said not to resemble any of the other children.
There is a belief that Brauda's murder was a result of something he knew or saw of Davis and this girl and that Davis killed him rather than have him tell it. There are also rumors that his wife told an old mid-wife who had stayed with them some months ago that she had seen unbecoming actions of Davis with this girl, there has been also suggestions as to Davis being jealous of Brauda but there is believed to be nothing in this. From one circumstance and other it is thought Davis' wife knows about the killing.
Later
Davis' wife and daughter was arrested and they made affidavits that Davis sent the girl and children into the field and his wife was sick in the house and he shut the door and took a pistol and hand axe and went out and killed Brauda and buried him where found , that when he came back from killing and burying Brauda, his (Davis ) clothes were bloody and he pulled them off and buried them.
And that it was because Brauda had seen him with the girl and he killed him to keep from telling it. Davis was seen several miles below there by Mr. Griner, going toward Florida walking fast with his coat on his shoulder. His wife and daughter was turned loose.
His wife was making arrangements to sell out and leave.
End
Wrote down by John Elmer Brauda, Sr. from a newspaper article.
An article from a newspaper...
Brauda Murdered:
Body Found In A Gopher Hole
Mr William B. Brauda who lived near Screven was murdered last week. He had rented out his place and rented a lot of boxes from Nicholas and Chancey and hired some Negroes to help him work the boxes. He went to his work in the woods last Thursday morning, failing to return that evening or night his wife was uneasy about him and went and reported to one of the neighbors, saying there was something wrong with him, he was very regular in his habits, and always at home on time. The neighbor not knowing what else to do went to the station to inquire for him. Nothing was known of him there, the Negroes who worked for him said he left the woods about 11:00 0'clock in the forenoon.
Next morning (Friday) other searchers went out to hunt for him. Some of them went by Mr.Bennett Davis where Mr. Brauda passed each morning and evening going to and from his work. Mr Davis was away from his home and his wife said he was gone to see a sick uncle but she didn't know where the uncle lived but thought it was somewhere in Appling. She was asked when she saw Brauda last she replied not since Monday morning then she believed too that she saw him Monday evening. Mr. D.H. Roberson one of the questionnaires said you must be mistaken about his passing going to and from his work in the woods on Monday as he had let him have his horse to plow and plant slips on that day, she said then it was Tuesday that she saw him last. Mr. Roberson replied that might be. The woods were hunted thoroughly all day Friday and Saturday by about 75 men. They hunted in drifts everywhere in branches and bays as well as on the ridges, thinking he might have been snake bitten and died in the woods in bays or branches in the search of water. Some suspicioned the Negroes who worked with him of murdering and hiding him. The boxes through where the Negroes were chipping and working on examination showed that they had been at their work regular though some still wanted the Negroes taken up and lynched. Others decided that there was no Negro in it. Search continued Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the feeling growing stronger against the Negroes until 11:00 o'clock A.M. Sunday when they found a hole filled up where a gopher had been dug out. In digging out the gopher the mouth of the hole had not been dug or disturbed. The digging commencing back several feet in the near of the mouth of the hole that had not been disturbed by the digging out of the gopher nor the fresh filling up of the same came a stench and blow flies ever numerous in it.
The searchers supposed that Mr. Davis or someone had buried a hog or dog there being only between two or three hundred yards from Mr Davis' house. They went and asked Mrs.Davis if they had buried a hog or dog there she said not . They then got hoes and spades and commenced digging, at a depth of only a foot and a half they came to a foot.
Then securing someone to act as coroner they dug him out. He had been pitched into the hole head first. His head being about where the diggings reached the gopher hole that led out to the mouth of the hole, he was kind of doubled up and his old flopped hat that he wore daily to his work was put in on top of him, when the body was got out his skull had been crushed in on the forehead which looked like it had been done with an axe. They first thought he had been also shot as it looked like a bullet and decide the hole was not a bullet hole it being only shallow.
Upon searching for signs of where and how the murder was committed they found a puddle of blood near where the light wood knot and so forth were moved. It was believed that he was murdered somewheres in or about Davis' yard and that he was carried to where the blood and light wood knot was, and thrown down there, from there on to where he was buried looked like his feet kind of dragged on the ground. Brauda was an easy and good and an inoffensive kind of a man one that would be imposed on and not take his part.
Davis who is missing is a very hard working man and one who always attends to his own business staying close at home only going away when he had business. He is from North Carolina and came to this country a number of years ago. He has a wife and several children the largest of which was a girl who is about grown up she was born a short time after his marriage to his wife and is said not to resemble any of the other children.
There is a belief that Brauda's murder was a result of something he knew or saw of Davis and this girl and that Davis killed him rather than have him tell it. There are also rumors that his wife told an old mid-wife who had stayed with them some months ago that she had seen unbecoming actions of Davis with this girl, there has been also suggestions as to Davis being jealous of Brauda but there is believed to be nothing in this. From one circumstance and other it is thought Davis' wife knows about the killing.
Later
Davis' wife and daughter was arrested and they made affidavits that Davis sent the girl and children into the field and his wife was sick in the house and he shut the door and took a pistol and hand axe and went out and killed Brauda and buried him where found , that when he came back from killing and burying Brauda, his (Davis ) clothes were bloody and he pulled them off and buried them.
And that it was because Brauda had seen him with the girl and he killed him to keep from telling it. Davis was seen several miles below there by Mr. Griner, going toward Florida walking fast with his coat on his shoulder. His wife and daughter was turned loose.
His wife was making arrangements to sell out and leave.
End
Wrote down by John Elmer Brauda, Sr. from a newspaper article.
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