Remembering Marshal Hyers, Adel’s only lawman to be murdered on duty

New Frontiers

Remembering Marshal Hyers, Adel’s only lawman to be murdered on duty

By Charles Shiver

Marshal William A. Hyers was the only officer ever killed in the line of duty in Adel’s history. His name is now on the Memorial Wall at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC) Training Center in Forsyth, Ga.

On Monday, May 20, 2013, the Georgia Public Safety Memorial Committee, the Board of Public Safety, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and keynote speaker Governor Nathan Deal honored Adel Town Marshal William A. Hyers during the annual Georgia Public Safety Memorial Ceremony in Forsyth.

The ceremony recognized Hyers (February 1848 to May 26, 1902) and 11 other public safety officers who died while on duty over the years. Representatives from the Adel Police Department participated in the memorial event.

The Public Safety Memorial Ceremony honors public safety officials from all disciplines including law enforcement, fire services, Emergency Medical Services, corrections, prosecutors, and other professionals who have lost their lives while on duty in Georgia. The names of the fallen are added to Georgia’s Public Safety Memorial Wall, which was established in 1997 to recognize the dedication and the ultimate sacrifice made by those brave men and women.

According to an article by Paul Turner (a former Adel Police Officer who now teaches at the Horizon Academy in Tifton), Marshal Hyers was originally from North Florida and moved to Hahira with his widowed daughter, Ms. Etta Hyers Hall.

Marshal Hyers was shot on May 22, 1902, in the abdomen by a suspect he was trying to apprehend. He lingered in agony and finally succumbed to his wound four days later on May 26, 1902.

Turner’s article gave the following account of the incident: On the evening of May 22, 1902, Marshal Hyers and Henry Wakeford attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Boisy Bryant, a 17-year-old accused of stealing $5 some time the previous year from Ms. Cathern Taylor, who ran a boarding house for mill workers.

“Mr. Bryant was at the suspected gambling house of Mr. Berry Wall when the fatal shot was fired. As the Marshal and Mr. Wakeford arrived at the house, Mr. Bryant met them outside. As Marshal Hyers got within arm’s reach, Mr. Bryant produced a .38-caliber pistol and placed it near the Marshal’s abdomen and fired instantaneously. Marshal Hyers fell to the ground with a drawn pistol and fired three shots at the fleeing assailant. None of the shots struck Mr. Bryant as he made his escape.

“The following day, Mr. Bryant was arrested in the former town of Bayboro, Ga., near Moultrie. Six other individuals were arrested that were inside the illegal gambling house also. Mr. Wall confessed that he and five others were shooting dice when the fatal shot was fired.”

I have gone searching for the ghost town of Bayboro, near Ellenton. The closest I have come is Bayboro Cemetery, a historic black cemetery that dates back to the 1840s, thus a burial ground for slaves as well as for those who were freed after the Civil War.

According to an article that ran in the Atlanta Constitution, May 27, 1902, issue (please excuse some of the language that was considered proper in its day but is not acceptable now):

MOB IS LIKELY TO LYNCH SEVEN

People are Incensed Over Shooting of Marshal Hyres [sic].

Mayor of Adel Communicates with Governor Candler – He Declares Unless Special Term of Court Is Held, Lynching Can’t Be Stopped.

Valdosta, Ga., May 26. -(Special.)-From telegrams received in this city tonight, it appears that a wholesale lynching is imminent at Adel, 24 miles north of here, on the Georgia Southern railway.  It is very likely that before the sun rises tomorrow morning seven negroes will have been strung up.
W.A. Hyers, marshal of Adel, was shot and mortally wounded by a young negro whom he attempted to arrest last Thursday night. The negro escaped, but was captured at Moultrie on Saturday.
Since his arrest it has developed that the negro was the tool of a gang of six negro gamblers, who it is said gave him $5 and a pistol to kill the marshal. These negroes are under arrest and the people are wrought to a desperate pitch of excitement and are clamoring for the lives of the gang.
A telegram was sent to Solicitor General Thomas, in this city, tonight, signed by Mayor C.B. Webb and County Commissioner F.M. Shaw, stating that unless positive assurance was given that a special term of Berrien superior court would be held to try the accused parties it would be impossible, they feared, to prevent the lynching of the negroes. Solicitor Thomas at once informed Governor Candler and the county judge of Berrien, Judge Hansel and the sheriff, of the state of affairs, and will use every means to avert the lynching.

“All suspects were held under guard after Marshal Hyers lost the fight for his life on May 26, 1902, for fear of the town people lynching the group,” according to Paul Turner’s article. “Once word got out that a Special Session of Superior Court would be held July 21, 1902, the citizens decided to let the wheels of justice take its course.

“Mr. Wall and Mrs. Bryant were the only two suspects held after it was determined that the other five had nothing to do with the incident. Mr. Wall was kept in detention because it was told that he was the one who put Mr. Bryant up to killing the Marshal in fear that his gambling house would be discovered.

“During the trials, Mr. Wall was found guilty of running an illegal gambling operation and sentenced to the chain gang. Mr. Bryant confessed to the killing of the Marshal and testified that Mr. Wall had nothing to do with it.

“During his trial, it was feared that Mr. Bryant would be given life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. Shortly after 10 p.m., the jury returned its verdict to Judge Spence, who ordered the courtroom cleared.

“The Judge announced the verdict of Murder in the First Degree without any recommendation for mercy. Judge Spence lectured Mr. Bryant and ordered him to be hanged on Sept. 12, 1902.

“Ms. Etta Hyers Hall [the victim’s daughter!] made application with the Sheriff of Berrien County to act as hangman at the execution. Sheriff Swindle promised her that she should have the opportunity to cut the rope, but that a legal question would prevent her from doing so. The citizens of Berrien were opposed to her acting as hangman, even if the law allowed it.
“On Sept. 12, 1902, Mr. Bryant was hung inside the uncompleted Berrien County Jail at 11 a.m. [His execution was the first hanging in the old county jail, according to one source.] Mrs. Etta Hyers Hall Parker stood by while the trap was sprung and used her father’s knife to cut down Mr. Bryant’s body and then cut a piece of the rope to keep.

“She was to be married six months later to Mr. R.G. Hall, but married the Sunday before in hopes that Mr. Hall would be deputized by the Sheriff and allowed to be the hangman.”

A question raised by an Internet blogger was, “What became of the knife and rope from the Boisy Bryant hanging?”

Bryant was not the only killer from what is now Cook County to plunge into eternity at the end of a rope at the old Berrien County Jail. Warren Robinson’s excellent book Death Waits at the Depot details the story of Marshall Lewis, who murdered Clifford Rutherford during a burglary in Lenox.

Death Waits at the Depot states, “Almost seven years later [after the Bryant execution] on the appointed day of July 9, 1909, Marshall Lewis was the last person executed in Berrien County when the trapdoor was released and his body dropped through the space below.”

Paul Turner has asked the Mayor, City Manager, and Council Members of Adel to consider naming the Adel Police Department the “Marshal William A. Hyers” building. “A plaque to place on the wall of the Police Department lobby should also be dedicated and May 26 named William A. Hyers Day,” Turner wrote. “Marshal Hyers is listed on the Officer Down Memorial Page as the only officer who served the City of Adel and [was killed] in the line of duty. I believe we should honor this brave gentleman who gave his life while in service to the town of Adel.”

TO BE CONTINUED