From Days Gone By Oct. 13, 1922

October 13, 1922.
    During Superior Court, Judge E. T. Shurley had set aside Thursday morning to try the noted Jim Drisdom in Wrightsville. Officers were dispatched last Wednesday evening with orders to secretly convey the colored man from Sandersville to the jail room in the court house some time of the night. Officers Tom Mixon, James Davis and Oscar Smith applied to the Sheriff at Sandersville about 3 am for the prisoner. Taking him into their car they came straightaway towards Wrightsville and when they reached a swampy place on the road 8 miles away were halted by cars across the road. Coming to a stop a crowd of about 40 men, masked, came up, demanded Jim and told the officers to "Hands Up", throwing their guns in the faces of the men in charge.
    Jim was dragged from the car, thrown into one of the crowd's car and taken on down the road, followed by the entire band. The officers were told to move on ahead which they did. Passing Cedar Grove church where the roads fork, the officers halted and looked back. A string of 8 autos were in line behind them and these cars turned to the left, going towards Donovan. Upon reaching Cedar Creek swamp they stopped, took Jim from the auto, tied him to a small sapling surrounded by oaks and bushes then riddled his body with bullets and left him, handcuffed and tied to the tree, where later a coroner's jury had him cut down.
    The news spread by daylight and hundreds rushed to the scene to view the work of the lynchers. Coroner Loring R. Clayton summoned a jury composed of Dr. W. J. Flanders, M. Hammock, Henry Hammock, John Hall, Dr. J. Gordon Brantley and Joseph Jenkins who went into the details of the lynching as far as they could, summoning everyone who could give them information about it. Their verdict was that the negro came to his death by bullet wounds from guns in the hands of unknown masked parties. The body was cut down, brought to the city, laid on the square where hundreds viewed it until the afternoon when the county authorities buried it.
    The Grand Jury then in session is said to have gone deeply into the matter, their investigations so remaining with their findings.
    Jim and Will Drisdom were both held in Macon for a couple of months, Jim was transferred to Sandersville and Will, being held as a witness, was brought here. As soon as Jim was killed Will was turned free.
    This crime for which Jim paid with his life is fresh on the minds of the people with all of its horrible details. The negro is said to have confessed before he was killed. The evidence is understood to have been prepared correctly and was most conclusive.
    Judge Shurley had made a lynching impossible almost had the prisoner been shut in the court house jail room. Fifty strong and fearless men were to be sworn in early the next morning. Hardware stores were to be dismantled to the last gun it it took it to arm these 50 men. No man could enter the courthouse during the trial of the negro unless he submitted to rigid search. These were some of Judge Shurley's plans had the man arrived safely. They were fixed.
    The Headlight editorial asked. Who did it? Does anybody know who committed the lynching in this county last Thursday morning? Well, it was done, and done to the shame of our county and section. Satan jumped out of the bag once more. A compromise, an awful one, was made with law and order. The Superior Court was in session. The machinery of law was in motion. The stage was set for the trial. Proper precautions had been made for speedy work and actual protection in the temple of justice.
    Thwarted in its plans, upset in its majestic efforts, the court was astounded by news of the lynching. What does it all mean, people? For the sake of rising generations let's think a sober thought. For the love of the country and home let's get this evil out from among us and commit it no more forever nor allow it done. For the sake of our creator let's rise up against this thing, this lynching spirit in our country wherever it is. Johnson County is ashamed. It's head bowed in dismay.