- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
A dance in rural Georgia, the band strikes up a song.
A lady dancing with a man, what could possibly go wrong?
A wife is watching closely, she’s not “all that’s nice”,
as her anger bubbles over and she grabs a knife.
A lady dancing with a man, what could possibly go wrong?
A wife is watching closely, she’s not “all that’s nice”,
as her anger bubbles over and she grabs a knife.
Images from an 1878 edition of the National Police Gazette. - Kate Southern
February 10, 1877 - A Dance in Pickens County, Georgia
Meet Katherine (Kate) Southern. Born on July 16, 1858, she had been married only 2 months when she attended a dance on that February day. Her husband Robert was 21 years old and made the mistake of dancing with another young lady, 22 year old Narcissa “Sis” Fowler. Some people reported that Sis had been drinking heavily and was insulting to Kate. Town gossip said that Robert and Sis had dated in the past, and perhaps their relationship was not quite over. What is known that in a fit of jealous rage, Kate picked up a knife and stabbed Sis to death.
Robert Southern quickly takes his wife arm and draws his gun. Aided by their families and close friends, they manage to flee the dance and head to North Carolina. It would take 3 months before the “famous mountain tracker” Walter Web Findly and his posse would find them hiding out with family and bring her back to Georgia for trial.
During the trial Sis Fowler would be portrayed as a “wanton woman, intent on stealing Southern's husband”, and of course Kate was portrayed as “a woman whose only crime was trying to save her family's honor, ‘accidentally’ killing Fowler in the heat of the moment.
The verdict was declared in the following passage - - -
“Judge George N. Lester had seen his share of death on Civil War battlefields, but he announced that the verdict he was about to render – the only one that law allowed him to make – was the saddest moment in his life. On Saturday, April 28, he told Kate to make peace with her God, and, while he openly wept, sentenced her to be hung by the neck until dead between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Friday, June 21.”
Just to keep it interesting, it was reported during sentencing she cradled her new-born baby.
Images from an 1878 edition of the National Police Gazette. - Mother & Child
A Confederate General Turns Governor
Alfred Holt Colquitt was born in Monroe, Georgia April 20, 1824. He attended Princeton College and in 1846 opened up a law practice in Monroe. He served as paymaster in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American war. Politics was in his blood, like his father before him, and he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1853-1855), and would serve in the Georgia state legislature. On January 29, 1861 he voted and signed Georgia’s Ordinance of Succession.
Alfred Holt Colquitt - Photo Wikipedia
The Civil War Years
Captain Colquitt of the 6th Georgia Infantry, would soon be known as Colonel as he led his regiment in the Peninsula Campaign. At the Battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville he served under Stonewall Jackson. During that time he would be promoted to brigadier general. After Chancellorsville, due to some concerns over his actions at that battle he was sent back to North Carolina. Perhaps the high point of his career was the victory he helped secure at Olustee fought February 20, 1864, in Baker County Florida. He surrendered in 1865.
In time, Colquitt would return to politics and would become governor of Georgia and take over as the 49th Governor on January 12, 1877. Kate Southern was scheduled to be executed June 21, 1877, and there is only 1 person that could commute the sentence.
The Governor Makes His Statement
By the time Governor Alfred Colquitt arrived in Atlanta to assume the “mantle of leadership”, this story had made great news. Much had been made of this young woman holding her newborn baby at sentencing and how she had protected her marriage by killing the “hussy” that was threatening to take it all away. In many ways this was a incident that was going to be played out in the press. The Atlanta Constitution had a photographer take pictures of Kate, her husband and baby. The pictures were copyrighted, and were used by the Constitutions, to be sold to other newspapers.
“A discount was offered if all three photographs were ordered. The Constitution advised that ‘the history of this remarkable case cannot be thoroughly understood until these pictures been seen’.”
Headlines read across the land - “A Woman’s Sin” and “Fatal Dance”. Stories were outrageous in retelling the story. Perhaps most distressing for the in-coming governor was the report - - -
“The Atlanta Constitution ended its coverage of the trial of Kate Southern by pointing out the censure that former Governor James M. Smith had received for not commuting the death sentence of Susan Eberhart {a woman convicted and hung to death in 1873} and that the present “Gov. Colquitt will have to be thoroughly convinced of the justice of the sentence before he will allow her to hang.”
The “ink wars”continued. Governor Alfred Colquitt commuted her sentence on May 22, although stories (that now have become legends) continued even some papers declaring they held a “mock” execution to teach Kate a lesson.
“Gov. Colquitt had made a tough decision, despite the pressure by the news media and letters from the public on Kate’s behalf. His term came near the end of what historian E. Merton Coulter characterized as “the golden age of Georgia hangings’.” Colquitt maintained his decision was based upon additional written testimony by respected Pickens County citizens… testimony which was not used in the trial. He also noted a petition signed by all of the jurors which stated that they would not have found Kate guilty had they known she would be sentenced to die.”
Gov. Colquitt ultimately reduced the original sentence to ten years in prison.
Alfred Colquitt as the Statesman - Photo Wikipedia Public Domain
Kate Goes to A Georgia Prison Camp
Kate headed off to prison. Thousands of supporters came out to watch her train as it passed by. According to one newspaper - - -
"at all the towns through which the train passed, the people (ministers, gamblers, women, and all classes) crowded to the depots to see and express their sympathy for her, and at Atlanta, where a large purse was collected for her benefit, the excitement was so great that the car windows were broken."
Kate’s husband found work nearby his wife and she gave birth 2 more times while incarcerated. She was granted a pardon after serving 3 year, and returned home.
Images from an 1878 edition of the National Police Gazette. - Mother & Child in Prison
Life Must Go On
The Southern’s eventually returned to Pickens County and had at least 8 children. Sadly, 2 of her children would die before the age of 7, and one was killed when she discovered a pistol under her father’s pillow and it accidentally discharged. It was reported that Kate was trying to get it safely away from her daughter when the tragedy happened. Her husband died in 1930 at 74 years of age - he outlived Kate who passed away at 68 years in 1927. They are both buried in Posey Mill Cemetery in Alabama.
Images from an 1878 edition of the National Police Gazette. - Mr. and Mrs. Southern
Former Confederate General and Georgia Governor served two 2-year terms as Governor and and then went on to serve in the Georgia State Legislature. In 1892 he suffered a stroke. Although partially paralyzed he resumed his duties as a state senator but soon suffered a 2nd stroke. He died two weeks later on March 26, 1894 and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Macon, Georgia.
Photo - Find a Grave - Burl Kennedy
*** This was a difficult story to research. It was such a sensation that there are various dates as to when the actual incident happened. Narcissus Fowler’s tombstone gives her date of death as February 10, 1877 so that is the date I worked with {4}. They all agree that Governor Alfred Colquitt did commute her sentence and as he took office in January 1877, that is a firm date. There are also some question of Katherine Southern’s name. Some articles called her Kath Sothern, but others discount the spelling. Whatever the correct date of the murder, the outcome never changes.
Sources
1. http://news.wallacestate.edu/2015/10/22/wallace-state-professor-tells-murder-tale-on-halloween-eve/
2. https://drvitelli.typepad.com/provi...laws-and-the-freedom-to-kill-part-2-of-2.html
3. https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/holbert/512/
4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14565257/narcissus-a._m.-fowler
5. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14710052/katherine-southern
6. Wikipedia - Alfred Holt Colquitt
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