Two Negro men were sitting in the Escambia County Jail eating their last meal on earth on August 20, 1915. Within a few hours both would be led to the gallows located at the County Jail on Jefferson Street and become the first double executions in county history. Their stories began in September of 1914 when their emotions led them to commit an act of murder for which each would later pay the ultimate price.
The case of Ed Maddox revolved around a verbal altercation between himself and the general storekeeper of the Southern States Lumber Company in McKinnonville by the name of Charles Crook, a white male. The community of McKinnonville was on the Florida & Alabama Railroad northwest of Barrineau Park. Between McKinnonville and Barrineau Park were the settlements of Tenile and Earnestville. In the meantime. the result of the argument left Maddox threatening the life of Crook as he walked out of the store. Apparently, the altercation stayed on his mind and finally he decided to return to the store and get even with Mr. Crook. He took his loaded shotgun and walked back toward the store’s entrance but ran into another employee, Roy Thomas coming out. He held the employee at bay with his gun and forced him back inside. When Crook saw him walking in with a gun he grabbed a pistol out of the cash drawer, but Maddox fired first. As Crook fell from the blast, he was able to fire one shot before he died, which unfortunately went harmlessly into the floor.
When Maddox came to trial on November 2, 1914 his defense attorney Mr. William L. Zachary 1868-1948 Spanish American War Vet began practice Pensacola 1913) argued that Crook went for his weapon first and Maddox just happened to have his shotgun with him for whatever reason and was therefore forced to kill him in self-defense. A later version had Crook's bullet traveling down Maddox's shotgun barrel and striking his shell in the chamber causing it to discharge thus killing Crook. The jury failed to buy either of his arguments and found him guilty of first-degree murder after just thirty-five minutes of deliberation.
The victim in the Maddox case was Charles Richard Crook (1874-1914). He was born in Perdue Hill, Monroe County, Alabama on 12-1-1874, the son of George Craig Crook (1840-1898) and Pauline Martha Moore (1845-1910). His father had been a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, having served in Company "H" of the 30th Alabama Infantry Regiment. His mother would receive a soldier's pension after his death. His father would pass away in June 1898 and was buried in Perdue, Alabama. Charles would grow up in Claiborne, Alabama and by 1900 had taken a job as a clerk. By 1910, he was 35-years-old and working his farm in Jeddo, Monroe County, Alabama. He would marry Anna "Annie" Margory Forwood (1876-1936) in 1901 and at the time of his death had at least six children.
In the second case, Emmet Thomas (aka Thompson) was involved in an argument with a young Bluff Springs colored female by the name of Ruby Hogan (aka Barnes) over some forgotten trivial matter. The result left the young girl with her throat cut from ear to ear and dying in a pool of her own blood. Thomas tried to run but was soon apprehended and returned to Pensacola to stand trial for murder. All the haranguing and defensive strategies by his two attorneys Mr. Levi Warren Nelson (1873-1937) and Robert H. Anderson did Thomas little good and he was found guilty nonetheless. On November 3, 1914 he was quickly convicted of the hideous murder and sentenced to die by hanging at a time determined by the governor. Now the strange thing about both cases was that there were five men who served on the juries of both murderers. These men were identified as Aloyd Thomas Rice Sr. (1866-1931), Alexander Brown Jr. (1878-1929), Clarence P. Langford (1872-1917), Andrew Jackson Malone (1864-1943), and Floyd Webb Brown (1867-1918) who were certainly instrumental in both convictions of the two-colored men.
Both men were secured at the county jail to await their day of reckoning. Finally, the governor set the date and time for their execution as August 20, 1915 at noon. From November to August, they languished in their cells with their fate already sealed by the high court of Escambia County.
Finally, August 20th rolled around and it was time for the sentence to be carried out and the state’s vengeance to be extracted. Sheriff Andrew Cary Ellis (1875-1925) took personal control of the proceedings as befitted his role as the High Sheriff of the county. The local paper described the two condemned men in the following manner, “both the darkies after an exceedingly restless night on earth were astir early ….. and seemed to enjoy the breakfast served them.” After the prisoners were given their last meal, the county supplied them both with a new suit complete with under garments and ties. The men dressed out in their new fittings several hours before they were to approach the gallows. Each took great care to make sure their suits fit just right as if their appearance was all they had left within their control. They also met with two colored ministers who attended to their spiritual needs as their last hours approached.
At 11:53 AM, Emmet Thomas was led out of his cell to the gallows with his hands and feet shackled and his arms tied behind him. As he stepped on the trap door of the platform Sheriff Ellis placed the black hood over his head and adjusted the rope around his neck. The newspaper reported that when the city’s clock struck high noon Ellis asked the condemned man if he was ready and Thomas gave a muffled assent. When the clock sounded its third chime Sheriff Ellis pulled the lever and Emmet Thomas fell into oblivion.
Immediately after the sentence was carried out the second condemned man was led out in the same fashion and mounted the gallows to stand beside the sheriff. Maddox showed a little more nerve than his predecessor and spoke kindly to the family of Charles Crook who had come to observe a cold and merciless justice. Then at 12:45 PM he stepped onto the trap door and Ellis sent him to join his companion below.
The bodies were left hanging for twenty-five minutes to ensure that the two men were dead before they were then cut down and placed in two wooden boxes. Although only a few had been able to personally watch the hanging inside of the building there was at least a thousand waiting on the outside of the jail. They solemnly watched the truck drive by with the two boxes loaded in the back on their way to the undertaker. At Northup & Wood Undertakers located at 12 West Intendencia Street the bodies were put on display while thousands of Pensacolians filed by out of morbid curiosity.
Finally, the bodies were taken off display and prepared for burial. The next day they were transported to “Potter’s Field” located across from today’s Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at “L” and Leonard Street and unceremoniously buried.
The settlements in mid-Escambia County in 1914
Victim Charles Richard Crook
Victim Charles Richard Crook as a younger man
Victim's Wife Mrs. Anna "Annie"
Margory Forwood (1876-1936)
Northup & Wood Undertakers at #12 West Intendencia Street
Pensacola News Journal 9-23-1914
Pensacola News Journal 9-23-1914
Pensacola News Journal 10-18-1914
Pensacola News Journal 11-2-1914
Pensacola News Journal 11-3-1914
Pensacola News Journal 11-3-1914
Pensacola News Journal 11-4-1914
Pensacola News Journal 11-4-1914
Pensacola News Journal 11-6-1914
Pensacola News Journal 11-12-1914
Pensacola News Journal 8-21-1915
A hanging platform of the era
Sheriff Andrew Cary Ellis (1873-1923}
Death of Sheriff Andrew Cary Ellis, Pensacola News Journal 9-26-1923
Victim Charles Richard Crook was buried in the Crook-Moore Cemetery, Perdue Hill, Monroe County, Alabama
According to Robert W. McGahuey the current county jail was built on top of part of the old potters field county cemetery that once sat behind the old Escambia General Hospital. The legend says that the wing of the jail that sits on top of the old cemetery is haunted. Most deaths such as suicides use to occur in the wing that sat on top of the old cemetery. According to a long time resident of the area it was said, the cemetery was removed and didn't know where it was moved to. Both Ed Maddox, Emmet Thomas, and perhaps even Emmet's victim Ruby Barnes are all buried here.
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