George W. Darden

Dr. George W. Darden, a physician and wealthy, respected citizen of Warren County, Georgia, was held in the jail at Warrenton in early March 1869. According to a special dispatch from Atlanta published in the Worcester Daily Spy and other papers, about one hundred Ku Klux Klan members took over the town, and the sheriff refused to give up the keys and fled with them. The dispatch says the group returned at midnight, broke into the jail, smoked Darden out with a fire at the doorway and shot him after he asked for time to make a will. His wife and children were present, and the account is a secondhand newspaper report whose details were not independently verified.

Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. Newspaper dispatches report that about a hundred Ku Klux members broke into the Warrenton jail after the sheriff refused to surrender the keys and fled, smoked him out with a fire at the door and shot him.

Reported by: Atlanta, Georgia special dispatch in the Worcester Daily Spy (reporters); Atlanta special to the New York Tribune, reprinted in the Register (reporters); Atlanta special dispatch to the Tribune (reporters); Augusta, Ga. dispatch in the Evening Argus (reporters); Atlanta, Ga. special dispatch in the Vermont Daily Transcript (reporters); Telegraph dispatch and New York Tribune Atlanta special, reprinted in the Cheyenne Leader (reporters).

Sources (13)

• The Daily Phoenix, March 14, 1869, page 3 The Daily Phoenix, March 14, 1869
• Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1869, page 1 Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1869
• The Charleston Daily News, March 15, 1869, page 1 The Charleston Daily News, March 15, 1869
• The Evening Argus, March 15, 1869, page 1 The Evening Argus, March 15, 1869
• The Portland Daily Press, March 15, 1869, page 3 The Portland Daily Press, March 15, 1869
• Worcester Daily Spy, March 15, 1869, page 2 Worcester Daily Spy, March 15, 1869
• The Cheyenne Leader, March 15, 1869, page 1 The Cheyenne Leader, March 15, 1869
• Worcester Daily Spy, March 16, 1869, page 2 Worcester Daily Spy, March 16, 1869
• The Wheeling Daily Register, March 16, 1869, page 4 The Wheeling Daily Register, March 16, 1869
• The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, March 16, 1869, page 1 The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, March 16, 1869
• The Union Democrat, March 20, 1869, page 4 The Union Democrat, March 20, 1869
• Vermont Daily Transcript, March 20, 1869, page 2 Vermont Daily Transcript, March 20, 1869
• The Daily Phoenix, March 27, 1869, page 3 The Daily Phoenix, March 27, 1869