John Henry Floyd

 
The Courant American
Cartersville, Georgia
December 7, 1899, page 1
 
Transcribed by:  
 

Accidentally Shot His Nephew.
Mr. E. A. Holtzclaw Takes a Visitor for Burglar.
Discharges His Shot Gun.
To Discover to His Horror Afterwards That He Kills His Young Kinsman.

Near Stilesboro Saturday night Mr. E. A. Holtzclaw shot and killed his nephew, John Henry Floyd, thinking the young man was a burglar.  Mr. Holtzclaw has a home on the farm of A. H. Small on Raccoon creek.  John Henry Floyd was raised by him but has for some time been living in Dawson county.

He came recently to his uncle’s home and was preparing to move his family to the farm, a house on the place being decided on for his abode and a load or so of things had been moved to it.  Since he had been around his uncle ha had been sleeping at the latter’s home and it had been necessary for Floyd to come in a little late at night sometimes.  On Saturday afternoon Mr. Holtzclaw and his family had been away and Floyd came in early and found the house with no one in it.  He returned about nine o’clock, and supposing his uncle and his family still absent, attempted to gain an entrance to the house through a window, but the family had returned and the noise at the window awoke them.  Mr. Holtzclaw supposed a burglar was trying to get in and halloed, “who is that?”  No answer came.  Then he seized his double barreled shotgun and aiming in the direction of the window, fired.  He heard no noise except what he supposed was that of some one falling.  A son twelve years old was the first in the yard and seeing a prostrate form, said to his uncle: “You have killed John Henry.”  The charge had entered the right side of the neck, severing the jugular vein and death is supposed to have been almost instant.

C. W. Jones, justice of the peace held an inquest over the body the next day.  The verdict was “we the jury find the deceased came to his death from a gun shot wound inflicted by E. A. Holtzclaw and under the circumstances, the killing was justifiable.”

Young Floyd leaves a wife and two children.

 

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