Sumter County GaArchives Obituaries.....Hinkle, J.B. June 1894
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The Marion County Patriot
The Marion County Patriot, No. 24
June 15, 1894
Page Three

Suicide of Dr. Hinkle

Dr. J.B. Hinkle, the murderer of Dr. J.J. Worsham, committed suicide at 
Americus last Friday by taking morphine.

He left a statement of the Worsham case about the same as he read at the trial, 
reaffirming his innocence and that of his son, and claiming that he shot 
Worsham in self-defense.  After acknowledging his full belief in the Christian 
doctrine he says:

Knowing my soul will in a few hours, or ever sooner, stand in the awful 
presence of my Maker, to be finally judged according to the truth, I solemnly 
swear that the statement I herewith submit in writing is the truth, the whole 
truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

Then in a postscript, writtin in a tremulous hand, evidently after the fatal 
dose had begun its work, he adds:

And now, in the very hour of my death, I again solemnly swear that every word 
of this statement has been made without mental reservation whatever and it is 
as true as if it had been written by the finger of God himself, in whose 
presence my soul will soon stand to be judged according to its truth.

The following letter was addressed to his wife:

My Darling, Precious Wife and Sons, Albert, Eugene and Terry  I write this, 
my last farewell message on earth.  If I was guilty in deed or even in thought, 
I could stand and bear my conviction or any punishment, but to know that I and 
Albert are entirely innocent of the charge for which I am convicted, that my 
action was wholly in defense of the life of our weak and unarmed boy, I don't 
feel that I can bear a life of slavery, with the full, abiding consciousness of 
my innocence and that my conviction was consummated by the blackest perjury on 
the part of the witness for the state.  Don't grieve that I am at rest  sweet, 
sweet rest.  While I still regret the necessity which made me shoot Worsham, 
knowing that he was about to take the life of my boy, I have never felt that I 
did wrong, for I know I did not violate either the laws of God or my country.  
God knows I have loved and still love our boy next to God himself.  I leave you 
in His hands.  He alone can help you in your greatest hour of trial and grief.  
God bless you and my boys always is my dying prayer.  Thank all of our lawyers 
for their untiring work in my behalf, and thank all of our friends for their 
kindness and sympathy and forgive all of those who persecuted me and bore false 
witness against me and thus murdered me, even as I now forgive them.  And may 
God also forgive them for their great sin is now my prayer.  And now a long and 
last farewell.  Goodby! Goodby! Goodby! my precious darling wife and sons.  
Your loving husband in life and in death.

J.B. Hinkle
Americus, Ga., June 7, 1894

The Marion County Patriot, No. 27
July 6, 1894
Page One

The A.B. Hinkle case at Americus has been postponed to the November term.


The Marion County Patriot, No. 4 
January 26, 1894 
Page Two 

The trial of the Drs. Hinkle for the murder of Dr. Worsham was begun at Americus 
Monday morning and probably last all week.  Both sides are strongly represented 
and the legal battle will be a hot one. 

The Marion County Patriot, No. 6 
February 9, 1894 
Page Two 

The jury in the Dr. J.B. Hinkle case at Americus brought in a verdict of guilty 
and recommended that the defendant be confined in the state penitentiary for life.  
When the verdict was read a tragic scene was enacted when Mrs. Hinkle invoked the 
"vengeance of heaven upon all who took part in the conviction of her innocent 
husband." 

The Marion County Patriot, No. 7 
February 16, 1894 
Page Three 

The A.B. Hinkle trial at Americus, which was to have been taken up last Monday, 
has been postponed to the regular May term of court. 





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