May 9, 1890 Taken from the Atlanta
Constitution
William Davis was hanged in Union today for the murder,
last December of Susan Fernandez. The murder was one of the most atrocious in
the crime records of the State. Susan Fernandez was a young woman. She
disappeared one evening, and one week later her body was found in a ditch in an
old field. The head had been nearly
severed from the body, and a knife was left by her side. William Davis was
arrested. There was evidence against him and a number of others. He said that
Charlie Gilliam choked the woman with a handkerchief, while James Vinson cut her
throat with a sailor knife, and Lattie McMahon watched while he held the bucket
to catch the blood. After murdering
the woman David said they hid her body in a receiving vault in the Presbyterian
Cemetery, where it remained for a week, then they removed it to the ditch where
it was found the following morning. When this confession was finished the Coroner’s Jury
brought in a verdict charging James Vinson, Charlie Gilliam, Lattie McMahon and
William Davis with the murder. Davis
made several separate and different confessions.
He was tried with the others and was the only one convicted.
Just before his death he made a written confession exonerating all of
those whom he had previously charged with the crime. The murdered woman had been
assaulted and her body was robbed
of a sum of money. The execution was private. The drop fell at 11:44.
Davis died
satisfied that his soul was saved.