The Incorrigible John George: Part 4
John faces the music
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Release Date: January 28, 2025
Sympathetic Complex Gone to Seed
As 84-year-old convicted bootlegger John George puttered in the prison garden confident in his ability to gain, not only the sympathy of the masses, but also a pathway to freedom, folks across Alabama were slowly coming to the realization that they’d been conned.
The Alabama sensation of the week has about simmered down, and the old mare’s nest proved to be just a clever piece of propaganda. One John George was convicted in the circuit court of Hale County and drew a six-month sentence for bootlegging. The sentimentalists worked overtime on his case – a worthy old Confederate soldier, unjustly convicted and sent to labor in coal mines for a crime he never committed. U.D.C’s, Veterans camps and others were loud in their denunciations of the “crime against humanity”, but they have had time now to digest the facts.
All of the George story seems to be true, except that he was a worthy Confederate soldier, that he was unjustly convicted of a crime he never committed, and that he was to be worked in the coal mines. He may or may not be eighty-four years old, as he claims, but that has not been checked up, and the old fellow is really having a pretty good time loafing around the camp to which he was sent, as he was pronounced “unfit for service”. No protest was heard from Hale County where George was convicted, and where he is best known. Just another case of sympathetic complex gone to seed. 1
More and more people who knew John stepped forward to tell the truth about the old reprobate: folks like Judge C. E. McCall, chairman of the Alabama Pension Commission, who noted that John had twice been denied a military pension by his office. Why, well because under Alabama law, “no Confederate soldier who swore allegiance to the Union prior to April 1865 was entitled to a pension”, and John had done just that in October of 1864. 2
W. G. Britton, Commander of the Camp Allen C. Jones chapter of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) in Greensboro, also set the record straight on John’s service to the Confederacy, penning the following letter to the editors of the Birmingham Age-Herald, the newspaper that had published John’s fictional tale of events without first checking the facts:
Dear Sirs: The several stories published in your paper picturing one John M. George as a badly treated Confederate veteran, having been brought to the attention of this Camp, we feel that we should, in justice to the good people of this county, set before the people of Alabama the facts about this man’s service and the falsity of his claim as a Confederate Veteran.
The said John M. George made effort to avoid service in the Confederate army and joined the same only after being pulled from his hiding place in the chimney of his home and being sent to Marion, AL, by his Conscript officer. Soon after getting to the front he deserted and came home. A squad of soldiers hunting deserters found him in the woods hiding near his home and carried him back to the army. Here he remained but a short time when he went over to the enemy claiming to be captured. He was then put in Federal prison, and with other prisoners was offered the opportunity to enlist in the Federal army. He volunteered to join the Federal Army but the government would not accept him.
This man, John M. George, has made repeated efforts to join our Camp of Confederate Veterans, but owing to his record, we would not recognize him or take him into membership. We could not find a Confederate soldier in Hale County to recommend him for a Confederate pension. He was also refused a Federal pension.” 3
But Commander Britton didn’t just send the letter to the Birmingham Age-Herald, he also sent copies to his Confederate counterparts in Birmingham, including leadership of the Camp Hardy and Camp Wilcox chapters of the UCV, and the Camp Wilcox chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy: all of whom continued to pressure Governor Brandon to parole John despite growing evidence that he’d lied to them about his Confederate record.
Thomas Millsaps, Commander of Camp Hardee, told reporters that the Confederate veterans he represented accepted John as a “comrade in arms” and remained committed to getting him released from the convict mine, regardless of what anyone in Hale County had to say.
“Even though [John} was guilty,” said Thomas, “[the whole proceeding] is an outrage and a shame, and should be stopped at once.” 4
A similar tone – and excuse – was shared by the editor of The Times in Montgomery, AL, who wrote it was “deemed right and proper that tender years should be considered, and mercy should be allowed to temper justice in this case.”
John, he wrote, was simply an old man who held to the “rock-ribbed principles of democracy and personal liberty”. His advanced age meant he couldn’t comprehend Prohibition, couldn’t understand how something he’d done his entire life was suddenly illegal.
“If you want the hardest task of your life,” wrote the editor, “start out to change a man’s opinion after he has passed even his 50th milestone.”
John, he reminded readers, was well past 50 and on his way to 90.
As to the recently revealed facts of John’s war record – that he’d deserted the ranks of the Southern Army and joined Union forces – the editor wrote:
“All this may be true, but today there is no division of country, One God and one Flag. There is no North or South, and whatever a man did sixty years ago cannot be chalked against him today, if he has paid his price…Turn him loose!” 5
Governor Brandon, who was term limited and would leave office the following year, took a different approach, announcing that he would base any parole decision strictly on the merits of John’s case, not on his age or whether or not he’d served in the Federal army. 6
It was a promise he’d fail to keep.
On April 18, 1926, three months after John’s arrival at the Wegra coal mine, Governor Brandon issued an order of parole granting John his freedom, not because he was innocent, nor because of any wrongdoing by the prosecution. His executive decision had not been made due to the perceived injustice of the convict lease system, nor even John’s questionable war record.
No, Governor William Brandon set John George free simply because he was an old man.
“Upon the recommendation of the solicitor, I have carefully examined the record in this case and it is shown that this applicant was a frequent violator of the law. He received a fair trial and was represented by able counsel. The court properly found him guilty and gave him proper sentence.
Much sentiment was created for him, on the ground that he was a Confederate soldier. The fact that a man was a soldier does not license him to commit crime. The record discloses that he took the oath of allegiance to the federal government and applied for federal pension. If he deserves parole, he should have it without regard to whether he fought on one side of the other.
“There is no question as to his guilt, but, being a very old man and his days on this earth are few, and believing that he can yet be saved and his life of crime corrected, I have concluded to parole him during good behavior with understanding he lives a clean life, obeying the law and any violation of these conditions revokes his parole. I hereby parole him during good behavior upon the payment of costs.” 7
The opposite of good behavior
Following his parole, John returned to the Perry County farm he shared with his wife, Julia, and their two sons, Woodrow, three, and Jeff, six months. Not much is known about their life over the next few years, other than another child was added to the family, a little girl named Mary Sudie, born in September of 1929.
And that John apparently hadn’t been caught violating the terms of his parole.
On March 20, 1930, John and Julia sold 30 acres of farmland to Julia’s parents, Walter and Annie Colburn Mitchell for $250.
It’s possible the sale was made to provide Julia with family nearby to keep her company and help with the children: When the federal census enumerator arrived just 15 days after the sale, Walter, Annie and their two youngest children, Minnie and Early, were living in a rented home next door to John and Julia, and Walter was listed as a farmer working on his own account.
Or it could be the sale was made to give Julia’s parents a fresh start, after all, Walter – also known as Alabama inmate #13315 – had just gotten out of Kilby Prison in Montgomery, where he’d spent the previous five years serving out a first-degree manslaughter conviction for stabbing his 21-year-old nephew through the heart with a hunting knife over a land dispute.
It’s not known what happened between March of 1930 and February of 1931. Maybe John had a change of heart about selling his property. Maybe having family so close wasn’t working out for Julia. Maybe two ex-convicts, both of whom had killed someone, simply couldn’t get along.
Maybe old habits just died hard.
What is known, however, is that on February 8, 1931, there was an incident:
Walter Mitchell, 51, is in a serious condition in the Greensboro hospital as a result of wounds sustained when he was shot and stabbed by his 89-year-old son-in-law, John George, Confederate veteran, at his home in northeast Hale County late Monday afternoon.
One slug from the shotgun took effect in Mitchell’s shoulder, and Mitchell claims that as George was reloading the gun to shoot again, he ran to the aged man, wrestled the gun from him and that George then whipped out a large butcher knife and stabbed him in the abdomen, inflicting a two-inch wound.
Both men, who are close neighbors, are familiar figures in Hale County courts. In the fray, George was unable to be brought to the Greensboro jail. 8
On November 7, 1931, 89-year-old John became Alabama inmate #24659 at Kilby Prison, serving a sentence of to two to three years for the crime of assault with intent to murder. 9
Although John was scheduled to be released from prison on November 7, 1933, at the earliest and November 7, 1934, at the latest, he was, once again, paroled having served just one year and three months of his original sentence.
On February 3, 1933, John returned home to rural Perry County and to his wife, Julia, who, despite his lengthy absence, was four months pregnant.
John Henry George was born on July 6.
Four months later, and almost to the day of what should have been John’s earliest scheduled release date for his assault with intent to murder conviction, there was another incident.
And once again, it involved Walter Mitchell.
Walter Mitchell, a white man residing in Northeast Hale, was waylaid and killed near his home on the morning of November 21st.
Mitchell was on top of a load of wood he was hauling home and he was shot first in the back. He fell from his wagon and the assassin came to where he was lying and fired another load off from his shotgun into Mitchell’s side. Neighbors came to where the man was lying on the ground and moved home to his home a short distance away, He died after living about an hour.
Mitchell stated to those around his dying bed that his son-in-law, John George, who is 94 years old, was the person who shot him from ambush. 9
John, of course, denied any involvement in the murder, insisting he was home in bed. 10
A Grand Jury was convened the following Monday, December 4, and John went on trial for the murder of his father-in-law eight days later, putting his fate in the hands of a jury of his peers.
For them, it was an easy decision.
They knew the defendant. They’d watched him commit one crime after another over the years, and also seen him avoid the full consequences of his actions – he’d claimed self-defense and been let off for the 1888 killing of B.F. Boggs, he’d served just three months of his sentence for selling moonshine before being released from the convict mines because he was old, he’d been given early parole from Kilby Prison after shooting his father-in-law.
And those were just the crimes he’d been arrested and gone to trial for.
The case of the State against John George was tried in the Hale County circuit court, with arguments beginning at 5 o’clock. Within a few hours the locally selected jury had rendered their decision: John wasn’t insane, as his defense attorney had claimed. He was a cold-blooded murderer. And this time, he would pay for his actions.
Ninety-year-old John Mathias George, an incorrigible criminal who had wrought untold damage to his community and family for more than eight decades was sentenced by his peers to 10 years without parole in Kilby Prison. 11
This time, only death would offer an early release, and that came on June 19, 1935.
Copyright 2025 Lori Olson White
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End Notes
1 The Demopolis Times, Demopolis, AL, February 4, 1926, P. 4
2 “Claim John George Gave Allegiance to Federal Army: Governor Says He is Ready to Parole Him into Custody with Guarantee of Good Conduct”, The Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, AL, February 3, 1926, P.2
3 “The John George Case”, Greensboro Watchman, Greensboro, AL, February 11, 1926, P. 4
4 “Governor Brandon Should Pardon War Veteran. Aged Veteran, in Prison Stripes, Toils at Mines. John George, 84, Who Bears Scars of Yankee Bullets, Begins Six-Month Term at Wegra Camp for Alleged Sale of Moonshine Liquor”, The Times, Montgomery, AL, February 2, 1926, P. 2.
5 “Claim John George Gave Allegiance to Federal Army: Governor Says He is Ready to Parole Him into Custody with Guarantee of Good Conduct”, The Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, AL, February 3, 1926, P.2
6 “Aged Violator is Given Parole”, The Huntsville Times, Huntsville, AL, April 18, 1926, P. 15.
7 “Aged Citizen of Hale County in Trouble Again”, The Selma Times-Journal, Selma, AL, February 11, 1931, P. 1.
8 Alabama, U.S., Convict Records, 1886-1952 for John George, State Convict Records, Vol. 15:1931-1932.
9 “Walter Mitchell Murdered”, Greensboro Watchman, Greensboro, AL, November 23, 1933, P. 5.
10 “Confederate held in Ambush Killing, The Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, AL, November 24, 1933, P. 1
11 Greensboro Watchman, Greensboro, AL, December 14, 1933, P. 5.
Lori, this made me tear up. Strangers coming together when they would have not otherwise acknowledge each other. All due to the innocence of a child. Beautifully written!
Absolutely fascinating! You know me - I LOVE this subject. Getting to learn more of the history and seeing how far back it goes - and that it's not all tied to the witch trials - is a joy to learn! Thank you for binging these stories forward!