Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
Though it is unknown if the folks in the following stories are related, their tragedies certainly brought much sorrow to the family name. In the last week of January of 1903, young Nathan Thomas was running an errand for his grandfather, Joe Thomas, who was cutting down a tree at the residence of Ben L. Smith, of Cherry Lake. The youngster was returning to his grandfather just as a tree began its fateful descent. Mr. Thomas called out to his grandson to get out of the way, but the lad became fearful and ran in the wrong direction, positioning himself directly in the path of the tree, which tragically killed him instantly.
A few days later, in the fair town of Greenville, Deputy Sheriff Hardy Griffin took David Thomas into custody. The young man was charged with the murder of his father-in-law, Marshall Simpkins. According to Thomas, the two got into an altercation because Simpkins was said to have been pressing his daughter to leave Thomas. After Simpkins began “chastising” Thomas, he defended himself with a knife, slicing through Simpkin's jugular vein, causing instant death. Thomas reposed in the county jail while awaiting the action of a grand jury.
Information for this article was taken from Elizabeth Evans Kilbourne's book, “Madison County, Florida Newspaper Clippings, 1901-1903.”