Grant H. Giles
Jailer
Notes:
• Elias D. Waldrop was murdered in an apparent robbery. He had lived about two miles from Bell Factory with his wife and three children. He was a peddler, selling farm produce to customers in Huntsville and returning home after a day in Huntsville with his profits.
"The authorities asked questions, and the investigation focused on a Negro man named Horace Maples who quickly became the prime suspect." The outrage over the killing grew and while some local authorities attempted to convince the mob to allow the judicial system to punish the guilty, the pressure for a lynching proceeded. The name "Giles" appears 32 times in the chapter, mostly around efforts of Sergeant W. T. Giles to help reinforce the protection of the jail and also Jailor Grant H. Giles.
The story is complicated and confusing. This is one of the passages related to Jailer Grant H. Giles: "Finally, the Sheriff, his son, and his guards, almost stifled with smoke, heat and the suffocating fumes of burning red pepper and sulfur, had to make a decision to fire on the mob or surrender the jail. The Sheriff made a decision to abandon his duties and ordered Jailer Giles to release the prisoner. The Sheriff, in a decision that he would live with the reminder of his life, gave up his keys to the jailer and then he walked out. The Militia followed him. The Sheriff had failed to clear the streets during the day and evening. He had failed to summon a posse to assist him and he had failed to give the militia an order to fire. It was impossible to escape the conclusion that he had neglected his duty. Maples, in a cell on the second floor, was then turned out of his cell by the jailer, taken to the head of the stairway and released to his destination with 'the tree'" - Simpson
• Jailer 1901-1905 - Record I
• Grant Giles & Julia Johnson obtained a marriage license December 30, 1897 in Madison County, Alabama. - MCRC
• Giles, Grant H.; Jailer.
"Grant Giles lived at #11 Wells Avenue, with his wife Julia. In 1916, he was married to Bertha, and they lived at 213 Steele Street. He was a driver for the Huntsville Manufacturing Company." - Simpson
Related Links:
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Record I
Notes:
• Elias D. Waldrop was murdered in an apparent robbery. He had lived about two miles from Bell Factory with his wife and three children. He was a peddler, selling farm produce to customers in Huntsville and returning home after a day in Huntsville with his profits.
"The authorities asked questions, and the investigation focused on a Negro man named Horace Maples who quickly became the prime suspect." The outrage over the killing grew and while some local authorities attempted to convince the mob to allow the judicial system to punish the guilty, the pressure for a lynching proceeded. The name "Giles" appears 32 times in the chapter, mostly around efforts of Sergeant W. T. Giles to help reinforce the protection of the jail and also Jailor Grant H. Giles.
The story is complicated and confusing. This is one of the passages related to Jailer Grant H. Giles: "Finally, the Sheriff, his son, and his guards, almost stifled with smoke, heat and the suffocating fumes of burning red pepper and sulfur, had to make a decision to fire on the mob or surrender the jail. The Sheriff made a decision to abandon his duties and ordered Jailer Giles to release the prisoner. The Sheriff, in a decision that he would live with the reminder of his life, gave up his keys to the jailer and then he walked out. The Militia followed him. The Sheriff had failed to clear the streets during the day and evening. He had failed to summon a posse to assist him and he had failed to give the militia an order to fire. It was impossible to escape the conclusion that he had neglected his duty. Maples, in a cell on the second floor, was then turned out of his cell by the jailer, taken to the head of the stairway and released to his destination with 'the tree'" - Simpson
• Jailer 1901-1905 - Record I
• Grant Giles & Julia Johnson obtained a marriage license December 30, 1897 in Madison County, Alabama. - MCRC
• Giles, Grant H.; Jailer.
"Grant Giles lived at #11 Wells Avenue, with his wife Julia. In 1916, he was married to Bertha, and they lived at 213 Steele Street. He was a driver for the Huntsville Manufacturing Company." - Simpson
Related Links:
• MCRC - Madison County Records Center
• Record I - A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Volume I, by James Record, 1970, page 170.
• Simpson - Chapter Six, Horace Maples, 1904 from the book The Sins of Madison County, by Fred B. Simpson with Mary N. Daniel & Gay C. Campbell, 1999, pages 205-337.
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Record I