On a cool fall night in October of 1899, four men went to deliver a peace warrant; two were gunned down, one ran for his life taking the last man with him. They had walked into an ambush; or, at least that is what the newspapers would have you believe, maybe this isn't what really happened.

The first story reported by the newspapers was that a white man named Richard Fillmore Herrington was accosted on the public road while traveling home. His attacker was named as Stephen Alexander in one article and then later as Joe Sanders; regardless of his name, he was African American, he attacked a white man, and then threatened to return later that night to kill said white man.

Herrington (described as one of Screven County's most respected citizens) returned to town and immediately went to see Capt. Jesse T. Wade (described as one of the most influential men in the county) at his store to ask what he, Herrington, should do about the attack. The newspaper quote: "Mr. Herrington, being a law-abiding citizen, and knowing the negro to be a desperate character, immediately set about to see what was the best thing to do in the matter and sought out Captain Jesse T. Wade, who is one of the most influential men of that county, and was advised by Captain Wade to take out a peace warrant against the negro and have him placed under a peace bond."

Whether a peace warrant was really issued or not, the news tells us that constable Milton Mears goes out to deliver the warrant at the Alexander farm and he takes with him, Herrington, Wade, and another man named G.W. Daniels. Herrington tells the men how he was traveling home when he runs into Stephen Alexander and they have some words and a "difficulty" ensued and in the difficulty "the negro threatened the life of Mr. Herrington and told him he would kill him that night."

The article further states that the reason Capt. Wade went along was because he knew the Alexander family quite well and figured he would be of use and Herrington needed to be there to identify the accused; what Daniel's purpose was in being there was never stated but by the next news article, his name had disappeared from the story. The men arrive at the Alexander cabin which is out in the country surrounded by a dense wood and thick undergrowth, little did they know "several negroes had concealed themselves in this undergrowth to do their terrible work."

They pull up in the yard and alight from their buggies leaving Daniels to mind the horses. The rest of the men walk up to the cabin and ask Stephen's dad, Jesse Alexander, to turn over his son. Jesse presumably tells the men his son is there but they can't have him. Mears tells the father that he just wants to serve the peace warrant and Jesse tells Mears that "he couldn't get him that night, as night was no time for serving warrants." Then Wade gets involved, and, quoting a news article "Mr. Wade then approached, and knowing the old negro well told him who it was speaking and told him to let his son give up and that he would guarantee that not a hair of his head should be hurt, and that they only wanted to place him under a peace bond and that he should not go to jail." Again, Jesse tells them they can't get his son at night.

The men walk back towards their horses to talk and made the decision to come back in the morning when, without any warning, they are fired upon by the snipers hidden in the bushes around the home. Mears was shot dead where he stood and Herrington ran off, wounded, but later died of his injuries in a nearby field. Wade was seriously wounded and Daniels picked him up and rode off while the shooters were reloading, thus making it safely away to Wade's home. Wade fought for his life for several days and months later, finally pulled through.

Five men were arrested for the shooting deaths of Mears and Herrington and the counsel for the defendants stated that their conviction was illegal and that some of the evidence against them was secured by very suspect means. The sheriff then "opened an envelope given him by one of the murderers to take to the post office. It was an appeal to an Augusta minister to help the signers who are the condemned men, as they had killed some white men." This was all the evidence the judge needed to continue with the case. Because, there is no way to pass off a handwritten letter as a forgery in 1901; it has to be real and from one of the condemned men, right?

Just two months later a new account of the incident was reported and in this story some names were changed, one was omitted, and the series of events have been retold. The first difference is the name of the man that allegedly attacked Herrington and his father. Now the alleged attacker was Joe Sanders and his father was Jesse Sanders and there was no confrontation between Herrington or any other man. We can speculate many different theories, but, when we take the new accounting into consideration it might be possible that the Sanders family really was involved with a subversive group whose goal was to stand up to white oppression by any means necessary, it's also probable that the Sanders family were known criminals or law-breakers and the Alexander family were known to be peaceful and law-abiding. Census records confirm the Alexander family dynamic, but there is no father and son Joe and Jesse Sanders living in Screven County in 1900, but, then again, maybe they were already on the run since this incident happened in 1899. If so, this gives us a clue about the men arrested who did show up in the 1900 census; after all, if they were guilty, they would've run that October in 1899.

The series of events now are that Mears was delivering a warrant in the middle of the night to arrest Joe Sanders who was wanted for "some trivial offense against the law", and, not wanting to go alone so late at night, Mears brought his friend, Herrington, and Capt. Wade came along because he was a well-known citizen; what that has to do with delivering a warrant I have no idea and I also don't understand why a warrant is being executed in the middle of the night for a crime that happened during the day. Also missing from this account is G.W. Daniels.

In order to deliver a warrant in the middle of the night, someone had to have just committed a crime against another person at that particular time, not during the daytime when the alleged attack on Herrington happened. Therefore, Wade, or someone else, decided to pick Joe Sanders as the recipient of the warrant with the understanding that he had just committed a crime against someone that night or, maybe they had an old warrant for him but could never find him during the day; otherwise, delivering a warrant in the middle of the night, just a few hours before daylight, doesn't make sense. But, if we had a crime that just happened in those hours, or, we were on a bounty hunt to execute an old warrant, well, that gives them a reason to be out at this farm just a few hours before daylight.

Now, for the new sequence of events. First off, there was no altercation between Herrington and Stephen Alexander; the Alexander family isn't mentioned at all in this new story. Also, new to this scenario is the invention of a subversive gang consisting of African Americans whose credo is to kill all white people who stand in their way and whose acts of crimes and violence are only committed against other African Americans. Seems a bit hypocritical to want to kill white people but to not rape or rob them as the articles state the Knights of Archer were wont to do. Not only do they rape and rob within their community, they also exact from their neighbors, payments for protection. Who do they need protection from? According to the news article, these folks are paying the Knights of Archer to protect them from the Knights of Archer. You would think that a gang, whose number one rule is to murder all white people, would not have any compunction about raping and robbing them too. Let's stop speculating though, because the reason for "inventing" this fictitious gang will soon become clear.

The Sanders family were presumably leaders of this gang and their farm was the headquarters. Here's another reason for being out at this farm in the middle of the night; as we all know gang meetings only happen at that time [this is sarcasm by the way]. You have to remember, this is a rural area where farming is the main source of income and the main source of feeding your family, in order to run a farm you have to work hard all-day long. Therefore, your only free time is at night plus, when operating a dangerous gang, this is the only time you have to hold meetings and the cover of darkness helps with keeping your identity hidden.

Somehow, the gang knew a warrant for Joe Sanders was going to be delivered in the middle of the night that October in 1899; they were ready and waiting for Mears and his posse by being armed and having snipers hidden around the property. Wade and Herrington stayed with the buggies in the clearing while Mears started walking towards the house to deliver the warrant. Before Mears ever got to the door, shots rang out from all directions. The guns being used were loaded with everything from bullets to scrap metals fashioned into slugs. Wade was shot in the thigh and was suffering from wounds all over his body due to the various shrapnel from the homemade bullets. He managed to climb into his buggy and make his escape back towards town to tell the sheriff his story.

In the morning, the Sheriff and a bunch of citizens headed out to the Sanders farm and found the place deserted. The family was gone and none of the members of the Knights of Archer were left behind either (the Sanders home was presumably the headquarters and meetinghouse). The only person there was Sanders' wife, who was described as "a villainous old negress" by one reporter. She sat calmly in the doorway, smoking a pipe, and stated that she had heard nothing about a shooting during the night and nothing described by the posse had happened on the property.

Not to be deterred, the posse searched the grounds and found Mears' body just twenty yards from the house next to a creek. His body was mutilated terribly by the homemade bullets and bits of telegraph wire that were pounded into slugs; it was stated that his heart was torn in half by the telegraph wire slugs; not sure how his heart was visible though.

The posse followed the creek next to Mears' body and saw a trail of blood that ended at Herrington's body which was still warm; suggesting he suffered terribly during the few hours it took for the posse to arrive and he had just died prior to the posse's arrival.

Three hours had elapsed since the shootings and the arrival of the posse to look for the men involved; thus, the Knights of Archer had time to flee the area and go into hiding. It took months to finally arrest five of their presumed members: Arnold Augustus, Andrew Davis, Richard Sanders, William Hudson, and Sam Baldwin. It was stated that several other men were being hunted, including the head of the gang, Andrew McKinney.

If we read between the lines of these stories one can assume that in reality, R.F. Herrington was a local bully, after all, the newspaper makes sure to point out that he was one of the county's most respected citizens and a law-abiding man. To me, that sounds like code for someone who is the exact opposite; someone who isn't very well respected and who spent a time or two in jail or in trouble. In hindsight, after a crime has happened or a person has died, we always like to say good things about the person, things that aren't necessarily true, like "he/she was a great man/woman" or "he/she wouldn't hurt anyone, I can't believe he/she did this", and so forth. You're not supposed to speak ill of the dead no matter how awful they really were.

Herrington says that Stephen threatened to come back that very night and kill him, but, who actually went to whose house, at night? Not only that but Herrington didn't go straight to the sheriff, he went directly to Jesse Wade. Why would someone who had just been attacked go to another citizen and ask them what he should do about the incident? We all know assault is a crime and this is the Jim Crow Era and Herrington is white; if this attack really happened (and even if it didn't) a white man could easily get the sheriff to arrest a black man on just the white man's word alone. But no, Herrington went to Wade, and to me, that suggests that at least one of these men was probably a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Herrington wanted a lynching party, not an arresting posse.

The second version of this story states that there was no altercation but again, we have three men, none of them a sheriff or a deputy, delivering a warrant in the middle of the night. As abovementioned, warrants aren't delivered in the middle of the night and the recipient of said warrant can't ever know exactly when the warrant is going to be delivered so that they can plan an ambush; I mean that's the whole reason for the secrecy of legal actions, to prevent the alleged defendant from planning a counteraction. Census records state that all of these men were farmers, not a one of them was a constable (as stated) or an officer of the law.

Regardless which story was true, the end result was the same, two men died and several ran away.

I believe that Stephen was accosted by a drunk and miserable Herrington, Stephen stood up to him and then Herrington tells Stephen that he will come back in the night and kill him. Stephen realized that trouble was fast approaching because he stood up to a white man who probably bullied his friends and family relentlessly and the whole neighborhood knows that this white man is not a nice person, so Stephen tells his family what happened and they gather up some neighbors for help and to bear witness should anything go wrong because they know you can't talk back to a white man of this caliber and expect to walk away unscathed. These neighbors were probably tired of being bullied and harassed by the Klan and they realized one of their community was facing something terrible.

This was the true "gang", friends and neighbors standing together as one to protect themselves from an evil oppression. They weren't the Knights of Archer, they weren't raping and robbing their neighbors, and they certainly didn't have a mantra that involved killing white people for no reason.

Herrington arrives in the middle of the night with reinforcements and demands that Stephen come out of the house but his father, Jesse Alexander, refuses stating it is night time and they can't have his boy, they must come back during the day. The newspapers, however, report it in a way that shows Jesse as being insolent and threatening. Ironically enough, the newspaper is printing the truth, these are the real words spoken by Jesse, but they are spinning it in a way to make Jesse look like the threat and not vice versa. Jesse knew that Herrington and his men were coming to kill his son.

The news then states that Wade approaches Jesse and reminds Jesse who he is because, after all, Wade is the man about town that everyone loves and he knows Jesse very well. So, he assures Jesse that they won't hurt a "hair on [Stephen's] head". Why would Wade need to say this? Why would Wade have to remind Jesse who he was? This isn't an honorable man trying to help the police, this is a man making it known to Jesse that they know what he, Wade, is capable of, they know what Wade does under the cover of darkness and he's reminding them what happens if you stand against him. The newspapers state that Wade is a well-known man, to me, this translates that the whole town knows what Wade does to those that cross him and to those who are the "wrong color". He grew up with the planter-elite, his family owned plantations, land, and over 500 slaves; he was raised to oppress blacks, he was raised to think of the African race as sub-human. Also, Wade was too young to serve during the Civil War, he watched his brothers, cousins, neighbors, and other men, go off to battle but he was just a boy at a very impressionable age, he was only 7-years-old when the war started and he grew up during Reconstruction. He learned how to hate right from the start, he learned how to blame others for his losses, and I can believe that he had no problem harassing the newly freed persons to the point of death.

In the news Wade is portrayed as saying that he is the good guy, but, out on Jesse's porch, he's acting in his capacity as an egomaniacal Klansmen. There's a reason Herrington went straight to Wade. Wade is the muscle, the leader of the local Klan and Wade knows Jesse well because the Klan have probably terrorized the Alexander family in the past, hence why the Alexanders have a bunch of people standing around their house in the woods that night, because Herrington threatened to come back in the night to kill Stephen and not the other way around; and here Herrington is, in the middle of the night, without a single man that is a member of the local law enforcement.

They weren't prepared for the Alexanders to continue standing their ground, events escalated, two men died, and others are now running for their lives and those running, have to leave everything and everyone behind and never return.

G.W. Daniels disappears from the story for reasons we can only surmise, which leaves Wade, the sole survivor, to tell the story of innocently trying to deliver a warrant and being violently attacked resulting in the deaths of two honorable and well-respected men, Wade is wounded and saved by Daniels, and this all started because Stephen Alexander attacked poor Richard Herrington. From all news accounts, Wade was seriously injured, there's no way he would've been able to mount a horse or buggy and ride to safety without getting shot again. Someone had to help him, that someone was Daniels, but, now he doesn't exist.

Then Wade changed his story, or, rather, someone changed it for him.

This new article goes on to tell us that Andrew McKinney started this gang by using fear and scare tactics because African Americans are superstitious by nature so he can play on these phobias and trick people into becoming members. He then makes them sign the manifesto in blood which states they will defend themselves to the death against white people and kill as many of them as they can. In the meantime, the gang is terrorizing only African-Americans, so the news is now telling us that by arresting these five men the whole town is now safe from this gang that they never knew existed. The black community will no longer be terrorized by these men and white people won't have to fear them coming into their homes and killing them while they sleep. Of course, earlier in this same article, the Sanders family was the ringleader of the Knights of Archer.

As the story was passed from one news outlet to another, it changed dramatically. In April of 1901 a Mississippi newspaper reported a very different story. It stated that a year prior the "negroes of Screven county formed an organization, 'Knights of Archery' [as spelled] in which they took an oath to kill all white people who molested them." The article then states that a street fight occurred in Sylvania between a white man and an African American man and then a riot resulted in which two white men were killed and a race war was threatened. The militia were ordered to appear in Screven and upon their arrival all threats of a riot disappeared and the five men arrested were all leaders of the "Knights of Archery". Of course, Archery sounds better than Archer, but the distortion of the facts is amazing. Yes, the Screven Guard were sent out but that was long after the incident where Mears and Herrington were killed; they were called out to guard the condemned men.

The five condemned men were held in Savannah for their safety but Sheriff Thompson of Screven County went up to Savannah and demanded that the men be brought back to Screven to finish their sentence by having them executed; he had the gallows ready and the town was ready for this to be over. Basically, he wanted a hanging to occur and he wanted to be the man to do the hanging. He was told the men needed to stay in Savannah in the event of an appeal but Thompson would not hear it and took the men back to Screven County. Thompson even went so far as to state that he never received notice of a stay of execution.

Once Thompson got the men to Screven, the governor, fearing a lynch mob, sent the Screven Guards out for the protection of the five men and to stop the sheriff from conducting the execution before the men had their appeal. A stay of execution was ordered and a supersedeas granted so the men had to be immediately taken back to Savannah for their appeal and for their safety. Not only was the town threatening violence but even the sheriff wanted to circumvent the law and carry out the execution before the men had their right to appeal.

As the execution date approached, facts in the story changed as well. Now Wade is no longer mentioned and Herrington and Mears were both deputy sheriff officers who were killed in the line of duty while trying to arrest members of the gang and the five men arrested were part of this gang that termed themselves the "Black Mafia" and they believed in exterminating the white men of Screven County.

This Mississippi newspaper said that the "delay in justice by the law" caused the relatives of the murdered men to threaten a lynching and they would "doubtless have carried the threat to execution but for the quick work of the sheriff, who spirited the negroes away on a special train and landed them safely in the Savannah jail."

Actually, the sheriff was ordered to return the men to Savannah so the appeal process could be finished and to keep the five men safe. The sheriff didn't do this out of the kindness of his heart.

The Georgia papers basically stated that the Knights of Archer were disbanded and on the run from the law, but according to Mississippi the Knights of Archery [as they spelled it] swore to kill every white man in the county if necessary to keep the five men from being executed; suggesting the gang was still organized and operating. Quote: "On the other hand the white people are determined the negroes shall pay the penalty, and are prepared for a race war if it should come."

The news reported that it took months to arrest anyone in connection with the crime, actually, it took almost two years to arrest the five men and when we look at census records and take into account the defense lawyers' statement about evidence being obtained in nefarious ways, we see how these five men became, what I call, "The Chosen" because they had to pick someone to arrest in order to quiet the white community who were demanding blood and most likely spreading fear by stating this gang was going to rape the white women of the town.

The chosen men were: Arnold Augustus, William Hudson, Sam Baldwin, Andrew Davis, and Richard Sanders.

How did these men come to be arrested? Were they really part of a "gang" called the Knights of Archer? How is it that no one of the Alexander family was arrested? I believe these men were arrested out of revenge. I believe their neighbors, whether innocently or purposely, told the police who had problems with the dead men not realizing that these would be the men arrested.

During the 1900 census for Screven County, Georgia, guess who lives right next door to R.F. Herrington? Two of The Chosen: Andrew Davis and Richard Sanders. Andrew is only 28 years old, married for five years, and the father of two children; Richard is 76-years-old, widowed, and living alone. I find it very hard to believe Richard had any part of this incident, I believe both men were only guilty of being Herrington's next-door neighbors. They probably suffered taunts, threats, violence, vandalism, and who knows what all at the hands of Herrington and the white neighbors knew this and most likely, when being questioned by the police about people Herrington had trouble with, these neighbors probably put forth Andrew's and Richard's names, some not realizing they were condemning these men to death. The police were looking for men that argued with Herrington regardless of whether or not they were the ones being harassed; they needed black males to convict to make the white public happy and content.

Just a few doors away from Herrington we find Arnold Augustus and William Hudson. Two more neighbors, who would've thought? Arnold is 50-years-old, married for 21 years, and the father of five children, three of which are still living. The Augustus family has already faced tragedy with the loss of two children, now, their husband and father has been taken from them. William was thirty-seven, married for fourteen years, and the father of two children.

Four of The Chosen are men who live next to and nearby Herrington. They are probably men that had public altercations with Herrington in the past that were remembered and remarked upon by others to the police and since the police invented the Knights of Archer, they can turn those altercations into acts against Herrington and not vice versa.

Our last Chosen man was Sam Baldwin, age 20 years, a young man living out, working for a living, probably sending money home or trying to earn a stake to start his own farm. How was Sam found? Well, he was Milton Mears' next-door neighbor.

No one in the Alexander family was arrested and by 1910, the Alexander family is no longer living in Screven County and can't be found together anywhere in the United States. Did they go on the run? Did the Klan finally "deal" with them? Or maybe something innocent happened, maybe the elder Alexanders passed away, after all, Jesse's wife, Minda, was 60-years-old in 1900. Jesse was 48-years-old, married for 25 years to Minda, and they were the parents of eight children with five still living. Two of those five were living in the home, Robert, 26-years-old, and Stephen who was 18-years-old.

The fear the black community felt during this witch hunt cannot be described and cannot be realized by Americans in today's world. To be accused of gang activities and murder because of the color of your skin alone, and then to be charged with these crimes merely because you live near the victims is incomprehensible to us today. To fear that your neighbor might take offense to you for some minor slight and then have them tell the police that they believe you had something to do with the Knights of Archer or that you were there that night; no one can know that fear today. Yes, racism still exists, and yes people are judged by who or what they are, but not to the extent to where a so obviously made up story results in you being arrested, tried, convicted, and executed all in a matter of six months.

At 12:30 PM on 14 June 1901, The Chosen, Andrew Davis, Arnold Augustus, William Hudson, Sam Baldwin, and Richard Sanders, were "hanged until they be dead." All five men were hung on one gallows built especially for them, so that all five could be hanged at once. The men were marched on a slow walk from the jail to just outside the town limits where thousands of spectators stood waiting; or, at least, that's what the news reports said. People from surrounding counties came to watch this spectacle. The gallows were hidden by a wooden fence, the hanging was supposed to be private, but the huge crowds pushing against each other and the fence, eventually pushed the privacy fence down.

The Chosen men were marched through a crowd of hateful people who jeered at them, spit on them, and threw all manner of offal. All five men claimed their innocence while the public laughed and carried on as if they were at a fair. People were eating picnic lunches, and behaving as if at a carnival, as if five men weren't going to die right in front of them. One news article reported that once the trap doors were sprung, the majority of the crowd howled in excitement, but a small group actually tried to ask for silence in the last minutes of The Chosen men's life.

By now you might be wondering why I decided to write an article about this incident; after all, it didn't happen in Glynn County or any one of the surrounding counties. No, it didn't, but, it might have affected a family in McIntosh County.

I spoke above about how the news reported several members of this "gang", the Knights of Archer, went on the lam. The police continued searching for these men for quite some time and it was two years before they arrested five men, it stands to reason they may have continued to look for a bit longer. Not only did they continue to look, but so too, did the Klan.

It appears that the Alexander family may have left Screven County by 1910; one has to wonder who else disappeared by 1910?

On a warm day, just a week or two before the first day of summer, a young girl was playing on the front porch of her grandparents' home in McIntosh County, Georgia. Her grandmother died early that year in March and on the 1^st of June, her grandfather died; they were cleaning out the home of their loved ones.

While this young girl, we'll call her Rudy, was playing with her doll on the step, her mother was talking to some ominous white men in suits who were showing her photos and documents. They wanted to know where a man known as Robert Jenkins was at this very moment. Rudy's mother tells the men that they just missed him by days; Robert had died earlier that month and they were cleaning out the home.

Rudy was a precocious child and she tried to listen to the conversation but back then children were to be seen and not heard so it was very hard for her to eavesdrop without being noticed; that, and the passage of time and the tricks it plays on memories, makes it even harder for Rudy to remember just exactly what those men were asking. But what she does remember is that her grandfather was wanted for murder and that he had been on the run for over forty years. Rudy remembers the men saying they got a tip about Robert, they had photos of the victims, and there was something about some white people dying on a farm but not much else; she firmly believes that this incident happened in 1910 but maybe the incident didn't happen then, maybe that's just when Robert Jenkins ran for his life.

Regardless, Rudy's mother had no clue about this "past" because as far as she knew, her father had always lived in McIntosh County.

Is it possible that Robert Jenkins was one of the fabled "Knights of Archer"?

Robert had no known family history in McIntosh County; he arrived out of the blue in 1910 and on 4 January 1911 he married Patsy Read/Reid, with whom he had at least eight children. Many years after Robert had died, one of his daughters was working at a local hotel and was chatting with a guest there. They got to talking about families and Rudy's aunt told the story about the FBI showing up at her father's home, just shortly after he died, to question or arrest him for a murder decades ago.

The young woman she was talking to was shocked! This is HER father's story! How does this woman know about her father, Henry Forest, who disappeared from Screven County, leaving behind his family and his wife and children? Henry's family thought that the KKK had killed him all those years ago.

This young woman took her story back to her grandmother and then the family made a trip back to McIntosh County to confirm the story with Robert Jenkins' children; and what do you know? Robert Jenkins was originally known as Henry Forest, who was living a few communities away from Herrington in Screven County.

The incident mentioned above happened in 1899 to 1901; however, it is the only news article found that matches some of the clues Rudy remembers. The farm, several people were involved, white people were killed, and people were on the run.

Today, we are awaiting a case research with the FBI regarding this incident. In 2006, Rudy sent a request about her father and the 1910 era that both families seem adamant about. While it is a stretch to tie Henry/Robert to this 1899 incident, it's not improbable. He didn't appear in the 1910 census as Henry Forest or Robert Jenkins (at least, he hasn't been found yet), and he appears in McIntosh County in 1911 when he's getting married. Back in those days, most women didn't marry on a whim unless they were pregnant or in need of help financially (meaning one or more parents died and there are a lot of children in the home). Which means Robert had to have been in Patsy Reid's life for at least a year, so he should've been in the census nearby.