Deputy Sheriff R. Benton Woods

R. Benton Woods

Deputy Sheriff Benton Woods was shot and killed in Swainsboro by a man in the custody of the city marshal.

The marshal and his prisoner were on the way to the jail when the prisoner suddenly produced a pistol and shot Deputy Woods as he approached them. A gunfight followed in which the suspect was shot three times and another man was kllled. The next day a mob of more than 100 armed men broke into the jail, seized the suspect, hanged him from the nearest tree, and riddled his body with bullets.