ABSTRACT
On the evening of May 16, 1918, someone shot into the Georgia home of a young white farmer, Hampton Smith, killing him instantly. Smith lived in Brooks County, on the Florida state line. Mid-May is already summer in the area, and the humid air lies heavily on the land day and night. Air conditioning was several decades away, so the attacker fired through an open window. The same person, perhaps with several other men, also wounded Smith’s pregnant wife, Bertha. Somehow she managed to escape and make her way several miles to the nearest neighbor.
