Murder in Coweta County, Georgia. 1948

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The Sunset Tourist camp in Moreland, Coweta County, Georgia.

Scene from the 1983 TV movie, Murder in Coweta County starring Andy Griffith and Johnny Cash.

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Blog Created: 6-29-2024

Last Updated: 7-2-2024

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The murder in Coweta County was an April 1948 murder committed in Coweta County in the U.S. state of Georgia. A wealthy landowner in Meriwether County was pursued by the sheriff of neighboring Coweta County, Georgia. The events were the subject of two acclaimed works, both titled Murder in Coweta County: a 1976 book by Margaret Anne Barnes and a 1983 television movie on CBS starring Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith.

History ~

John Wallace, a wealthy landowner, had virtually unlimited power in Meriwether County, Georgia. Even the sheriff, Hardy Collier, was under his control. Wilson Turner, a sharecropper tenant, attempted to do extra bootlegging work without Wallace's permission and was fired as a result. Turner retaliated by stealing two of Wallace's cows.

Turner was found and arrested in Carrollton, Georgia, by Chief of Police Rada Threadgill but was transferred from the Carrollton jail to the Meriwether County Jail in Greenville. Turner was later released from jail, purportedly because of a lack of evidence. As he left the jail, he discovered John Wallace waiting outside with his men. Realizing that he had been set up, Turner attempted to escape in his truck, with Wallace and his group in pursuit, two men each in two cars.

Turner's truck, drained of its fuel earlier, stopped running just past the county line at the Sunset Tourist camp in Moreland, Coweta County, Georgia. Multiple witnesses reported seeing Wallace pistol-whip Turner so hard that the gun discharged, then Turner going limp and being put in one of the cars. The group then returned to Meriwether County, where Turner's body was first hidden in an old well on Wallace's property, then burned in a pit, the ashes and bone fragments scattered in a nearby stream. Wallace forced two black field workers, Albert Brooks and Robert Lee Gates, to assist him in destroying the victim's body.

The Sunset Tourist Camp.

Since witnesses testified that the murder took place in Coweta County, the crime was under the jurisdiction of Lamar Potts, the Coweta County Sheriff. Potts and his deputies searched for days and then an informant told them that Wallace burned the body and implicated Brooks and Gates. Potts persuaded the two men to take him to the burn site. There were bone fragments found that the crime lab identified as human. Brooks and Gates also took the sheriff to the well where Turner's body had originally been deposited. Ruptured brain tissue was found that was also identified as coming from a human being.

Lamar Potts, the Coweta County Sheriff.

Wallace's trial received wide press coverage in the rural community. It was reported that Wallace's eccentric testimony led to his conviction. After several appeals, John Wallace was executed in the electric chair in 1950. His case was unusual, because he was one of the richest men ever to be given the death penalty and his case was the first in Georgia where a white man was given the death sentence upon the testimony of two black men. Mayhayley Lancaster, a local "seer" from nearby Heard County, also testified against Wallace.

Book ~

Murder in Coweta County (original ISBN 0-88349-064-1; re-issued in 1983 and 2004) was a 1976 book by Margaret Anne Barnes, originally published by Simon & Schuster in 1977. Though the book is generally considered accurate, Barnes' website has quoted the El Paso Times as calling it "the new fictionalized style of recording historic events".

No Remorse: The Rise and Fall of John Wallace (hardcover ISBN 978-1-58838-264-1), by Dot Moore, explores not only the fateful murder but also the events that brought Wallace to that point—the death of his father and his early exposure to making moonshine, among other events. It includes letters to and from Wallace in prison.

Film ~

Murder in Coweta County is a 1983 television movie produced by Dick Atkins and Michael Lepiner, directed by Gary Nelson, and written by Dennis Nemec based on Barnes' book. Andy Griffith played landowner John Wallace and Johnny Cash played Sheriff Lamar Potts of Coweta County. Cash's wife, June Carter Cash, played the local seer, Mayhayley Lancaster. Noted Watergate-era attorney James F. Neal played one of the lawyers during the trial.

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John Wallace in jail cell... this does not look like the Coweta jail cell that has been preserved (by Joe Crain), so likely it is Wallace in either the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta or Reidsville prison just prior to execution.

Wallace, his wife Josephine and her father.

John Wallace with his wife Josephine during the murder trial, 1948.

Bessie Davis White (1888-1973), who was a second cousin to John Wallace.

Family of murder victim William Turner during the murder trial of John Wallace, 1948.

TURNER FAMILY... Murder victim William ("Wilson") Turner's father & wife, Julia Turner.

Julia Turner (wife of murder victim William (Wilson) Turner) in 2014, just six months before she passed away in January 2015. Julia is pictured here with her daughter, Louvalle, and granddaughters Connie & Haley.

SUNSET TOURIST CAMP... Sunset Cafe where reportedly Wallace & Sivell ran down and grabbed William (Wilson) Turner.

Steve Smith, owner of the Sunset Cafe & Tourist Camp, with his wife.

Investigators discovering the abandoned well used by Wallace. Kneeling is State revenue agent Pete Bedenbaugh, leaning on the stick is master tracker/revenue agent Elzie Hancock, w/ Sgt. J.C. Otwell of the Georgia State Patrol & Sheriff Lamar's brother/deputy J.H. Potts to the right. The fellow in the T-shirt is unidentified.

DISCOVERING the abandoned well where they hid the body! State revenue agent Pete Bedenbaugh, Sgt. J.C. Otwell of the Georgia State Patrol, & Sheriff Lamar's brother/deputy J.H. Potts examine a key part of the murder on Wallace/Strickland property in Meriwether County.

John Wallace on trial for the murder of William Turner entering the courthouse, 1948.

Sheriff Lamar Potts (on left) watches arrival of defendants Herring Sivell, Henry Mobley & "the Kingdom's" John Wallace at the Coweta County Courthouse.

Murderer John Wallace, followed by Sheriff Lamar Potts, walking into the Coweta County courthouse, Newnan, Georgia, 1948.

Mr. Clyde Byrd's store in Durand. A meeting place where Sheriff Lamar Potts met an "Informant" during the late hours one night in 1948.

Historic Coweta County Courthouse in Newnan.

Meriwether County Courthouse in Greenville.

Moreland, Georgia welcome center.

Meriwether County jail.

The actual jail cell from the old Coweta County Jail that held John Wallace for 2 years during his trial & appeals 1948-1950.

Outside the Newnan courthouse during the murder trial of John Wallace, 1948.

A packed courthouse watches the murder trial of John Wallace in 1948.

Henry Mobley and John Wallace on trial for the murder of William "Wilson" Turner, with lawyers Fred New and Jack Allen, Newnan, Georgia, June 16, 1948.

Unidentified men waiting in the hall during the murder trial of John Wallace, 1948.

Steve Smith, owner of the Sunset Tourist Camp scene of the crime, identifies John Wallace and Herring Sivell in court.

Wife of William 'Wilson' Turner implicating John Wallace in the murder of her husband, Newnan, Georgia, June 1948.

Sheriff Lamar Potts, attorney Fred New, and condemned man John Wallace following the verdict in the William "Wilson" Turner murder trial, Newnan, Georgia, June 19, 1948.

Author Margaret Anne Barnes interviewing Sheriff Lamar Potts & field hand/witness Albert Brooks for her book, "Murder in Coweta County".

Mayhayley & Sally Lancaster. Woman in center is unknown.

Mayhayley Lancaster with Sgt. J.C. Otwell of the Georgia State Patrol, 1948.

Miss Mayhayley.

Mayhayley Lancaster's campaign photo as she ran for senator of Georgia. She was the first woman to run for public office in the state of Georgia.

Judge Samuel J. Boykin, presiding judge of the Murder trial in 1948.

Sheriff Hardy Collier of Meriwether County.

Author Dot Moore.

Book author & Newnan native Margaret Anne Barnes, standing next to a commemorative plaque of legendary Sheriff Lamar Potts.

State Agent Elzie J. Hancock (left), here busting a still, tracked down the ashes & bone chips that witnesses testified were William (aka Wilson) Turner's.

Gun used by John Wallace.

Wallace's bible with his personal notes.

Wallace's watch.

Sheriff Hardy Collier's old office at the Meriwether County Jail.

A grappling hook used to drag the river for the body of William (aka Wilson) Turner. It was saved by Sgt. J.C. Otwell of the Georgia State Patrol.

JOHN WALLACE & HERRING SIVELL BOOKED for Kidnapping & Murder. Page from the original Coweta County arrest records for April 1948, listing Wallace & Sivell arrests on 4-23-1948. The "Jail Commitment" note stapled to the page is for Wallace's transfer to the Fulton Tower jail in Atlanta in 1949 for "safe keeping".

One of John Wallace's last minute declarations of innocence, written in his bible a few days before his execution. Still claiming all witnesses lied, and blaming his cousin Tom Strickland for not speaking out on his behalf.

John Wallace's personal Bible, where he wrote several pages of messages in his last few days in Reidsville Prison before his execution. On the inside left cover, he asks for the Bible to be left for the Dunlaps, who he was very 'close' to, in life and death... they are buried just a few yards away from him in the Chipley Cemetery in Pine Mountain.

Notice of Public Auction of John Wallace's livestock and farm equipment, just after his conviction at the trial. - The Atlanta Constitution, July 11, 1948.

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Mayhayley Lancaster's grave in Heard County, Ga. ~

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Earl Hindman (in white shirt) would be always remembered as Wilson on the TV program, Home Improvement.

Earl Hindman as he appeared on the TV show, Home Improvement.

Andy Griffith played the part of John Wallace. Johnny Cash played Lamar Potts.

June Carter Cash in the role as Mayhayley Lancaster.

In the courthouse, during his murder trial, John Wallace comes face-to-face with William Turner's wife and child.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that Mayberry's sheriff Andy Taylor would someday go to the electric chair for murder. It's a strange world.

Andy Griffith and Johnny Cash both did excellent roles as the two main figures.

Andy Griffith and Johnny Cash, together during a crew gathering while filming Murder in Coweta County (that's a wardrobe girl for the production company with them).