When the Powerful Fall from Grace

This is the story of John Wallace, William Turner (Aka Wilson Turner) and Lamar Potts. The story wouldn't be complete without discussing Mayhayley Lancaster the famous oracle who lived in Georgia and had a hand in solving the case. 

I am a Georgia girl. I have lived in middle Georgia all my life. I am fascinated by our history and certain crimes that have occurred here. This story is definitely on that list. This story took place in 1948 in Coweta County, Georgia. That is north Georgia, west of Atlanta. I visited there this past summer and saw many sights from the case. I have plans to go back and see things I missed. I may do an update or a follow-up on this story at a later time. I would like to take the time to thank Dick Atkins for the photos on this blog. 

John Wallace and his
wife Josephine 

John Wallace wasn't born into money. His dad died when he was 11 and his mother moved to Meriwether County where her family lived. He was raised with his cousins, the Strickland's. He learned how to to make and run shine. That was very popular and of course illegal in those days. He made enough money from his shine operation to build a dairy farm and buy his prized dairy cows. He grew to be a powerful man in Meriwether County. He even had the sheriff in his back pocket. The County was referred to as "The Kingdom" and John was the king. All of these facts will play into the story. Let's move ahead to the crime that occurred in 1948.

Newspaper article
offering reward for
William Turner

In April of 1948 a sharecropper tenant, named William Turner (AKA Wilson Turner, he had taken his brother's name after the war) of John Wallace took some of his shine and sold it. John Wallace was angry and fired  him and told him he wanted him off his land. In retaliation Wilson came back to Wallace's land and stole two of his prize Guernsey cows. He was later arrested in Carrolton. Carrolton sent him back to Meriwether where the crime had happened. Wilson begged not to be transferred. Sometime after he was sent to Meriwether he was released due to lack of evidence. When he left, he got into his truck to leave, John Wallace and Herring Sevill was in one car and Henry Mobley and Tom Strickland were in the other car. They chased him through Meriwether County where his truck ran out of gas just past the Coweta County line at the Sunset Tourist camp. According to at least 8 witnesses, he jumped out of the truck and ran to the door of The Sunset screaming and begged them to help him and said he is going to kill me, don't let them take me. John Wallace grabbed him and dragged him back to his car. He hit him over the head with a shotgun with all his might. The witnesses said he hit him so hard the gun went off and Wilson just went limp and never made another sound. They shoved him into the back of the car and headed towards Meriwether. When they got back they went back to Wallace's property where John slung Wallace over his shoulder and headed into the woods. He placed his body in an abandoned well. 

Sunset Tourist Camp

Meanwhile, at the Sunset Tourist Camp, they had called the local Coweta County sheriff, Lamar Potts. He took all the statements from the witnesses and began his case against John Wallace. Lamar Potts was an honorable man and when he left office no murder cases or violent crimes had went unsolved. He was truly in his element and he was relentless in his efforts to solve crime. He had his lead and headed to Meriwether to discuss the matter with the local sheriff, Hardy Collier. Collier gave Wallace  an alibi originally. As I said earlier, John had him in his back pocket. No one in Meriwether was going to talk against John Wallace.

Lamar Potts

Sunset Tourist Camp

Collier went to warn John about Lamar and the case growing against him. John being a superstitious man, went to visit Mayhayley Lancaster. She was an oracle or a seer. People came from miles to visit her and have her tell their future. She told Wallace she saw the the body in the well and it would be found. John recruited two of  his farm hands to go help him retrieve a "package" from an abandoned well. Robert Lee Gates and Albert Brooks did as he requested and it was Wilson's body. His head had been smashed in. They took it to another location where they soaked the body with gasoline and set it on fire. Then they returned the next morning and scraped up the remains and threw them in a creek.

Men retrieving evidence from the well

Lamar Potts had started massive search for Turner when it was reported that he was missing by his wife. He had summarized that the man that was assaulted must have been Wilson Turner. It is not known who gave John Wallace and Herring Sevill's names at the Sunset Tourist Camp. When John Wallace and Herring Sevill arrived, Potts arrested them for kidnapping. He had to find the body before he could charge them with  murder. Georgia law at the time required a body to prosecute murder. He had a $500 reward for the body of William Turner. He got an anonymous call that reported the fire and said that he wanted to meet in secret to inform him of the rest. When they met he said they burned Turner's body and the fire was so high it could be seen from a great distance away. He also gave him the names of Robert Lee Gates and Albert Brooks. They confirmed the fire and the burning of the body. They also agreed to testify.It is unknown who the tip came from but most people refer to him as "the woodsman." They searched the well and the creek and found enough evidence to bring  murder charges. Lamar Potts had also searched John Wallace's home and found a pair of pants and shirt soaked in blood.

John Wallace arriving at trial

John Wallace at trial

It went to trial on January 11, 1949. John Wallace was facing a death sentence if found guilty. Herring Sevill, Henry Mobley, and Tom Strickland were also facing charges. There were several witnesses from the Sunset Tourist Camp that stated that the attack on Turner killed him before he ever left Sunset. They had two doctors that stated that the weapon and the attack on Turner would have been sufficient to kill a man. Mayhayley testified that she spoke to John after the murder and told him she saw Turner in the well. Robert Lee Gates and Albert Brooks told their story of disposing of the body at John's direction.Then all of John's co-defendants decided not to testify on his behalf due to the fact that it may incriminate them. So, John decided to testify and tell his side of the story, against the advice of his attorney.
The defense's case stemmed on the fact that Turner wasn't dead at Sunset and they claimed he died in Meriwether, which means a change of venue was in order. John took the stand and rambled on for a very long time, stringing a story together to prove his innocence. He claimed he only took Wallace for him to show him where his cows were. He said he put the shotgun in the crook of his arm and it went off. he didn't realize it hit Turner until he looked around and Turner was on the ground with his scalp blown off. He claimed he had no memory of the events for a few days after it happened. The story was very hard to believe. Especially with the evidence against him.

The jury returned a guilty verdict and sentenced him to death in the electric chair. They carried out the execution on November 3, 1950. He is buried in Chipley Cemetery in Pine Mountain, Georgia. All three co-defendants received life in prison instead of death.

Now, I tried to add all the facts. I am certain I may have left out a couple of minor details. There is more to this story than the crime itself. The after effects are that it appears his legacy lives on after his death. He still has many people who defend him and claim that it was either an accident as he claimed at trial or that Turner was just a thief and a scoundrel and he deserved what he got. Another belief in his favor is that gasoline couldn't have burned a body in 24 hours.There are others who believe he is guilty and even power doesn't make you above the law. I personally believe that John's power had gone to his head and he had no concept that retaliation for his actions would ever happen. He took the law into his own hands and took a life. That was not the course of action that needed to be taken. As far the fire, well there was an ample supply of shine available and I am sure that would have heated things up pretty fast.

If you would like to know more about this case here are some places you can go to for that.
The Movie; Murder in Coweta County is a must watch. I love this movie. Andy Griffith plays John Wallace and Johnny Cash is Lamar Potts. Visit the link for more information.

Murder in Coweta County

There is also a movie I recommend called Oracle of the Ages about Mayhayley Lancaster. She truly was an amazing woman. She not only had the gift but she was also a pioneer for woman. There is also a book with the same name. You can find them on Amazon.

There have also been two books written about this story:
Murder in Coweta County written by Margaret Ann Barnes
No Remorse; The Rise and Fall of John Wallace written by Dot Moore

I hope you enjoyed this story. The history runs deep. A road was named after John Wallace 50 years after the crime. This was a picture I took on my visit. The Stricklands still live on this road. I look forward to going back and digging a little deeper into the sights there and surroundings that are still part of Georgia's history. If you are enjoying my stories, please subscribe to my blog. You can also visit my page on Facebook: Tina's Take on True Crime. Thanks for reading!!