Special Policeman John Gibby

John Gibby

Special Policeman John Gibby was shot and killed by two tramps he attempted to arrest.

Policeman Gibby was on duty in the railroad yard at Cornelia, Georgia, when the crew of an incoming freight train reported that two tramps on the train had defied all efforts to put them off. As soon as the train stopped, Policeman Gibby arrested both men. As he was handcuffing one, the other snatched his pistol and shot him twice.

Later in the day, a posse captured both suspects on Griffin Mountain. As the posse escorted the suspects back to Cornelia, they were surrounded by a mob of masked men who took the suspects and hanged them from a telegraph pole.