In 1889, James J. Stallings’ youngest son Isaac Stallings was bludgeoned to death after an argument with his neighbor.[1]
Isaac’s first wife Jane Lowe died sometime after 1880[2] leaving Isaac with five children to raise, one an infant. At some point, he remarried a woman named Winnie and moved to Harrisburg, Augusta, Georgia.
On September 7, 1889 Isaac Stallings was drunk. It was a Saturday and he’d been drinking all day and was belligerent. Samuel Cobb was sitting on Mary Everett’s front porch. Mary lived next door to Isaac on Railroad Avenue. Isaac went toward Mary’s with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a knife in the other. He and Samuel had argued some time ago but had lately been friendly. Isaac just said, “Hello, Sam; howdy” and then returned home and went to sleep. Meanwhile, Samuel left and returned to the porch with a large stick.
When Isaac woke up he asked his son George W. Stallings where his step-mother was. Learning from George that his wife had taken her night clothes to Mary’s and had planned to stay there for the night, Isaac went to Mary’s to get Winnie to come back home. He yelled abusive obscenities at her, threatened to kill her, grabbed her arm and shoulder and forced her to return to their house. Winnie yelled at him to leave her alone. Samuel rapped on the porch to summon the police, but no police came. After Isaac returned Winnie to their house, he went back toward Mary’s, looked at Samuel Cobb and said “If you want anything of me come and get it” and asked Samuel if it was any of his business. Samuel told Isaac not to come toward him with a knife and said, “Mr. Stallings, let me alone, I have nothing against you.” Isaac, no longer holding a knife, started toward Samuel who told him if he didn’t stop he would hit him. Isaac kept walking toward Samuel. Samuel hit him in the head with his stick but Isaac didn’t fall. Samuel hit him again, knocking Isaac to his knees. Samuel hit him a third time and Isaac fell flat. Samuel ran home. Isaac got up and walked home holding the fence.
The exact date of Isaac’s death is unclear. The cemetery records show September 11, 1889 as the death date. However, the newspaper article reporting on the coroner’s inquest testimony was published on September 11th and states that Isaac had been buried the day before, which would have been Tuesday, September 10th. And it isn’t clear if Isaac died the same day of the inquest and burial or if he died earlier.
At any rate, his wife and family wanted nothing to do with his burial. So there was no funeral and he was buried in a pauper’s grave at the county’s expense.
The newspaper cites that Isaac’s brother was contacted and he refused to have anything to do with it.
Isaac had two brothers: James Stallings and Martin Everett Stallings. James died in 1861, so the brother who was contacted and refused to have anything to do with him was Martin Everett.
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[1] Augusta Chronicle, 11 September 1889, page 5.
[2] Isaac and Jane appear together on the 1880 U.S. Census, but there is no record of Jane after that.
© Sherrie T. Cork
Please cite as:
Cork, Sherrie T. “A Legacy of Murder – Part 2” Web blog post. Descendants of Rebellion. 10 September 2017.