Why African Americans Fled Gwynn’s Island, VA Between 1916 and 1920

Writing for the Gwynn’s Island Museum, researchers Allison Thomas & Maria Montgomery provide information for the reader to form their own opinions.

Background

After the Civil War almost 200 African Americans returned to Gwynn’s Island, including many who had been enslaved there. This was home: they knew how to farm the land, set the nets for shad and herring, harvest oysters, and navigate the many creeks and shoals. Over the next 50 years, they bought land, raised families, built homes, a church, and a school. But something happened to trigger their flight in 1916: “Most of the colored people have moved away to Hampton,” noted the Mathews Journal on August 31 of that year. “The few that are here are making preparations to leave.” By the end of 1920, the Black community was gone, never to return.

Why did they leave?  Older Mathews County residents are divided on this question: Some White people claim the Black community left voluntarily for better jobs; Black Mathews residents say the Black islanders were “run off.” There are no first-hand accounts, only stories passed down by both communities.

Gwynn’s Island was not unique. Rural Black land ownership in the U.S. went from a high in 1910 of 14 percent to less than one percent today. The island is a microhistory of how and why Black farmers lost their land. In some Southern communities, White residents expelled prosperous Black landowners, burned down their neighborhoods and businesses, and lynched their community leaders. On Gwynn’s Island, no one was killed, no homes were burned down, but the community fled all the same.

Here are the historical facts for you to decide.

In 1872, William M. Smith, formerly enslaved, was the first Black man to purchase land on Gwynn’s Island, a four-acre farm and one acre of woodland, for $75—parts of the 1858 Gwynnville plantation subdivided and sold after the Civil War by Benjamin B. Dutton. Smith likely used his mustering out money as a Union cavalry soldier. By this time, he was married to Dolly Jones, and they had two children, James Henry and Harriet. William Jones, Smith’s father-in-law, purchased a second parcel, also four acres of farmland and one of woodland. Three other parcels were sold by October 19th to Augustus Smith, William’s brother, George Henry Coleman, William’s brother-in-law, and Parker Hayes. The rest of the Gwynnville property went to White men.

By 1880, William Smith owned a working ox, several cows, two pigs, and ten chickens. With this land and livestock, he produced 40 lbs. of butter, 75 dozen eggs, 100 bushels of Indian corn, 50 bushels of potatoes, and $30 of lumber. Smith also partnered with another freedman to build a sloop, the Mary Emma, in 1878, and negotiated to buy a second canoe, in 1898, the Rambler, both for oystering. In 1900, Smith acquired 1.7 acres of oyster planting ground off the coast of Gwynn’s Island by the Piankatank River. Called “Captain” by White and Black alike, he was the largest Black landowner on the Island; his wife Dolly was the community’s midwife.

The Black families grew and prospered. In 1896, the trustees of the Church of the Rising Sun, Richard Frazier, Beverly Jones and William M. Smith, purchased a quarter acre of land from Joseph L. Callis. The cornerstone of the church, which exists today, reads: Rising Sun/Dedication/June 12, 1897. A two-room schoolhouse for Black children was also built nearby—41 children were enrolled in 1905. Parker Hayes’ brother, John Hayes, served as pastor of the church. In 1902 John Hayes purchased land adjacent to the church from Lewis N. Powell as did another church trustee, Richard Frazier. Hayes’ son William, also a minister, purchased land a year later from J. L. Callis. The William Jones’ land was divided among his children (Anna Dora Johnson, Laura Smith, Lettie West, and Benjamin Jones,) in 1911 and 1912.

Rising Sun Baptist Church 2021 (photo by author)

More Black families purchased land behind the current Gwynn’s Island Museum property along Rose Lane beginning in 1900. Arthur Respess, married to William Smith’s oldest daughter Hattie, purchased 1.5 acres for $85, the first of five properties sold by Robert E. Edwards to Black families. Edwards also sold to William Creighton, Beverly Jones (subsequently resold in 1905 to Thomas Perley and Andrew Smith), Charles Roy, and Charles Henry Coleman (not recorded until 1916.) Three other Black farmers purchased land in this area at this time, John H. Jackson from William A. Diggs, Andrew Smith from Susie Hill, and William E. Peachie from Vitellius Hudgins.

Gwynn’s Island had no electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing; all residents relied on oil lamps and wood stoves for light and heat; wells and hand pumps for running water, and outhouses for the rest. The island had no doctor, dentist or undertaker, and women served as midwives, Eliza Respess for the White population, and William Smith’s wife Dolly for the Black.  There were two post offices, and two telephones. Some fishing boats were motorized, but few people owned cars, and, beginning in 1888, a hand-pulled cable ferry took people to the mainland. Steamships from Norfolk and Baltimore visited twice a week to deliver supplies and take fish and oysters to market.

Many men worked as pound-net fishermen for White captains in integrated crews of six to eight people. The men emptied the pound nets using small boats. This could be very dangerous work when the weather was bad. A high level of cooperation was required.

Broader signs of prosperity on the part of both Black and White communities abound. Several Black fishermen purchased their own boats, oyster planting grounds, oyster tonger licenses, and rented oyster grounds. Between 1910 and 1915 White islanders raised money for a new Baptist Church, began construction on more than 15 new homes, and raised funds to purchase the Odd Fellows Lodge to replace a school that blew down. Five seafood packing plants operated on the Island. Most families, White and Black, owned their homes, many free and clear.

However, racial tensions increased throughout the state when Virginia enacted a new constitution in 1902, legalizing the segregation of schools and housing, and instituting a poll tax and literacy requirements for voting. To illustrate the impact of the poll tax, 85 Black men registered to vote in the Piankatank district that included Gwynn’s Island in 1867 (and 196 White men.) In 1902 only William Smith and Parker Hayes could pay the poll tax required. Also, Mathews County unveiled a Confederate monument on the courthouse square with great fanfare in 1912. Mainland residents opened an all-White housing development, and renamed the high school for Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in 1915.

Mathews “didn’t have signs up. Colored people knew it before they went down there,” explained Peter Allen, a Black mainland resident born in 1902 who spent most of his life in Mathews. “You could go in a store ‘cause you wanted to buy something. But you couldn’t eat in no drugstore, not no colored person.” Black people knew the rules, and, if they followed them, there was little trouble.

However, relations were more tense on the island, according to Allen. “I don’t know what started the trouble,” he said. But “they didn’t want no Coloreds on there…. I reckon they got tired of fussin’ and fightin’ all the time.”

The Fight at the Store

Most people point to a fight at the Hudgins-Mitchem general store on Christmas Eve of 1915 as the last straw. Island amateur historian John Dixon tells the story of the fight in The Black Americans of Gwynn’s Island, 1600s through 1900s, the official word on the subject, based on interviews with long-time Black and White Mathews’ residents in the late 1990s. In addition, an unpublished history Dixon included in his notes, adds some interesting details. Written in the 1980s by Thelma Edwards Gay (1910-1992), and Gazelle “Tootie” Hudgins Moore (1909-2006), they quote several White bystanders in their one-page account.

On Christmas Eve of 1915, watermen were home for the holiday, and the Hudgins-Mitchem store was crowded. Home-brewed corn whiskey was being consumed freely. Dixon says “a Black man [James Smith] who was intoxicated and had the reputation of a troublemaker” insulted a White customer. A “young White man, known for his impertinence, verbally attacked the Black offender…[and] a fight ensued with soda pop bottles being used as weapons.” James Smith was William Smith’s son.

Outnumbered, James fled the store, chased by several White men. The fight “ended in a free for all outside the store and almost every man on the Island was involved,” according to Gay and Moore. When James sought refuge in another store, according to Dixon, the White owner, H.F. Grimstead, sent him upstairs to hide, and then “trained his gun on the pursuers, telling them that an arrest would be the sheriff’s job.” Grimstead averted more bloodshed or a lynching, although that word is never used.

Mrs. Peachie Forrest, the only eyewitness quoted by name in the Moore and Gay account, said that James’ arrest wreaked havoc in the community. She was “scared to death…. some (Blacks) might have left the island right then but I took my baby and went upstairs [to hide.]”

James and his father, William, were both arrested, but William was released quickly according to the Court’s records. A doctor also visited one or both while they were in jail.

James’ father, William, raised the money for the $35 fine by mortgaging his eight acres, raising $92 on March 3rd, enabling James, after serving his jail time, to move his wife and four children to Norfolk.

James rented a home, and found work as a coal loader, first on the docks and then at a lumber mill. Almost overnight, he went from landowner to renter; from boss to employee, from farming to loading coal. When James and Ida’s 26-year-old daughter died in childbirth, he took in her two young daughters. By 1934, he was dead of a stroke at 66, and Ida of complications from diabetes four years later at age 61.

The Author’s Beliefs

James Smith was an unlikely “intoxicated troublemaker.” As the 48-year-old scion of the Smith family, he owned and operated his own farm, was the father of eight children (born between 1888 and 1909,) and his wife, Ida, taught school. In his picture on page 1, posted by one of his descendants on Ancestry, Smith is dressed in a three-piece suit with a bow tie, holding a bowler hat, a watch chain attached to a button above his vest pocket. His hair and moustache are neatly trimmed.

Drunk or not, it would be astounding for a Black man to start a fight with a White man, especially on a small rural island with 800 inhabitants. A Black man would know to tread carefully if he walked into a store where men were drinking. Especially on Christmas Eve.

More Facts About the Court Case

The Mathews Journal offers a few details on the trial that took place on January 20, 1916: “Considering the extremely cold weather a large crowd was on hand Monday when court convened. A special Grand Jury was called and indicted Jim Smith, Colored, for maliciously cutting and maliciously wounding two Gwynn’s Island men on Christmas Eve….Smith was fined $20 and given a 30-day jail sentence under the first indictment and a $15 fine under the second…. A large crowd from Gwynn’s Island was in attendance both days.” James’ accusers were not named.

The Common Law Orders book fills out the details a bit more. (A transcript is included with this summary.) The Court Clerk summarizes the details of “Commonwealth versus James Smith on Indictment for Felony” in careful handwriting. The names of the complainants are not mentioned, as the accuser is the Commonwealth, but the record includes the names of the defense attorney (W. D. Evans), Commonwealth attorney J. Boyd Sears, Judge Claggett B. Jones, and the jurors summoned (all from the mainland) and those selected for the jury. Smith pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer moved to have the charges “quashed.” The Judge overruled the motion.

Court records are routinely divided between the summaries of the case in the main file, and backup paperwork in the court’s “dead papers” files. The file marked “Dead Papers January Term 1916” contains the original complaints, subpoenas for witnesses and jurors, and notes of the Judge’s jury instructions.

The official complaints against James Smith were typed with boilerplate language—only a few words vary. Both complainants, Eddie Diggs and Clarence Carney, claimed that, “James Smith on the 24^th day of December, in said County, did unlawfully, maliciously, and feloniously” “stab and cut the said Eddie Diggs,” or “wound Clarence Carney,” “with intent to maim, disfigure, disable and kill.” One can surmise that Eddie was hurt more gravely than Clarence, and Smith received jail time for this assault. Both men were independent trot-line crabbers, aged 20 and 21 years old respectively.

Eddie and Clarence summoned seven White witnesses, including many familiar names of Island families such as Respess, Powell, Edwards, and Brownley. Like Eddie and Clarence, most were young adults, unmarried, living at home, working as fishermen for their fathers—the “impertinent young men” of the Dixon narrative perhaps. Some lived on mortgaged farms. They are all literate, but the range of schooling spans from sixth to ninth grade. Three other witnesses were married men in their 30s, landowners and independent fishermen. They were all neighbors of James Smith—B.F. Powell, Emmett Edwards, and Powell’s brother Lewis. Emmett’s father had sold land to five Black families ten years earlier.

Five witnesses testified in defense of James Smith, three Black and two White. In addition to Smith’s wife, the Black witnesses included Arthur Respess (Smith’s brother-in-law,) and Luther Jackson, another farmer on the Island. The White witnesses included the shopkeeper who defended Smith from the mob, H.F. Grimstead, and Bud Diggs, a 21-year-old unmarried fisherman, and Eddie Diggs’ cousin. Bud’s father had sold land to Luther Jackson’s father in 1906.

A note that appears to be written by the Judge casts the Christmas Eve bar fight in a slightly different light. Judge Jones explains that James Smith did not provoke the fight; he was trying to stop a fight between his brother-in-law, Arthur Respess, and two White men, Bud Diggs and Broadus Brown. (Bud’s defense of Smith makes sense now; 40-year-old Brown did not testify for either side; Respess testified for Smith.) The Judge urged the jury to find Smith not guilty if they believed he acted in self-defense. Then, when they still found him guilty, he imposed a relatively light sentence for both charges.

After reading these records, James’ great-granddaughter wrote to me, “I want the narrative of who my great-grandfather was to be different. He wasn’t a ne’er do well drunken fighter who just decided to do what he wanted. This was a man who cared about his family.”

Oral Histories from Black and White Descendants

The Christmas Eve fight was a turning point in relationships between Black and White Gwynn’s Islanders. Did a loss of trust lead to White pound-net fishermen no longer hiring Black men on their crews? Or was more violence threatened?

There are four anecdotal accounts by descendants, one White and three Black, that speak of additional violence threatened against the Black community after Smith was released from jail. These reports are difficult to “prove,” but when the same story is told by multiple sources, that feels like proof to us.

This story was told to the great-grandson of “Daddy Jim,” James A. Rowe, by “Poppa,” his grandfather, R. Otis Foster, and subsequently posted to a Mathews blog in 2009. Rowe was a 37-year-old fisherman and landowner on Gwynn’s Island. According to the story passed down to the great-grandson, Daddy Jim claimed that “while the Black man was in jail, some Whites on the island started talking about lynching him. The whole thing snowballed, and within a short time a lot of Blacks on the island were threatened.…” The threat of violence, especially on a tiny Island, would be enough to spark an exodus. The great-grandson continues, “At some point, Daddy Jim gathered a group of blacks at a church to discuss the situation…. they decided that the safest thing to do was to leave the island; and, that night, Daddy Jim and my great-grandfather [unnamed] shuttled several boatloads of Black folks, with all the belongings they could carry, from Edwards Creek to Cricket Hill. The wrongly accused Black man, however, was still missing. My great-grandfather eventually found him hiding in the church attic. Poppa said his father[-in-law] had a hard time convincing the man to come with him; he feared that he was being led into a trap. But the Black man finally left the church, got on the boat and was taken to the mainland.” Rowe subsequently purchased Black properties adjacent to his existing land in 1916 and 1939.

A second descendant story is part of the oral history of the Perley family, Black landowners and farmers in the Rose Lane area. According to a granddaughter of Thomas J. Perley, “Papa’s” life was threatened by some White men. Another White man helped him escape the Island by boat in the middle of the night. He left his family behind on the island, and went to Poquoson at first. Once he purchased land or got set up in Dare, he had someone bring his family over. Perley’s property on the island did not sell until 1939, possibly this sale took place sooner but was not recorded until that year.

A third descendant of the Jackson family reports that her grandfather, a child at the time, always said the KKK drove his family off the Island. And a four oral history by a descendant of Black family just over the bridge from Gwynn’s Island was told that the Klan was burning fires in the woods to drive the Black islanders off the Island.

Land Sales

The Black-owned land appears to have been legally sold between 1916 and 1925, with three exceptions (two properties, Perley and Gayle, were recorded sold in 1939 when property records were being cleaned up with the opening of the new bridge, and a third, Frazier, was seized for unpaid taxes in 1983.) the Perley family remembers that their ancestor refused to sell his land and it was pretty much taken from him. Most of the deeds were signed by Black men and women from their new homes in the Hampton Roads area.

Land, always in short supply on an island, may have been at the core of the dispute. Men lived at home until they married, and sometimes until they had children: the two complainants, and four of the witnesses, were single and living at home. The Rose Lane land was sold to laborers and fishing crews who were just starting out. For example, George Pierson, a farm laborer, was living with his in-laws on the mainland in 1920, until he purchased one acre from Andrew Smith for $275 (which he immediately mortgaged for $150.) Pierson subsequently purchased the Perley land in 1939.

In Gwynn, White landowners purchased the land of their Black neighbors, beginning with William Smith. On March 21, just over a month after James’ flight from the Island, his father sold James’ three-acre farm for $500 to Ben Powell, a 38-year-old fisherman living nearby, and the first witness named in the Carney complaint. The speed of this sale suggests the Smiths might have been under pressure to sell to Powell for some time, and raise questions about his role in the fight. William Smith had already raised $92 to pay his son’s fines (through a mortgage with W. Eugene Callis of all eight acres of his land on March 3,) and the $500 he received from Powell far exceeded the $35 required by the Court. William paid off an outstanding mortgage of $200 on March 31, presumably with the proceeds of the Powell sale.

On April 8, William sold four acres for $550 to James Mitchem, a 24-year-old White pound-net fisherman, enabling his family of four to move out of his father’s home. Mitchem’s much-older brother of one of the owners of the Hudgins Mitchem store. Lastly, Smith transferred his property just west of the Black church to his youngest daughter and her husband, Ida and Joseph Johnson, for a nominal for $40. (They were likely already living and working that property.)

By 1922, with three exceptions, all Black-owned land had been sold to White fishermen, merchants and farmers. In the Gwynn area, land was purchased by neighbors, descendants of whom still live in the area today. In the Rose Lane area, land was purchased by the younger sons of Islanders and newcomers who sought a foothold on the island after working there for some time. Most of the deeds were signed from the Hampton Roads area, indicating that Black families moved first, and sold their land later.

A contributing factor to the exodus of the Black fishermen could have been a loss of trust. The crew on a pound-net fishing boat worked together closely in uncertain conditions. Racial tensions would endanger the lives of all.

In October of 1924, the Richmond Times headlined a Sunday feature on Gwynn’s Island “White Man’s Paradise Nestles in Virginia Bay.” Islanders adopted this slogan for themselves when the swing bridge connecting Gwynn’s Island with the mainland opened in 1939.

Reflections by Maria Sharp Montgomery, James H. Smith’s great-granddaughter

“When Allison explained her findings to another descendant of James Smith, now in his 40s, he said, ‘I can only imagine the shape my life would have taken if I had known this history years ago. I thought that all I inherited from my ancestors was anger. Now I know they tried their best.’

“The narrative is so faulty. It changes what your narrative is for your life today. It changes how you feel about yourself and about your children if you think your great-grandfather was a drunk troublemaker who caused the family’s exile.

“One person said to me at work, ‘It’s over. Why do you care?’ And the person who asks me this loves me like I’m a big sister. The answer is because you can’t act like it didn’t happen. You must act like it happened and try to address it and not be afraid of it.

“I think I probably scared a few people when I first went to Gwynn’s Island and just started asking questions. I didn’t consider that her family might have some skin in this game.

“We [African Americans] aren’t all going to be angry. I hate the fact that slavery happened. I understand what it was. But I don’t let that cloud my relationships now.

“I don’t want people to be afraid to share the truth. I want the truth to be told. I want the truth of who my great grandfather was to be different. He was not a ne’er-do-well drunken fighter who just decided to do what he wanted. This was a man who cared about his family, his wife, his children. He went back to work. He continued to help his children. My grandfather Walter went from working as a machinist to owning his own garage. The family kept pressing to have a good life. We all keep pressing to have a good life.”

Following is a complete transcript of the records found in Common Law Order Book No. 4 (pp 629-635,) in the Mathews County Clerk’s Office for the Trial of James Smith, a Black citizen of Gwynn’s Island convicted by trial for a felony January 17^th – 20^th, 1916. All records were handwritten by the newly-elected Court Clerk, William B. Smith.

[This is a description of the convening of the special grand jury to approve the indictment on January 17, 1916, p 629] The following is a list of names of persons taken from the bystanders and furnished the Sheriff of Matthews County by the Court to be summoned to serve as a special grand jury at this the January term of the Circuit Court for the County of Matthews. E.M. Blake, W.B. Brooks, W.R. Billups, Augustin Diggs, Thos. Stone and W.T. Williams.

And E.M. Blake being designated as Foreman was sworn a grand jury (special) of inquest for the body of this County, and having received their charge withdrew and after sometime returned into court and presented.

An indictment against James Smith for a felony.

A true bill: E.M. Blake, Foreman.

An indictment against James Smith for a felony.

A true bill: E.M. Blake Foreman

The Case of The Commonwealth vs James Smith, on an Indictment for Felony (p. 630)

This day came the Commonwealth by J. Boyd Sears Esq, Commonwealth Attorney, W.D. Evans Esq, Attorney representing the accused, and James Smith. The accused was lead to the bar in custody of The Sheriff of the court, who being arraigned, plead not guilty, and W.D. Evans, attorney for the accused, moved the Court to quash the indictment and the venire facias summoned, without assigning any reason therefor which motion was overruled by the Court, and then came the following named persons summoned by the Sheriff of Mathews County from the list of veniremen furnished him by the Clerk of this Court, viz: Rodney L. Brooks, Luther A. Borum, Gaius Diggs, A.R. Diggs, Lloyd J. Diggs, Wm. S. Knight, Ernest A. Lilley, Arthur Small, Joel C. Thomas, Fred G. Boyd, Geo. C. Diggs, Walter G. Jones, Jr., Wilbur A. Mason, Thos. J. Sibley, Thos. F. Walden, and Geo. Greiner, who were named by the Court and found free of legal exceptions and qualified to serve as jurors according to law, (having been sworn in on their voir dire) and a list of the venire facias being handed the accused, as the manner is, he [Smith] struck from the panel the names of Gaius Diggs, A.R. Diggs, Lloyd J. Diggs and Geo. G. Diggs, leaving the remaining twelve jurors, for the trial of the accused, Rodney L. Brooks, Luther J. Borum, Wm S. Knight, Ernest S. Lilly, Arthur Small, Joel G. Thomas, Fred G. Boyd, Walter G. Jones Jr, Wilbur A. Mason, Thos. J. Sibley, Thos. F. Walden and Geo. S. Greiner, and the said jurors being sworn to well and truly try, and with true deliverance, make between the Commonwealth and James Smith, the prisoner of the bar whom they should have in charge, and a true verdict given according to the evidence , and having fully heard the evidence were adjourned until to-morrow morning at 10 o’clock. And the accused is remanded to jail.    

Ordered that the Court be adjourned until tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock

                                                                        Claggett B. Jones

Page 631:

At a Circuit Court continued and held for the County of Mathews at the Court House thereof on Tuesday the 18^th day of January, 1916.

Present: Honorable Claggett B Jones, Judge.

The Commonwealth vs James Smith on Indictment for Felony.

This day again came the parties, and the prisoner was again placed at the bar of this Court by the Sheriff of this County, and also came the jury who were on yesterday sworn to try the accused and having heard argument of council were sent out of court to consider their verdict in these words.

“We the jury find the accused guilty of assault and battery as charged in the within indictment and fix his punishment at $20.00 fine and 30 days in jail.” 

Thos. E. Walden, Foreman

It is therefore considered by the Court that the Commonwealth recover of the said James Smith the sum of twenty dollars ($20.00) the fine by the Jury assessed and that he be confined the County Jail for the term of 30 days, according to the verdict of the Jury aforesaid.  

The Case of The Commonwealth vs James Smith, on an Indictment for Felony (2)

This day came the Commonwealth by J. Boyd Sears Esq, Commonwealth Attorney, W.D. Evans Esq, Attorney representing the accused, and James Smith. The accused was lead to the bar in custody of The Sheriff of the court, who being arraigned, plead not guilty, and W.D. Evans, attorney for the accused, demurred to the indictment and moved the Court to quash the venire facias summoned on a peca of former conviction——————-which demurrer and motion to quash were overruled by the Court, and then came the following named persons summoned by the Sheriff of Mathews County from the list of veniremen furnished him by the Clerk of this Court: viz Rodney L. Brooks, Luther A. Borum, Gaius Diggs, A.R. Diggs,  Lloyd J. Diggs, Wm S. Knight, Ernest A. Lilley, Arthur Small, Joel C. Thomas, Fred G Boyd, George C. Diggs, Walter G. Jones, Jr., Wilbur A. Mason, Thos. J. Sibley, Thos. F. Walden, and Geo. Greiner, who were examined by the Court and found free of legal exceptions and qualified to serve as jurors according to law. (having been sworn in on their voir dire) and a list of the venire facias being handed the accused,  as the manner is, he [Smith] struck from the panel the names of Gaius Diggs, A.R. Diggs, Lloyd J. Diggs and Geo. G. Diggs, leaving the remaining twelve jurors, for the trial of the accused, Rodney L. Brooks, Luther J Borum, Wm S. Knight, Ernest S. Lilly, Arthur Small, Joel G. Thomas, Fred G. Boyd, Walter G. Jones Jr, Wilbur A. Mason, Thos. J. Sibley, Thos. F. Walden and Geo. S. Greiner, and the said jurors being sworn to well and truly try, and with true deliverance, make between the Commonwealth and James Smith, the prisoner of the bar whom they should have in charge, and a true verdict given according to the evidence and argument of counsel were sent to this room to consider of their verdict, and after some time returned into Court with a verdict in the following words:

“We the jury find the accused guilty of assault and battery as charged in the within indictment and fix his punishment at a fine of Fifteen Dollars ($15.00).”

                                                            Thos. Walden, Foreman

It is therefore considered by the Court that the Commonwealth recover of the defendant, the said James Smith, the sum of $15.00 the fine by the jury assessed.

Record of Payments Presented to Court for Approval — pp. 633-634, with other trials intervening

[For Jurors]  The Court doth certify that Rodney L. Brooks is entitled to be paid the sum of $7.50, Luther A. Borum $6.90, Gaius Diggs $3.80, A.R. Diggs $4.00, Lloyd J. Diggs $3.80, Wm. S. Knight $5.50, Ernest S. Lilly $5.50, Arthur Small $5.40, Joel C. Thomas $7.50, Fred G. Boyd,$6.90, Geo. C. Diggs $4.00, Walter G. Jones Jr. $6.60, Wilbur A. Mason $6.00, Thos. J. Sibley $6.50, Thos. F. Walden $4.45 and Geo. S Greiner $4.80, which several amounts were sworn to by the parties for their attendance and mileage as jurors for the time of Commonwealth cases, examined by the Court and ordered to be certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment.

J. Boyd Sears, Attorney for the Commonwealth, this day presented an account against the Commonwealth amounting to $20.00 for prosecuting James Smith for a felony on two indictments the set account being sworn to buy the said J. Boyd Sears, examined by the Court and found correct is ordered to be certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment.

A.E. Thurston, Sheriff this day presented an account against the Commonwealth amounting to $2.55, for summoning 17 witnesses in misdemeanor cases, also an account amounting to $7.40 for summoning 12 witnesses in felony cases and for executing a writ venire facia at this term, both of which accounts were sworn to by the said A.E. Thurston, examined by the Court and found to be correct and order to be certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment.

W.B. Smith, Clerk this day presented an account against the Commonwealth amounting to $5.00 for services in trial of Commonwealth vs. James Smith for felony which account things were sworn to by the said W.B. Smith, examined by the Court and found correct is ordered to be certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment.

Jno. E. Miller, Ex Sheriff of Mathews County this day presented an account against the Commonwealth amounting to $2.00 for arresting Jas. Smith accused of a felony and summoning 5 witnesses before Magistrate which account being sworn to by said Ex Sheriff, examined by the Court and found correct is ordered certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment. [Miller was Sheriff through December 31, 1915, and Thurston began his term on January 1, 1916]

[Payments to Witnesses] The Court does certify that Jas. Brown is entitled to receive the sum of $1.00, Emmet Edwards $1.00, Benj. Powell $1.00, Lewis Powell $1.00, Warren Brownley $1.00, Willard Respess $1.20, Arthur Respess $1.00, Luther Jackson $1.00, Bud Diggs $1.00, H.F. Grimstead $1.00, Ida Smith $1.00, Dr. D.F. Brown $1.00, [the following names relate to other trials] M.L. Benton $1.50, Jas. Lewis $1.00, I.T. Hudgins $1.50, Jno. A. Bohannon $1.50, Walter R. Diggs $1.50, Roland Downs $.50, William Thompson $1.00, JT Christian one $.50, WH Gayle $1.50, Howard Fleet $1.50, Andrew Davis $1.50, Captain Ed Forrest $.50, Capt Dallas James $1.50, R.D. Hunley $1.50, Fred Smith $1.50, Jas. R Lewis $1.50, Luther Miles $1.50, L.M. Travers $1.50 for their attendance upon the Court at this the January term 1916 as witnesses in trials of felony and misdemeanor cases which several amounts are ordered to be certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment.

Some intervening cases, Smith references continue on p. 635:

At a Circuit Court continued and held for the County of Mathews at the Court House thereof on Thursday the 20^th of January, 1916.

                                                Present: Hon. Claggett B. Jones, Judge

Jno. E. Miller, Ex Sheriff, this day presented an account against the Commonwealth amounting to $4.50 for board and committal of Wm. Smith and for board and committal of James Smith prisoners convicted of felonies the second accused amounting to $8.00 both of which accounts were sworn to by the said Jno. E. Miller, Sheriff, examined by the Court, found correct and ordered certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment.

Dr. A.G. Vaden this day presented an account against the Commonwealth amounting to $3.75 for visits to prisoners confined in jail, which account being sworn to by the said Dr. A.G. Vaden, examined by the Court and found correct is ordered certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment. [The timing of this submission for payment after Miller’s suggests Dr. Vaden attended William and/or James Smith in December 1915.]

Wm. H. Miller, J.P., this day presented an account against the Commonwealth amounting to $2.00 for issuing and trying warrants against James Smith for felonies which accounts were sworn to by the said Wm. H. Miller, examined by the Court and found correct is ordered certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts for payment.

Paperwork and underlying documentation found in the Court’s Dead Papers File, January 1916, Mathews County Clerk’s Office (the original order of these papers is unknown.)

1. Complaint filed by Eddie Diggs, dated December 29, 1915. (typed)

“Commonwealth of Virginia, Mathews Co. to wit:–

To John E. Miller, Sheriff of said County.

Whereas, Eddie Diggs has this day made complaint and information on oath before me W. H. Miller, a Justice of the Peace of the said County, that James Smith on the 24^th day of December 1915, in said County, did unlawfully, maliciously, and feloniously stab and cut the said Eddie Diggs, with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable and kill him the said Eddie Diggs.

These are therefore, in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to command you forthwith to apprehend the said James Smith and bring him before me or some other Justice of the said County to answer the said complaint and be further dealt with according to law.” (No list of witnesses.)

Upon the evidence of Eddie Diggs witness sworn in open court and sent to the grand jury to give evidence.

Given under my hand and seal this day 29^th of December, 1915

Wm H. Miller, JP (seal)

Typed on the trifold of the complaint:

Commonwealth of Va.

vs.

James Smith.

Indictment for a Felony

A true bill.

E.M. Blake

Foreman.

Handwritten on the trifold below the above:

We the jury find the accused guilty of assault and battery as charged in the writ and fix his Punishment at $20.00 fine and 30-days in jail

Thos. F. Walden

Foreman

2. Complaint filed by Clarence Carney, dated December 29, 1916. (typed)

“Commonwealth of Virginia, Mathews Co. to wit:–

To John E. Miller, Sheriff of said County.

Whereas, Clarence Carney has this day made complaint and information on oath before me W. H. Miller, a Justice of the Peace of the said County, that James Smith on the 24^th day of December 1915, in said County, did unlawfully, maliciously, and feloniously wound Clarence Carney, with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable and kill him the said Clarence Carney.

    These are therefore, in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to command you forthwith to apprehend the said James Smith and bring him before me or some other Justice of the said County to answer the said complaint and be further dealt with according to law. And you are moreover required to summon Ben Powell; James C. Diggs; R. N. Godsey; James Brown: Eddie Diggs; Warren Brownley and Willard Respess to appear at the same time and place to testify as witnesses on behalf of the Commonwealth touching the matter of the said complaint.

             Given under my hand and seal this 29^th day of December 1915.

                                                                  Wm H Miller JP (SEAL) signed”

Typed on the trifold of the complaint:

Commonwealth of Va.

vs.

James Smith.

Indictment for a Felony

A true bill.

E.M. Blake

Foreman.

Handwritten on the trifold below the above:

We the jury find the accused guilty of assault and battery as charged in the writ and fix his Punishment at $15.00 fine

Thos. F. Walden

Foreman

3. Text written on the trifold of a second Carney complaint:

Commonwealth of Va.

vs.

James Smith

Warrant for a Felony

(in handwriting)

Executed by arresting

James Smith & loking [sic]

him before WH Miller JP.       

Jno E. Miller

Sheriff

Dec 29-1915

Case heard &

Sent on to next

Grand Jury court.

W.H. Miller JP

Executed Dec 29-1915

By arresting James

Smith & loking [sic] him

Before WH Miller

JP

Jno E. Miller

Sheriff

 4. A Subpoena for Witnesses for Plaintiffs (typed)

Subpoena issued January 8, 1916, asking the following individuals to appear on January 17th at the Courthouse: James Brown, Emmett Edwards, Benj. Powell, Lewis Powell, Dr. D.F. Brown, Warren Brownley, Willard Respess.

5. A Subpoena for Defense Witnesses (handwritten)

Subpoena issued January 8, 1916, asking the following individuals to appear January 17^th: Arthur Respess, Luther Jackson, Bud Diggs, HF Grimstead, and Ida Smith.

6. List of veniremen [for jury] dated January 6^th, 1916: Rodney L. Brooks, Luther A. Borum, Gaius Diggs, A.R. Diggs, Lloyd J. Diggs, Wm S. Knight, Ernest A. Lilley, Arthur Small, Joel C. Thomas, Fred G Boyd, George C. Diggs, Walter G. Jones, Jr., Wilbur A. Mason, Thos. J. Sibley, Thos. F. Walden, and Geo. Greiner

7. Judge’s notes:

“The Court instructs the jury that if they believe from the evidence [that] James Smith approached Bud Diggs and Broaddus Brown whilst they were fighting with Art Respess – and for its purpose of stopping the fuss or attack which was being made on Art Respess – and while so engaged was attacked by Eddie Diggs & others he had a right to defend himself and if in so doing the jury believes he used no more force than was necessary or would have been resorted to by any other reasonable man in a like position then they must find the defendant not guilty,” handwritten note on a legal-sized piece of paper, in pencil, with no attribution, presumably by Judge Claggett B. Jones.