[Granville-Hough] 15 Sep 2009 - Uncle George and Aunt Loney Roberts

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:48:23 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Uncle George and Aunt Loney Roberts - 15 Sep 2009

Uncle George and Aunt Loney - Not always Unhappy
    I cannot recall meeting any of this family except Great-Uncle George 
Roberts.  He had married Grandma Mary (Arender) Richardson's younger 
sister, Lona Jane Arender, tenth child and third daughter of Great 
Grandpa Sampson and Nancy (Bowen) Arender.  They had a stormy 
relationship as Uncle George was prone to drinking, carousing, boastful 
talking, and probably petty crime.  They separated periodically and only 
got together enough to have eleven children.  Finally, the older 
children, who were doing the farm work and supporting their siblings, 
were fed up and ran him off for good.  Uncle
George then became a wanderer, seeking food and shelter from former old 
neighbors and relatives.  He loved to tell stories of hidden wealth and 
of his own past glorious deeds and successes.  I vaguely recall that he 
spent a night or two with us, and more time with Grandpa and Grandma 
Richardson.  He was about sixty years old at that time, very unhealthy, 
with bad habits.  He could do no useful farm work so he was not worth 
food and keep.  (During periods of heavy work, my father would give 
shelter to any old tramp who could and would work for food and a place 
to sleep.  Uncle George did not fit in, and was soon sent on his way.)
    In the depth of the Depression, Uncle George found an overnight 
refuge with a poor tenant farmer about two and one-half miles north of 
Magee.  After charming this ignorant fellow and his wife with his 
stories of former wealth and daring-do, he was given a place to sleep 
and was soon snoring away.  Uncle George had convinced the man and his 
wife that he was carrying money with him.  The man, or his wife, decided 
to kill and rob him.  The man went out and got his lite'ard 
(lighterwood) axe, came back in and quickly knocked Uncle George in the 
head until he was dead, dead, dead.  They then searched all his clothes  
and whatever else he had and found nothing of value.  They then had to 
dispose of the body.  He and his wife crammed Uncle George into the 
largest washtub they  had and took  or dragged  the tub to the nearby 
sandy branch of Okatomy Creek.   They dug down in the sand until they 
reached hard earth and dumped Uncle George in the hole.  They covered 
him up with the sand, and the little stream soon covered all evidence of 
anything unusual.  The man and his wife then went on their way, 
forgetting the evidence of the dragged washtub, but confident they had 
covered up their deed.
    One thing they did not know was that decomposing bodies generate 
gases which make them buoyant in water.  In a few days, Uncle George's 
body had worked it way through the water saturated sand up to the 
surface,  and the buzzards soon discovered the body and focused in the 
sky toward that point in the stream.  (Now, one of the rules in the 
country was to go check what any buzzards had found.  Usually, it was 
the carcass of some domestic or wild animal which had died a natural 
death.  If a domestic animal, and you could identify the owner, you 
notified that person to either remove the body or bury it safely.  If a 
wild animal, the owner of the land was responsible.  If the carcass was 
human, the place was guarded until the sheriff or nearest law officer 
could be summoned to investigate and take proper legal action.)  Soon 
they could identify the body as human, and could see a dragging trail 
leading back to the killer's house.  They found evidence of Uncle 
George's identity in some way, and the man or his wife soon confessed.  
Probably the wife turned state's evidence, and the man was sent to state 
prison.  The trial was held in Simpson County, and our whole family 
(Houghs, Richardsons, Arenders, etc) followed it closely.  I heard the 
case discussed until I absorbed all the gory details.
    Then, some time later after I started to Magee High School in 1937.  
I learned a lawyer in Magee was circulating a petition which the 
teachers, townspeople, and even some students were signing to get the 
killer out of prison so he could "feed and take care of his children."  
Many of the students from north of Magee knew the family and the 
children as charity cases.  I did not think a few years in prison were 
justice for such a grisly killing, so I told the story of Uncle George's 
murder, over and over, to teachers, and other students, and to anyone 
else who asked.  It seemed at the time that I was the only one who knew 
the details.  I was 15 years old, and perhaps no one believed me.  The 
man was eventually released, but I do believe it was a later effort.
     Over fifty years later, I was contacted by one of Uncle George and 
Aunt Loney's Roberts grandchildren, who was a successful engineer, I 
believe, who had met my younger brother, Roland Hough, while working at 
Stennis Space Center in Southern Mississippi.  Being younger, Roland had 
only heard vaguely about Uncle George, and suggested that I might know 
more details.  I then had an email correspondence with this second 
cousin, in which he was able to give me all the dates and names involved 
with the murder and trial.  I told him what I could recall from the 
family discussions at the time and of my own feelings and actions in the 
first release effort for the killer.  We corresponded for some time, and 
he became a regular attendee at the Arender Re-union held in October of 
each year.  I upgraded my computer a bit later, and I lost that 
correspondence; or at least I cannot find it by any title I have tried.
     Most Arender stories have some elements of humor someplace, but 
they are hard to find in this one.  Grampa Hough

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Just in case you are asked about the Higher Power, as learned today:  A 
Sunday School teacher said to her children, "We have been learning how 
powerful kings and queens were in Bible times.  But there is a Higher 
Power.  Can anybody tell me what is is?"  One child immediately said "Aces!"