Unsolved case · 1922
Also known as murder of John Glover · killing of John Glover
The short answer
John "Cockey" Glover, a 35-year-old Black man, was seized by a mob of roughly 300 white men and lynched near Holton in Bibb County, Georgia, on August 2, 1922, days after he shot and killed a deputy sheriff in self-defense during a scuffle at a Macon pool hall.
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Suggest coverage for Lynching of John GloverJohn "Cockey" Glover was a 35-year-old African-American man lynched in Holton, Bibb County, Georgia, by a mob of approximately 300 white men on August 2, 1922. His death was recorded as the 43rd of 61 documented lynchings in the United States that year.
The events leading to his death began on July 29, 1922, just after 6:00 p.m., when Deputy Sheriff Walter C. Byrd entered Hatfield's Pool Hall on Hollywood Avenue in Macon. The pool hall was owned by Charles Henry Douglass, described as the wealthiest Black man in Macon. Byrd, who had previously worked at the local prison before being transferred to the Sheriff's department due to brutality toward inmates, had developed a reputation for racial brutality. A scuffle broke out inside the pool hall, and Glover, claiming self-defense, shot and killed Byrd. Another deputy present, Romas Raley, shot and killed George Marshall and mortally wounded Samuel Brooks, two Black men who were playing pool at the time and were not otherwise connected to the altercation.
Glover fled the scene. Police responded by stopping all trains in the area and issuing a bulletin offering a $300 reward (equivalent to roughly $5,800 in 2025) for his capture, describing him by physical appearance and clothing. The following day, Macon police conducted door-to-door warrantless searches in the majority-Black neighborhoods of Pleasant Hill, Tindall Field, Unionville, and other areas of the city.
Glover was ultimately arrested by police officers T.F. Phelps and Jim Huckabee in Griffin, Georgia, as he attempted to flee by train toward Chicago. News of the arrest reached Macon, and a mob of about 300 white people traveled to Griffin. Police attempted to transport Glover back to Macon secretly, but the convoy was intercepted by the mob on the road approximately 2 miles from Holton in Bibb County.
Glover was tied to a tree, shot repeatedly, and set on fire. Members of the mob then took his mutilated body and paraded it through Black neighborhoods of Macon, attempting to display it at C.H. Douglass's theatre. Police eventually took custody of the body but left it on the curb outside the theatre rather than removing it entirely. Thousands of Macon residents came to view the body, and some reportedly fought over souvenirs taken from the corpse.
Glover's case is among those commemorated at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 26, 2018, and displays hanging steel monuments representing U.S. counties where documented lynchings occurred, including Macon–Bibb County.
Deputy Sheriff Walter C. Byrd entered Hatfield's Pool Hall in Macon; a scuffle broke out and John Glover, claiming self-defense, shot and killed Byrd. Deputy Romas Raley shot and killed George Marshall and mortally wounded Samuel Brooks, two Black men playing pool at the scene.
Macon police began door-to-door warrantless searches of Black neighborhoods including Pleasant Hill, Tindall Field, and Unionville while searching for Glover.
Glover was arrested by police in Griffin, Georgia, while attempting to flee to Chicago by train; a mob of about 300 white people intercepted police transporting him back to Macon near Holton, Bibb County, and lynched him by tying him to a tree, shooting him, and setting him on fire.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened in Montgomery, Alabama, commemorating documented lynchings including that of John Glover in Macon–Bibb County.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Black man shot and killed by Deputy Romas Raley while playing pool at Hatfield's Pool Hall during the scuffle in which Walter C. Byrd was killed.[4]
35-year-old African-American man lynched by a mob of approximately 300 white men on August 2, 1922, near Holton, Bibb County, Georgia, after shooting Deputy Sheriff Walter C. Byrd in self-defense.[4]
Black man mortally wounded by Deputy Romas Raley while playing pool at Hatfield's Pool Hall during the scuffle in which Walter C. Byrd was killed.[4]
Deputy Sheriff known for brutality toward inmates and racial brutality, shot and killed by John Glover in a scuffle at Hatfield's Pool Hall on July 29, 1922.[4]
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SOLVEDListenMacon, Georgia, United States · 2000s
Lauren Giddings, a recent Mercer University School of Law graduate studying for the bar exam, was strangled and dismembered in Macon, Georgia, in June 2011 by her neighbor and former classmate Stephen Mark McDaniel, who pleaded guilty in 2014.
Credit: Unknown authorPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenBibb County, near Macon, Georgia · 1880s
On August 6, 1887, nine members of the Woolfolk family were killed with an axe at their farmhouse near Macon, Georgia. Thomas G. "Tom" Woolfolk, the son and stepson of two victims, was convicted of murdering his father after three trials and was executed in 1890, though doubts about his guilt persist among some historians.
UNSOLVEDListenMilledgeville area, Baldwin County, Georgia, United States · 2010s
Professor Marianne Shockley died by strangulation at a Georgia home in 2019, and the only person prosecuted for her death was acquitted on every count.
Credit: W.H. Whitehead per imagePublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenRosewood, Levy County, Florida, United States · 1923
In early January 1923, white mobs in rural Levy County, Florida, killed at least six Black residents and destroyed the predominantly Black community of Rosewood after a white woman in nearby Sumner alleged she had been assaulted by a Black man; two white men were also killed in the resulting violence, and no one was ever prosecuted.
Image recordPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListen1st Street and 2nd Avenue East, Duluth, Minnesota · 1920
On June 15, 1920, a white mob of thousands broke into the Duluth, Minnesota city jail and lynched three Black circus workers—Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie—who had been arrested on an unsubstantiated rape accusation. No one was ever convicted of the murders.
Credit: PCN02WPSCC BY-SA 4.0SourceUNSOLVEDListenClinton, South Carolina, United States · 1924
Norris Dendy, an African-American father of five, was taken from his jail cell in Clinton, South Carolina, by a mob of white men on the night of July 4–5, 1933, and beaten and hanged after a physical altercation with a white truck driver. Five men were later indicted but a grand jury declined to charge anyone.
