The Hanging of George Hornsby

What do the murder of a wealthy car dealer in Brownwood and the theft and disappearance of a diamond stickpin have to do with the last public hanging in Bell County? Maintaining his innocence even while standing on the gallows’ trap door, George F. Hornsby was hanged on April 14, 1922 at the jail yard in Belton. Many in Belton, including the sheriff, believed an innocent man had been hanged based on circumstantial evidence. Many unanswered questions remained decades after the event.

The Hornsby trial came to Belton on a change of venue from Brown County. Hornsby was charged with the bludgeoning death of J.N. Weatherby, a popular business owner in Brownwood in 1920. The motive was supposedly the theft of a $2,500 diamond stickpin. At the time Weatherby was murdered, George Hornsby was using the name “George Scott” ostensibly to distance himself from a dishonorable army discharge. Arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, he denied any knowledge of the crime and claimed that he was already en route to Birmingham at the time the murder was committed. Several witnesses provided him with an alibi. To complicate matters, 16-year-old Willie Carter came forward, stating he was Hornsby’s accomplice and providing a detailed account of killing Weatherby and hiding the body in a field. The contradicting eyewitness testimonies muddied the waters, but the Belton jury bought Carter’s story.

When the jury returned a guilty verdict and a death sentence, most Beltonians were stunned. Public opinion in Belton turned in Hornsby’s favor, and more than seven thousand people signed a petition asking Governor Pat Neff to overturn the verdict and pardon Hornsby or commute his sentence to life imprisonment. Several local citizens helped Hornsby. Attorney James K. Evetts offered his services free of charge. Mrs. Bennett Smith of Temple led the clemency campaign. (After the efforts failed to secure Hornsby’s freedom, Mrs. Smith raised funds for his burial.)

Out of the blue Willie Carter retracted his testimony. He named Arthur Smith of Oklahoma as the murderer. Then he retracted his retraction saying he had been threatened by Hornsby’s family. Governor Neff went so far as to interview Willie Carter and took a stand against the request for clemency and called the petition “criminal hero-worship.” He summed up by saying: “The murderer was praised as a hero and the Governor who refused to set aside the verdict of the Court of Appeals, all declaring him guilty, was held up to scorn and ridicule… To these more than seven thousand petitioners I made no apology then and I make none now. In the administration of the law, I am for the courthouse, its judgments, and its decrees. It is the one tribunal whose sole function is to make life sacred and property secure.”

Law enforcement officials, fearing that vigilante mobs might try to free Hornsby, moved him to the Travis County jail for two weeks. A committee from the county Humane Society held devotional and prayer services for the condemned man. Hornsby appeared to be calm and in good spirits. A friend to the end, Mrs. Bennett Smith delivered a message to Hornsby encouraging him not to give up hope until the last minute and telling him, “But if the worst comes to the worst, and you so desire it, I will go with you to the platform of the scaffold.” His execution was scheduled for Good Friday, April 14, 1922. The day before his execution, Hornsby, shackled and under heavy guard, was returned to Belton, escorted by two sheriffs, two deputy sheriffs, and four Texas Rangers.

Hornsby was baptized in the jail bathtub by Reverend Ross A. Marcus, pastor of the First Christian Church in Belton. On the day of execution, Reverend B.B. Blalock, pastor of Memorial Baptist Church in Temple, prayed and read a passage from the Bible. Blalock granted Hornsby’s requests to preach his funeral and to accompany him to the gallows. Hundreds of people gathered in Belton for the event, climbing trees and standing on rooftops to see the hanging. About two hundred spectators were allowed inside the jail yard to witness the execution. Hornsby’s final statement reaffirmed his innocence:

“People, I don’t know many of you, but lots of you know me. People, I stand before you a saved man. I accepted Christ as my personal Savior. I am going to leave you people, but I am going to a better land. I am going to where we will all be treated alike. We will all be charged alike, and I want to tell you people I am going as an innocent man. I have lived a sinful life, but I have not committed any murder, so help me God.”

Sheriff Bonds, who was said to be friends with Hornsby, pulled the Black cap over Hornsby’s head while wishing him goodbye. (Some say Bonds never recovered from the hanging). Legend maintains that weeping onlookers threw flowers. At 2:14 p.m., the trap fell, and seventeen minutes later Hornsby was pronounced dead by an attending physician. A crowd estimated at three to four thousand turned up for Hornsby’s funeral. He was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery in Temple.

The execution of George Hornsby was a turning point and resulted in a public outcry for capital punishment reform. The next year, state Senator J.W. Thomas from Rogers sponsored the legislation that centralized all state executions in Huntsville.

What became of the diamond stickpin? During the trial, its whereabouts were unknown. In the 1950s an unknown man stated positively that he knew the stickpin was in a bank box in Temple but would reveal no other information.

“1922: George Hornsby.” Executed Today. https://www.executedtoday.com/2014/04/14/1922-george-hornsby/

Limmer, E. A., Jr. Story of Bell County, Texas. Austin, TX.: Eakin Press, 1988.