PART Two (If you missed Part One click here) When we left you last week in Part I, Sallie Emma Owen and Jennie Beall McCoy had stayed home from Church and had told Dr. Ryder that Sallie Emma could not go out in the night air. Lizzie Mae Owen and Mary Mathews had supposedly left for church earlier and Dr. Ryder after talking to Jennie Beall had also left for church alone. Gus Persons had been told by friends that Sallie Emma was in town and had joined her at the McCoy home, they were seated in the parlor by a warm fire talking as Jennie Beall leaves the room for the back of the house, so the couple could be alone. Shortly before 9 o’clock Mary and Lizzie Mae return to the McCoy home. Jennie Beall returns to join them with Gus and Sallie Emma in the parlor. A few minutes later Dr .Ryder open the door and came in with out a knock. Gus invites his old friend to have a seat and join them in the parlor. Dr. Ryder ignored responding to the invitation and turns to leave. Before leaving Dr. Ryder remarks to Mary, "I didn't see you and Lizzie Mae at church this evening" and Mary jokingly replied " I didn’t see you at this evening either" yet she knew he was there.

"I have personally seen the blood stain on this floor. It's just in front of this dressing table. Every resident since the murder has tried to remove the stain and it can't be done." Mike Dukes CGOL .

As Dr. Ryder leaves the house Gus hears the courthouse clock strike 9 o'clock. At church very few people were present, it was not difficult to notice that Dr. Ryder was restless and troubled as he sat in church that night alone. One of the people at church that night was Mr. J. R. Kimbrough, a prominent merchant, who after church stopped by his store which, was the bottom floor to Dr. Ryder’s office. He speaks to Dr .Ryder and goes to Ryder’s office to chat with him a few minutes.

Dr. Ryder picks up a pen and paper as if to write a note, Mr. Kimbrought suggests that he should leave as Dr. Ryder appears to be starting to write a note, but Dr. Ryder replied he wasn't going to write a note. He states he has had a wonderful day visiting with Sallie Emma at the Owen home today. Mr. Kimbrough and Dr. Ryder leave the office and start towards home; Dr. Ryder to his room at the Weston Hotel and Mr. Kimbrough to his home.

Along the way Mr. Kimbrough comes across Mr. Webster, the night watchman, and spends the next ten minutes talking to him. At the Weston Hotel Mr. C. C. Grant and Mr. Tuck Persons were in the lobby and saw Dr. Ryder go to his room on the second floor. In less than a minute they heard him hurriedly come back down the stairs and leave.

At the McCoy home, all the young ladies were preparing for bed while Sallie Emma and Gus remained in the parlor. Mr. McCoy had donned his nightshirt and prepared for bed in his room across from the parlor. Dilly Canty, a black man, was passing the McCoy home on his way to the Baldwin home to check on Miss Mae Baldwin. As he passed the McCoy he notices a man standing in the front yard of the house; while not recognizing the man he senses something amiss and becomes very frightened. Hurrying by he doesn't look back till he reaches the Baldwin home 200yards down the street.

Just as he opens the door he hears two loud blasts coming from the McCoy home. In the McCoy parlor Gus and Sallie Emma sat; the first blast of the shotgun shook the house. Gus turned his head toward the parlor door where he saw a cloud of smoke. The second blast was fired. Gus feels a sting on his right cheek. Stunned he again looks at the doorway and in the smoke sees a man's figure wheel and run with the gun out the front door.

Standing to follow the gunman he looks toward Sallie Emma and sees that her death had been instantaneous because she had never moved or made a sound as she sat dead in the rocking chair. Shortly before 9:30pm Mr. Will Thornton and his helper Wes Freeman saw a man run by whom Wes recognized as Dr. Ryder. They called out to him ‘what’s the matter’ but he kept running so they followed him shortly joined by Mr. Kimbrough and the night watchman.

They follow him to his office. They hear him inside gulping some type of liquid. Trying to light a lamp they hear Dr. Ryder leave by a rear stairway once they get outside they see him running west down the Waverly Hall Road. The word of the shooting spread quickly and a crowd gathered to chase the murderer.

About ½ a mile from town in Persons Pond they find Dr. Ryder bloody, muddy, and incoherent in the shallow water half concealed by lily pads. He was removed from the pond and carried to Dr. Bardwell’s office where he started to try to save Dr. Ryder’s life. He treated his stab wounds and pumped his stomach to remove the drug he had taken. He worked for hours to save him even though the crowd now called out to let him die.

Soon after midnight he revived Dr. Ryder. The Sheriff Burrell Richards placed him in the county jail. The town folk were becoming rebellious, Dr. Ryder was moved to a jail in Macon on Tuesday. The crowd called for Judge William Butt to call for a special session of the Grand Jury. Judge Butt complied and a date was set for the first Monday in May.

The Grand Jury bound Dr. W. L. Ryder over to stand trial for the murder of Miss Sallie Emma Owen with malice afterthought on Sunday night, April 5, 1896 killed her with a shotgun blast in the McCoy home.

Now Read Part III: The Trial and The Conclusion of the Owen murder.