GeorgiaIn August 1944 the Randolph County Superior Court in Cuthbert tried Lena Baker, a Black maid who had fatally shot Ernest Knight, a white mill owner she testified had held her captive and abused her. The one-day trial before Judge William "Two Gun" Worrill, who was said to keep pistols in view on the bench, ended in conviction by an all-white, all-male jury, and Baker was electrocuted at the state prison in 1945, the only woman ever put to death in Georgia's electric chair; the state pardoned her posthumously in 2005. Those proceedings took place in the historic 1880s courthouse that still anchors the square, a distinctive Queen Anne building marked by a Dutch stepped gable over its entrance and a tower whose roof shifts from pyramid to cone. It is a contributing structure within the Cuthbert Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Like much of southwest Georgia, Randolph County also saw documented racial-terror lynchings during the early twentieth century.
Randolph County Courthouse
The stone-and-brick heart of every Georgia county.
Randolph County Courthouse is a courthouse in Cuthbert, Randolph County. It is one of 54 historic sites cataloged in Randolph County on Georgia Roam.
The site sits at 31.7668, -84.7868 near Cuthbert. The nearest cataloged historic site is Andrew Female College (historical marker), about 0.3 miles away. Others within a short drive include Site of First Church Building in Cuthbert, Georgia, Greenwood Cemetery, and Eastview Cemetery.
This record is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
In August 1944 the Randolph County Superior Court in Cuthbert tried Lena Baker, a Black maid who had fatally shot Ernest Knight, a white mill owner she testified had held her captive and abused her. The one-day trial before Judge William "Two Gun" Worrill, who was said to keep pistols in view on the bench, ended in conviction by an all-white, all-male jury, and Baker was electrocuted at the state prison in 1945, the only woman ever put to death in Georgia's electric chair; the state pardoned her posthumously in 2005. Those proceedings took place in the historic 1880s courthouse that still anchors the square, a distinctive Queen Anne building marked by a Dutch stepped gable over its entrance and a tower whose roof shifts from pyramid to cone. It is a contributing structure within the Cuthbert Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Like much of southwest Georgia, Randolph County also saw documented racial-terror lynchings during the early twentieth century.
Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orgen.wikipedia.orggeorgiaencyclopedia.orgen.wikipedia.org
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