Atlanta Daily World

Rev. G. W. Adams
Held For Slaying
Mrs. T. Johnson

Aged Minister,
Throat Cut, Found
Beside Dead Body
By ROBERT M. RATCLIFFE

Screams and six shots broke the
quiet of Sunday morning out on
Arthur Street, S. W.
The lifeless form of an attractive
41-year-old widow, a bullet in her
head, was found on a blood-spattered
floor and at her side was an
aged minister, a deep knife wound
in his throat.
Mrs. Thelma Johnson,
the gun
victim, who resided at 330 Arthur
Street, S. W., had been shot once
in the head and once in the right
arm near the shoulder. Four other
pellets had been fired from a pistol
which was found on a folded mat-
tress atop a trunk in the front
room of the house.
The wounded minister was list-
ed by police as the Rev. G. W.
Adams, between 65 and 75 years of
age, and a resident of 633 Ira St.,
S. W. He was in an unconscious
condition when admitted to Grady
hospital where an emergency oper-
ration was performed.

IN POOR CONDITION

Late Sunday night, his condition
was described as poor. Police book-
ed him at City Jail on suspicion of
murder and put him under guard
while he remains at the hospital.
The minister was unable to talk
to investigating officers during the
day. Relatives of the dead woman
said he is employed at a railroad
shop here and does not pastor a
church in Atlanta.
Mrs. Elma Wright, of 803 Play
Lane, only child of the deceased,
told City Detectives Holland and
Helms and the Atlanta Daily
WORLD that her mother and Rev.
Mr. Adams had been "going
together" for three years and
that
she had suddenly tired of him.
The detectives quoted her as say-
ing the minister threatened Mrs.
Johnson several times when she in-
formed him that she intended
breaking her relationship with him.
Mrs. Johnson was making plans to
leave the city when the fatal shoot-
ing occurred, the daughter said.
The dead woman, who worked as
a maid for a white family, was de-
scribed by neighbors as an attrac-
tive and well-dressed woman. She
was a prominent member of Reed
Street Baptist church. The minis-
ter, according to reports, is a mem-
ber of Zion Hill Baptist church.
Policemen Baldwin and Ellis were
the first officers to arrive on the
scene and they were joined by De-
tives Holland and Helms. Describing
the scene, the detectives said they
entered the front room of the house
and found Mrs. Johnson on her
back on the floor at the foot of a
bed. There was blood on her head.
She was wearing only a housecoat.

TRAIL OF BLOOD IN HOUSE

The officers said there was a pool
of blood near her head which ap-
parently had flowed from the
preacher's slashed throat. The min-
ister was on the floor near the
woman and an opened knife was
gripped in his hand, the investigat-
ing policemen continued.
The officers reported finding the
pistol on the trunk, an empty
blood-smeared pint bottle and a
stopper, having a strong smell of
disinfectant, in a kitchen sink, and
a bloody butcher knife in the kitch-
en.
The police report showed that a
trail of blood led from the front
room to a closet in the kitchen.
An examination revealed that six
bullets had been fired from the pis-
tol. One entered Mrs. Johnson's
head just above the back of the
right ear, passing through the head
(Continued on page 6, col. 1)
Rev. G. W. Adams
(Continued From Page I)
and lodging just behind the left ear.
Another pellet entered her right arm near the shoulder. There were two bullet holes in the ceiling. Another slug passed through the front of the bed and another lodged in a wall near the front door.
Several neighbors said they heard screams and the shots, and at least three persons said they saw Rev. Adams leave the house with a pistol in his hand immediately after the gunfire, according to the policemen.
The witnesses said the minister returned to the house a few minutes later and they declared they saw blood gushing from his neck.
Detectives Holland and Helms reported finding $35 in cash, a ring and wrist watch in Mrs. Johnson's purse, and a diamond ring on one of her fingers. These were turned over to the daughter.
Other than the daughter, Mrs. Johnson is survived by a sister, Mrs. Theria Hill, 157 Chapel St., and two brothers, R. E. Moore, 551