The Body in the Well

The Body In the Well

On Tuesday, February 22, 1949, a grey 1947 Chevrolet with a blue top had a sign on it that read Veteran’s Cab arrived at the Asta Café on Main Street in Jasper.  The driver, Earl Holbert, thought it was going to be a short evening.  He was right, but not in the way he planned. 

G. "Earl" Holbert

Around 6 pm Earl had picked up a passenger at the Asta Café on Main Street (inside what is now the Old Mule House building).  Around 7 pm he traveled to Low’s Service Station in Talking Rock and filled up his gas tank.  An hour later, in Gilmer County, Earl and the passenger were seen at Hub’s Place, a restaurant.  A friend of Earl’s interacted with the passenger and described him as being well dressed, wearing an expensive watch and ring, 6’ tall and weighing 190 lbs.  They headed south when they left.  It would be the last time Earl had ever been seen alive.

Earl was a WWII veteran of the U.S. Army, a Purple Heart recipient, 23 years old, 5’11” and 145 pounds, brown-haired and blue-eyed.   He was reliable and a creature of habit, so when he didn’t return home, his father became concerned.  The following day, Garland Holbert contacted the authorities when he failed to find his son. The next night, each half hour, the State Patrol broadcast a description of the missing Earl and his passenger. 

It would be two days before two men, Bryan Tatum, 21, from Blaine, and Ernest Silvers, brought the two-toned Chevrolet to the used car lot on Baker Street in Atlanta to sell it.  The car salesman had heard the State Patrol broadcasts on WSB, and when the men tried to trade in the ’47 model Chevy for a ’37 model and $400 he became suspicious and called in his report to the GBI.

Within hours both Tatum and Silvers were apprehended.  Tatum originally testified that Holbert knew too much about an illegal liquor ring.  He named an additional six co-conspirators besides he and Silvers.  Weldon Sullivan was arrested along with the others.   Tatum took the men to the former farm property of Emma Tatum in Talking Rock near Town Creek.  There, in a well in five feet of water was the body of Holbert.  Holbert’s watch was stopped at 7:58 pm, likely when it hit the water.  A Coroner from Atlanta as well as Dr. C.J. Roper examined the body.  It was determined that Earl Holbert had died from blunt force trauma to the head caused by claw hammers.  One claw hammer was recovered from the well.  The second was recovered near Antioch Church Road.  Holbert also suffered a bullet wound to the back of the skull and near his shoulder, but those were determined to be postmortem. 

Later, Tatum testified that the story about six other co-conspirators was made up.  However, he had offered Weldon Sullivan $100 to help him.  Weldon testified to the same and that per his knowledge, only he and Tatum were involved.  Silvers was released for having nothing to do with the murder.  The other people named were Estelle Reece and Ernest Quarles from Gilmer County, J.C. Henderson from Jasper, and J.O. Smith of Rome.  They were held on bond but never charged with murder.

Ernest Holbert was laid to rest that Sunday at Crossroads Baptist Church.

Grady Earl Holbert died at the young age of 23

That April the trial for Tatum and Sullivan commenced.  Both men were sentenced to death by electrocution.  After, Tatum successfully appealed for a new trial on the grounds that many of the jurors had contributed money to appointing a special attorney to assist the prosecution and the Georgia Supreme Court agreed and ordered a new trail to be held for Tatum.

In April of 1950 a retrial took place, and Tatum was found guilty of murder, but his sentence was changed to that of life in prison.  Weldon’s sentence was also changed to life in prison. Both men were indicted on additional charges of robbery by force.

In 1957, Weldon Sullivan was paroled after spending eight years in incarceration.  Tatum’s parole request was denied at the time.

Later in 1962, the original charges of robbery were brought against Tatum, and he was sentenced to two years concurrent with his ongoing life sentence.   Again, another parole request was denied.  Then in 1965, Tatum tried to be paroled again.  He claimed he had found work out of state and a place to live.  The sister of Earl Holbert, Elizabeth Holbert Davis told the parole board she would kill Tatum if he were released.  Ten days later, the parole board granted Tatum his freedom and he moved out of state.  25 years later, Bryan Tatum died at the age of 62 on Halloween in 1990, in Bremen, Georgia.  He was buried at Antioch Baptist Church. 

J. Bryan Tatum died on Halloween at the age of 62.

Weldon Sullivan moved away to Anderson, South Carolina after his release and started a family.  His name on his tombstone reads James Weldon Sullivan.   He got married to Shelby and had a son.  Later Weldon died in 2001 at the age of 71. 

The husband and wife headstone only contains the remains of Weldon.

His wife passed in 2017 and was cremated.  Their shared tombstone was only occupied by Weldon.  Alone at last.