It was the autumn of 1920 when two black farm workers contacted the U.S. Justice Department in Atlanta and told federal agents a harrowing story of forced servitude and brutality on the William's farm. Once John Williams learned of this investigation he and Clyde Manning started the killing. Four of the workers, Johnny Williams, "Big John," Johnnie Green and Willie Givens were axed to death by Manning. Six were bound and weighted and pushed off bridges into the yellow and Alcoy rivers. Manning identified the drowned men, which he said that he and Williams killed together, as Linsey Peterson, Will Preston, Harry Price, "Little Bit," "Red," and Charlie Chisholm. Three other men, Artis Freeman, Fred Favors and Fletcher Smith were killed by Williams alone. On April 9, 1921, Williams was found Guilty of murder and Given a life sentence. One month later Manning was tried and found guilty and received a life sentence. Many years later Clyde Manning died while on a chain gang in a Georgia Prison. John Williams became a trustee in a Georgia Prison and was killed while trying to stop a jailbreak.