| Summary: | This photograph was taken before the start of the trial of Jim Neely, who was charged with killing Hiram Cooley in 1883. The following description of the altercation was published in an article ("Rapid Conclusion Expected in Trial at Guntersville") in the Birmingham News on October 6, 1930: "Cooley died three days after a fight with Jim Neely and his brother, Tom Neely, who died 37 years ago. The fight, according to witnesses, was the result of ill feeling that developed over remarks Jim Neely is alleged to have made about a 16-year-old mountain girl, now Mrs. Will Brown, 63. Cooley was struck on the head with a rock and after the fight walked to his home, washed his face and went to sleep to lapse into an unconsciousness from which he did not recover. Deputy Sheriffs Jordan and Fennell headed a posse that went onto Georgia Mountain to arrest the Neely brothers, but the latter escaped when approach of officers was signalled by friends and relatives. . . . Neely's arrest came only after he moved to Tyler, Texas, where a son of the slain man was residing. This son, who was 3 years old at the time of his father's death, suspected that Neely was the man wanted for the slaying and instigated the arrest." Neely was acquitted of the murder charge on October 7, 1930.
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