It’s November now and the spooky season has officially passed us by. I’m one of those “ghost stories are good all year” kind of people, so I’m always on the lookout for something haunted or creepy. One story I stumbled on early in my Brunswick days was the story of the notorious 1915 Dunwody Massacre. One website I visited insisted that the Dunwody building at the NW intersection of Newcastle and Gloucester was haunted. Upon further digging, it turns out the current building at that location wasn’t even in place at the time of the 1915 tragedy. This led me on a journey to find out more about Dunwody himself and – finally – to track down a single photograph of the man behind the story.
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Dunwody Building, early 1900s and now
Photo from private collection |
The current Dunwody building at the NW corner of Newcastle and Gloucester opened in December of 1928. The Brunswick News hailed it as Brunswick's most modern structure, featuring steam heat and janitorial service along with its offices for rent.The new building was constructed after the previous building was destroyed by fire earlier in 1928. While the current building is a masonry structure, the older Dunwody building was a two-story wood structure. It received its name from Henry Franklin "Harry" Dunwody, who purchased the building in 1902. Dunwody was a local lawyer and former two-term mayor of Brunswick. He moved his practice into the second floor of the building. The downstairs tenant at the time of the 1902 purchase was Butt's Drug Store. The purchase included a smaller one-story adjoining building on Newcastle, occupied by Brobston, Fendig & Company.
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Only known public photo of Harry Dunwody
taken in 1906 |
Harry Dunwody was born in Marietta in 1863. Most of his childhood was spent in McIntosh County and he later attended UGA, graduating with the class of 1884. He was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1885. It was this same year that he began practice in Brunswick. He served as solicitor of Glynn County from 1888-1890, served in the state legislature from 1890-1891 and again for the 1895-1896 session. He was elected Mayor of Brunswick from 1894-1896 and was a loyal and public-spirited citizen. In 1897, he married Scotia Tison Walter of Savannah. Together they had two children, Maria Scotia and McDonald Dunwody. Tragedy struck on March 6, 1915. On that morning, Monroe Phillips entered Dunwody's office upstairs and shot him at point-blank range as he sat in his chair. Phillips was well-known as a large burly man with a bad temper, and he shot Dunwody over $75 and a shipping barge sale.
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Monroe Phillips murdered
Dunwody and 7 others in cold blood |
Ila Lee was a stenographer for Harry Dunwody. The next day, she recounted her story to The Brunswick News. Real estate dealer Albert Morse Way was in Dunwody's office when Phillips entered and asked Lee if Dunwody was in. She told Phillips that he was, but that he was busy with Mr. Way at the moment. Phillips then went to the folding door, threw it open, leveled his gun and fired. Ila Lee ran to the office library and called Mr. Dunwody's brother, James Dunwody. She believes Phillips left the office for a moment before returning and firing again. Lee came out only when she was sure that Phillips had left the office. She found Albert Way leaning against the door with injuries to his face, asking for help. Ila Lee said she could tell immediately that Mr. Dunwody, slumped in his chair, was dead.
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Eustace C Butts, Mayor 1911-1912,
shot Monroe Phillips after
1915 Dunwody Rampage |
In 1915, the drug store downstairs was known as Branch's Drug Store. Patrons in the store heard the gunfire and began to scatter into the street. Phillips clearly snapped, as he went on moments later to kill 7 people in addition to Dunwody and injured dozens of others before he himself was shot and killed by Eustace Butts, ending the deadly spree.
The dead were reported as Dunwody, William Arthur Hackett, George Willis Asbell, Rexford Napoleon "Rex" Deaver, L. C. Padgett, and Phillips. Hackett, a 61 year old undertaker, was born in New York in 1854, and removed to Brunswick in 1869. He was prominent in local secret orders, being a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, and the Junior Order of the American Mechanics. Hackett was survived by his widow Elizabeth Parmenta Evans Hackett and two sons, Guy and William Hackett. Rex Deaver was only 21 years old and was a newly minted policeman on the Brunswick force. The city signed a resolution to pay for his funeral expenses and erect a grave monument for him.
George Asbell, age 59, had also worked for the police but at the time of the shooting was working as a streetcar motorman for the City and Suburban Railway Company. He was shot at point blank range as he stepped off of one of the streetcars right into the fray. He was survived by his widow Marie Naomi Houseman Asbell and children Alverna Pearl, Clarice, Marie Elizabeth, and George Willis Asbell Jr. L. C. Padgett is a bit of a mystery. He was reported to be a former policeman as well, but not much else is available on him or his final resting place. The Americus Times-Reported noted that his body was transferred to his home "some distance from the city" of Brunswick for interment.
Gunner Tolnas and Ernest Farrow McDonald survived the initial attack but died days later of their injuries. Tolnas was a 21 year old bank collector and was shot while riding his bike. Ernest McDonald had only recently survived a serious bout with pneumonia and had just walked out of a barber shop when he was hit by Monroe's bullet. He was survived by his widow Mary Eloise Bunkley McDonald and daughters Leighton Royal and Mary Eloise McDonald.
After Dunwody's death the property at Newcastle and Gloucester passed to his wife, Scotia Dunwody. After the 1928 fire, the property was surveyed to prepare for the new structure and it was found that the Kress Building, which had stood next door since 1909, actually extended six inches into the Dunwody property. A lawsuit ensued which went to Superior Court but was settled and dismissed when Kress agreed to pay Mrs. Dunwody $200 for the frontage encroachment.
The 1928 brick building took over the footprint of both the original Dunwody building and the one-story shop that bordered the Kress property. On The Fly Outfitters occupies the downstairs corner of the building today with Little Zooks nestled in next to The Kress.
As a note, Dunwody is often spelled as Dunwoody, but all original sources, plus Dunwody's tombstone and the lettering on the building itself, spell his name with a single "o".
I searched high and low over the years to find a single photograph of Harry Dunwody. While the notorious Monroe Phillips appeared in newspapers across the country, Dunwody’s face was a mystery. He wasn’t even pictured in any readily-available city records of Mayors or statesmen. Finally, luck was on my side as I took once again to the Internet Archive, one of my favorite online libraries of old publications. The photograph of Harry Dunwody included with this story is from the 1906 book “Georgia, Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, Vol 1.” It may be the first time his face has been in print in more than 100 years. Now you’ve seen the man behind the mystery.
This blog was originally posted in March 2023 and has since been expanded and re-edited. It was featured in the November 2023 issue of Discover Downtown Brunswick, a publication of The Brunswick News.
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