(This Article is from the research of Joe Scarborough, shared with Zelia Cline)
Contact: Myrtle Bridges   February 5, 2013

A bitter family feud has been ended in Richmond county between the Pates and Curries by the murder 
of Scott Currie and the imprisonment of Peter and Will Pate and Robert and Alex Gibson in the penitentiary, 
at hard labor, for periods ranging from three to thirty years. The trouble began in December, 1895, when 
Currie severely whipped Peter Pate, the father of Will Pate and the uncle of the Gibsons. This aroused the 
most intense hatred and Pate and his family determined that [they] would get revenge, so they waylaid Currie, 
beat him almost to death and then shot him.

The guilty parties were at once suspected. Arrest followed, and last week at Richmond court they were tried, 
convicted and sentenced as follows: Peter Pate, 8 years in the penitentiary; Will Pate, 30 years; Robert Gibson, 
6 years, and Alex Gibson, 3 years.

These prisoners were brought here yesterday by Sheriff Smith, and they are now serving out their sentences in 
the penitentiary. Father and son, Peter and Will Pate, the one less than forty, and the other 19 years old, 
were handcuffed together, and the Gibson boys were fastened together. They are 25 and 30 years old. Will is the 
oldest of ten children.

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