The early morning quiet on a street in Jefferson was shattered 50 years ago today when an explosion ripped through Solicitor General Floyd Hoard's car, killing him.
Hoard, who was 40, was the chief prosecutor (the office is now known as District Attorney) for the Piedmont Judicial Circuit, and was waging an all-out "war" against a criminal element in the circuit, commonly referred to as the Dixie Mafia. Chief among the crimes tied to this gang were bootlegging and car theft.
It wasn't long before A.C. "Cliff" Park of Pendergrass, 77, and four associates were linked to Hoard's death, arrested and sent to prison. Click here for Georgia Supreme Court documents about the case, which spell out in more detail how the crime was carried out and the role of each of the men involved in it.
A ceremony is planned Monday night at 7:00 at the Historic Jackson County Courthouse in Jefferson at which Hoard's son, G. Richard "Dickey" Hoard, who was 14 when his father was killed, is scheduled to read from a book he wrote several years ago about his death, Alone Among the Living.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/8/567281/hoard-death