Murder at the Mansion

Some people say Briarcliff Mansion is haunted. Perhaps it’s due to Asa Candler Jr.’s enduring reputation as an eccentric, depressed alcoholic. Perhaps it’s due to the building’s time as a mental health facility. I had one site visitor contact me and suggest that Asa Jr. haunts Briarcliff’s halls because of karma, something about screwing people over in real estate during his life. But, let’s face it, most people want to believe it’s haunted because it’s disused and in disrepair. Abandoned, decaying mansion? Haunted, obvs.

I don’t believe in ghosts. I like visiting places with reputations of being haunted, but I don’t believe in hauntings. I’ve spent stormy afternoons by myself at Westview Cemetery’s mausoleum. I’ve gone everywhere it’s possible to go in Briarcliff mansion, from the roof to the basement, including the areas that are completely dark without a flashlight. If Buddie was going to haunt somewhere, it would be one of those two places. But he doesn’t, because ghosts don’t exist.

Of course, I understand that anyone who does believe in ghosts will dismiss my opinion, and that’s fine. If you want to believe Briarcliff Mansion is haunted, go right ahead. In fact, my gift to the haunted believers out there is the following story. Because at the heart of every good haunted house story is a murder. And there was, in fact, a murder that took place at Briarcliff.

Wait, why hasn’t anyone heard about this story?

Back when the story broke, it made national news. It literally made headlines from coast to coast. But through the collective efforts of law enforcement and Asa Jr. himself, the story faded away quickly and the world moved on. People who were alive at the time knew about it, but it was impolite to mention it. In Elizabeth Candler Graham’s “The Real Ones,” one of the author’s elderly relatives recalls the event in passing, but if you don’t know the circumstances you might skim past the reference without realizing it. Other than that, the story was kept quiet, quite literally buried in an unmarked grave.

It all starts back in 1925. Actually, let’s take it back further to 1922.

In 1922 the work to build the original incarnation of Briarcliff Mansion and the surrounding property was complete. The house consisted of the main block extending symmetrically on either side of the portico, with the library on the south corner and the dining room on the north corner. The master suite on the second floor occupied the whole front of the house, with the sitting room above the dining room on the north end, the bathroom in the center, and the bedroom on the south corner. A very rational design.

But in short order Buddie became convinced that the house was missing something. Something big. Something showy. If you look to his older brother’s house, Callanwolde, you might spot it. Hmmm, can’t quite put my finger on it…

If Howard had a great hall, then Buddie needed a greater hall. And a big dining room. And a big kitchen to service the big dining room. Between 1923-1925 he ordered revisions to the north side of the house, removing the large window from the north wall of the dining room and replacing it with a doorway, and removing the windows from the master suite sitting room and replacing one with a secret door leading to a private balcony. The addition is a less rational design, creating odd turns and two small courtyards of trapped exterior place where corridors might have been a more elegant solution.

All of this is to paint a picture of his mindset in the 1920s.

Unwilling to have his life disrupted by the huge construction project, he and his wife and kids boarded a steamliner and headed to Asia for an extended trip across several countries. One of his stops was in the Philippines, which at the time was under U.S. control and quite fashionable for vacationing wealthy Americans. At least one trip is on record, in fact. A September, 1923, ship manifesto of the SS President Cleveland records Buddie, Helen, Lucy, John, and Samuel entering the U.S. in San Francisco, arriving from Manilla. It was this trip or one of the subsequent trips to the Philippines that appears to have set him up for his next obsession: magic.

Asa Jr. had already been introduced to magic by Harry Houdini, who leased space in the New York Candler Building until 1923. In his later years, Buddie claimed to have been taught a card trick by Houdini, but it’s impossible to verify whether that story was true or just a Buddie-ism. In the roaring 20s, mysticism and magic were fashionable, and performing magic became a fun hobby for rich, high-society men, but by Asa Jr.’s own personal account, he truly discovered magic during his 1923-1925 trips to Asia.

It was during his stopover in the Philippines that Buddie met a young local man named José Cruz. José was a magician and performer by trade, and he and Buddie must have hit it off, because when Buddie left the islands, he asked José to move to America and take up residence at Briarcliff as his personal magic assistant.

He had José move to Atlanta specifically for magic.

And on April 7, 1925, 24-year-old José arrived from Manilla in San Francisco aboard the SS President Taft. With him on the ship’s roster were Philemon Cruz, presumably his younger brother, and Vincenzio DeVera, relationship unknown.

They travelled directly to Atlanta, and Buddie gave them the apartment above the garage (still standing) to share and live on-site. This wasn’t particularly unusual, since he had other servants living on site, including his groundskeeper, James Stark, who lived in the cottage near the greenhouses (still standing), and Landrum Anderson with his wife Jesse in a house on the back property (no longer exists).

For official titles, José was his butler, Philemon was his footman, and Vincenzio was his valet. If it sounds like Buddie was the ruler of his own kingdom, it’s worthwhile to note that in 1930 there were 20 people listed on the census as residents of 1260 Briarcliff Rd. 5 were Candler family members, and 15 were servants and staff. He was the ruler of his own kingdom.

Over the next few years José did his duty and taught and assisted Buddie in magic. This was during a time of big spending, so Buddie also grew a massive collection of high-end magic apparatuses, which he kept in his 3rd-floor ballroom. Which gave him the perfect excuse to throw grand magic soirées with all of the best people and fellow amateur magicians in attendance. As the ‘20s turned into the ‘30s he started flying in famous magicians by private plane to attend his parties. And he had a private railcar, which he used to travel to events hosted by the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

José wasn’t just any servant. It’s notable that very little documentation of Asa Candler Jr.’s staff exists. This includes his longtime right-hand man, Landrum Anderson, who started working for Buddie in 1901 and was with him up until the day he died. No photos, no mentions, outside of family stories and census records. José, on the other hand, was both photographed and written about.

So it seems José Cruz held a particularly important role in Asa Candler, Jr.’s life. He was a key employee who supported his ostentatious, attention-seeking, gregarious social nature. And then it all ended.

First, how it was widely reported.

On the morning of January 18, 1931, Asa Candler, Jr., was awoken at dawn by his groundskeeper, James Stark, to the news that his butler, José Cruz, was dead. While doing his morning rounds, Stark spotted a car parked out by the putting green on the southern side of the 42-acre property. At first he assumed it belonged to an Emory College employee, since Briarcliff’s grounds were open to the school’s faculty. But after he walked the property he realized no one was out there. So he approached the car to see who it belonged to.

Inside the car he found José Cruz, dead from a gunshot wound to the temple, with a young woman in his lap. She was dead from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. In shock, Stark ran to the house to wake his boss and call the police. A note was found in the car, indicating that their deaths were the result of a double-suicide. The primary note claimed that Gladys’ family objected to their love, and death was their only option. The note read as follows:

Investigators also found a pair of child’s slates in the backseat. One ominously read: "This is my last trick and I hope you will enjoy the performance.” The other read: "Good-night, Happy New Year and Merry Christmas."

A coroner’s jury was quickly called, and following testimony by investigators and friends of Gladys Frix, the jury determined that the event was not a double-suicide. Gladys’ name on the note was not in her handwriting, and given the location of the gunshot wound, they declared it a murder-suicide. José had killed himself and taken her with him.

The final detail that made many of the papers across the U.S. was about the murder weapon: José had used a nickel-plated pistol with an ivory grip.

That pistol belonged to his employer, Asa Candler, Jr.

What really happened?

As I dug into this story I realized that getting to the bottom of it would be quite a challenge. Newspapers cribbed from each others’ reports without verification, twisting the story and confusing the timeline, and even inventing sensationalist details. In some cases, the wrong Asa Candler was cited as the employer. Most reporters disagreed on how many notes were found, and what exactly they said. Some implied that the message on the child’s slate was meant as a warning, possibly targeting José’s magic-enthusiast employer.

What I’ve done is compiled all of the reported details and witness testimonies, weeded out the obvious untruths and errors, and put together what I believe is the most accurate timeline of events possible. Some of the language is lifted from the sources, and some is paraphrased to provide clarity. Let’s start with the cast:

Involved Parties

• Victim: Gladys Frix

• Murderer: José Cruz

• Employer: Asa Candler, Jr

• Briarcliff Groundskeeper:James Stark

• Investigators:

  • Sheriff: Jake Hall

  • Undertaker and Special Officer: Addison Turner

  • Solicitor's Investigator: Johnny Jones

  • County Physician and Coroner: C. E. Pattillo

• Gladys’ friends and family:

  • Sister: Louise Frix

  • Friend: Mae Adair

  • Friend: W. L. Bennett

  • Friend: Tom Reed

  • Friend: Stewart Clup

  • Acquaintance: Kate Christiansen

  • Family Friend: Walter Ansley

  • Neighbor: W. S. Heil

Compiled Narrative (just the facts):

The Candler estate groundskeeper, James Stark, first saw the car about 6 o'clock on Sunday morning, January 18, 1931. It was standing in the west driveway about forty feet from the street. No lights were on. Quite often professors from Emory University came over to play golf and left their automobiles there, so he paid little attention to it for more than an hour.

As dawn gave way to day he happened to glance toward the car again, and it was then he thought he saw somebody in it. He walked up to the machine, looked through the closed window and found the young girl and José. She was sitting in his lap, her head was on his shoulder, and his arm was around her. He held Asa Candler Jr.'s automatic pistol tightly gripped in one hand. Stark touched them and found them cold and dead. He ran as fast as he could to tell Mr. Candler and call the sheriff. (In contradictory testimony Stark said he "saw the bodies of the girl and the Filipino" and that he didn't open the car, but at once notified Mr. Candler and the two of them called Sheriff Hall on the telephone.)

Sheriff Jake Hall and undertaker Addison Turner answered the call to the Candler estate.  The door of the auto was still closed when Hall reached the scene. He opened it. The girl, later identified as Miss Gladys Frix, was lying across José Cruz’s lap. Her head was resting on his left shoulder, her left arm over his shoulder. Her body was resting against the steering wheel and against the left door. José Cruz’s left arm was around the girl. His right was flung down on the seat. A few inches from his right hand was an automatic 32-calibre pistol, pearl handled and nickel plated. He carried $13 in cash, and she had 20 cents in her purse.

Sheriff Hall and Undertaker Turner agreed that death had occurred six or eight hours before they were found, around 11 or 12 o’clock Saturday night. The sheriff ordered the bodies removed and they were examined by Turner. Frix had been shot through the left side, the bullet apparently piercing the abdomen and coming out the right side. Cruz was shot through the brain. The bullet entered through the right temple, above the ear, the bullet coming out the left side of his head near the top of the skull, about two inches above and an inch or more to the rear of the left temple. Turner believed it was evident that death in each case had been instantaneous. He and Sheriff Hall were asked by coroner and county physician Dr. C. E. Pattillo if they thought the young woman would have lived several minutes longer after she was wounded.  Both believed she could have. Neither found any evidence of a struggle.

Investigators found one empty cartridge on the floor of the car, another empty in the pistol, and two loaded cartridges on the floor under the driver's seat. Hall learned on inquiry that the pistol belonged to Mr. Candler but that he didn't know it was in José Cruz's possession or how long he had it. The investigators also found the following in the car: 1 suicide note, 1 love note, 2 slates, 1 pearl-handled dagger. Upon searching Cruz's apartment above the Briarcliff garage, they found 2 additional notes. None of the notes bore Frix’s handwriting or signature.

Note 1 (found on the body):

An unsigned note on Cruz's body told of thwarted love and appeared to be written by the young woman, but it was said to have been executed in José's handwriting. The note said: "To whom it may concern: We, Gladys Frix and José Cruz, are taking our lives because we love each other, but due to the objections of Louise Frix, sister of Gladys, and Mrs. J. T. Clay (grandmother) we can't find a way to be together in peace. We love each other and we rather die and be together always than to be parted from each other, and good bye to all, and may God forgive us."

Note 2 (found in the car):

A piece of soap was found by Sheriff Hall in the back of the car. A love message, in José's handwriting, was on the outside of the soap wrapper. The content of the message was not published.

Notes 3 & 4 (found in the apartment):

Two other notes were found in José's room and were understood to be addressed to Mr. Candler. One of the notes declared the deaths a suicide pact but the jury could find no corroborative evidence. The contents of the notes were not published.

Slates 1 & 2 (found in the car):

On the back seat of the small sedan, Sheriff Hall found two slates, the kind used in school rooms. Undertaker Turner exhibited them for the jury. The slates evidently were part of the equipment that Cruz used in performing magic, likely for a phantom writing trick. On one was scrawled: "This is my last trick and I hope you will enjoy the performance." On the other, the following was printed: "Good-night, Happy New Year and Merry Christmas."  Sheriff Hall said he did not believe there was any significance in the writings on the slates. The inscriptions apparently had been written for some performance given by Cruz around the holidays, and he merely had neglected to erase them or to remove them from his car.

The coroner’s jury was pulled together the same day that the murder was discovered. This was an effort to expedite the conclusions and finalize the causes of death for both parties. Sheriff Hall and undertaker Turner both testified and displayed evidence to the jury. In his own testimony, Solicitor’s Investigator Johnny Jones said he had evidence that compelled him to believe that the message found in the car had been concocted by Cruz as a small detail of a long-planned plot to murder the girl and kill himself. A juror asked if he was basing this statement on any evidence that the jury hadn’t heard yet. Jones reportedly hesitated, then said he had nothing “except some notes.” He explained about the notes found in Cruz’s apartment that were addressed to Mr. Candler. The jury asked to see them, but he refused.

It was rumored, however, that the notes were shared with the jury when they retired to deliberate, after the press had left the room. No record of what was contained within those notes was preserved. One can only speculate. The jury came back without much debate: José Cruz had murdered Gladys Frix and killed himself.

Testimonials

The police investigation turned up all the evidence they needed to declare Gladys Frix the victim of murder. Her willingness to participate in the violent act was never considered a possibility. But that wasn’t enough for her family and friends. They pulled together a roster of witnesses that all wanted to speak to the press and testify to the jury, ostensibly to clear Gladys’ good name and characterize Cruz as a dangerous psychopath bent on doing harm. Their testimonials are somewhat dramatic and inconsistent, perhaps even exaggerated or fabricated.

From Louise Frix, Gladys’ sister:

Miss Frix said that her sister had told her continually that she did not love the Filipino, but was afraid to stop going with him because he had threatened her life.  The sister then spoke of a dirk [dagger] that she heard was found in the car. The coroner asked for it.

A long-bladed, ivory-handled weapon was produced. The sheriff said that it was also found in the car and that he understood the Filipino used it in sleight-of-hand tricks.

"What do you mean, sleight-of-hand?" demanded Miss Louise Frix. "He used that murderous thing for protection. He has often showed it to me and told me that the tip of it was poisoned with deadly serum. He said that if he stuck the blade into someone that death would be a matter of but a few moments. He always carried it in his pocket."

From W. S. Heil, the Frix family’s neighbor:

W. S. Heil, of 949 Greenwood Avenue, next door neighbor of the Frixes, told the Journal that José Cruz gave him a scrap-book during the early part of the week, told him of his love for the young woman and added that he was "tired of this worldly strife to win her love."

From W. L. Bennett, Gladys' friend:

A possibility that the Filipino had killed the young woman and himself as the result of jealousy was injected into the case by W. L. Bennett, who appeared but did not testify at the inquest Sunday.

After the hearing Bennett stated that he was engaged to marry Miss Frix, although he had previously told investigators that he was not her fiancé. He said he changed his version when the family of the dead girl agreed that it would be all right for him to make the announcement. He said his marriage to Miss Frix was to have occurred in the next several months.

Before the inquest Bennett's father said that as far as he knew his son was not engaged to Miss Frix.

From Gladys’ friends, the last people to see her alive:

Gladys’ friends provided testimony during the inquiry and to the press, agreeing unanimously that Cruz’s behavior set off red flags Saturday evening before the murder. Mae Adair, W. L. Bennett, Tom Reed, Stewart Clup, Walter Ansley and Kate Christiansen all gave their own versions, so I’ve compiled everything and consolidated it down down to a simple timeline.

Saturday, January 11:
One week before the murder, Gladys asks her friend Mae Adair to set up a group date with José Cruz included. The plan is to meet up at Mae’s house so Gladys’ family won’t find out that they are going out together.

Saturday, January 18, 8:00 p.m.
José arrives at Mae's house and together they go down to the corner to wait for their friends.

8:30 p.m.
The rest of Gladys’ friends meet at her house and together they run down the road to join up with the others at the corner near Mae’s house. Gladys gets into José’s car, and the group caravans out to the Green Dragon Roadhouse in Hapeville. José and Gladys stop at a fueling station on the way.

10:00 p.m.
José and Gladys arrive at the Green Dragon. They’re late but they appear to be having fun. Gladys seems to be enjoying herself.

11:00 p.m.
Gladys says she has to go home so everyone heads back to Atlanta, intending to meet at a diner. Her friends wait a long time for José and Gladys to arrive. When José’s car finally appears, it flies by at high speed, and during testimony two of the girls describe his speed as reckless and dangerous. They agree that they saw Gladys screaming and pounding her hands on the passenger side window as it went by. Another girl, an acquaintance, describes the drive-by in milder terms, and says she didn’t see Gladys inside the car as it passed.

11:00 p.m-12:00 a.m.
José and Gladys arrive at Briarcliff and park near the golf course. He shoots her in the abdomen and shoots himself in the head (time of death estimated by Sheriff Hall and undertaker Turner).

Sunday January 18, 6:00 a.m.
José’s car is spotted in the west Briarcliff driveway 40 feet from the road.

7:30 a.m. (approx)
Briarcliff groundskeeper Stark discovers the bodies around dawn and calls the sheriff

January 18, morning
The inquest takes place on the grounds of Briarcliff estate.

January 18, afternoon
A coroner’s jury is called, the cause of death is determined, and the bodies are released for services and burial.

But what REALLY happened?

After sifting through the innuendo and conjecture of sloppy journalism, I’ve concluded that there’s no mystery here. The evidence supports only one conclusion: José Cruz murdered Gladys Frix and killed himself. She was not involved in the decision and, given the description of her wound and position, she likely suffered at the hands of a man she trusted. And I do believe she trusted him. I don’t believe her family’s claims that she was scared of José, or that she was secretly engaged to someone else. The testimonials of several friends indicate that she liked José but knew her family wouldn’t approve. Saturday night’s outing was set up at her request and her friends observed that she appeared to be having fun. That said, I also believe that José betrayed her trust. He held her in his lap, put his arms around her, and shot her without warning. She was the victim, and she never saw it coming.

I also believe that Asa Candler, Jr. knew something. José was his right-hand man, always with him and involved in his personal life. José was clearly struggling with mental illness, and I believe that he truly believed what he said in his note. He thought the world wouldn’t permit him and Gladys to be together, and he decided that death was the only way out. I don’t necessarily think that Asa Jr. knew a murder-suicide was coming, but I believe he knew something was going on, which is why José left not one but two notes addressed to him. I don’t believe Asa Jr. was surprised by the notes, and I don’t believe he was as ignorant of José’s possession of his pistol as he claimed.

Lastly, I believe Gladys and José were both right. Her family didn’t want them to be together thanks to good old fashioned racism. This was the American South in the 1930s, and Filipinos were treated like outsiders like any other minority. In one of the only resources I can find citing this case, “A Different Shade of Justice” by Stephanie Hinnershitz (2017), I found the following passage (edited for clarity):

The aftermath

Gladys Frix, just 19 years old, was prepared for burial at H. M. Patterson Funeral Home on Spring Street. She was buried on January 20, 1931, in Rose Hill Cemetery in Austell, GA, although the date of her death is inscribed as January 17. She left no children, and as far as I can tell her siblings didn’t have children, either. So that means there’s probably no one left to remember her and visit her grave. If you’re ever northwest of the city, perhaps visiting visiting the Civil War-era ruins at Sweetwater Creek State Park, consider stopping by and finding her headstone.

As for José, he had no family in the U.S. other than his brother Philemon, who chose to return to the Philippines with Vincenzio after this incident. So his boss, who was the closest thing José had to family, took responsibility for his body. Asa Candler Jr. provided a plain pine casket and had José buried out at Westview Cemetery, of which he had recently taken controlling interest. As fitting for a murderer, he had José interred in an unmarked grave in a section of the cemetery that’s full of unmarked graves. Buried in anonymity, not to be remembered.

But if you’ve read this far and gotten to know my dedication to the research, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that I’ve located José Cruz’s grave. I visited it and placed a flower there, not to admire a murderer, but to say thank you for the story. What he did was terrible, but he was human and he was troubled, and maybe under different circumstances he could have gotten help. So it’s not a place I’ll take anyone else to during a Candler-era Westview Cemetery tour, and I won’t be going back again. But I felt I owed him a thank you nonetheless.

How was this story forgotten?

It becomes clear when you read through all of the coverage and start recognizing names from other Atlanta stories that the Candlers had a way of making trouble go away. In this case, the Candler family had a personal connection to law enforcement and the coroner. Both were associates of Asa Candler, Sr. I don’t say this to imply that they covered something up for Buddie. I don’t believe Buddie had anything to cover up, other than embarrassment, and perhaps a fair accusation that he had to have suspected something was going on with José. But embarrassment was a big deal to Buddie, and there’s no way he wanted this story in headlines associated with his name or with Coca Cola. The investigators expedited their work and kept evidence tied to him out of the press. They quickly put the story to bed, quieting any inkling of questions that were starting to brew about what Asa Jr. could have known prior to the incident.

Asa Jr. put it to bed, too. The the first thing he did was put magic behind him. In reviewing his social activities, you see magic come to a stop following this event. He didn’t get rid of his apparatuses yet, in fact he lent them out to local magicians for shows over the years. Toward the end of his life he sold for a bargain or gave away his expensive apparatuses to members of the Atlanta magic community and had the rest auctioned off. But his performing, big partying, soirée days were behind him. Magic was tainted now.

Fortunately, he had another hobby, a big attention-grabbing hobby that he could use to grab headlines: airplanes. And thanks to an airplane stunt, the world moved on and forgot all about the murder at Briarcliff Mansion.