Death of Ben Furlong ~ Was it Suicide?

October 28, 2017 at 12:08 am (Furlongs of Berrien, Law and Order, Remedies and Medicine)
Tags: Alapaha GA, Ben W. Furlong, Benjamin William Furlong, Berrien County GA, Brunswick & Western Railroad, laudanum, tincture of opium

Ben Furlong (circa 1854-1886), Desperado of Berrien County, GA

As Halloween approaches we revisit the scene of Ben Furlong, who was perhaps the most infamous ghost ever to haunt Berrien County.

After the 1886 death of Ben Furlong some said his ghost still haunted the scene of his final, heinous crime. In life, Ben Furlong may have been Berrien County’s most notorious outlaw. Furlong, a sawmill man when he wasn’t on the bottle, frequented the communities along the tracks of the Brunswick & Western Railroad – Alapaha, Vanceville and Sniff. He was a wife beater and a murderer wanted for dozens of criminal charges. His infamous deeds were published around the globe.

Furlong died on Friday, September 24, 1886, from an overdose of laudanum, also known as tincture of opium. The compound was commonly available in the drug stores of Berrien County and elsewhere for just five cents a bottle.

Laudanum bottle

Certainly, by the time of Furlong’s death, the dangerous potency of opioids was well known. Still, some assumed Furlong’s laudanum overdose was accidental.

The prevailing opinion in Alapaha, GA, the community that perhaps knew Furlong best, was that he intended to take his own life, either out of a guilty conscience or to escape the hangman.

The October 2, 1886, edition of the Alapaha Star examined the question:

Alapaha Star, October 2, 1886, questions death of Ben Furlong

Alapaha Star
October 2, 1886

Was it Suicide?

There is a difference of opinion as to whether B. W. Furlong committed suicide, but the preponderating belief is that he did. The murder of the colored man, the closing of his mill by his creditors and the effects of a severe spell of drinking were amply sufficient to —- —– —-perate step of his life – that of self-destruction.
It is reported that he drank two bottles of laudanum Thursday night, about twenty hours before he died, and that when he sank into the last sleep, his breathing indicated poisoning. Every effort was made to arouse him. He was walked about, slapped and rubbed vigorously, but the seal of death was upon him, and he breathed his last about four hours after he fell asleep.
We are satisfied that Furlong while temporarily insane from the causes we have mentioned, took his own life.

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