In the quiet coastal city of Brunswick, Georgia, a shocking act of violence shattered the morning of March 6, 1915, claiming the life of Harry Franklin Dunwody, a 51-year-old male and a prominent local citizen. A former mayor and a respected lawyer, Dunwody was in his office in the building that still bears his name when he became the first victim in a tragic event that would come to be known as the Brunswick Massacre.
The assailant, Monroe Phillips, a local real estate and lumber
businessman, was reportedly despondent over a failed business deal. Believing that Dunwody and other businessmen had cheated him out of a significant amount of money, Phillips entered the Dunwody Building armed with a shotgun. He proceeded to Dunwody's second-floor office and, without a word, fatally shot the attorney at his desk.
The rampage did not end with Dunwody's death. Phillips continued his assault, killing and wounding several other people within the building and on the downtown streets of Brunswick. The entire ordeal lasted only a matter of minutes but left a lasting scar on the community. In the end, Phillips was shot and killed by a local judge who had been wounded during the attack, bringing the massacre to an end. In the aftermath, it was determined that Monroe Phillips was the sole perpetrator of the violent spree, and therefore no further arrests were made in connection with the death of Harry Franklin Dunwody and the other victims.
