{
  "title": "Berrydale fire people index — Officials, investigators and families",
  "as_of": "2026-10-14",
  "people": [
    {
      "name": "A. O. Lovett",
      "role": "Officer in charge",
      "facts": "The investigation describes his transfer of keys to Cobb for the armory, repeated attempts to unlock the exit and rescue activity. The reproduced jury finding found no negligence by prison officials.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10, 13–16",
      "limits": "Accounts must be attributed; rescue activity and the adequacy of the key procedure are separate questions. Family complaints about his conduct are allegations, not established misconduct.",
      "id": "a-o-lovett"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. E. Cobb",
      "role": "Roving officer",
      "facts": "Listed as a roving officer; the report describes him receiving keys to obtain weapons from the armory during the disturbance.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10, 13–14",
      "limits": "Newspapers expand the name to Richard E. Cobb; use initials until identity is independently checked.",
      "id": "r-e-cobb"
    },
    {
      "name": "D. Coker Nelson",
      "role": "Roving officer",
      "facts": "Listed among staff on duty; appears in the report’s account of calls for assistance during the disturbance and fire.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10, 13–14",
      "limits": "Newspaper spellings vary, including Cocker Nelson. Do not infer a different person solely from spelling.",
      "id": "d-coker-nelson"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. E. Acree",
      "role": "Camp captain",
      "facts": "Listed as captain; signed July 19 affidavit saying fire plan 64-M8 had been posted about July 1, 1964 and staff had read and initialed it.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10, 19",
      "limits": "The affidavit establishes his assertion, not independent verification that each required action occurred during the fire.",
      "id": "c-e-acree"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. E. Mayne",
      "role": "Camp sergeant",
      "facts": "Listed as sergeant; narrative describes his inquest testimony. George E. Mayne, Jr. notarized Acree’s affidavit.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10, 15–16, 19",
      "limits": "Initials and title vary in newspaper accounts. Do not treat the early gas-line account as the investigation’s final finding.",
      "id": "g-e-mayne"
    },
    {
      "name": "Louie L. Wainwright",
      "role": "Director, Division of Corrections",
      "facts": "Recipient of the special investigation. Correspondence and board records document his proposed camp closures, staffing and funding request, and reported changes to keys and fire precautions.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 7–10; also S1805 PDF 10–12",
      "limits": "An administrative assertion or proposal is not proof that a change was completed.",
      "id": "louie-wainwright"
    },
    {
      "name": "L. W. Griffith",
      "role": "Superintendent of road prisons",
      "facts": "Listed as superintendent; testified at inquest and issued the June 25, 1964 fire plan.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10, 15–16, 20–21",
      "limits": "The plan is present; the full transcript of his testimony is not.",
      "id": "l-w-griffith"
    },
    {
      "name": "O. P. Constant",
      "role": "Assistant superintendent of road prisons",
      "facts": "Listed in the investigation’s personnel roster.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10",
      "limits": "No separate account of his actions established from this roster.",
      "id": "o-p-constant"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. W. Brantley, Jr.",
      "role": "Administrative assistant, road prisons",
      "facts": "Listed in the investigation’s personnel roster.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10",
      "limits": "No separate account of his actions established from this roster.",
      "id": "r-w-brantley-jr"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. C. Henderson",
      "role": "Special agent",
      "facts": "Listed among Division of Corrections personnel.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10",
      "limits": "No separate individual investigative file received.",
      "id": "r-c-henderson"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. J. Stewart",
      "role": "Physician",
      "facts": "Listed as M.D. in the personnel roster.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10",
      "limits": "Do not infer an autopsy role solely from this listing.",
      "id": "t-j-stewart"
    },
    {
      "name": "Marvin Free",
      "role": "State Road Department foreman",
      "facts": "Listed among State Road Department personnel.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10",
      "limits": "Role listed; individual testimony not supplied.",
      "id": "marvin-free"
    },
    {
      "name": "Pasco Rowell",
      "role": "State Road Department foreman",
      "facts": "Listed in the personnel roster. Early newspaper accounts attribute a racial-fight explanation to a foreman whose surname is printed Rowells.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10; early AP report July 17",
      "limits": "The investigation and reproduced verdict later reject evidence of racial violence; the early account is not a settled finding.",
      "id": "pasco-rowell"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. O. Jones",
      "role": "State Road Department truck driver",
      "facts": "Listed among State Road Department personnel.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 10",
      "limits": "No separate individual account supplied.",
      "id": "j-o-jones"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. B. Gramling",
      "role": "Prison inspector and investigator",
      "facts": "One of three named authors of the special investigation.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 9, 18",
      "limits": "An author of the official account, not independent corroboration of it.",
      "id": "r-b-gramling"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. P. McLendon",
      "role": "Prison inspector and investigator",
      "facts": "Coauthor of the special investigation; evidence inventory lists 12 photographs he made July 17.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 9, 11, 18",
      "limits": "Photographs are listed but not present as a complete labeled evidence set in the delivery.",
      "id": "r-p-mclendon"
    },
    {
      "name": "Paul J. Eubanks",
      "role": "Superintendent, Apalachee Correctional Institution",
      "facts": "Coauthor of the special investigation; report describes survivor transfers to Apalachee and further statements there.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 9, 16–18",
      "limits": "Referenced individual statements are not supplied.",
      "id": "paul-j-eubanks"
    },
    {
      "name": "William F. Quick",
      "role": "Governor’s investigator",
      "facts": "Associate investigator in report. Stafford describes an August 16 meeting with Cole’s father and Quick, typed questions, and further investigative work.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 2–3, 9",
      "limits": "Original questions, notes and complete Quick reports remain leads. Bill Quick is the name used in Stafford’s letter.",
      "id": "william-f-quick"
    },
    {
      "name": "Donald L. Stevenson",
      "role": "State Fire Marshal investigator",
      "facts": "Named associate investigator; the evidence inventory credits him with finding a Timex watch in shower-room debris, stopped at 9:08.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 9, 11",
      "limits": "The stopped watch does not independently establish the ignition time.",
      "id": "donald-l-stevenson"
    },
    {
      "name": "James McCall",
      "role": "Attorney General’s office investigator",
      "facts": "Listed as an associate investigator.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 9",
      "limits": "Distinct listing from County Judge Mahlon C. McCall; do not merge them.",
      "id": "james-mccall"
    },
    {
      "name": "George E. Watts, Jr.",
      "role": "Attorney General’s office investigator",
      "facts": "Listed as an associate investigator.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 9",
      "limits": "No individual notes supplied.",
      "id": "george-e-watts-jr"
    },
    {
      "name": "Arthur S. Mann",
      "role": "Attorney General’s office investigator",
      "facts": "Listed as an associate investigator.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 9",
      "limits": "No individual notes supplied.",
      "id": "arthur-s-mann"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mahlon C. McCall",
      "role": "County judge / coroner",
      "facts": "The report identifies the coroner and describes the July 17–18 inquest, site visit and verdict.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 15–16",
      "limits": "The report reproduces the verdict, but is not the original signed coroner’s return or complete transcript.",
      "id": "mahlon-c-mccall"
    },
    {
      "name": "William H. Stafford, Jr.",
      "role": "State attorney, First Judicial Circuit",
      "facts": "His November 29 letter describes his office’s role in identification and inquest work, correspondence with the Cole family, and opposition to convening a grand jury.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 2–3, 15–16",
      "limits": "The letter is Stafford’s account of family concerns. His characterization of a grieving relative is not adopted as fact.",
      "id": "william-h-stafford-jr"
    },
    {
      "name": "Curtis Golden",
      "role": "Assistant state attorney",
      "facts": "Named in the account of arrangements for the inquest and advice concerning funeral services.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 15–16",
      "limits": "Complete office files and funeral procurement documents not received.",
      "id": "curtis-golden"
    },
    {
      "name": "Newton V. McGuffin, Jr.",
      "role": "Deputy / temporary morgue custody",
      "facts": "Report identifies him in connection with custody of the temporary morgue jointly with corrections personnel.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 15",
      "limits": "Original body-custody records remain sought.",
      "id": "newton-v-mcguffin-jr"
    },
    {
      "name": "Laraine Cole",
      "role": "Family member",
      "facts": "Stafford identifies her as David F. Cole’s widow and discusses her requests for information and concerns about treatment, transfer and the response to the fire.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 2–3",
      "limits": "Her original letter is not in the supplied set. Hearsay about a refusal to open the door is not established fact.",
      "id": "laraine-cole"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. C. Cole",
      "role": "Family member",
      "facts": "Identified by Stafford as David Cole’s father; met Stafford and Quick on August 16 and supplied typed questions.",
      "source": "S923",
      "pages": "PDF 2–3",
      "limits": "The original questions and a direct family account are missing.",
      "id": "r-c-cole"
    },
    {
      "name": "Willie Mae Mitchell",
      "role": "Family member represented in correspondence",
      "facts": "Attorney Earle V. Rifas’s July 20 letter seeks Lee Andrew Mitchell’s remains and assistance with funeral costs on her behalf.",
      "source": "S1805",
      "pages": "PDF 13–14",
      "limits": "Do not infer absence of family interest from the investigation’s unclaimed-body label; exact relationship should follow the letter rather than assumption.",
      "id": "willie-mae-mitchell"
    },
    {
      "name": "Earle V. Rifas",
      "role": "Attorney",
      "facts": "Wrote July 20 on behalf of Willie Mae Mitchell concerning remains and funeral costs.",
      "source": "S1805",
      "pages": "PDF 14",
      "limits": "No subsequent disposition of the request is established by this letter.",
      "id": "earle-v-rifas"
    }
  ]
}