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May 9, 1918
The bodies weren’t found for a week.
When a relative finally approached the site of one of Florida’s most chilling Green Swamp murders, buzzards were circling the roof. What was found inside was the kind of scene that gets passed down for generations – not as history, but as warning.
Isham “Isom” Stewart, 58, and his wife Sarah “Sallie” Stewart, 73, had been axed to death in their beds. The coroner’s report was brief and brutal: killed by an axe, both of them, sometime around the night of May 9th. By the time the bodies were discovered, decomposition had already set in. Authorities broke down a wall of the cabin to remove the remains.
They were buried twenty yards away, on the same property where they died.
The Motive
Isom Stewart had spent most of his life as a bachelor and horse farmer. He married Sallie late – she was fifteen years older, a widow with children from a previous marriage. They had no children together. They kept to themselves, deep in the swamp, the way people did.
What drew attention was the money. Isom didn’t trust banks – not uncommon in 1918, with World War I still grinding and financial instability fresh in everyone’s memory. He withdrew everything and brought it home. Word spread, the way it always does.
Sallie’s grandson, Joshua Browning, heard about it. So did his friend, John Tucker.
On the evening of May 9th, the two men arrived at the homestead. They ate supper with the old couple. They stayed the night. And sometime around 9 p.m., when Isom and Sallie had gone to bed, Tucker picked up an axe.
The motive was $1,500.
Days later, Browning’s father appeared with a brand new automobile – a purchase that made no sense on his income. Tucker handed $121 to a relative and said nothing. Witnesses placed both men at the train depot together the week before. The sheriff didn’t need long.
Both men were arrested, tried, and sentenced to 20 years at Raiford Prison. Browning eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Tucker’s fate is documented – he died in 1951, his grave in the old Tuckertown Cemetery.
Browning’s fate took a stranger turn. Around 1928, he escaped with another inmate named Luther Wilson – Wilson was killed in a shootout with authorities. According to legend, Browning returned to the Green Swamp to recover money he’d buried after the murders. He gave himself up after ten years on the run and was released from prison in December 1938.
What’s Still Out There
The original cabin burned in a forest fire sometime in the 1920s. A replacement structure was built later and still stands near the site – weathered, half-open to the elements, the kind of thing that gives hikers pause when they stumble across it miles from anywhere.
Isom and Sallie Stewart are buried on the property. A small fenced cemetery, historical plaques, gravestones that visitors have been quietly photographing for decades. The inscription doesn’t mince words.
Axe murdered together in their home by Sallie’s grandson Joshua Browning and his friend John Tucker.
— Gravestone inscription, Stewart Homestead Cemetery
The land around it hasn’t changed much. It’s still swamp. Still remote. Still quiet in the way that makes you aware of every sound.
Video: 1918 Double Homicide: Stewart Homestead and Gravesite at Green Swamp – via YouTube
We Haven’t Been There Yet
This is a research post. The Stewart Homestead is on the list – the visit is coming, and when it happens, the field report and photos will follow as Part 2.
Access to the site requires hiking several miles into the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve. Depending on the season, a Florida hunting license or wildlife management area permit may be required. Check current access requirements with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission before heading out.
When we go, we’ll document what’s actually there. The structure. The graves. What it feels like to stand in a place like that.
Stay tuned.
Sources: Southwest Florida Water Management District, Abandoned Florida, Lost In The States, Find A Grave, Clear Landing
That’s so creepy! I hope nothing follows me back home from here.
Reminds me of the hog trail murders, I hear a lot about that.
I know Lee county is haunted and there is plenty of spooky places in buckingham.
Thanks Alex! The Hog Trail Murders are actually next on the list. Lee and Charlotte County have some dark history that doesn’t get talked about enough. Stay tuned.