William Grady “Roosterman” Bagby, one of the last depression-era bandits – Cobb Courier

[Editor’s note: This is an evergreen article I frequently resurrect and rework as our readership increases, because the Bagby brothers were a fascinating throwback to Depression-era roving bandits, and they operated on the Chattahoochee River near the crossing at South Cobb Drive.] There is a cluster of Bagby family graves in Riverview Memorial Park cemetery in Cobb County. The cemetery is on the edge of the Chattahoochee River, adjacent to the much older Hooper- McWilliams Cemetery. The family patriarch, Hunter Bagby, and his wife, sons, and daughters are buried there. However, the most locally famous member of the family was William Grady Bagby, who was known as “Roosterman.” Bagby was named “Roosting Man” by local police for his habit of “roosting” in trees to avoid capture. Cobb County residents abbreviated “Roosting Man” to “Roosterman.” Bagby was born in Rome, Georgia, in 1916 to Hunter Berry Bagby and Jennie M. Bagby. At some point before 1940, their large family moved to Chattahoochee, Georgia, a mill town located on Bolton Road. The area is now the Whittier Mill neighborhood. Roosterman’s father, Hunter, and his then 16-year-old brother, Vertice, worked at Whittier Mill. Mill life was rough, and being a child of the
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