George Baber
- Sheriff Caption: Historical Collections of Georgia — During the session of one of the Courts at which Judge Warner presided, a man somewhat intoxicated, or pretending to be so, became very boisterous, disturbing the business of the Court. The judge ordered the Sheriff to take him away, and request his friends to keep him away, but in a few minutes he returned more vociferous than ever, cursing the Court and its officers, telling the judge to put him in jail. The judge hesitated for a moment, and then very deliberately ordered the Sheriff to take the disturber of the public business and place his head under the horse lot fence, until he became sober. The Sheriff promptly executed the order, and shortly afterwards, when he was wanted in Court, he could not be found, and it was ascertained that, in obedience to what he considered the order of the judge, after putting the man’s neck between the heavy rails of the fence, about two feet from the ground, his body on one side, and his head on the other, he had taken his seat on the top rail of the fence above his prisoner, that he might be securely kept. The prisoner, however, soon reported himself sober, and was released. The next morning he met the judge, and after thanking him for his imprisonment, said that he had made a sober man of him for life.
George Baber was sheriff in 1834. The act of the state legislature appointed, essentially, a special election to fill the constitutional offices until the regularly scheduled election of county officers for the state. Martin, the initial sheriff, served only for the first year. Baber became the first sheriff of Cobb County to serve the full term for the office.
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