Miscellaneous Newspaper Articles
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Source: Elyria Independent Democrat, Elyria, Ohio,
August 18, 1875 THE GALLOWS
Nashville, Tenn., Aug 13, A Knoxville Tenn.,special to the
Banner says:
At an early hour crowds poured in from the country to witness
the execution of John Webb. The streets near the jail, were thronged
with an immense crowd. It was with difficulty that the guards
could prevent the crowd from breaking down the jail fence so
eager were they to see.
He partook heartily of a breakfast and called the attention of the guards to the fact that it was the last new suit of black clothes taken (given) him by his brother. At ten o'clock, when he dressed, he asked the Sheriff for a razor to shave which he refused, fearing violence. This angered him much and he told the sheriff to go to hell and take it with him. At .11:30 the death warrant was read to him, when he asked to read it himself. After finishing he raised his hand and declared : "Before God my execution is unjust,'' and kissed the crucifix he held, given him by the priest. He also added that he forgave everybody, but it was unjust to hang an innocent man, before leaving the jail he bid Ayers good bye, saying "Old fellow, you'll have to pray mighty hard for forgiveness of murder you have caused, if you get to heaven.'' The prisoner walked promptly to the wagon with his wife on his arm, accompanied also by Sheriff Swan, the deputies and a priest. His wife was much affected, and Webb endeavored to console her. The procession moved to the gallows, about a mile, with the sheriff's posse fifty strong, the immense crowd following. Arriving there, a circle was formed by two military companies and the posse. The wagon was driven immediately under the gallows, when the prisoner briefly addressed the crowd as follows: ''The statement I made is true. I die an innocent man. They are killing me for nothing. I put my trust in God. I think I have been forgiven". He then requested the Sheriff to call others, Mr. Haskins particularly, to whom he said, "I want to say to you it is a serious thing you've done. If you want to, kill a man, but don't swear his life away". He then denounced the whole party as having sworn to lies. Then turning to James White, he said: "The night of the murder I staid with you, you know." He then handed a letter to Huckaby and continued his remarks to the crowd, saying: ... want to see poor old John Webb hung. I prayed for all last night. Look at me and mark what I say, I die innocent." The mayor asked him who was guilty if he was innocent, which he declined to answer, saying Captain Washington had the true statement and it would be given to the public. His wife implored him to tell all he knew. Just then a messenger came and informed Webb of the death of his sister, and the funeral today. He received the news with apathetic calmness, and his bold blue eyes wore a far off look as though piercing the veil of eternity. His wife urged him to pray for pardon, to which he replied: "My dear wife, I would rather be in my place than that of many I see here". He showed great nerve and held up unflinchingly to the last. When binding his legs he offered his hand saying: "You have hold of the best soldier you ever had" and amid the agonizing screams of his wife he mounted the rear seat of the wagon, telling the people to look, saying: "I am the best piece of furniture you have seen for many a day". His wife was then lead away from the horrible scene, the black cap was then drawn over his face and the noose adjusted, when the wagon moved and Webb leaned forward and easing himself off, at 1:20 was swinging in the air. He was pronounced lifeless in twenty minutes, and when taken down presented a natural appearance. Source: Campbell County Tennessee Obituaries 1821-1889 By Paul W. Lemasters Newcomb,Tenn.,Sept.24, 1884.The Chronicle: Republican Chronicle, Knoxville,Tn,Oct. 1, 1884,Vol.XLVI,p.7. Source: Trenton Times, Trenton, New Jersey, June 4, 1890 A Bloodthirsty Marshal
KXOXVILI.E, Tenn.,June 4.
Reports received here state that. Bud Lindsay, deputy United
States marshal, shot and killed Kilts, a distiller, in Campbell
county Lindsay got enraged because Kilts refused to sell him a smaller quantity of whisky than ten gallons.
The distiller's son, thinking his father in danger, threw a stone at Lindsay. Lindsay then
attempted to shoot Kilts, but his party took his pistols from
him. They left, and when a mile away; Lindsay asked for his pistols,
saying that he would do no harm with them. He got them and immediately
rode back to Kilts house. The latter saw him come and locked
the door, but Lindsay broke it down and shot Kilts twice, killing
him instantly. He then attempted to shoot the boy, but missed
him and hit a little girl, slightly wounding her. It is reported
that Lindsay's party arrested him and gave him over to the sheriff of the county.
Lindsay is a desperate character, having murdered a prominent citizen of Campbell
county five years ago, but escaped through lack of evidence.
Source: Marion Daily Star, Marion, OH, Saturday, July 30,
1892 OUTAGE and LYNCHING A telegram arrived at 12:30 this morning states that the two men were lynched about midnight. A mob of 150 men went to Jacksborough. There they found the two prisoners hiding in a house. The officers were overpowered and the men carried out to a tree. They were made to stand on a gate until the ropes were fixed. Then the gate was swung around on its hinges and both men went into eternity side by side. Source: Stevens Point Journal, Stevens
Point, Wisconsin, Aug 6, 1892 John Willis and Andy Beshears were lynched by a
mob in Campbell co., Tenn., for criminally assaulting
Mrs. William Dilks.
Source: Daily Citizen, Iowa City, Iowa,
August 24, 1892 WILL TRY SMOKE
Plan to Capture the Missing Riotous Miners at
Coal Creek
Gen. Carnes Thinks That Smoking the Mines Will
Drive Out the FugitivesMore Arrests
A Novel Method COAL CREEK, Teun., Aug. 24,A sensation was created here Monday night by the statement that the authorities have determined to smoke the mines and thus drive out miners who are believed to be hiding in them. It has been suspected for some tlme that several of the much- wanted leaders of the riotors had found shelter in the mines, where they have been comparatively safe from pursuit, and it would be folly for the soldiers to attempt to find them. The subject of trying to smoke them out has been discussed for some days, and the statement is authoritatively made that it has been decided to take such action. More Arrests Twenty-three men, supposed to be in sympathy with
the miners, were arrested near here and locked up. Several of
them are suspected of holding up a mail train between Clinton and Coal Creek last Thursday night. One
of the suspects is Jim Hatmaker, son of John Hatmaker,
who led the attack on the stockade at Oliver Springs
last Tuesday. Every possible attempt is being made
to apprehend the elder Hatmaker.
Troops to be reinfornced The troops at Fort Anderson are to be strengthened still further. Gen. Norman has ordered all absent members of Battery A and Companies C and F F to report to Gen. Weakley for orders to go to their commands at Coal Creek. Gen. Norman was asked what he knew about the arrest of Labor Commissioner Ford, and said: "I am informed that when Gen. Carnes entered the town Mr. Ford was there and he was placed under arrest, as were others who were in the place. Gen. Carnes received information of his presence and his position as labor commissioner, and Mr. Ford thereupon received the privileges of the town. Later, I am informed, Gen, Carnes had information regarding Mr. Ford's actions and immediately had him put under formal arrest," Will Rebuild Stockades The prison inspectors and the leasees had a conference
concerning the convicts, and it is given out that the leasees will rebuild
the stockades at Inman, Oliver Springs and Tracy
City and return the convicts to those places under
heavy guard.
Had a Narrow Escape COAL CREEK, Tenn., Aug. 24, About 10
o'clock Monday night a party of citizens through a strategy secured the notorious agitator,
Bud Lindsay, who has been a prisoner here for the
last two days, from his guards and conducted him
up the valley toward Briceville, a few miles south
of this place, for the purpose of lynching him. They were fully determined and would undoubtedly have
carried out their plan but for the pitiable pleading of Lindsay and his
solemn promise to go with the troops and point out
every man in the mountains who was implicated in
the miners troubles. His life was spared on that condition. He was brought back
to Coal Creek and will be used to identify outlaws.
Source: Daily Advocate, Newark, Ohio, December
8, 1892 Three Men Lynched.
Williamsburg, Ky.. Dec. 8. Two negroes and one white
man were lynched yesterday morning, at 3:30 o'clock, by
a mob from Jellico, Tenn. The men were taken from the custody
of the sheriff and hanged to trees. They had
outraged and brutally murdered, a white girl named Mildred Bryant near Jellico. They cut
her throat and threw her body into a culvert, where it
was found.
Source: Davenport Daily Leader, Davenport, Iowa, August
11, 1893 NOW THE SOLDIERS They Adopt the Methods of Judge
Lynch
MORE LAWLESSNESS IN TENNESSEE.
State Troops Take a Man from his House to "Avenge" the
Death of a Comrade -
A Miner Forced to Give Evidence by Being Strung
Up - Probability of Further Bloodshed in the Coal Creek District. Knoxville, Aug.
11 Dick Drummond, the assassin of Private
William Loughery at Briceville, Monday night, was
taken from his boarding house and hanged from a high
railroad trestle near that village. The deed is supposed
to have been committed by a number of Fort Anderson
soldiers, who were comrades of the murdered private. After the lynching Drummond was left
hanging to the trestle until morning, when his body was cut down and the coroner's inquest
held, which reported death at the hands of unknown
persons.
Miners Threaten the Military
The affair created the greatest excitement in the mining districts, and many were the threats made against the soldiers. The evidence against Drummond was obtained by the stringing up of a miner named Elkins, who, to save himself from death at the hands of the soldiers, divulged the whole story, which implicated Drummond and a miner named Moore, the last named whom escaped. Dave Woods, a notorious character, was run out of the district to keep from being lynched. A Thousand Men on a Strike
When the news of the trouble first became known in Knoxville, some excitement was caused and the universal opinion of all was that the labor riots of last summer are about on the eve of repetition. One thousand miners have gone out on a general strike from the thirteen mines located in and around Coal Creek and Briceville. Troops in Readiness to Move
A dispatch received from Lieutenant Fiffe at Fort
Anderson corroborates the above, and says that trouble is feared, though they are
fully prepared to meet any emergency.
Company D, of this city, is now in readiness and
will go to Coal Creek on a moments notice
Source: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, Oct 20, 1893 BUD LINDSAY IS HARD TO KILL
He Is So Used to Being Shot That He Will Recover.
Knoxville, Tenn., October 19.(Special.)
Bud Lindsay still lives. Contrary
to universal expectation that noted desperado failed to succumb
to the two bullets shot into his chest by Deputy United States
Marshal J. M. McGhee at Jacksboro yesterday afternoon. The wounds
inflicted upon Lindsay would, according to the Jacksboro physicians,
have proved fatal to a man of any ordinary physique, but
they failed to cause the death of Lindsay. The man has been shot
many times before and has been slashed and cut in dozens of places
and lived through all. When the doctors examined the wounds inflicted
upon him by McGhee they at once pronounced them fatal, and it
was confidently expected that the man, whose name has long been
a terror in the Coal Creek region, would be a corpse when the
sun arose this morning. On the contrary. Lindsay was not
only alive at that hour but was demanding something to eat, asserting that he was as
hungry as a wolf. After eating the food given him he showed a disposition to talk. "That
fellow, said he, "thought he had me, but I knew better. That
kind of people can*t kill Bud Lindsay." The wounded man, lying
flat on his back as he was, sent word to McGhee that he had better
leave the country as he, Lindsay, intended to be "stirring his
stumps" in a few days, when there would certainly not be sufficient room for him and McGhee in
the same county. The message was delivered to McGhee, who laughed at it contemptuously.
The doctors attending Lindsay regard his vitality as something
wonderful. One of the bullets lodged in the region of the heart but to Lindsay it seems no more than
a flesh wound. It is now the impression that.he will recover, although his condition
may at any moment take a turn for the worse and his wounds result
in his death. Lindsay is a magnificent specimen of physical manhood,
standing six feet four in his socks. His chest is massive and
his frame that of a giant. His oldest brother, Mr. Bart Lindsay,
is the district attorney of the Knoxville district, and is very
highly esteemed here.
Source: Stevens Point Journal, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Oct.
28, 1893 SHOT DOWN.
A Tennessee Desperado Mortally Wounded by A Marshall
KNOXVILLE, Tenn, Oct. 20. Bud Lindsey, one of
the most-noted desperadoes in this section was shot and mortally wounded near Jacksboro
Wednesday afternoon by J. N. McGhee, a deputy United States
marshal. Lindsey was one of the leaders in the Coal Creek mining troubles and it was he who captured Gen.
Anderson, commander of the state troops, and held him prisoner until released
by Gen. Carnes' command. He was for several years a deputy United States marshal
and a terror to the moonshiners.
Source: Stevens Point Journal, Steven's Point, Wisconsin, Feb.
17, 1894 LYNCHED BY MASKED MEN
A Colored Man Taken from his Captors at Jellico, Tenn.,
and Executed
JELLICO, Tenn., Feb. 12, - Henry McCreeg, a negro,
assaulted Mrs.Taylor Saturday morning near Buckeye and brutally
beat her, leaving her more dead than alive. Hundreds of men searched the country all day long Saturday, and Sunday
morning renewed the search, with success. The negro was captured
at Oswego by the officers, who started with him on the train for Jacksboro jail. At Buckeye they
were met by a mob and overpowered and the prisoner taken from
them. The officers finally induced the mob to give McCreeg
a trial before a justice of tbe peace. There were two justices
in the crowd, and after going through the form of a trial the
prisoner was held without bail. Before the mitimus could be
written four masked men came out of Taylor's house, where the
negro had been taken for identification by Mrs. Taylor, and
seized the prisoner and rushed him up a ravine. The mob kept
the officers back until the four masked men had disappeared
with the negro. Several shots were soon heard and in a short
time the crowd was permitted to explore the thicket to which
McCreeg had been taken. They soon came upon his lifeless body
hanging from a tree.
Source: News, Frederick, Maryland, May 10, 1894 A Sheriff Murdered His Brother and Official Predecessor Also
Assassinated
KNOXVILLE, Tenn, May 10
A telegram from Montgomery, W.V., tells of the probable fala!
shooting of Sheriff Burnett of Campbell county. Tenn., at that place. One year
ago Sheriff John Burnett of Campbell county, was on a Knoxvilie
and Ohio passenger train near this city, while trying to arrest
an escaped prisoner named Jones, who had been rescued from him
on the previous day by the Smith brothers. In the riot that followed
on the train, besides Sheriff Burnett, one of the Smiths was killed and a half a dozen others
were injured. The affair took place on a Saturday,
next day one of tbe Smiths, who had been placed in jail at Jacksboro
was lynched. The other one, Jim Smith, however, escaped.
He was located a few days ago in West Virginia by Sheriff Bud
Burnett, Campbell county, who was appointed to fill out the unfinished time of his brother, and had gone
to West Virginia to make the arrest.
Source: Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois, March 16,
1895 Deputy Killed and Robbed.
Knoxville, Tenn., March 15
Deputy Collector James T. Taylor was waylaid, shot
and robbed of $244 on Jellico mountain, Campbell county, yesterday. Chief Raiding
Deputy Taylor and several United States marshals were dispatched from here to
the scene of the tragedy. Collector Taylor was a son
of ex-Sheriff Taylor of Fentress county, who made a reputation
by capturing one of the James gang.
Source: Ohio Democrat, New Philadelphia, Ohio, April
2, 1896 Three Tragedies
JELLICO,Tenn., March 31. Three tragedies occurred here
within 15 hours and a father and son were among the victims.
In a drunken quarrel, James Raines was shot and mortally
wounded by David Holland. Both were miners. While the father
lay at home, his family expecting every moment to be his
last, his son, Zeb Raines, and Frank Susey engaged in a row. Raines attacked Susey with a lump of coal,
whereupon Susey drew a pistol and shot Raines three-times
in the breast Raines fell to the ground a corpse. A man
named Vickers was shot and is not expected to live
Source: Broad Ax, Salt Lake City, Utah, April
3, 1897 His Sin Caused Suicide
Elihu Huddleston of near Jellico, Tenn., crazed through
fear of prosecution, hanged himself with a trace
chain to a limb of a tree in the woods near his
home. He got up about 3 o'clock In the morning
to start to the city. When he failed to meet a
friend in Jellico search was made by the neighbors,
and his body was found swinging from a tree. He
had made a noose of the chain and put it around
his neck. Huddleston had married about two years ago. He became too familiar
with a relative, it is claimed. This 'affair' crazed
Huddleston, who in his ravings would say: "I have
destroyed my friends; I have destroyed my folks,
and I have destroyed myself".
Source: Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne,
Indiana June 3, 1897 HUNTSVILLE, Tenn., June 3. Esquire Wm. Claxton,
of Campbell county, was shot from ambush and
killed by some unknown party yesterday afternoon
at the foot of Braden mountain. Constable Pollmore, who was with
Claxton, is reported to have taken to his heels.
The affair, it is understood, grew out of a feud
between Claxton and the Hughetts, of that neighborhood.
Claxton shot Elsewick Hughett from ambush in
the same neighborhood about two months ago. Claxton
was indicted and under bond for the murder of
Wm. Murphy by lynching, and was under bond for
killing Hughett. The Claxtons,it is thought,
will accuse Henry Hughett of the killing of Wm.
Claxton and more trouble is expected.
Source: The Chattanooga Daily Times, Wednesday, 23 February 1898 Source: The Knoxville Daily Tribune, Tuesday, 22 February 1898. LaFollette, Tenn., Feb. 21.-(Special)-The first real serious trouble the citizens of this little town have ever seen here, occurred Saturday night, when two citizens, one an officer adn the other a well known young man shot each other to death. The officer killed was Chief of Police J.E. SHUMATE and the young man was Whit RUTHERFORD. The story of the double killing runs about as follows: On Saturday night Chief of Police SHUMATE was attending [a] meeting of the O. U. A. M. in their rooms upstairs on the main street of the town. Shots were fired in the street below and the officer rushed down to see a man with a gun just making his exit toward the city limits. Officer SHUMATE gave chase and when the corporation line was reached the young man with the gun stopped and when the officer placed him under arrest he said that SHUMATE was no officer, whereupon SHUMATE lighted a match to prove that he was an officer. When the light shone on the officer RUTHERFORD raised his gun and fired four times, but only one shot took effect. The officer quickly drew his revolver and fired four shots, all taking effect in RUTHERFORD's body. The men fell together and were dead in a few minutes. The only eye-witness to the killing was a young man named James COUL. The coroner's jury returned a verdict that both men came to their deaths from pistol shots, but as they killed each other no indictments could be found. The funerals of the young men were held Sunday afternoon and at the same time. The same minister preached both funerals and they were buried near each other in the same graveyard. The affair is very much regretted by the citizens of the little city which bears the name of being one of the quietest towns in East Tennessee.
Source: Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois;
February 22, 1898 Both Were Killed.
Knoxville, Tenn., Feb.
21 James Shumate, chief of police of LaFollette,
Tenn., attempted to arrest William Rutherford,
who was drunk. The latter shot the officer and
in the melee both were killed.
Source: Steubenville Herald Star, Steubenville, Ohio,
December 15, 1898 Fought a Duel to the Death.
Albany, Ky., Dec. 15. On a farm Fincastle, Tenn.,
just across the Kentucky line, John Morgan and
James Savage, farmers, fought with knives, and
both are dead. They disputed regarding a fence line.
Source: The Evening Democrat ,
Warren, PA, January 9, 1899 FOUR KILLED IN A WRECK.
Others Injured on a Branch of the
Knoxville Division, Southern Railroad
KNOXVILLE, Jan. 9. Four dead, two
injured, oue of these perhaps fatally,
and the loss of property of the Southern
railway to the amount of about $25,000,
is the result of a wreck which occurred
on the Knoxville and Ohio branch of
the Knoxville division of the Southern
railway west of Elk Valley. The dead
were:
Engineer J. D. Maxey.
Fireman Frank Reddy, colored.
Brakeman Ironza Hoover, colored
Flagman W.A. Dillon
Source: Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln,
Nebraska, June 11, 1901 KILLS KEEPER OF BLIND TIGER.
Grocer of Huntsville, Tenn, objects
to being a Prisoner.
HUNTSVILLE, Tenn.,June 10. John David
was killed by C. B. Byrd at Pioneer,Tenn.
David is said to have been conducting
a blind tiger near Byrd's store and Byrd
objected. David, it is alleged, confined
Byrd in a house for a day or two and
when David was about to enter the house
Byrd shot him. David, it Is said, has
killed four men.
Source: Coshocton Daily Age, Coshocton, Ohio,
7/25/1901 Arrested on Murder Charge.
Jacksboro, Term., July 25. Silas McNeely and Marion Moses, two well known young men, have been arrested and held for trial without bond for the murder of the two boys, Mynatt and Major Hatmaker. whose horribly mutilated bodies were found in a mill pond near here last Sunday. McNeely fled after the coroner's inquest but was captured. The excitement at the preliminary trial was intense, but violence was prevented by the officers. The men are confined in jail here Source: Clinton Gazette July 27, 1901 Boys Bound To Court Silas McNiely and Marion Moses Held For The Murder Of Mynatt and Weaver Hatmaker Source: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA, Feb.
3, 1903 KILLED BY WHITE MAN.
Serious Trouble May Result from Row Near
Jellico.
Knoxville, February 2 (Special) Jellico
- Jesse Pinkner and others were in a resort
conducted by Fannie Collins today when row
occurred. In which it is claimed Matt Hale
struck Pinkner over the head with a pistol. Pinker
left the house and was fired upon by James
Breeding, white. It Is charged that Breeding
emptied both loads of a shotgun into Pinkner's
breast, killing him instantly. Breeding escaped
and has not been captured. Considerable
feeling exists, and trouble is feared if
Breeding is brought back immediately. Negroes
have raised $50 reward and Governor Beckham
will be be asked to offer $200.
Source: Lima Times Democrat, Lima Ohio,
June 24, 1903 CASS JONES For Assaulting Young
Boy, Has Been Lynched
Elk Valley, Tenn., June 24.
Cass Jones,the negro accused
of assaulting 12 year old Harry
Bruce, yesterday, was
caught during the night, and
immediately taken before his little
victim, who identified him. Jones
broke down, and confessed his crime.
He was promptly strung up at day-light,
and his body riddled with bullets.
Source: Powells Valley Courier LaFollette,
Campbell County, Tennessee Thursday, April
9, 1903 Vol.1 No. 3 Pg.2 Miscellaneous News Clippings The eleven year old son of John Thomas
was accidentally killed Saturday evening,
by the explosion of a dynamite cap, at
his home near the coke ovens. The remains
were laid to rest as Duglas Cemetery Sunday.
Our Sympathy goes to the bereaved family.
Attorney Price leaves this week for
a two week's business trip to Knoxville
and Johnson city.
A small child of deputy sheriff John Irven died Saturday and was buried at Douglas Chapel Sunday. The family have the sympathy of everyone. Mr. R.M. Humley and two daughters, Miss Olie and Nora, spent part of the last week at home of the young ladies grandmother, Mrs. C.T. Cuncan, near Coal Creek. Died, at the home of his father near College Hill, on Sunday morning, of typhoid fever, David Johnson. Mr. Johnson was a young beloved by all who knew him. Rev. Hazen Oakes was in Knoxville the last of the week. Source: Powells Valley Courier LaFollette,
Campbell County, Tennessee Thursday,
Thursday, April 16, 1903 Vol. 1 No. 4
Pg.2 Killing Near Clinton
Joseph C. Strader, on of the most substantial business men of Clinton and Anderson County, member of the livery firm of Wallace & Strader, was found murdered by the public roadside six miles south of Clinton Tuesday afternoon about 3 o'clock by a passerby. Life had fled, but the body was yet warm. A deep fracture at the base of the skull silently told the tale of an awful crime. Railroad Foreman Hammond, of the Eubanks, Underwood & Co., railroad camps, is now lying in Anderson county jail charged with the deed. Hammond confessed, but claims he killed Strader as a result
of a quarrel in self defense. He his his victim with a piece
of railing.
Source: Cambridge Jeffersonian, Cambridge, Ohio,
June 18, 1903 MURDERER CAPTURED
Marshal Secrest of Pleasnt City, Earns a Reward of $50 By
Capturing a Man there Wanted in Jellico, Tenn. for Murder
Marshal "Jack" Secrest, of Pleasant City, arrested John Breeden,
alias John Stanley, under indictment for the murder of a negro
in Campbell county, Tenn., and wired the authorities of that
county. S. A. Kearney and Chas. Gurley, of Jellico, Tenn., deputy
sheriffs of Campbell county, arrived on the scene Tuesday and
fully identified the suspect, when Mayor Garber, Marshal Secrest
and said deputies brought him to Cambridge jail last night. The
reward was deposited with Postmaster Stranathan of Pleasant City.
An interview Wednesday resulted in the prisoner consenting to return without requisition papers, and the reward being turned over to Marshal Secrest, the officers took their departure with the prisoner. Mrs. Breeden came up from Pleasant City and saw her husband before he left for the south. Source: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia,
May 31, 1904 Three Killed by Explosion
Railroad Men Receive Fatal Injuries by Premature Blast;
Knoxville, May 30.- Four men were killed and two fatally
injured today in a dynamite explosion which occured near
Warwick, on the Knoxville, and Jellico branch of Louisville
Nashville road. The dead- JAMES BIRCHELL AND SON JOHN
JOHN HUNLEY HENRY MCALISTER All the dead are residents of Campbell
county, Tennessee. The injured men are Hal
Hunley and George Ridenour. The latters' eyes were blown
out and the bodies of both lacerated by stones. The accident
was due to the carelessness of men at work In a rock
cut.
Source: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA September
24, 1904 EXPLOSION CAUSES DEATH.
Jellico Powder Company Scene of Bad Accident.
Jellico, Tenn., September 23 A terrific explosion occurred about 8 o'clock this morning, at the Jellico Powder Company's works, about a mile from this place. Lee Hill was killed and Sam Harvey is thought to be fatally wounded. The accident occurred in the building known as the Corning depot, and the structure with Its contents was completely demolished. The clothing was burned entirely from Hill's body and his form was burned almost to a crisp. Harvey was also very severely burned. The cause of the disaster is unknown. Source: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, September 25,
1904 COFFIN AND CORPSE ESCAPED UNHARMED KNOXVILLE. TENN., September 24 (Special.) The dead body, of James Hill, of Jelllco, Tenn., who was killed In a powder mill explosion at Jelllco Friday night, was In the baggage car of the east-bound train en route to Gaffney, S.C., for interment. The Coffin was unhurt, as was the body it contained. The remains were forwarded to Gaffney tonight. Source: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, 9/25/1904 NEW MARKET TRAIN ACCIDENT List Of The Dead victims Who Have Been Identified Ralph Mountcastle. Of Knoxville , Tenn Source: Decatur Daily Review,
Decatur, Illinois, August 16, 1905 Looking for Elihu Smith E. H. Smith, of LaFollette, Tenn.,
was in the city this morning looking for his brother, Ellhu Smith,
aged 19 years, who used to work around Forsyth. He left there last winter and came to Decatur and for awhile
worked for the Wabash. He left last spring.saying he was going
back home to Tennessee, but, he never showed up there. His brother
looked over the prisoners at the county jail, but Ellhu was not
among them, and he has not been arrested here for any offense
Source: The Washington Post
, Washington DC, April 19, 1907 Mother and Little Daughter Attacked by Masked Men.
HUSBAND HELPLESS WITNESS
Mrs. Frank.Belcher, Choked and Beaten by Her Assailants
at Kingsport, Tenn.,
May Die from Her Injuries Little Girl in Convulsions Was
Kicked Under the
Bed Posse Searching for Miscreants. Special to The Washington
Post.
Bristol, Tenn., April I8. - In the presence of her husband
and fourteen-year old
daughter, Mrs. Frank Belcher, of Kingsport, twenty miles
from Bristol, was assaulted at an early hour this morning by
two masked white men. They entered the room in which Belcher
and his wife were sleeping, shortly after midnight, and with
drawn pistols compelled the husband to get out of bed. He was
bound, and placed in one corner of the
room and ordered to be still, on penalty of his life. Mrs.
Belcher was then assaulted
by one of the men while the other attacked the fourteen-year-old
girl. The child went into convulsions, and was kicked under
the bed by her assailant, who afterward attacked Mrs. Belcher,
who was choked and beaten.
Husband Knocked Unconscious., Her husband was knocked over the head with a revolver when he made an attempt to rescue his wife and little daughter, and was rendered unconscious. The little girl was kicked several times by the men, and before they left they warned Mr. and Mrs. Belcher that they would repeat the crime
if she made any
attempt to scream or leave the house. They demanded on threat
of death, that
they never reveal the outrage. The matter was reported to
the authorities
at an early hour this morning, and a posse was rapidly formed,
but the criminals have not yet been apprehended. The men are
said to have worn tight fitting masks, but Mrs. Belcher says
she could identify them. A double lynching is assured if the
guilty men are captured.
Several posses to-night have taken up the search.
Assailants Strangers
The little town of Kingsport, which is on the line of the
South and Western Railway, the new road that is being built
through to South Carolina. The town recently has had an influx
of population due to the railroad construction, and it is believed
that the men who committed the assault are persons who came
there in connection with the railroad
work, as neither Mr. Belcher nor his wife ever saw them
before. Mrs. Belcher is in a critical condition, and physicians
say she may die. Prints of the fingernails of her assailants
are
on her throat, and she was beaten in the face and head and
some of her hair was pulled from her head in the struggle.
The little girl's condition is serious, but she will recover.
It was an hour after the masked men had left before she could
be restored to consciousness.
Mr. Belcher and family came to Kingsport 'recently from
Campbell County, Tenn., and he is associated with the construction
of the South and Western Railway
Source: Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA, December 27, 1907 CHILDREN WERE CREMATED
Boy of Five and Girl of Two Burned to Death
Jacksboro, Tenn., December 26.- The home-
of John Tillery, two miles from this place was destroyed
by fire today and two children, a boy five and a girl of
two years, were burned to death. They had been left alone in the house by the
parents.
Source: Mansfield News, December 11, 1911 ONE HUNDRED OR MORE DEAD
From the Mine Explosion and Majority of Bodies
Likely to Be Found Today
OVER HALF OF VICTIMS MARRIED MEN
Fifty-six Women Widowed and 184 Children Orphaned by
the Disaster at Briceville - Workmen Still Attempting to
Force the Cross Mountain Mine to Give up the Dead
Briceville, Tenn., Dec. 11 - With sixteen bodies recovered
and identified rescue parties today renewed their hacking
and digging in an attempt to force the big Cross Mountain
mine here to give up its dead. Having forced
their way three miles into the mountain and bratticed most of the mine's cross entries, members
of the rescue crew expect to stumble onto corpse strewn
chambers at any hour now.
Discovery of the first body of this morning came at
10 o'clock, when a dead miner was found in a sitting posture
in one of the interior chambers. He
was Andrew Johnson. It is estimated the explosion
rendered 56 women widows and made 184 children orphans. That
there are 100 or more dead men remaining in the mine there
is no doubt. All hope of rescuing any of the scores who
went to their toll Saturday morning to be embraced by death
has been abandoned. The discovery late last night eight
more bodies prompted crowds to gather at the death cave-in
early this morning. Weeping wives, made widows by Saturday's dust blast in the Knoxville Iron
company's mine, came to the shaft entrance in scores this
morning, prepared to meet their dead. In a warehouse
but a short step from the mine entrance are great aurabers
of coffins waiting for their occupants. Corpses in plenty
for these coffins will be found in the mine early this
afternoon, it is beiieved. Possibly the majority of the
victims will be found today.
Of the eight corpses discovered last night three were
sitting bolt upright in a mine car while the bodies of
five others were lying on the ground. Their
deaths came by explosion of dust. Charles Kesterson, whose body was among the
first discovered, was found at the telephone back in the
mine by the rescuing crew. Evidently Kesterson was trying
to phone news of the blast to the office of the mines when
he was struck by falling debris. His skull was badly mashed
and his body was cut.
Thousands Visited Scene.
At least 10.000 persons visited this hamlet and willing
workers were many. George P. Chanler. president of the
Tennessee Coal company, is in charge of the relief work.
He divided the men into gangs of 50 and sent each shift
into the working for two hours. Even when the air in the
mine was at its best they could not work longer in there. The throng of visitors is largely responsible for the
exhaustion of food supplies in Briceville. All stores are
bare of eatables and many went hungry. However,
hunger will not be long an added horror to relatives of
the Victims, as Knoxville" and other -cities are rushing
food supplies.
Straining on the ropes that keep the throng back from
the mine opening are the relatives of victims, anxiously
awaiting some word of life within the yawning mouth of
the death trap. The situation becomes more intense
as each car of debris is brought to the surface, for, its
driver might
bring some word, or with the debris, might be the body
of a loved one.
The shrill whistle of the special train bringing coffins
brought another horror to the already dazed inhabitants
of the little town. The special brought 100 boxes and they
were piled near the mouth of the mine.A terrible pall of silent sorrow exists about the mouth
of the mine as thousands congregate, some standing
for hours and others moving momentarily from one point
of vantage to another.
Officials Are Reticent. No official or semi-official opinion has been given
out as to the cause of the disaster. President T. I. Stephenson had nothing to say in answer
to this inquiry. It is generally believed
however, that the disaster was due to a dust explosion. Mine officials also continue to decline to give out
any positive information on the number of men who went
to work in the mine, but it is thought that the number
was between 100 and 200.
Source: Anderson County News, October
28, 1911 Kills His Cousin Source: Anderson County News, December
23, 1911 Betrayed By His Aunt Source: Anderson County News, March
16, 1912 Crime Of Long Ago State Vs Wm. Cross, three years in penitentiary. ?? week of ??? interest in criminal records. In September 1896, Wm. Cross aged 16 years, son of Prof. John E. Cross of Scarboro, shot and instantly killed Thos. Aslinger, a farmer at Scarboro. The men quarreled over quantity of crop grass hay while in the field and the act was committed with a hog rifle.Cross claimed Aslinger was advancing on him with a knife, although the prosecution refuted this with witnesses until the facts of the tragedy seemed to be a question of veracity.After the killing Cross fled to Morristown where he remained for a time, then went to west and lived with his aunt, Mrs. Letsinger at Malvern,Ark.In course of time he married a very estimable young woman of Malvern and one child was born to their home.Had he lived a sober life he might have carried his crime to unpunished to the grave,but demon drink shadowed his home and he grew from bad to worse, until his wife was forced to turn to the world to earn an honest living for herself and child.Last fall Cross was arrested for stealing $50 from his aunt, Mrs. Letsinger.The proff was not convicting and he was acquitted.His aunt became fearful of bodily harm and notifled the officers that he was wanted in Anderson County,Tenn., for killing a man in 1896.The Arkansas officiers wired Sheriff Smith who looked up the record and found the information true.He sent C.S. Hicks to Malvern for the prisoner about the middle of last December and the officer returned this man with out the formality of ? papers. Source: Anderson County News, March
14, 1913 Circuit Court Source: Anderson County News, May
24, 1913 Both Eyes Shot Out Source: Anderson County News, November
1, 1913 Jailed Without Bond Source: Anderson County News, November
1, 1913 Sentence Affirmed Source: Anderson County News, October
23, 1915 Tragedy At Caryville Source: Anderson County News, August
19, 1916 Tragedy In Tenth Source: Anderson County News, September
8, 1917 Shooting At Caryville Source: Clinton Courier, October
18, 1919 Noah Bunch Surrenders Source: The LaFollette Press, Thursday, 27 July 1921 Source: The LaFollette Press, 24 August 1921 Deputies C.P. McDONALD and A.J. WORTHAM give up lives in performance of Duty while attempted to arrest four outlaws. One of the worst tragedies ever enacted in the County was staged near Jellico last Monday night about 6 o'clock when Deputy Sheriffs C.P. McDONALD and A.J. WORTHAM were killed when they attempted to arrest Fred JONES, Virgil RENO, Mary BENNETT and Phoebe LANE near the Jellico-LaFollette pike just about High Cliff. During the afternoon it was reported that these two men and two women had been harassing pedestrians and shooting at automobiles that passed that way. About 6 o'clock Deputies McDONALD and WORTHAM went to the location where the part was in hiding. It is reported that one of the men said to the officers, "Don't you dare come down here," and when the officers started won the hill toward the lair the men opened fire killing the two officers instantly. Many conflicting reports have been circulated as to the exact details but the one prevailing here is to the effect that JONES' pistol hung up and refused to fire and he pitched it into the river. When JONES threw his gun away, RENO dropped his gun on the ground and threw up his hands. JONES sprang and got RENO'S pistol, jumped behind a tree and shot McDONALD through the side and the next shot penetrated the heart of WORTHAM. When JONES had emptied RENO's pistol he threw it also into the river. It is reported that when the officers fell, Hubert KING, the taxi driver who took the officers to the scene, fell to the ground as if shot. When he arose he had a large rock in each hand and demanded that they throw up their hands. It is reported that the men and women were arrested by KING, Harvey HARP, Hudson MILLER and John MOWRY and taken into Jellico. When the report spread, indignation rose to a high pitch. Determined men came from every direction into Jellico and for several hours it looked as if nothing could forestall a lynching. A strong guard was placed around the city jail and every precaution was taken to safeguard the prisoners. Sheriff R.M . HARMON had been notified by phone and he summoned a number of deputies and went through the mountains to Jellico. The prisoners were spirited away and brought to Jacksboro jail arriving about daylight. Another incident adding tot he excitement of the day was the arrest of Charley GURLEY and Sophia Fuson KELLY at LaFollette. A call had been sent in form Jellico to the night officer here to be on the watch for them. They are now in Jacksboro jail with several charges against them, among them, white slavery, complicity in the murder of the officers, etc. The preliminary hearing of the accused will be held at Jacksboro Friday. There has been no indication of mob violence since the prisoners have been in Jacksboro jail and none anticipated now. Source: Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tenn, August 26, 1921 MINISTER ARRESTED ON CHARGE OF BIGAMY
Chattanooga. Rev. William Bell, a minister
of the Church of God,is in jail here charged with bigamy,
having been arrested at Jacksboro on complaint of his first
wife, living at Soddy. It is charged that Bell has another
wife living at Jacksboro. Bell claims that he has obtained
a divorce from the Soddy woman, and that he is legally
married to his second wife.
Source: Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tenn; Aug. 26, 1921 ONE JAILED FOR TENNESSEE MURDER Knoxville. One suspect has been arrested and
jailed at Jacksboro today in connection with the
murder of Glen B.Mayes of Knoxville, president
of the Campbell County Coal Company, and a prominent
Kentucky and Tennessee coal operator. His charred
and headless body was found in the ruins of his
cabin near Titus,Tenn.,where he had gone on business.
His head - severed from the body - has not yet
been found. Indications are that he was beaten
to death, timbers piled around his body and set
on fire.
Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tenn, August 26, 1921 Source: Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro,
KY, 12/20/1922 Strip Poker Game at Pinnacle Hotel Ends with Shots Midkaff Of Middlesboro Accused Of Shooting Irwin of Lafollette S. M. Lay Of Lafollette Also In Fray. Emerson Irwin of LaFollette was seriously wounded at 4 o'clock this morning at the Pinnacle Hotel in Cumberland Gap, when he was shot at the end of a strip .poker game. He is alleged to have been shot by E. H. Midkaff of Middlesboro. Others connected with with the trouble are said to be Walker 'Brown and S. M. Lay, night chief of police of LaFollette. The party is said to have gambled all night and Midkiff lost all his money and clothes. Midkaff left after the game but is said to have returned and ordered the others to return his money. He took a 38-special off Lay. When Irwin started to run Midkaff is said to have shot him. At the trial this afternoon before Squire Brooks, Midkaff denied having fired shots at Irwin. Midkaff was ound over to court. His bond will be set late this afternoon. Irwin was taken to a hospital in Knoxville. His condition is very serious, reports say. Lay was also held for carrying concealed weapons. He said he was looking for transported liquor. Yesterday Lay was arrested in Middlesboro for disturbing the pence at the Hotel Cumberland. Source: Lincoln Star, Lincoln, Nebraska;
Feb. 28, 1923 STRANGE TALE ABOUT BURIAL
Returned Man Claims
Body of Calf Interred
as His Remains
(International
News Service) KNOXVILLE, Tenn.,
Feb. 28. From his cell
where is held on a charge
of forgery, Glenn B. Mayes, Knoxville's "Enoch
Arden," issued a statement
today explaining it was the
body of a calf which was buried eighteen
months ago in a cemetery here after
the police and members of his
family believed he had been burned
to death in a mountain cabin, according
to police. Mayes
said he removed the head and
legs of a calf and placed the torso
in the cabin, set fire to the building
and then fled until he could "get
matters straightened out." He returned
home this week to find his wife
married to another man. The
wife, whose name by her second marriage is Gregg
said she intended to
get a divorce from Mayes
Source: Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro,
KY April 4, 1923 JELLICO CHIEF IS SHOT BY BROTHER
OF SLAIN ROBBERS
Everett Perkins, 15, Takes Revenge on Chief of Police Heatherly - Victim on Churches, Assailed from Rear Reports Says Perkins Mother Carries Gun for Officers JELLICO,Tenn., Apr. 4. Chief of police George W Heatherly was shot and perhaps fatally wounded at 2:45 clock yesterday afternoon by Everitt Perkins, 15 year old brother of Walter and George Perkins, who were slain March 2, in a battle with a prohibition posse, of which Chief Heatherly was a member. Chief Heatherly was shot three times, first in the right heel, then in the right breast and the third time in the right arm. His boy assailant is believed to be at the home his parents near here, but no effort has been made to arrest him. The chief was going down Main street by the aid of his crutches. Fifty yards in front of him was Everett Perkins, the 15-year old brother of the slain Perkins brothers. The boy saw the chief and stepped into a restaurnt until Heatherly had passed, then followed when he had shortened the distance, which at first was about 50 feet, witnesses say, the boy drew a revolver and fired at Chief Heatherly, the ball hitting Heatherly in the right heel. In an instant Heatherly had swung round on his crutches and had drawn his own revolver. As he wheeled the Perkins boy fired again, the shot taking effect in Heatherly's right breast about on a level with his heart. Although weakened by the shot and by his old wounds, Heatherly was able to keep his feet under him, and began firing at the youth, who dodged behind a brick building. The next bullet from the boy's pistol hit Heatherly in the right arm. The next bullet from Heatherly's gun smashed a plate glass window near the Perkins boy, who beat a retreat along a cross street towards the mountains. It is generally understood in this vicinity that Mrs. Perkins, the mother of the two brothers who were killed and of the third boy who shot Chief Heatherly yesterday, had carried a pistol herself since the shooting March 2. She is said to have declared that she was on the lookout for the officer's and would shoot them if she saw them. Chief Heatherly had been warned of possible death If he returned to Jellico and Everett Perkins is said to have made threats against Heatherly but on account of his youth Chief Heatherly did not take the matter seriously. The first public appearance here of Chief Heatherly after his return from Knoxville was at the revival at the Baptist church, of which he is a member, conducted by Rev. F. F. Brown of Knoxville. The wounded chief has a wife and three children. Source: Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro, KY, Aug 13, 1923 MINER HUNTED AS WIFE SLAYER
Woman Shot Down in Yard After Notifying Officers of Threats
JELLICO. Tenn., Aug. 13. - Mrs. John Huckaby, 25 years old, wife of miner, was shot twice in the back at 9 o'clock Friday night when in the yard of her mother, Mrs. Petree, in Carrollville, a mile from here, and killed almost instantly. A posse led by Chief of Police J. H. McGhee is searching in the nearby mountains for John Huckaby, 30 years old, accused in connection with the murder. Mrs. Huckaby and her husband had been separated for a few months after having been married for less than two years. Huckaby had been away for some time, but Friday evening he appeared unexpectedly, and according to Mrs. Huckaby, told her that he was going to kill her. The thoroughly frightened woman, accompanied by her mother, walked to Jellico and notified officers of the threat, it is said she asked protection. Her fears were allayed in part and she consented to return home. The two women were entering the yard when two shots were fired behind a clump of shrubbery, each shot striking Mrs. Huckaby in the back, death being practically instantaneous. In the confusion her slayer made his escape. When the news of the crime reached Chief McGhee he started in search of Huckaby, taking with him Policeman Davis and Slavey, and possemen. Up to a late hour Friday night nothing had been heard from the man hunters. Source: Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro, KY,
August 11, 1923 MINER'S SLAYER GIVES SELF UP
Quarrel By Sons Over Dog Causes Newcomb Tragedy - Posse in Pursuit Jellico, Tenn., Aug 11, Will Davis, 40 years old, one-legged miner and the father of seven children, was slain at Newcomb, four miles from here, at 6:30 o'clock this evening. Oscar Hicks, 35 years old, miner, sought in connection with the killing, surrendered at 10 o'clock tonight after a posse had pursued him and his 15 year old son into the recesses of Indian Mountain. While the posse men were continuing the search, Hicks and his son came into Jellico and gave himself up and was taken to jail at Jacksboro. He refused to make a statement in regard to the killing. The home of Davis and Hicks were on the same street, almost a 100 yards apart. Hicks, standing in his doorway, called Davis to the door of the Davis home, and after a few words, shot him down, according to the officers, the victim dying almost instantly. A 4 year old son who came to the door with Davis was hit by three shots, but is expected to recover. The trouble which resulted in the killing had its origin in a quarrel yesterday afternoon over a dog between the sons of Davis and Hicks, the Hicks boy getting the worst of the argument. When Hicks returned from work in the afternoon, he is said to have gotten a shotgun. Following the shooting, Hicks and his son fled to Iron Mountains, pursued soon afterward by a posse led by Chief of Police J.H. McGhee of Jellico, whose assistance had been sought by the Jellico police. Almost 15 men were in the posse, which was reported to be hopeful of catching Hicks by surrounding the moutain and closing in. Source: Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro, KY,
October 16, 1923 PROMINENT JACKSBORO FARMER SLAIN WITH MATTOCK
Knoxville, Oct. 16
John Wiley Cooper, prominent farmer of Jacksboro, Campbell
county, is dead; and Will Clark, farmer, is in the Knox County
jail on a murder charge as the result of an altercation between
the two men yesterday morning. According to information from
Campbell county authorities, Cooper and Clark were working together digging
potatoes. It is not known how the trouble started,
but a quarrell developed and it is alleged that Clark struck Cooper on the head with a. mattock, mortally wounding him.
Clark was arrested on a charge of felonious assault and later
released under a $2,000 bond. He started toward Knoxville
when he learned that Cooper was being hurried to Knoxville in
a dying condition. Cooper died at the Knoxville General
Hospital at 5 p.m., shortly after arriving there and while on
the operating table.
Source: Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro, KY,
January 31, 1924 GAYLOR NAMED JELLICO CHIEF
Succeeds George W. Heatherly, Twice Wounded Seriously
- Officials Listed Jellico, Tenn., Jan 31. At
a meeting of the new city council last week, Joe Gaylor
was elected city marshal and J.C. Rogers, assistant, only the two
being balloted on. The salary of the marshal was fixed
at $125 a month, and of the assistant at $110. Mr.
Gaylor succeeds Chief George W. Heatherly, who was
almost killed when in a fight with rum runners, and
who as he was recuperating after a long stay in a Knoxville
hospital was wounded, all but fatally, by Albert Perkins,
brother of two rum runners slain during the fight in
which Heatherly was wounded the first time, after being
sentenced to spend five years in a state reformatory
on account of his youth, made his escape from the Jacksboro
jail recently and is still a fugitive. The following
is a roster of the officials of the city, named by
the council: A.B. Hargis, superintendent
of waterworks; R.K. Tramell, recorder and treasurer;
C.A. Templeton; city attorney, Dr. Thomas Jennings,
health officer; Joe Gaylor, city marshal; J.C. Rogers,
deputy marshal.
Source: Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro, Kentucky;
July 26, 1924 Two Stills Are Taken In LaFollette Raid
LA FOLLETTE, Tenn., July 26.
Prohibition Officer John M. Irwin, of LaFollette, assisted
by Sheriff Eli Gaylor of Campbell county and Deputies J.
F. Russell and John Wilson of Vasper, made a raid on the
headwaters of Hickory Creek and destroyed 150 gallons of
beer. Thc outfit was coverd by a house and from appearances
this still had been in operation for 15 years. On the same
day these officers went over to the head of Rock Creek
and destroyed an outfit, except the still, which had been removed, and 300 gallons of beer.
No arrests were made. At the first above mentioned place after the officers
had destroyed the outfit and left for Rock Creek, there
were more than 50 signal shots fired, warning nearby operators.
Source: THE PORT ARTHUR NEWS PORT ARTHUR, TX FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 17,1924 PAGE 13
contributed by Misty Smith LEACH FEUD CAUSES ONE DEATH, SIXSHOT WILLIAMSBUKG,
Ky., Oct. 17.
A family quarrel, details of which have not been learned,
is believed responsible
for the death of Tom Leach, 45 years old, of Campbell
county. Tennessee, ten miles south of here, and probably
fatal injury of one relative and the shooting of five
other kinsmen. Two of the wounded, Mrs. Walter Maples,40,
sister of Leach, who is not expected to survive, and Sherman Leach, 30, a
brother, were taken to a Knoxville hospital. Pete Leach, 31, and Padge Leach,
25, cousins, and Miss Mary Leach, 22, also a cousin,
were all were shot, but were not seriously injured. Another
woman whose identity could not be learned was reported
injured.
Source: Gastonia Daily Gazette, Gastonia, North Carolina,
Dec. 12, 1927 Youth Who Gave Himself Up To Sheriff Is Taken
Back To Lafollette.
John Shepherd, Tennessee youth wvho voluntarily
gave himself up to Sheriff G. R. Rhyne last Thursday,
was taken back to Lafollette, Tenn Sunday by a
deputy sheriff and C. C. Reynolds, owner of the
car the prisoner stole some months ago. The young
man came to the sheriff and said that he was out
of a job, hungry, and hurt by his conscience. He
told a story of how he had stolen the car in LaFollette
and had been chased by bloodhounds over a good
portion of that country. He said he
drove the car to Kingsport where he sold it, then
came over to North Carolina. He wandered around
several towns and cities before he came to Gastonia and it was here that he decided
to give himself up and take what was coming to
him. The police of Lafollette were informed and
they sent the two men after the erring one.
Source:Reno Evening Gazette, Reno, Nevada: November 21, 1929 JACKSBORO, Tenn., Nov. 21.
W. H. Metzler, a coal miner, two daughters and a son were
killed today when their automobile was struck at a railroad crossing
by a Louisville and Nashville train, en route from Knoxvllle
to Corbin, Ky.
Source:Anderson County News March 12 1932 Caryville Man Slain
Had Argument Over Partnership Electric Light Line Caryville- An argument over a partnership light ended in the killing of Harley Marlow 25, Sheriff Davis of Campbell county said he was informed. Marlow was killed last Monday. Search was being made for Mack Shipwash 50. " I understand that Marlow's brother saw the shooting" said Sheriff Davis. Harley Marlow was shot in the back of the neck. Source:Reno Anderson County News July 1933 Gun Blazes As Officers Surprise Three
Cleve Daugherty, 38, sheriff of Anderson county for the last five years, was shot and killed at Piney, a small community near the Knox county line about 8:30 Wednesday night as he and five deputies attempted to halt three men they belived to be transporting whiskey. A charge from 12 gauge shot-gun fired at close range struck Daugherty in the side and back of the neck. He was dead when deputies reached him. Richard Rose, 25 was arrested after he was felled by a blow on the head by Deputy Sheriff J. W. Butcher. He is held in jail here with bond.Together with Fred Williams who was captured early Thursday morning at his home in the Cooper Ridge section. Officers are seeking his 17 year old Jesse Williams in a warrant charging murder. Shortly after officers returned here with Daugherty body a large armed posse led ? Coroner W.R. Hicks returned to the scence and began searching the hills near Piney. Blood hounds were bought from Knoxville ?? in the search. Daugherty had recived a "tip" that 25 half gallon jars of whisky were to be delivered in the road at Piney Wednesday night. He took five deputies and went to the designated place, having the deputies form a circle on each side of the road .As three men came up with sack across their shoulder the sheriff jumped from hiding telling the men they were under arrest. He grabbed the one in the front and scuffled with the man a shot was fired just behind them. It killed Daugherty.
Deputies Butcher and ??? young Williams was the one fired the fatal shot, and said his father was with whom Daugherty was scuffling with.The three sacks, dropped by the men as the gun battle began, were brought to the jail here. The 15 jars of whiskey five in each . Daugherty is survived by his widow, one daughter, Inez, three sons, Clarence, Jack and J.C., mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. ? Daugherty of Petros.Funeral services wil be Saturday morning at 10 o'clock at the First Baptist church, Rev. R. L. Smith and E.L Wilson conducted the services.Burial Sunset cemetery. Source:Anderson County News: July 28, 1933 Last Rites For Slain Sheriff
Hundreds Unable To Enter Church For Funeral Cleve Daugherty. It was nearly 30 minutes after the hour set for the services at the First Baptist Church that the procession began to move from the county jail to the church, three blocks distant. For nearly an hour before the time for the funeral, traffic officers kept the block in front of the church clear of heavy traffic. Legionaries Precede Cortege Preceding the scripture reading, a quartet composed of Mrs. T.L. Wilson, Mrs. S.F. Miller, Paul Burkett and T.S. Seeber sang, "Some Day," It Won't Be Long", and later sang "The Old Rugged Cross" with Miss. Reba Gentry at the piano. Mrs. T.L.Wilson sang "When They Ring The Golden Bells". The scripture lesson was read by Rev. E.L. Wilson,pastor of Brown's Chapel, who led in prayer, as the audience fanned in the church to relieve the exessive heat. Standing in front of the casket, which was banked high with floral rememberances, Rev. H.L. Smith, pastor of the church, spoke for 30 minutes, while the audience gave the closest of attention. Thousand Pass Casket In paying a tribute to the memory of Sheriff Daugherty, H.L. Smith said in part: Called Upright Citizens Record Is Praised "Vengeance Is Mine" "Instead of mouring we may say in the words of the poet:" Source:Anderson County News: August 5, 1933 3 Times
Slain Sheriff Left 8 Weeks Baby
Says Second Wife
Editor The News Geneva Byrge Source: Lincoln Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, October
18, 1933 Young Man Convicted Of Burning Wife and 3 Children to Death
JACKSBORO, Tenn., Oct. 18 (AP)
Floyd Johnson, 27-year-old Lafollette filling station operator,
was convicted by a Campbell county jury today on charges of burning
his wife and three children to death the night of August 30.
The jury recommended a sentence of 21 years in the state peniteniary.
The charred bodies ol Mrs. Johnson, 29, and her children, Lois,
3: Paul. 5. and Louise, 7, were found huddled together after
fire had destroyed stroyed the Johnson home. Johnson
said he escaped from the burning house through a window.
Source: Hammond Times, Hammond, Indiana; September
20, 1935 WOMAN KILLED IN EXPLOSION
LaFollette, Tenn. Sept, 20 (UP)
A series of dynamite explosions, said by residents
to number six, shook this area today, killing one woman
and injuring her three children. The blasts partially
wrecked a business building. Mrs. Prudie Rutherford was
killed instantly as she was hurled from an upper floor
of the building. Her children were leaving the building
and escaped with slight injuries, according to witnesses.
Source:Hammond Times, Hammond, Indiana, Sept 25, 1935 William Righetti, Americanized Italian, was charged with murder and malicious destruction of property after seven dynamite blasts wrecked a combination apartment and business building at LaFollette, Tenn., killing a widow and injuring her three children. Righetti confessed, according to police, he dynamited the building he once owned but which he had lost through foreclosure, "Because they were robbing me of everything but my shirt and pants". Source: Vidette Messenger, Valparaiso, Indiana
December 3, 1940 Kills Mother To Gain $16 Relief
BROWNSTOWN. Ind.. Dec. 3
(UP) State police detective Raymond
Boll said today that Mera (Mora?) McCoy, 23, of LaFollette,
Tenn. had confessed orally to him the slaying of her
mother, Mrs. Nanny Adams last March because she thought
she would inherit her mothers $16 welfare checks. The
sheriff of Campbell county, Tenn., en-route here, was
expected to arrive today to remove the girl to LaFollette
to face murder charges. Boll said the girl told
him that she and a companion, Jack Walls, 27, of Campbell
county, had murdered her mother by putting lye in her
coffee. She said at the time a doctor pronounced
Mrs. Adams dead of pneumonia. The girl was arrested last
Saturday in a roadside inn near Seymour when the proprietor
reported to police that she had been telling the story
of the killing while intoxicated in the establishment. She
was confined to the Seymour jail and then moved to the county jail here. Boll
said she reiterated her story to him when sober, claiming
she wanted to "get it off her mind", and waived extradition
to Tennessee. The girl had been visiting an aunt
near Jonesville in this area under the name of Maggie
Adams. She said McCoy was the name of her
father and the deceased first husband of her mother. Mrs.
Adams second husband is also dead. Boll said the girl's
oral confession revealed that she and Walls planned the
slaying in the hope that she, as the oldest child, would
get the welfare checks. Meanwhile Boll said authorities
were looking for Walls but believed he was in Tennessee. He
said the girl accused Walls of other murders in Tennessee
by a system of getting his victims drunk, slugging them
and placing their bodies on railroad tracks. A checkup
with Tennessee authorities revealed that Walls had murdered
Frank Romines in Campbell county in 1933. Bolls
said Walls was convicted of the crime and given a ten-year
sentence in 1938, of which he served 18 months. Another
murder charged by the girl, Boll said, was that of Jack
Hatmaker, also in Campbell county, Nov. 14 for a reported
payoff of five gallons of whiskey. Boll said
a checkup showed that Hatmaker's body had been found
on a railroad track.
Source: Mansfield News Journal, Mansfield, Ohio, April 27, 1943 CHECKING CLUE IN OHIO MURDER
Link Report on Three Negroes To Slaying of Waitress
in Cincinnati Hotel
Cincinnati - Cincinnati police today were investigating
a new clue in their search for the slayer of blonde Sophia
Baird, a 20-year old waitress who was murdered early Sunday
in the hallway outside her third floor hotel room. Robert
Puckett, Middletown, reported to the Middletown police force, that he saw three negroes
acting peculiarily when he passed the Biltmore hotel, where the girl was brutally
slain. Puckett disclosed that this was at about
the time of the murder.
Detective Chief Clem Merz said that except for the fact
that the suspect was a negro, his detectives had no clue to the slayer's identity. More
than 48 hours have elapsed since the former Elk Valley,
Tenn. girl's body was found stabbed and slashed while detectives
have been attempting to establish whether any act, unintentional
or otherwise on the slain girl's part might have led a
Negro to believe that she had no qualms about racial barriers.
< Police questioned Miss Baird's roommate, Miss Mildred Sharpe and other friends of the girl but so far they have not uncovered anything to show that the girl had even the slightest association with her slayer. Meanwhile, police were attempting to ascertain when an attack upon a 26-year-old housewife could have been perpetrated by the same Negro. Mrs. May McKinney notified authorities that a man answering somewhat the description of Miss Baird's slayer had attacked her at her home. Mrs. McKinney said the Negro fled when she screamed. Source: Bismarck Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota, May
6, 1943 10 KILLED IN MINE EXPLOSION; 18 ESCAPE INJURY
LaFOLLETTE, TENN. - (AP) -
Eighteen coal miners, huddling behind a hastily erected
canvas barrier nearly 2,000 feet underground, survived
an explosion that rocked the Etna Coal and Coke company
mine and suffocated ten of their companions. The miners,
fighting against the deadly fumes of "black damp" for more
than eight hours, stumbled and crawled from their barricaded
cell Wednesday night as rescue parties freed them. Two other
miners, who had joined he barricaded group, became panic stricken and dashed
from their enclosure to death from carbon monoxide fumes 400 feet away. The
explosion thundered through the East Tennessee soft coal mine Wednesday afternoon,
rocking it from tipple to the deepest seam. The dead miners
were identified as Cecil Foust, John Pelezzari, Dan Garrett, George Douglas, Lawrence Hale, Albert Kitts,
Lewis White. Homer Martin, Oscar Ayers and Ernest Riggs.
Two miners who were almost outside the mine tunnel when
the blast occurred were burned critically. Three others
in another section of the mine escaped injury. Earl Turner, one of the first
entombed men to reach the outside, said he herded his companions into an enclosure and
erected a cloth canvas barricade to keep out the
fumes. Jim Raines, 38, said the survivors "held out hope
until 7 o'clock." "The air was getting bad," he said, "and the oxygen
was just about gone, There was so much dust we couldn't
see. Then the rescuers found us at 8:30. Some
of the boys were so weak, they were crawling on their hands
and knees". Herman Gilbreath related how Albert Kitts and
Oscar Ayres "decided to make a break for it" from the protected
tunnel, only to collapse 400 feet away and die. A coal
mine official said the disaster, the worst in Tennessee since 1926, probably resulted from ignition
of gaseous fumes. However, Mine Bookkeeper, R. B. Parrott said a test by inspectors
Wednesday morning revealed
no traces of gas.
Source: Walla Walla Union Bulletin, Walla Walla, Washington,
June 26, 1947 PAIR HELD FOR BEATING CHILD
Yreka, Calif., (AP) - The vicious beating and abandonment
of 2-year-old Mary Jane Meddlin - for 10 days known only
as little "Miss X" at Siskiyou General hospital - culminated
Wednesday in the arrest of her mother and an itinerant
Tennessee lumbermill worker. Located in Grants Pass, Ore.,
and brought here on charges of assault with intent to commit
murder, they were identified as Mrs. Lucille Meddlin. 22,
of Selma, Ore., and Hugh Gilreath, 25. who came to Oregon last year from
Jellico, Tenn. A statement by Gilreath to Oregon State
Police Sgt. C. R. Borgman said the couple discussed "disposing" of
Mary Jane when Mrs. Meddlin - separated from her husband
- entered a hospital in Grants Pass as "Mrs. Gilreath" to
have her third child. "There were too many kids around." Sergeant
Borgman quoted Gilreath. Mary Jane was found unconscious in a clump of bushes at Weed, Calif., early on June
16 - her eyes blackened, her body covered with bruises,
and her left arm temporarily useless from a beating. The
child's identity finally was solved when txvo neighbors
of Mrs. Meddlin in Selma reported their suspicions to Oregon state police. Gilreath waived extradition
to California and was brought here early Wednesday, while
Deputy Sheriff Thorne D. West took custody of Mrs. Meddlin
Wednesday afternoon for her return.
Source:Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, April 7, 1950 JELLICO. Tenn. Murder or manslaughter charges will be
filed today against an escaped convict who rammed a prison
truck into a restaurant hoping to kill his wife but clipped
two bystanders instead. One of the victims, Navy veteran
P. L. Hill, 25, was carried through a plateglass window on the bumper of the truck and died
four hours later. Fifteen-year-old Billy Robertson.
a one-legged school boy.was hit by the truck as he played
a pinball machine inside the restaurant and suffered severe injuries.
Mrs. Richard Rues, who was working behind a counter in the bus terminal was unscratched
although she was the intended victim. Her husband's mad
dash in the prison truck gave this town one of its wildest Saturday nights. One of the uninjured
bystanders shot Rues in the hip and officers, fearing other
violence against the convict, hustled him to Jacksboro,
Tenn., 30 miles south, for safekeeping. Rues, 37, who was sent
up for 10 years in 1946 for killing Willard Daugherty here
may get off lighter than if he had succeeded in smashing
his estranged wife with the truck. Sheriff Ross Kitts wasn't
sure whether Rue would face murder or manslaughter charges
as a result of Hill's death.
Source: Mansfield News Journal, Mansfield, Ohio, May 7,
1954 FORMER OFFICER WAITS SENTENCE
DAYTON (UP) Thomas Jefferson Davis, 32, former
deputy sheriff at Duff, Tenn is awaiting sentencing for
a $2,500 armed robbery. Davis claimed he was innocent of the charge and guilty only of assault with intent
to rob. He told a Common Pleas Court juiy that he handed
the store cashier a note demanding rnoney, which he received.
Source: Unknown Paper, LaFollette, TN, November 7,
1955 MOTHER OF FIVE CHARGED WITH
SLAYING OF HUSBAND
Claims She Was Just "Playing" When Gun Fired LAFOLLETTE, Nov. 7 - Mrs. Medy Mea Chamblee, 31, mother of five children who claims to have shot and killed her husband while "playing" with him and minutes after "hugging and kissing" him is being held in Campbell County Jail on a charge of first degree murder. CALLED WIFE Mr. Chamblee called his wife from ...day and informed her that he had been laid off and would be home Monday.
Mrs. Chamblee asked him to come home at once because she needed him."Yesterday morning the husband arrived home about 10:30 and after greeting his children and wife, asked her to prepare his breakfast. This she did and the husband, Mrs. Chamblee, her sister and the five children ate. After the meal the Hawkins woman and the children went out in the yard and the husband and wife moved into the front room. It was there that he kissed his wife and remarked that he was glad to be home. Source: Hammond Times, Hammond, Indiana, 10/15/1957 Find Girl's Body At Cliffs Base
LAFOLLETTE, Tenn. (AP) The body of 3-year-old Minnie Haun was found Monday at the base of a cliff in the rugged Cumberland Mountains of East Tennessee about six miles from her home. The child, missing since last Tuesday, had been the object of a widespread search. She apparently survived several near-freezing nights before she died Friday or Saturday. Coroner Jimmy Jones of Campbell County said death was caused by exposure or starvation. Two men found the body several hours after other searchers stumbled across some of the clothing the child was wearing when she became lost from her mother and an older sister. Source: Clinton Courier, Clinton, TN 11/21/1957 Petros Man Bound Over In Slaying
Vern (Dude) McCoy, 40, of Petros was bound to Morgan County grand jury last week on a murder charge, which grew out of the shooting of an Anderson County miner. McCoy is in the county jail at Wartburg after failing to post bond set by Magistrate Charles Human Jr. at his preliminary hearing Friday afternoon. He is charged in the fatal shooting of Elmer Lowe, 39. Morgan County Sheriff Claude Brasel said Lowe was hit twice with bulletts from a .32 snubnosed revolver. The victim was hit in the shoulder and again near the heart. Lowe, officers were told, interfered in a fight between Louis Lowe, 35, and McCoy after the latter had shot Louis with the revolver. The Lowes who live in the New River section of Anderson near Devonia, were taken to Oak Ridge Hospital. Elmer died three hours and 36 minutes after he was shot. Sheriff Brasel said McCoy told him he didn't intend to shoot Lowe. Source: Clinton Courier, Clinton, TN 11/07/1957 Preliminary Hearing For Carden Set
Trial Justice Court Judge J. Leon Elikns reset to Nov. 12 a preliminary hearing for Fred G. Carden , 65-year-old Andersonville farmer and merchant in the pistol slaying of his stepson on Oct. 15. Hearing for Carden, who has been free under $5000 bond in the shooting of Robert Wade Sharp, but said he fired in self defense after the younger man threatened him with a butcher knife during an argument over a long distance telephone call. Carden's wife, Mrs. Effie Sharp Carden, filed suit for divorce the day after her son was killed. She also attached all of her husband property. Sheriff Glad Woodward said the pistol used in the slaying had not yet been recovered, He added, however that he had information that the gun had been found and he expected to have it in his possession soon.A report on the fingerprints on a knife with which Carden said Sharp sought to attack him indicated there were not sufficient prints for positive identification of the person handing it. Source: Clinton Courier, Clinton, TN 11/21/1957 Carden's Bond Set After Wife Testifies
Fred G. Carden, 67-year-old Andersonville area merchant was bound to the grand jury Tuesday morning on a charge of murder after a hearing in Trial Justice Court in which his estranged wife was the principal witness. Bond was fixed at $7,500, which Carden posted. Mrs. Carden, who left her husband and filed suit for a divorce shortly after the Andersonville man shot her 32- year-old son, Robert Wade Sharp, on Oct. 15, told the court Tuesday her husband shot her son in the back. The shooting followed a series of arguments between the two men over Sharp's charging long distance telephone calls to Carden's telephone,it brought out at the time. On the stand Mrs. Carden said she and her son were in the sitting room of the home, while Mr. Carden had retired about 9 p.m. She said her husband got up about midnight and Sharp, remarked that he was going to make a call to his sister in Arizona, and he left the room to be gone about five minutes. Mrs. Carden said she got busy with something else, but when she looked up her husband had a pistol pointed at his step-son. She said she heard Sharp say" You wouldn't shoot a man, would you? She told the court she heard her husband reply that he would. She said Sharp then asked if it would be alright for him to turn around, and Carden said it would. The mother testified that Sharp turned and started for the door, and when he did , Carden began firing. She said he fired four times, hitting Sharp in the back of the head and twice in the back of his body and once in the front. Mrs. Carden said she asked Mr. Carden to help her, and she placed a pillow from her bed beneath her son head, begged Carden to call a doctor, the sheriff and an ambulance. She said he refused, telling he he wasn't supposed to. Mrs. Carden said she then called a neighbor and told him to come, that Carden had shot her son. She added that he never came.So then she called for the physician, the sheriff and an ambulance. She added that her son was dead when they arrived. Sheriff Glad Woodward told his investigation, while Deputies Shellie Jones and Sam Davis also testified. Jones said he was present when the doctor examined the body of Sharp, and added that Clyde Cox was present.
When Sharp's body was rolled over a knife was found under him. Sheriff Source: Oswego Pallendium Times, Oswego, New York,
6/9/1959 Mine Boss Killed By Sniper's Shot
LAKE CITY, Tenn. (&) A sniper's bullet killed a coal mine owner Monday as he worked his machinery on a federal flood control project here
in defiance of threats of sabotage or death. Five persons were questioned
at length in the slaying of Jess Fesler, 53. of Sunbright, Tenn.,
shot in the back as he stood beside his bulldozer on the project
near the Lake City High School. Anderson County Sheriff
Glad Woodward questioned two of the men in Clinton, south of
Lake City, and Campbell County Sheriff Rose Kitts held three
men for questioning in Jacksboro. Lake City is located on the
Anderson - Campbell county line about 30 miles northwest of Knoxville.
It is in the .coal-field area extending through southeast Kentucky
and northern Tennessee. The
area has seen numerous cases of violence since the United Mine
Workers began a drive to bring all mines under union contract.
Three persons have been killed in Kentucky. Sheriff Woodward
said, however. "We are positive this shooting is in no way
concerned with union troubles."
Source: Lancaster Eagle Gazette, Lancaster, Ohio,
6/9/1959 Sniper Kills Former Coal Mine Owner
LAKE CITY,Tenn. (AP)A sniper's bullet killed a former coal miner owner Monday as he worked his machinery on a federal flood control project here in defiance of threats of sabotage or death. Five persons were questioned at length in the slaying of Jess Fesler, 53, of Sunbright,Tenn., shot in the back as he stood beside his bulldozer on the project near the Lake City High School. Anderson County Sheriff Glad Woodward questioned two of the men in Clinton, South of Lake City. and Campbell County Sheriff Rose Kitts held three men for questioning in Jacksboro. Lake Cityi s located on the Anderson Campbell county line about 30 miles northwest of Knoxville. It is in the coalfield area extending through southeast Kentucky and northern Tennessee. The area has seen numerous cases of violence since the United Mine Workers began a drive to bring all mines under union contract. Three persons have been killed in Kentucky. Sheriff Woodward said, however, "We are positive this shooting is in no way concerned with union troubles." Sued For 534,111 The UMW welfare fund sued Fesler in 1957 for $34,111 it claimed he owed for back contributions to the fund. He filed a crossbill contending he had signed the union contract under duress. However,Woodward said he is probing mainly in other directions for possible motives. Among other things, the sheriff said. Fesler: 1. Was the complaining witness in an armed robbery case against Franklin D. Smith, which was to have been heard by the Campbell County grand jury next week. 2. Had been seen frequently with women other than his wife. Source: The Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tenn. July 4, 1960, page 2.
Man Gets Murder Charge in Slaying LAFOLLETTE, Tenn. (AP) - James McFarland, 36, has been charged with
murder in the death of a man shot during a knife and gun fight here Sunday,
Sheriff Rose Kitts said.
Johnnie Carroll, 40, a Grantsville farmer, was shot several times during
what Kitts termed "a drunken brawl".
Kitts said a fight erupted between McFarland, Johnnie Carroll, and
Barney Carroll, 55, brother of the victim.
McFarland pulled out a pistol and began firing after he had been
felled with knife cuts, the sheriff said. Source: Times Recorder, Zanesville, Ohio, June 30, 1965 contributed by Angela Meadows PRISON ESCAPEE ARRESTED
Cincinnati (UPI)
A Tennessee prison escapee crossed paths with a Cincinnati
policeman Tuesday for the second time in 10 days and the
chance meeting brought an end to his freedom. Siles Campbell, 21, La Follette, Tenn., faced return to
the Brushy Mountain State Prison at Petros, Tenn., after
his arrest by patrolman William Smith. Just 10 days ago,
Campbell was arrested by the same policeman for public drunkenness. At
that time, local authorities were unaware of his background. So he was released
after paying a $10 fine. They learned f his prison escape
Sunday, when the warden at Petros phoned police here and
said Campbell might show up. Police were unable to trace
Campbell through the address he had given in his court appearance
because it was false. But fate took a hand and delivered
him into the arms of the law at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday while Patrolman
Smith was walking his beat. Campbell, a trusty at the prison,
had walked away from a road project six weeks ago and come
to Cincinnati to stay with friends.
Source: Lima News, Lima, Ohio, May 2, 1966 Hitchhiker Killed
TOLEDO (UPI) Robert L. Baruff, 30, Lafollette,
Tenn.; was killed Sunday when hit by a car while walking on the Deroit Toledo Exrpessway
on the north side here. Bailey Carroll, 31, Detroit, told
police he did not see the man, apparently a hitchhiker, walking
into his path until too late to avoid him. No citation was
issued.
Source: Courier Times, Levittown, Pennsylvania; Feb.
9, 1970 MANY IN TENN. AREA FEEL COMMUNISTS KILLED
YABLONSKI
LA FOLLETTE, Tenn. (UPI)
"The Communists killed the Yablonski's because
that feller was about to talk, and the ommunists
have a wav of shutting up the squealers. "We
in the UMW didn't hate Yablonski, but we hated his way." So
speaks Leslie Murrah, a retired coal miner now
drawing a pension from the United Mine Workers
local in the nearby community of Caryville. Murrah
apparently voices the sentiments of the majority
of residents in this Appalachian county that
was hit hard when king coal began to decline
and automation came to the mines. La Follette
was thrust into the national spotlight recently
with the FBI centering much of its investigation
into the slaying of UMW official Joseph Yablonski,
his wife and daughter in the area. One of the weapons allegedly used in killing Yablonski may have been stolen from a La Follette doctor, who bought the ..38 caliber Smith and Wesson pistol from Campbell County Sheriff Rose Kilts in 1952. The FBI refuses to comment on the gun; Kitts says there's a "good chance" it is the murder weapon, but won't elaborate. One of the other men indicted, James C. Phillips, is a native of Caryville. The FBI has set up field headquarters in a motel here to continue its investigation. Huddleston, who has testified before the Cleveland grand jury, tells friends he has been trailed by as many as four FBI men at a time. Convicted of a $475 robbery in 1946, Huddleston served one year of a three year term in a state prison. Since then, he has maintained a clean record. His home is guarded by a large and reportedly vicious dog. His second wife is confined to a wheelchair nside. Campbell County itself sits in the Cumberland Mountains, an outgrowth of the Appalachians. It borders Kentucky on the north. Full of mountains, picturesque lakes and long valleys, the county's population dwindled from 33,000 in 1950 to 27,000 in 1960 as coal mining decreased. UMW membership took even a greater dive, with 2,200 miners falling to the present level of about 500 as strip-mining and mechanization eliminated the need for miners. Murrah says the local at Caryville has 99 members, 97 of them retirees. In the recent UMW presidential election, incumbent Tony Boyle got 69 votes, Yablonski none. At the La Follette local, according to Guy Swindle, who also testified before the grand jury last week, Boyle got 61 votes and Yablonski only one This local has 75 members - almost all pensioners. most of the local members do not even know Yablonski, and if they did they were against him because he favored the elimination of "pensioner locals"and dropping the eligibility of retirees to vote in union elections. The pensioners' monthly checks rose from $115 to $150 under the Boyle administration - they didn't want to risk future gains by electing Yablonski. "UMW had no motive in killing Yablonski. He had lost the election; we had won our fight and we expect a $25-a-month increase in our UMW pensions, which now come to $150 month," Murrah said. Source: Valley Independent, Monessen, Penn.;
January 31, 1970 Trace Yablonski Case Pistol to Tennessee
By STEPHEN MORROW CLEVELAND (UPI)One of the
murder weapons used in the killing of Unied Mine Workers official Joseph
A. "Jock" Yablonski and two of his family may once have been the property of a Tennessee
sheriff. Sheriff Rose Kitts of Campbell County, Tenn., said he sold the weapon, a
nickel-plated, pearlhandled Smith & Wesson revolver, to a Dr. Lee J. Seargent of Knoxville
in 1952. The pistol was stolen from the doctor within the last year. "I'm not supposed
to say anything, but there's a good chance the weapon is the same one," the sheriff
said in Jacksboro, county seat ofCampbell County.
Jacksboro is about five miles from La Follette,
Tenn., home of Silius "Sol" Huddleston, father-in-law
of Paul Gilly. Gilly is one of three men indicted Thursday in the killing of Yablonski,
shot to death with his wife and their daughter
in their Clarksville, Pa., home, Dec. 31.
The pistol was fished out of the Monongahela River by Navy scuba divers along with an Ml carbine. Both are undergoing tests by the FBI. According to reports from the scene, Yablonski was shot five times with 38 caliber revolver bullets. His wife was shot twice and his daughter twice, also with .38 caliber bullets. Huddleston and two othermen from the La Follette area are staying in Cleveland over the weekend, preparatory to resuming their secret testimony before the grand jury. Huddleston, who served a prison term for robbery between 1946 and 1949, according to Sheriff Kitts, is a former organizer for District 19 of the UMW, which includes Harlan County, Ky., and Tennessee. One of his two companions, registered with him in a triple room at a downtown hotel, is Guy Windle, 36, recording secretary of the local that includes La Follette. The other man jn the party, as yet unidentified, also is reported to be a UMW member from the La Follette area. The group continued to refuse to answer questions. |
