USA > Tennessee > Sevier County > The White-caps : a history of the organization in Sevier County > Part 7
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HENDRICKS. SHERIFF DAVIS.
GREEN.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CAPTURE OF GREEN AND HENDRICKS.
The capture of Newt Green and West Hendricks was the last and most important capture made by Tom Davis while deputy sheriff of Sevier county. Green and Hendricks were two notorious White-caps, and murderers of Aaron McMahan, as detailed in the preceding chapter.
They were arrested soon after the murder, by sheriff M. F. Maples and deputy sheriff R. C. McGill, and placed in the Sevierville jail. They, however, were not satisfied with their accommodations and soon afterwards made their escape. For many months they ran at large, spending most of their time in the moun- tains of Sevier county, near their old home, where they knew every by-path and had plenty of friends.
Sheriff Maples and his deputies laid many plans and set many traps for these two wily offenders, but Newt and Wes, as they were familiarly known, were " slick ducks," and many times when the officers were elated over the prospects of their capture it was found, to their great surprise, that some gap had been left open and their game had fled.
Newt and Wes were naturally shrewd, and there was no one who could endure more hardships than either of these mountain boys. The country surround- ing their old home was one continuous range of rugged mountains. This and their many friends afforded them great protection from the officers of the law.
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But by and by the officers made it too hot for them and they "pulled their freight" for parts unknown.
On Wednesday, during the July term of the Circuit court, 1897, the town of Sevierville was thrown into great excitement over the current report that Tom Davis, attorney J. R. Penland and Dr. Z. D. Massey were to be killed that night. Newt Green and Wes Hendricks were detailed to do the job. It was a well- laid plan, and had it not been for a friend of Dr. Massey, who was a member of the lawless band, giving him timely warning, the plan would no doubt have been carried into effect, and, perhaps, remained a mystery forever. For who would have suspected Green and Hendricks, who were then hiding in the mountains to avoid capture, of committing another crime, equally atrocious?
Judge Nelson learned of what was happening and ordered sheriff Maples to summon a posse of men to intercept Green and Hendricks and capture them at all hazards, dead or alive.
Sheriff Maples lost no time in calling his men together. A consultation was held and his forces divided, sending Tom Davis with a part of them on one road, while he took the remainder and started up the west prong of the river. It was a dark, dreary night. Two miles up the river, Sheriff Maples met some suspicious parties, on top of a hill. Neither party spoke. The sheriff and his posse rode to the foot of the hill, held a hasty consultation and decided to follow, as they were going in the direction of Sevierville, and, if possible, learn their mission. Evi- dently, the other party had also decided to watch the
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sheriff's party, as both met again on top of the hill, the same spot where they had met only a few minutes before.
Sheriff Maples and his men dashed to the foot of the hill, dismounted, and on foot slipped around to the other side of the hill just in time to see the other party fording the river at a break-neck speed, having left the main road; and soon after, the clatter of hoofs died away in the distance. The sheriff and his men returned to Sevierville, and everything was quiet once more.
Green and Hendricks left that night for parts unknown. But soon their old enemy was again on their trail. Tom Davis disappeared from Sevierville also, and for three long weeks he traversed the moun- tains of western North Carolina in a vain effort to capture these notorious outlaws who had so often boasted of their success in eluding the officers of the law. Tom's failure did not discourage him in the least. He was not disheartened, but on the contrary, vowed he would yet capture Green and Hendricks. His ever-restless spirit nerved him on to greater effort and final success.
Weeks went by and, apparently, no effort was being made to apprehend these two outlaws. Davis, how- ever, was working a clew which finally led to their capture. Again he disappeared. and not a friend knew his whereabouts, except his brother-in-law, Andrew Love and Dr. Z. D. Massey. He was on his way to Texas, feeling sure of success. In due time, he reached Paris, Texas, in complete disguise as a book agent. His disguise, perhaps, was more like the garb
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worn by members of the Salvation army, as he was frequently asked if he was a captain of that organi- zation.
The sheriff of Paris tendered him a cordial welcome, but where were Green and Hendricks? They had disappeared, and not a trace of them could be found.
Dr. Z. D. Massey, a relentless enemy of the White- caps and a life-long friend of Tom Davis, was working the other end of the line. A telegram came :
"Your men at Honey Grove .- Z. D. MASSEY."
Tom arrived at Honey Grove, thirty miles beyond Paris, at sunset the same evening. Officers were anxious to lend a helping hand, and the whole country for miles around was scoured. But again the game had flown. Green and Hendricks had been seen about there, but had disappeared as completely as though the earth had opened and swallowed them.
In the meantime, the two outlaws, becoming uneasy, had boarded a freight train, at midnight, and were on their way back to New Boston, over the same road they had travelled a few days before. Davis received another telegram :
"Your men at New Boston, going by the names of Frank Nolan and Charley Harrison .- Z. D. MASSEY."
The news came too late to catch the passenger train that night, so he undertook to board a freight train, but the conductor told him that he was a new man and that the old conductor had been discharged for allowing two strange men to ride to New Boston a few nights before. Tom's face lit up as he exclaimed " Where is that man ?"
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The man was found and furnished an accurate description of the two men wanted. Tom grew more anxious than ever, and was at the depot next morning long before the train was due. He arrived at New Boston where he found the deputy sheriff, Ed Lynch, waiting his arrival. But the officers were out-done again. Green and Hendricks had arrived in the night, disappeared in the night, and left no trace behind.
For several days the two officers scoured the country together, but in vain. The trail had been completely lost. The local officers gave up the chase and returned to New Boston.
Deputy sheriff Davis began preparing to return home. He had kept up his courage all the while. For eight long months he had followed their foot steps over the rugged mountains of East Tennessee, and now he was trying his hand with them on the plains of Texas and had been out-witted.
But "fortune favors the brave." While standing at the depot, waiting for a train, a cattle trader came riding into town. Deputy sheriff Lynch said " There goes a man who has been all over eastern Texas, buy- ing cattle. He is a man who never forgets a face."
This man, when questioned about the fugitives, said, " Yes, I have seen your men, eleven miles from here, going in the direction of Indian Territory."
No time was lost. The two officers and the cattle buyer, seated in a hack, were off at once in hot pursuit. At Red river they met an old-time darkey, who, in response to questions asked him, replied, “Yes, sir, boss. I'll tell you; they're right over there in that cotton gin, right now."
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The last plan was laid. The officers crossed the river and the cotton gin was surrounded. Green was arrested first, and when told by deputy sheriff Lynch hat he was wanted at Texarkana, hung his head a moment and then said :
"Hell, I've heard that old tale before. We ain't done anything at Texarkana. I guess, by G-d, Tom Davis wants us in Tennessee."
He glanced over at the other two officers and said : " Hello Tom, by G-d, you've got your mustache blacked, but I know you."
The two prisoners were hand-cuffed together and they started at once on the return trip to New Boston, Green and Hendricks singing " Take me back to Ten- nessee ; there let me live and die."
They had been trapped at last, and deputy sheriff Tom Davis returned home with his two prisoners in charge and his ambition satisfied. He had paid out, in all, one hundred and sixty-five dollars, but sheriff Maples, always willing to share the burdens, tendered his worthy deputy a hundred dollar check.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE CAPTURE OF GEORGE THURMER.
George Thurmer is a noted criminal and a native of Knox county. At the time of his connection with Sevier county depredations, he had just returned from serving a term in the penitentiary for the murder of policeman Hoyle in Knoxville.
George was a shrewd fellow, a free drinker, an expert gambler and by no means a coward. These were the qualifications which recommended him to the White-caps as a suitable member for their mystic. order. Soon after his arrival in Sevierville, standing within fifty feet of the court house, he took the required oath, which was administered to him by Catlett Tipton, the captain of the Sevierville band, who is now under sentence of death for the murder of Wm. Whaley and wife.
Soon after his admission to the order, John Burnett, an old pensioner, was robbed. George Thurmer, along with several others, was indicted for this crime. George succeeded in eluding the officers for some time, but was finally captured in Knox county by Tom Davis and returned to Sevierville, where he was placed in the County jail. For this capture Davis is indebted to sheriff J. C. Groner and C. A. Reeder who rendered him material assistance. George was too fine a bird to remain long in a cage. So, one day, when the jailer was just in the act of handing him his breakfast, George seized him while others took the keys from him, and they all made good their escape.
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Again he eluded the officers for several months. But one day while down in a hole digging a founda- tion for a trestle, near Pineville, Ky., he was startled by hearing a harsh voice commanding him to throw up his hands. On looking up he saw an officer standing over him with a forty -four calibre pistol pointed square at his breast. George smiled and said "That's |all right, sir," and his hands went up. The officer was ex-chief of police of Pineville, Ky. He was then asked if his name was Charley Wilson.
" Yes, sir." *
"Is your name Pet Thurmer?"
" Yes, sir."
" Is your right name George Thurmer?"
" Yes, sir."
George then, in turn, began to question the officer : " Where is Tom Davis?"
By this time Davis was fast approaching from the other end of the trestle. Turning him around, the officer asked, "Do you know that man coming yonder ? "
"Yes, by G-d, that's Tom Davis now. I dreamed last night he walked right up behind me in a saloon. I grew uneasy and was fixing to leave as soon as pay day come, but its too late, now. I guess I'll go back to Tennessee with Tom. He's a good fellow, and always pays my fare when we travel together. This is twice he has captured me, and if I ever get out of that old jail again he will never see me any more, for I will go up in a balloon, cut her loose and leave no trace behind."
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The two officers had laid in wait for George the night before at Pineville, but he failed to put in his appearance. So, mounted on two good horses, they made their way down on the south side of the Cum- berland river to a point just opposite the trestle, where George was at work. Fording the river before daylight and hitching their horses under the river bank they placee themselves one at each end of the trestle and waited for Thurmer to come to the works. George walked into the trap, was captured and returned to the Sevierville jail once more.
CHAPTER XX.
THE MURDER OF WILLIAM AND LAURA WHALEY.
The greatest crime for which Sevier county must answer is that of the double murder of William and Laura Whaley in their cabin home two miles and a half north of Sevierville on the night of December 28th, 1896. It was the work of paid assassins, and is one of the most cruel crimes on record. For it, Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton are to pay the penalty on the gallows, and Bob Catlett and Bob Wade have yet to be tried as accessories before the fact.
William Whaley was a mountain lad and a farmer. He married Laura McMahan. The parents of both were poor but respectable.
Bob Catlett was one of the largest farmers on the French Broad river and one of the largest tax payers in Sevier county, living six miles west of Sevierville. For years he had exercised a controlling influence over affairs in the county and had to his credit much that was bad.
Pleas Wynn is the son of Captain E. M. Wynn, and has a good wife. He was never known to do a whole day's work, but loafed about town, sometimes fishing and hunting for pastime.
Catlett Tipton was also a man of family who worked at odd jobs about town and was a "pal" of Wynn's.
Bob Catlett, Bob Wade, Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton were members of the White-cap band in Sevier-
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ville, which may account for their joint participation in this horrible crime. Catlett Tipton was the captain of the band.
THE MOTIVES WHICH PROMPTED THE MURDER.
Every crime has a motive, and sometimes, as in this case, is started from a most common and insignificant circumstance-simply the leasing of a small cabin and tract of land.
In December, 1895, William Whaley leased of Bob Catlett a tract of land and with it the occupancy of a small house, the rental value of which was to be paid by a portion of the crop raised on the place. At the time of this transaction. the cabin was occupied by Walter Maples. It is located on the Knoxville and Sevierville pike, near the residence of Bob Catlett.
Whaley and his wife appeared on the day fixed by Catlett for them to take possession of the leased premises, but Maples refused to vacate.
Catlett then gave them another house to live in until Maples could be dispossessed. Maples proved to be a contumacious tenant, although Whaley made fre- quent demands of Catlett for possession.
One night Catlett and his wife's brother, Bob Wade, appeared at the cabin where Whaley was temporarily quartered. Catlett gave Laura Whaley a sheet of paper and, with his gun pointed at her, demanded her to write a White-cap letter to Maples requiring pos- session of the house. Laura bravely refused, but when she looked toward her husband and saw that he was also covered by a gun in Bob Wade's hands, and believing Wade's warning that Catlett was drunk and
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would kill her if she did not, she finally consented. Catlett gave her a notice to copy which read as follows :
"WALTER MAPLES :
" If you do not move out of this house in five days, the penalty of the White-caps will be visited on you. The time is half up now .- WHITE-CAPS."
"D -- n you, don't dot your i's and cross your t's," said Catlett to the poor woman.
He then administered to Laura the fearful oath of the order, which meant certain death if any of the secrets of the clan were revealed. He then demanded of Laura one of her dress skirts which he put over his head as a disguise, and he, Wade and William Whaley, who at the point of a gun was forced to accompany them, proceeded to Maple's cabin, where Whaley was forced to nail the notice on the door.
Stones were thrown at the house and Catlett fired a load of buckshot through the chinks, some of the shot going into the bed in which Maples, his wife and children were lying in abject terror.
A few days after this occurence, Maples, who was convinced of the unhealthfulness of the locality, moved to more congenial quarters, and Whaley took possession of the property.
LAURA WHALEY VIOLATES THE WHITE-CAP OATH.
It has been observed that Laura Whaley had some education and could write; her husband, therefore, who was illiterate, depended upon her to keep an account of his working days and the amounts due him.
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Early in the spring, Whaley had bought some hogs of Catlett for which he gave him a bill of sale to secure the payment, which was duly recorded in the county register's office.
Whaley raised a crop of corn on the leased land, bes des working many days for Catlett for which he had received 110 pay. In September, Laura informed her husband that the work which he had done for Catlett was sufficient to pay for the hogs. In the following month Whaley sold the hogs to meet other financial obligations.
Catlett heard of it and rode over to Whaley's house, where he found him gathering his corn. He ordered him to " let the corn alone," and began cursing and and abusing him for having sold mortgaged property, and threatened to have him arrested. Whaley told him of the number of days he had worked for him which he supposed paid for the hogs.
Catlett was implicable, however, and procured a warrant for Whaley's arrest. Whaley heard of the issuance of the warrant and informed his wife.
Laura Whaley at this time was about to be confined, and this information, coupled with the fact that her husband had acted upon her suggestion, so worried the poor woman that a daughter was prematurely born.
Rou. Catlett, Bob Catlett's daughter, a young school teacher, who had the reputation of being a good, kind- hearted and Christian woman, called at the Whaley home to console and congratulate the young mother. It was a neighborly, humane act, and so sympathetic was the young teacher that it touched the heart of the sick woman; so much so, that she told her of the
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criminal warrant and also of the fearful ordeal through which she passed on that eventful night when her father compelled her to write the White-cap letter and administered to her the fearful oath.
It is said that Rou. Catlett had a stormy scene with her father that night. She pleaded and entreated her father not to prosecute Whaley. The appeals of a dutiful and loving daughter finally prevailed, and Rou. obtained the coveted promise. Accordingly Catlett notified William Whaley that he would drop the crim- inal proceedings against him and cancel the mortgage.
" For this you shall die," he said to Laura Whaley ; and ordered them to leave the premises next day.
Mrs. McMahan, who was visiting her daughter for the purpose of attending her during her confinement, had advised her to threaten Catlett with a revelation of the White-capping of the Maples house and use it as a leverage to persuade Catlett to abandon the crim- inal proceedings; but, overcome by the sympathetic conduct of Catlett's daughter, instead of making the threat as her mother advised, she told all the particulars to his daughter and violated her oath of secrecy.
The next morning William Whaley placed his wife on a bed in his wagon, and with her child, “ Mollie Lillard," only six days old, moved them to a cabin on a hillside nearly half a mile back of the farm house of Captain E. M. Wynn, the father of Pleas Wynn.
Whaley never received his share of the corn, nor twelve months after the bill of sale for the hogs had been signed had the mortgage been released on the the records of the county.
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In some manner the confession of Laura Whaley leaked out, and deputy sheriff Davis subpoenaed Wil- liam and Laura Whaley to appear before the grand jury at the November term of the court, 1896.
Whaley and his wife went to the court house in Sevierville, taking with them Lizzie Chandler, an elder sister of Mrs. Whaley, and the child, Mollie Lillard.
Laura Whaley went before the grand jury, and the oath to tell "The truth, the whole truth and nothing
CABIN ON THE WYNN FARM.
but the truth, so help you God," was administered. It was too impressive and awe-inspiring to be disre- garded, though she knew that it would place her life and that of her husband and child in jeopardy. The conduct of this poor woman, under these trying cir- cumstances, was simply heroic. She followed the plain path of duty unhesitatingly and fearlessly, regardless of the dangers which threatened her.
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When she returned to the office of the circuit court clerk, where Lizzie Chandler, with the child, awaited her, she said to her :
" Lizzie, as I came through the hall I met Bob Cat- lett and Bob Wade. They will kill us."
Catlett and Wade were indicted for the "Rocking of the house of Walter Maples and for shooting at it." They were arrested and gave bond. Laura Whaley had violated the White-cap oath. The penalty was death.
PREPARATIONS TO LEAVE THE COUNTY.
So impressed were the Whaleys with the idea that they would be killed by or through the efforts of Bob Catlett that they decided to move to other climes, where they would be free from molestation.
Mrs. McMahan, the mother of Laura, lived with her husband at Coal Creek, Tennessee. This fact induced William Whaley to go to this place in search of work, which he found.
As soon as he had accumulated a sufficient amount of money, he returned to his wife and child for the purpose of moving them to their new home.
Lizzie Chandler, having discovered that John Chand- ler, her husband, was a worthless and thriftless fellow . and a degenerate White-cap, had left him and was living with the Whaleys when they went before the grand jury. She remained with her sister during Whaley's absence at Coal Creek.
On his return he found his wife and child and Lizzie as he had left them a month previous. Before he could carry out his intention of moving his family to
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Coal Creek, he was taken sick with a severe attack of the grip, and was from that time to the night of his death a very sick man.
THE ASSASSIN HIRED AND ALIBI ARRANGED.
So determined was Bob Catlett to execute his threat against the Whaleys, that he formulated many plans and had frequent consultations with many of the White-caps. Finally he offered Catlett Tipton two hundred dollars to commit the crime. Tipton con- fessed the offer but denied the acceptance. It was offered to others, but declined. Pleas Wynn, however, accepted the offer and agreed to commit the murder.
Catlett Tipton bought a box of shells containing bird shot, and also some dynamite, several days before the murder.
On the day of the murder, Monday, December 28th, 1896, Bob Catlett was in Sevierville and had frequent consultations with Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton. Early in the afternoon he started for North Carolina with some horses which he said he wanted to sell. The route taken by him was through the mountains, stopping that night with George Roland, in Jones' Cove, sixteen miles from Sevierville. He sat up until a late hour talking for the purpose, as subsequent events show, of establishing an alibi, should one be necessary. .
Wynn and Tipton, in order to prove an alibi, had made an appointment with several persons to fish that night in Hardin's pool, less than a mile south of Sevierville, on the west fork of the Pigeon river, adjacent to the public road and near a farm house. One of the parties went to Sevierville, according to
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agreement, and was there when the court house clock struck five. He says that neither Wynn nor Tipton could be found.
THE MURDER.
Just on the edge of Sevierville and close by the bridge over the east fork of the Little Pigeon river, stands a small one-story frame house, where the Jenkins boys ran a "blind tiger "- selling liquor illicitly.
At five o'clock on the evening of the 28th of Decem- ber, just at dark, Pleas Wynn entered this house and went into the back room where the liquor was kept. He wore a long blue overcoat that reached nearly to the ground, and he bought a bottle of whiskey which he put in his pocket. He asked Joe Jenkins to lend him his shot gun, but it had already been loaned to other parties. Going into the room where Jap. Jenkins was, he picked up a revolver, and, putting it in his pocket, said :
"I may have need of this."
He then went out at the back door and on to the stone abutment of the bridge.
From the facts adduced and the nature of the ground about the bridge, Wynn must have gone down the east bank of Little Pigeon river to the old ford, a mile below town, where he was joined by Catlett Tip- ton, who had crossed the river at this point in a boat belonging to Mark McCowan. They then followed a foot path to the cabin occupied by the Whaleys.
Wynn knew this path well. It was on his father's farm, and soon after his marriage he had moved into
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this same cabin, and had therefore traveled this path many a dark night.
Less than a quarter of a mile from this cabin lived the mother and brother of William Whaley, in a cabin not unlike the one in which William lived. Near Wil- liam Whaley's cabin was a stable and corn crib. In one of these Wynn and Tipton concealed themselves for the purpose of making observations, for a noise coming from this direction was heard, about this time, in the cabin and John Whaley, who was at his brother's house, went out to discover the cause of it. He found nothing to arouse his suspicions, however, and re-entered the cabin.
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