CHAPTER XXIII.
TRIAL FOR THE MURDER OF WILLIAM WHALEY.
At the March term of the Circuit Court of Sevier county, 1898, Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton were arraigned for the murder of William Whaley on the night of the 28th of December, 1896. Both men were convicted of murder in the first degree. This trial consumed seven days, and twelve hundred men were examined before a jury was secured. New evidence was introduced weaving more closely a net of circumstances around Pleas Wynn and strongly corroborating Catlett Tipton’s admission, during the former trial, that he was with Wynn on the night of the murder from dark until near midnight. On the day before the case was submitted to the jury, Owen Dickey was placed on the witness stand in behalf of the prosecution, who swore that Pleas Wynn showed him a hand full of cartridges, saying: When I go a-fishing I take them along and kill d____d big game. This testimony so enraged William Wynn, a brother of Pleas, who had been drinking freely all day, that, after the adjournment of court, he met Dickey in the court house and began cursing and abusing him, calling him a liar and attaching thereto all the necessary adjectives. Sheriff Maples ordered Wynn to leave the court room. Shortly thereafter, as the sheriff was going from the new to the old court house, Wynn stepped out from a livery stable and began hurling curses and opprobrious epithets at him. The sheriff, being alone and in the midst of Wynn’s friends, knowing the dangerous character of his assailant and believing a movement on the part of Wynn threatened a deadly attack, drew his revolver. Five shots rang out in the air in rapid succession, and Wynn fell to the ground shot four times in the abdomen. A crowd of enraged White-caps at once surrounded the sheriff, and as the five shots had exhausted his supply of ammunition he backed through their line and hastily retreated. His pursuers gained on him rapidly and seized him just as he reached the public square. At this critical moment deputy sheriff Davis reached the side of the sheriff and waived the crowd back with his revolver, at the same time supplying the sheriff with a hand full of cartridges. In quick succession followed detective McCall and George Thurmer, one of the Burnett robbers who had turned state’s evidence and rendered valuable assistance to the officers of the law in ascertaining the secret plans of the White-caps, etc. The sheriff was taken before Judge Nelson, who ordered him into the custody of deputy sheriff Davis with instructions to summon a strong guard for his protection. Upon arriving at the jail, Hogan Bailey, a brother-in-law of Wynn, attempted to shoot the sheriff, but was disarmed by detective McCall and others and placed in jail. During the night, excitement was intense. The White-caps dispatched couriers in every direction throughout the county summoning their adherents. Sheriff Maples telephoned sheriff Groner and chief of police Reeder, of Knox county, and sheriff Walker, of Blount county, to come to his assistance at once with a posse of well-armed men. These officers responded promptly, leaving Knoxville at 9 p. m., and met the Blount county posse at Trundles Cross Roads, fourteen miles from Sevierville, reaching their destination at four o’clock the next morning. Early in the morning crowds began to congregate on the public square. Law abiding citizens throughout the county, hearing of the condition of affairs, abandoned their plows and came into town determined to maintain order at all hazards. These extensive preparations for war insured peace. It was a sad coincidence which the people witnessed that morning. In the court room the senior counsel for the defense was making his appeal to the jury in behalf of a murderer, the funeral of whose brother was then passing the court house door. The church bells tolled a sad accompaniment to the eloquence of the learned counsel. Armed deputy sheriffs for the protection of the court were conspicuous everywhere. The case was submitted to the jury in the afternoon of April 8, who retired and the following day returned a verdict finding both Wynn and Tipton guilty of murder in the first degree. Appealing to the supreme court, they were removed to the Knox county jail for safe keeping. The supreme court, on the last day of the following term, affirmed the judgment of the court below and sentenced them to be hung on the 4th of January, 1899. |