RUTHERFORDs of TIPPAH COUNTY MISSISSIPPI and OUR KIN
This web site updated 11 Sep 2018
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RUTHERFORDs of TIPPAH COUNTY MISSISSIPPI and OUR KIN
This web site updated 11 Sep 2018 All links seem to be working now. If you find one that does not work EMAIL ME, thanks.
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FAMILY STORIES Civil War Story passed down through the generations as told by Thomas Burks Margret Adeline Lemmond Rutherford (1812-1904) From the time that her husband (Thomas) and sons had gone off to war, the burden of the farm had fallen on the shoulders of Margret Lemmond Rutherford, as the matriarch of the family, she had gathered her sons wives and the children and her own daughters and together they put in the crops and killed the hogs in the fall of the year and generally kept the family going as the war ground on. At first, it wasn't so bad, there was plenty help and there was enough livestock to work the land, but as the war wore on and more and more of the livestock was gathered for the war effort, it became harder and harder to put the crop in and to gather the harvest in the fall, plus there was wood to be cut for the winter and you need horses or mules to pull the wagons to haul the wood to the house. At first everyone gave willingly what ever they had to support the men that were doing the fighting, keeping back just enough to get their families by because almost everyone had a son or father that was away with the army. By the time the north had began to invade the south, the Rutherford women were down to one old mare that had been Margret's saddle horse and were now down to just planting a large garden for the family and a small field of corn to feed the hogs and chicken and of course Margret's old mare was what pulled the plow. To keep from losing the mare to the military, both north and south, any time they heard troops coming down the road, they would hide that old mare in the canebrakes until the troops had passed on down the road to Ripley. They had to do this so often, that the old mare ,on her own, would run down and hide in the cane brakes when she heard any troops coming . Toward the end of the war the Family was down to their last few hogs, which they had butchered and hung the meat in the smoke house to cure, What few chickens they had left, they kept hid out in the woods away from the house and barn. When the jangling noise of a cavalry troop drifted up the road, the old mare headed for the canebrakes and the womenfolk's, working in the garden, panicked, because there wasn't enough time to take the meat out of the smoke house and hide it, Margret, thinking quick, took flour from the kitchen, and had the women to smear it all over the meat, then she had them to throw it on the ground in the garden. When the union troop came into the yard, the first thing they wanted to know was, how many horses she had, where were all of her chickens were, and finally, what was all of that meat doing on the ground in the garden. With her best look of fear, Margret told the lieutenant, " A while ago a company of confederate soldiers came by here took the only horse we had and all the chickens, then they smeared something on all that meat and told us that you were coming, I was afraid what they put on that meat was poison, so we throwed it out on the ground. Then looking the lieutenant right in the eye, she said," sure would appreciate it if ya'll would haul that stuff off before some of the children get it on their hands and maybe get sick or dies. "Bury it yourself, he said, we ain't got time to fool around with no old rebel woman and her young'un, them Johnny rebs might come back this way," and they hurriedly rode on down the road. when the last sound of galloping horses faded from hearing, she had the girls carry the meat back to the smokehouse where she washed the flour off and hung the meat back up to finish curing.
Margret Lemmond Rutherford was a strong will woman, there being few men outside of her husband that she considered her equal, she brooked no guff from any man and could hold her own whether in a battle of wits or a debate with those who cared to try her. JAMES K POLK was running as a compromise candidate for the democrat party in the presidential elections of 1843, Those that were for him would paint their horses with Polk berry juice and as they rode around the county on errands or visiting friends they were campaigning for JAMES K POLK. This happened to be Margret's choice , even though she couldn't vote, so when she would go to town either in the buggy or on horseback, she would gather Polk berries from the Polk salad that had gotten to big to eat, and paint her mare with the juice. On one occasion when she went to town with her horse painted so, there were a bunch of the town loafers sprawled out on the steps of the courthouse and when they saw her horse painted with Polk berry juice, they began to laugh at her and make comments to which she took exception too. One fellow was especially raw with his remarks to her and she pulled her buggy right up to the steps so he had to jump back or be stepped on by the horse, taking her buggy whip in hand she pointed it right at his nose and said," I wished your face was black, I'd have my husband buy you.''
Civil War Story passed down through the generations as told by Thomas Burks William Williamson (Capt Bill)
Rutherford (1833-1890) all through the war, she was the fastest and smartest mule in Tippah County, uncle Bill had a saddle with little bells hanging on it and when he would saddle the mule, she would dance and make the bells tinkle, so he called her Bell. When the war was over and the union forces were disbanding the different companies, they would take the confederate soldier’s arms and their mounts. When it came time for uncle Bill to turn his weapons in, he did so with out any fuss, but when a union sergeant tried to take his mule, he told him, " me and you are about to fight the civil war all over again if you try to take my mule, I rode her into this war and I aim to ride her home." The sergeant seeing the look of determination on uncle bill face, called his captain and told him what uncle Bill had said, the captain looked at uncle Bill and told the sergeant to let him keep his mule, wasn't no need in stirring them rebels up again. So uncle Bill rode the same mule home that he had rode to war. Less than a year after uncle Bill got home, old Bell disappeared and he was heart broken, he searched Tippah county over looking for that mule, everyone knew about old Bell and how uncle Bill felt about her, and they were convinced that no one that knew uncle Bill would have the nerve to steal his mule. After Bell had been gone for quite a while, and uncle Bill had checked every mule in or passing thru Tippah county, a friend of his that had been traveling up in Hardeman county Tenn. came by and told uncle Bill he thought he had seen old Bell at a farm near Middleton, he wasn't real sure it was Bell, but it sure looked like her. Well, uncle Bill decided he was going to find out for sure, so he took his saddle and a colt dragoon pistol and he set out for Middleton after getting directions to the farm where his friend had seen a mule that looked a lot like old Bell. When he got to Middleton, he went to see the sheriff, which turned out to be a relative, one of the Shannon’s, with sheriff in tow, uncle Bill went to the farm he had been directed to, when they got there the sheriff told the man that owned the farm, they wanted to look at the mule he had in his barn lot, that it might be stolen. Well that fellow didn't take too kindly to someone saying he might have a stolen mule on his property, so he told the sheriff that the only mule he had, he had raised from a colt. Uncle Bill said to the fellow," mister, there is one way for sure for us to settle this, just let me put this here saddle on that mule and I can tell instantly if it’s my mule or not. There ain't no need for you to put that saddle any where except back on you shoulder and leave, cause I know that mule, I raised it from a colt, the fellow said. Well, said uncle Bill, pulling out his colt dragoon and sticking the barrel about half way up the fellows nose, mister, I aims to put this here saddle on that there mule, and if you got any objection, lets hear them now. The man just turned green in the face and nodded his head ok. Uncle Bill swung the saddle upon the mules back and when he cinched it down, the mule started to dance and make the bells tinkle, well the fellow said, I guess it's must be your mule after all. Damm right the sheriff said and me and you are going to have a talk about how you came to have my cousin's mule. Don't know what happened to the fellow, but uncle Bill rode his mule back to Falkner.
David W. Rutherford (11 Apr 1880-26 Sep 1928) son of Thomas Franklin and Martha Ann Wright Rutherford In
July of 1971 I journeyed to De Leon (Santa Anna) Texas to make inquiry
about the events leading up to the imprisonment and eventual death of David W.
Rutherford. I was
directed to a person named Ray Stockard and he agreed to tell the story of these
events. Ray was well into his
80’s at that time but his memory and eye for detail amazed me. RAY
STOCKARDS ACCOUNT
Dave Rutherford was well known and liked here in
De Leon (Santa Anna) He had the reputation of being a fair man and of not
putting up with a lot of guff from anyone.
He came here about 1920 as I recall and bought a little place outside of
town and built a house there.
Dave and his little wire lived there and that is where Dave ran
his business from. Dave was a
bootlegger and sold some real good moonshine.
Understand being a bootlegger in those days was not something to be
particularly ashamed of. Dave was
looked up to and respected in the area because he never cheated anyone and kept
out of other folks business.
It was his bootlegging that got him in trouble and it happened
this way:
The local sheriff was a man name of Joe Griffeth or Griffin I don't
recollect which. Everyone
called him “Uncle Joe".
This sheriff used to try and get a portion of all the bootlegging and
other illegal activities in the town.
He and Dave didn't see eye to eye
on some things and had had trouble in the past.
Once Joe tried to bully Dave into paying him a part of his bootlegging
money and they got in a fistfight over it.
Dave knocked Joe out cold and went home.
When Joe came to he vowed to kill Dave the first time he got half a
chance. Folks
here figure if Joe had just asked nicely Dave would have given him some money.
Dave was like that. He Just didn't like to be bullied and wouldn't put up
with it. The
whole thing came to a head one night in February of 1924. Dave had come to town
to deliver some whisky, which he put, under a sort of dock in the alley behind
the store. I
owned a restaurant at the end of the alley where it all took place and I
went outside when I heard someone arguing
out there. Dave
had come to town in his wagon and had tied up in the alley.
Joe and the local constable, a fellow named Conneley, were talking to
Dave who was standing in his wagon in front of
the seat. Joe told Dave he was under
arrest for bootlegging and Dave asked if he had a warrant.
Joe said " I don't need a warrant to take the likes of you to jail.
Dave said " you are going to need one real bad
before you get
me there". The
constable, Conneley, was standing in front of
the wagon holding the horses so Dave
couldn't go anywhere. Joe
reached for his gun and Dave opened his coat and pulled his and the shooting
started. I
didn't see who fired first but Dave shot two shots that hit the sheriff in the
stomach. Connely
took off running down the alley and Dave gave him one in each hip pocket to
hurry him along. Dave
had an old German Luger. (Probably a war trophy from WWI ) ed.
He turned back partly toward Joe just as
Joe fired and Dave fell off the wagon.
The whole thing took maybe half a minute. Joe
come down the alley and asked if he could use the phone to get a doctor and call
his wife. He
said he didn't think he would survive and he didn't.
Joe had a big potbelly and Dave put two bullets in it.
When the doctor got there they took Joe and Connely into the store to
treat them.
The doctor told Joe he was in bad
shape and was not going to live.
Connely wasn't hurt much but I never heard a person take on so in all my
life. You'd of thought it was him was killed.
During all this time no one paid any attention to Dave who was still laying
outside by the wagon. Finally someone decided to go see if he was alive. Turned
out he was. He
had been shot through the jaws just in front
of his ears but he was conscious.
The doctor pulled a silk handkerchief completely through the wounds and
said that was all he
could do there and that Dave might just
make it to the hospital but probably would not live. They got Dave to the hospital and he did live and recovered
completely. The doctors at the
hospital told Dave he was not going to make it.
Dave couldn't talk so he reached up and pulled a pen from the doctor’s
pocket and wrote on the sheet not to worry about him because he would be all
right. END
OF RAY
STOCKARDS STORY Constable Connely also recovered
completely and lived to testify
at the trial. The
trial was held in another county because of the publicity surrounding the
killing of Sheriff Joe Griffeth.
Dave was found guilty of murder and sentenced to twenty five years in
prison. He was
killed in prison in 1929 by a cook who had stolen a butcher knife from the
kitchen. More on
this in Paral
PARALEE RUTHERFORD's Account
Paralee Close married Dave Rutherford ~ date unknown) and they had
one son who died shortly after birth. After
Dave was killed she moved to Tucson AZ and worked as a cook at the county jail
until her retirement. She never
remarried and lived alone all the rest or her life. She was a very private person and it was very hard for her to
talk about David but she bravely tried to give me all the information she could.
She broke down in tears several times.
Out of respect for her I have waited to record her account until after
her death. PARALEES ACCOUNT David was a very respected man around De Leon and didn't have a lot
of trouble with anyone. He didn’t
put up with a lot from people but he was not the kind to start trouble unless
they started it first. He was an
aviator in the war (WWI) and was a pretty good hand at whatever he tried. He had some trouble with the City marshal ( Stockard said sheriff but
he was mistaken) and the Marshal vowed to kill Dave if he ever got a chance. In February of 1924 Dave went to town to do some business and the
marshal tried to arrest him. There
was a fight and the marshal got killed. The
constable was also hurt but he recovered. Dave
was shot and went to the hospital. He
recovered and was taken to Brady to be tried for shooting the Marshal. The trial was later moved to Brownwood after the trial at Brady was
declared a mistrial. While awaiting
trial at Brownwood Dave escaped and was free for about a year before being
recaptured. They finally got him
while he was asleep. He had been
working on a pipeline gang somewhere in Texas.
Dave was tried and found guilty and sentenced to 99 years. (This is also different from Stockards account and is
probably more accurate). David was in prison until 1929 when he was killed by a cook who had
stolen an ice pick from the kitchen. End Of Paralees account I am going to put down here some things I got from Paralee in a later
conversation. When I asked her why
Dave got stabbed she told me that it was a revenge killing instigated by the
Masons because “ Uncle Joe Griffeth" was a Mason. This was Parolees personal opinion and I have not been able
to prove or disprove it. Exactly how Dave escaped from jail in Brownwood is still a mystery. Legend has it that he got a gun which was hidden in the false bottom of a suitcase that he received at the jail. I asked Parolee about this and she would only say “ Well he got out".
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