Kid Curry’s Knoxville ShowdownKid Curry’s Knoxville Showdown
Our story today involves a member of the infamous Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy’s gang. Known as the wildest of the bunch, Harvey Alexander Logan, better known as Kid Curry, was
Category: The Oughts
January 31, 1900 – The Assassination of Kentucky Governor William GoebelJanuary 31, 1900 – The Assassination of Kentucky Governor William Goebel
On this day in 1900, William Justus Goebel was sworn in as Kentucky’s 34th governor. While lying in a hospital bed after having been shot in the chest by an
The Tragic End of Outlaw Joe BrownThe Tragic End of Outlaw Joe Brown
Joe Brown was a hell-raiser, thug and violent alcoholic who terrorized the town of Whitmer, West Virginia at the turn of the 20th century. He did, that is, until he
Bettie Simms, The Queen of the MoonshinersBettie Simms, The Queen of the Moonshiners
In the early 1900’s a young mother in Polk County, North Carolina, had a decision to make. She had separated from her abusive husband and had several young children to
The Prodigal PrisonerThe Prodigal Prisoner
In the fall of 1910, 17-year-old Robert Carter was a prisoner in the Dandridge, Tennessee, jail, convicted of larceny of corn from the farm of a Mr. McMahan. He was
The 1902 New River Coal Strike -The Battle of StanafordThe 1902 New River Coal Strike -The Battle of Stanaford
In 1902 coal miners struck the mines along the New River, seeking better wages and better working conditions. The strike continued until February 25, 1903, when a massive gun battle
Orlean Hawks Puckett, Appalachian Granny WomanOrlean Hawks Puckett, Appalachian Granny Woman
Granny women were the healers and caretakers of folks in Appalachia, dispensing folk remedies, serving as midwives, and even dousing for water. These women were essential in rural Appalachia, where
The Gun Battle of Thorn Hill, TNThe Gun Battle of Thorn Hill, TN
At the turn of the 20th century a wealthy and politically connected man from Grainger County, Tennessee, lost a lawsuit filed by a widow and was ordered to pay her
The Dark Mystery of Booger HoleThe Dark Mystery of Booger Hole
Starting in the latter part of the 19th century and continuing up into the 20th century a valley in Clay County, West Virginia, became the site of a series of
John Fox Jr., An Appalachian StorytellerJohn Fox Jr., An Appalachian Storyteller
One of the first writers to bring the real Appalachia to the world was John Fox Jr., who had come to the coal boom town of Big Stone Gap, making