R.S. Allen - The Perry’s Camp Murders

Copyright 2009 by R. S. Allen

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, photographic including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

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The Families and Descendants of

Charles Perry, Josie Law, and

Luther Bun Ward

Grateful acknowledgements are given to the following sources of documented information and photographs which made this book possible.

ancestry.com

answers.com

archive.southcoasttoday.com

Archives of The Knoxville News-Sentinel and

TheKnoxville Journal

bulk.resource.org/courts.gov (U. S. v. Brady & Marshall)

Detective Cases, March 1958

dlc.lib.utk.edu

Vivian Law England

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Kingsport Times

Grainger County, Tennessee and Its People, 1998, Walsworth Publishing

Jere Loveday

Agnes Marshall

Barbara McGill

Mission-Aider Newsletter of Holston Valley

Baptist Association, January 2008

Beth Beal ODonnell

Pigeon Forge Public Library Genealogy

Real Detective, April 1950

Alfred C. Schmutzer, Jr.

Scrapbook Clippings with Monroe County, Tennessee Ties by Joan B. Troy, tngenweb.org

Sevier County Library Genealogy

Sevier County Sheriffs Department

Sevier County, Tennessee and Its Heritage, 1994,

Walsworth Publishing

smokykin.com

Nancy Snipes

Tennessee Department of Corrections

tba.org/Journal (The Rocky Top Murders by

Donald F. Paine)

tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS (TN v. Michelle Tipton)

The Montgomery Vindicator

Timely Detective, March 1950

therogersvillereview.com

White Caps by Ethelred W. Crozier, 1899, Bean, Warters & Gaul Printers and Binders

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mrs. J. T. (Shirley) Wolfenbarger

The contributions of my friend and collaborator, Steve O. Watson, are especially acknowledged. Without his help, knowledge, and recollections this endeavor would have been even more difficult and time consuming. The crime scene photographs, the Real Detective account, his interviews of local Sevier Countians, and his personal experiences and remembrances rounded out my efforts and made them better and more complete. For all of that, I am forever grateful.

Anyone alive in Sevier County, Tennessee in September 1949, young or old, town or country resident, heard about the Perrys Camp murders. Everyone learned all they could about what had happened. It was the kind of thing that just did not occur in Sevier County, not in those times. Such heinous crimes were as foreign as drug trafficking. They occurred in places like New York, Chicago, and Detroit, not in Sevier County. These acts of robbery, torture, and murder were forever etched into the minds of all those in all the countys communities whether it be Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Seymour, or Boogertown.

Among the Sevier County populace that learned all they could about these crimes were the author, a 6-year-old resident of Sevierville, and the authors collaborator, a 7-year-old resident of Boogertown, a mountain community located near Gatlinburg. Both their fathers followed local politics and knew those in office. Everyone knew J. Roy Whaley was the Sevier County Sheriff. Most people knew Bill Reagan, Chief of Police in Sevierville and Sevier County coroner. Their deputies and officers were known to most by their first names. Such men were in the public eye anyway but these well-publicized crimes made the badges pinned on their chests even more prominent. The Perrys Camp murders somehow seemed to escalate and enhance their standing in the community. A number of people also knew Charlie Perry, an allegedly reformed Knoxville bootlegger who had moved to Sevier County 20 years before his death and built a successful tourist business between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.

The author and collaborator would years later embark on law enforcement careers but this would be their first experience with homicide, with unspeakable tortuous acts, with premeditated murder. They learned that one of those arrested, who would be given a 99-year prison sentence, was from Sevier County. The author, whose best friend at the time was the killers nephew, would learn years later his exact kinship to the murderer. Because of this and the fact that there was no trial or any public records detailing the evidence in these crimes, the author and his collaborator set out to re-establish the facts of this double homicide and robbery, frequently referred to at that time as the worst crimes to occur in Sevier County in over 50 years.

Because the only public records still available were the court records detailing charges and proceedings long since archived away in the county library, the best evidence concerning what actually occurred was the newspaper accounts, especially the accounts chronicling the short trial before the pleas were changed from not guilty to guilty. The second best accounts, but a distant second, were those contained in detective magazines of those days. An examination was conducted of these accounts and they were for the most part found to be embellished and fictionalized. In fact, if all the detective accounts were combined, one-third of the story would be factual, one-third embellished, and one-third fictional. Information was gathered from those elder citizens still living that had information of value to share. Unfortunately, some of those recollections proved to be the least reliable, but thats understandable since almost 60 years had passed. Some of the best information came from descendants of those that experienced tragedy first hand. And lastly, information was gleaned from written accounts of researchers, witnesses, and associates long since dead.

Aside from the details of the crimes and the resulting adjudications, this work also examines the lives and background of the victims and the perpetrators before September, 1949 as well as the lives of the killers after the abbreviated trial. The most intriguing part of the story may well be that which tells of the lives of the perpetrators after the crimes, their indictment, and conviction. Two were sentenced to 99 years while a third was acquitted and released. The three lived out their years in very different ways. Additionally, this story examines the impact of these crimes on the families of both the victims and the murderers. The story includes recollections from residents alive at the time the Perrys Camp murders occurred and concludes with comparisons to other murders that occurred 50 years before and during the half century following.