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- [S117] The White-Caps - A History of the Organization in Sevier County, E. W. Crozier, Publisher, (Copyright 1899), 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 Sevierville, which may account for their joint participation in this horrible crime. Catlett Tipton was the captain of this 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 frequent 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 possession 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 Wades warning that Catlett was drunk and 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 Maples 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 occurrence, Maples, who was convinced of the unhealthful ness 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.
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 registrar’s office.
Whaley raised a crop of corn on the leased land, besides working many days for Catlett for which he had received no 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 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 implacable, 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 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 criminal proceeding 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 criminal proceedings; but, overcome by the sympathetic conduct of Catlet’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 records of the county.
In some manner the confession of Laura Whaley leaked out, and deputy sheriff Davis subpoenaed William 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 but the truth, so help you God, was administered. It was too impressive and awe-inspiring to be disregarded, 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 circumstances, was simply heroic. She followed the plain path of duty unhesitatingly and fearlessly, regardless of the dangers which threatened her.
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 Catlett 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 COUNTRY
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 Chandler, 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 Chandler as he had left them a month previous. Before he could carry out his intention of moving his family to 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 confessed 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 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 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 December, 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 Tipton, 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 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 William 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.
After a stay of only a few minutes, John went home. While at supper he heard two shots in the direction of his brother’s house, and, hastening back, he found the dead bodies of his brother and sister-in-law lying on the floor, but the murderers had disappeared.
It was about seven o’clock when John left his brother’s house and went home to supper. Laura then undressed for the night and laid down on the bed with her sick husband and sleeping child. Lizzie Chandler occupied a bed in the opposite corner of the room. In the fireplace a bright light was burning.
Suddenly the front door was burst open and two men entered, one unmasked and apparently unarmed, the other masked and carrying a gun. The first mentioned intruder was a man of medium height and had a mustache (Tipton), the other, the more conspicuous of the two from the fact that he wore a mask and carried a gun, was a low heavy-set man wearing a blue overcoat coat which reached almost to his feet. Stooping down for some purpose, his mask parted from his face and the fire-light revealed his side-face to Lizzie Chandler, whose eyes were riveted on the man with the gun. Pleas Wynn was the man with the mask, and he had assumed the responsibility of committing the crime.
If you have come to kill us, pleaded William Whaley, Awe will do anything you say; but spare our lives.
O, Lord! O, Lord! If you have come to kill us, let me give my little baby to my sister before I die, was Laura Whaley’s appeal.
It was apparent that she realized her death was a certainty, hence mother-like her last moments were directed in an effort to secure the safety of her baby. She recalled the fearful night when Bob Catlett had compelled her to write the White-cap letter, and his warning at that time when he said:
We are all in this, we will die with you in this, meaning the White-cap oath. She also remembered that on the night he agreed to release the mortgage and dismiss criminal proceedings against her husband, he added for this you shall die.
She knew that through the instrumentality of these two men, Bob Catlett was now keeping his word. She also knew of previous murders by the White-caps, and therefore fully realized her peril. There was no way to escape. She and her husband were defenseless. It was best to die quickly and end the agony.
She got out of bed and, taking her babe in her arms, she pressed it to her bosom and kissed it again and again. Then the agonized mother laid her babe in bed with her sister Lizzie, and, breathing in the child’s ear a last farewell, covered both their heads with the bed-clothes. Bravely she stepped to the side of her husband, who stood by his bed, and turning, faced her executioners.
No woman ever acted more heroically than did this mountain girl and wife of twenty-one summers.
Can it be possible that the greed for money was the sole stimulant which enabled these two men to remain during this period silent observers of this mother’s agonizing caresses of her child without exhibiting any emotions of pity or mercy? Whiskey was not the cause of so much nerve, for such a scene would have sobered drunken men.
A gun shot is fired which enters the mouth of William Whaley and he falls dead at the feet of his wife, who, turning to look at her husband, receives a shot in the temple which tore away the top of her head.
As soon as Lizzie Chandler felt sure that the murderers had left the house, she arose from the bed and dressed herself quickly. At that moment John Whaley entered the room.
THE MURDERERS TRACKED
After leaving the cabin, the murderers pursued their way through a field leaving tracks behind them. One evidently wore a number six shoe of superior make, the other a number nine of coarse material.
These tracks led to the ford where Tipton and Wynn had met only an hour before on their way to the Whaley cabin. They recrossed the river at this point on their way to constable Otis Montgomery’s house. They asked him to go fishing with them, but he declined. It was then half past eight o’clock. They then went to the house of Mark McCowan and requested him to go with them. He also declined, but loaned them his boat. While at McCowan’s the clock on the court house struck nine.
Wynn and Tipton insisted that they were fishing on the night of the murder and were so engaged at the time it was committed.
But, in addition to the foregoing details, other evidence was produced implicating Wynn and Tipton.
Not long after the murder, Wynn was playing a game of cards with Sam Jenkins, a boon companion of his, in Dr. Henderson’s barn. He asked Jenkins if his brother, Joe Jenkins, had ever told him of his (Wynn’s) presence at the blind tiger on the night of the murder.
Yes, replied Sam, he told me all about it.
Well, for God’s sake, don’t say a word about it, said Wynn. By G_d, I did kill the Whaleys, and it took a d_____d sight of nerve to do it, but I got one hundred dollars for the job.
Again, not long after this admission, Wynn went to Knoxville. While there he remarked, Bob Wade and Bob Catlett are not guilty of that murder. They have got the wrong sow by the ear. I blew in two hundred dollars d_____d easy and fired two shots.
There is a conflict between these two admissions - the one he made to Sam Jenkins and the other in Knoxville - as to the amount of money he received.
It is evident that the murder cost Catlett two hundred dollars. Was it divided between Wynn and Tipton, or did Wynn receive the whole sum?
It was necessary to get rid of Lizzie Chandler. Public excitement was too high to attempt another murder; so her husband, John Chandler, was used to decoy her out of the state.
Although John had secured a divorce from her on false and scandalous charges, against which Lizzie had neglected to make a defense, so earnestly did she desire a separation, yet, with fair promises for the future, he succeeded in winning her consent to live with him again.
Mounted on a horse behind her former husband, they started, as she thought, for a friend’s house. But John had no such intention. He was the paid agent of Bob Catlett to abduct her from the state.
As Lizzie, since the murder, had been living with the father of Sheriff Maples, it was not long before her absence was discovered. Sheriff Maples and deputy sheriff Davis started at once in pursuit and caught them in the Smoky Mountains, near the North Carolina line. They were returned to Sevierville. John was jailed and Lizzie was sent to Knoxville for safe keeping.
- [S34] In the Shadow of the Smokies, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, (1993), 33.
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 85701888).
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