| Sources |
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 26 Dec 2014.
Upland Chronicles: Cousins Hendricks and Green were captured in Texas
CARROLL MCMAHAN
Handcuffed together, fugitives Wes Hendricks (left) and Newt Green (right) are escorted from Texas back to Sevier County by Deputy Tom Davis (center).
After lingering and suffering several days, Aaron McMahan died Aug. 22, 1896, as a result of gunshot wounds sustained in an ambush as he and his son and son-in-law were returning from a visit to the Pigeon Forge Mill to his home in Wear’s Valley. However, McMahan lived long enough to identify his assailants as Newt Green and Wes Hendricks.
Green and Hendricks were first cousins and McMahan was their uncle, his wife being a sister of Green’s father and Hendricks’ mother. But Green and Hendricks were members of the notorious band of vigilantes known as the White Caps, and their allegiance to the oath they had taken outweighed family ties.
Aaron McMahan, 50, was a farmer with his wife, Caroline Green McMahan, and a large family, some grown and married. His oldest daughter, Susan, had married James Clabough of Little Cove. Rumors had circulated accusing Mrs. Clabough of being unchaste. Therefore a gang of White Caps had gone to the Clabough home, dragged Mrs. Clabough out of her bed in the middle of the night and administered a cowardly, unmerciful whipping.
The suspects, who included Green and Hendricks, were arrested, tried before Esq. J.A. Tarwater and acquitted. The next morning after the trial, Aaron McMahan, his son Amos, and James Clabough went to the mill in Pigeon Forge with a wagon loaded with wheat. While waiting to have their wheat ground, some White Caps approached them, and a bitter quarrel erupted.
Later that afternoon, McMahan and the others headed back across Pine Mountain toward home. As they were passing through Little Cove, two gunshots rang out. Their horses became frightened and ran away. The team was discovered by some wayfarers who then found the wounded men and took them to the nearest house, the home of John Myers.
This news quickly spread throughout Little Cove and Wear’s Valley, and a crowd soon gathered around the wounded victims. Dr. Z.D. Massey of Sevierville was at once sent for and did all he could for them. James Clabough and Amos McMahan recovered, but Aaron McMahan succumbed after suffering for about 10 days.
Although there was convincing evidence, including the victim’s dying testimony, Newt Green and Wes Hendricks each was sentenced to only 20 years in the state prison on their second-degree murder convictions. The two immediately appealed to a higher court.
While the appeal was pending, Green and Hendricks joined notorious outlaw George Thurmer and other prisoners at Sevier County Jail in overpowering the jailer and taking his keys. All escaped, and Green and Hendricks fled into the hills familiar to them outside Pigeon Forge. They spent several months there, relying on their subsistence skills and staying with sympathizers.
Sheriff Fillmore Maples and his deputies set several traps, but the desperate criminals escaped being taken back into custody. Rumors swirled that the White Caps organization had ordered Green and Hendricks to kill J.R. Penland, who had prosecuted them; Dr. Z.D. Massey; and Deputy Tom Davis. But a contact of Dr. Massey’s alerted the White Cap opposition to the plot, and it was foiled. Consequently, Green and Hendricks slipped into Sevierville, hired a hack and drove it to Knoxville, where they boarded a train for Texas.
Davis scoured the mountains of western North Carolina for the two men, who had made their escape in the opposite direction. Davis returned from North Carolina frustrated, and for several weeks, there was no further effort to pursue the fugitives. But then Davis received a tip and left town again. This time he headed for Texas.
Disguised as a book agent, Davis arrived in Paris, Texas, where he connected with local law enforcement and enlisted its help in apprehending the fugitives. But Green and Hendricks had already moved on. Then Davis received a telegram reading, “Your men at Honey Grove-Z.D. Massey.” By sunset Davis arrived in Honey Grove, a small town about 30 miles from Paris.
Again, Davis solicited assistance from local lawmen. They searched around Honey Grove, but Green and Hendricks could not be found. They had hopped a freight train in Honey Grove headed east. Then Davis received another telegram: “Your men at New Boston, going by the names of Frank Nolan and Charlie Harrison-Z.D. Massey.”
The next morning, Davis boarded a train for New Boston, where he was met by Bowie County Deputy Ed Lynch. But once again the outlaws were a few steps ahead of them. It seemed Green and Hendricks had vanished without a trace. Baffled, Davis began making preparations to return to Sevier County. Davis was waiting at the train station with Lynch when a cattle trader rode into town. Lynch said, “There goes a man who has been all over eastern Texas buying cattle. And he never forgets a face.”
The cattle trader told the deputies that he did see two men fitting Green and Hendricks’ description 11 miles away, headed toward Indian Territory. Without hesitation, the three men were off in a hack toward their prey. At the Red River, they met an old black man, who informed them that they could find the fugitives in a nearby cotton gin.
Davis and Lynch crossed the Red River and split up to cover the exits of the cotton gin. Green was the first to be apprehended. Hendricks was arrested shortly thereafter. Davis chained the two of them together with handcuffs and escorted them back to Sevier County.
The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and 20-year sentences of Green and Hendricks in the murder of Aaron McMahan.
Years later, family members received word that Wes Hendricks died in prison when a rock slide destroyed his face. But his niece, Lela McGill, was operating a boarding house in Harlan, Ky., when one of her boarders came in with a man who had started working in the coal mines and needed lodging.
She took one look at the man and said, “Uncle Wes, we thought you were dead.” He looked at her and said, “Lady, I don’t know who you are talking about.”
He left through his bedroom window in the middle of the night and was never heard from or seen again by his family.
Carroll McMahan is the special projects facilitator for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce and serves as Sevier County historian.
The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, please contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or ron@ronraderproperties.com.
- [S87] Death Certificate, 31 jna 1953.
Lydia Cooper Green death record
- [S13] PeddlerM@aol.com, Pam, 381, 1880.
http://sevierlibrary.tripod.com/page351880.html
- [S87] Death Certificate.
Name Newton Green
Event Type Death
Event Date 10 Apr 1929
Event Place Knoxville, Knox, Tennessee
Gender Male
Marital Status Married
Race White
Age 49
Birth Date 02 Jun 1880
Birthplace , , Tenn
Father's Name John Green
Father's Birthplace , , Tenn
Mother's Name Rachel Hatcher
Mother's Birthplace , , Tenn
Occupation Coal Miner
Cemetery Woodlawn
Burial Date 12 Apr 1929
"Tennessee, Death Records, 1914-1955," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11665-16343-4?cc=1417505 : accessed 13 October 2015), 004183617 > image 871 of 2525; State Library and Archives, Nashville.
- [S112] Census, 1930.
Name Newton Green
Event Type Census
Event Year 1930
Event Place District 03, Sevier, Tennessee, United States
Gender Male
Age 38
Marital Status Married
Race White
Race (Original) White
Relationship to Head of Household Head
Relationship to Head of Household (Original) Head
Birth Year (Estimated) 1892
Birthplace Tennessee
Father's Birthplace Tennessee
Mother's Birthplace Tennessee
HOUSEHOLD
ROLE
GENDER
AGE
BIRTHPLACE
Newton Green Head M 38 Tennessee
Lydia Green Wife F 35 Tennessee
Majorie Huskey Stepdaughter F 10 Tennessee
Velva Huskey Stepdaughter F 8 Tennessee
R L Green Son M 0 Tennessee
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name: John Green
Birth Date:
Birthplace:
Age:
Spouse's Name: Rachel Hacher
Spouse's Birth Date:
Spouse's Birthplace:
Spouse's Age:
Event Date: 08 Jun 1862
Event Place: , Sevier, Tennessee
Father's Name:
Mother's Name:
Spouse's Father's Name:
Spouse's Mother's Name:
Race:
Marital Status:
Previous Wife's Name:
Spouse's Race:
Spouse's Marital Status:
Spouse's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M51968-1
System Origin: Tennessee-ODM
GS Film number: 969965
Reference ID:
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