>» VL\)t Hibrarp of the ©mbensitpof jSortf) Carolina €ntrotoeb bp {Efce Btalectic anb ^fnlantfjropic g>otietie* C310-T^ b , »9 &0-^\ ^^^^Hi^H^BHn^^^^H C9*70- 12,9 xja_jaza*& This bookmust not be taken from the Library building. 1 L ^•cL Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://archive.org/details/tennesseehistori06dewi ' THE TENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDED 1849 INCORPORATED 1870 OFFICERS President, JOHN H. DeWITT. Vice-Presidents, E. T. SANFORD, PARK MARSHALL J. P. YOUNG. Mrs. B. D. BELL Recording Secretary and Treasurer, J. TYREE FAIN. Assistant Recording Secretary, HALLUM W. GOODLOE. Corresponding Secretary, W. A. PROVINE FORM OF LEGACY "I give and bequeath to The Tennessee Historical Society . ' the s urn of dollars CONTENTS Page John A. Murrell and Daniel Crenshaw 3 Hon, Park Marshall. Marriage Records of Knox County, Tennessee 10 Miss Kate White. Journal of Governor John Sevier (Concluded) 18 John H. DeWitt. Historical News and Notes 69 Items From the Minutes of the Tennessee Historical Society 71 COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION John H. DeWitt, Business Manager, Stahlman, Building, Nashville, Tenn. Dr. William A. Provine, Editor, Presbyterian Building, Nashville, Tenn. J. Tyree Fain, Treasurer, Watkins Hall, Nashville, Tenn. TENNESSEE HISTORICAL MAGAZINE Vol. 6 APRIL, 1920 No. 1 JOHN A. MURRELL AND DANIEL CRENSHAW. Some Facts with Regard to These Criminals—The Plea of "Benefit of Clergy." John A. Murrell and Daniel Crenshaw when young men, in the year 1827 and before that date, both lived in William- son County. Tennessee. Whether or not they were born in the county the writer does not know, but supposes that they were. Murrell's home was near the present Lewisburg pike about ten miles from Franklin and not far from Bethesda. Cren- shaw's home was about the same distance from Franklin and near Lieper's Fork or Hillsboro. Crenshaw appears to have lived on land belonging to the Benton estate, for after Mrs. Benton (mother of Thomas H. Benton, the Senator) died, her estate was divided. Still later Thomas H. Benton conveyed 226 acres of this land to Mary Benton, his brother's widow, and in the deed refers to a large spring near one of its cor- ners as being known as Crenshaw's spring. In this deed and in other papers relating to this land it is curious to note that the name Crenshaw is mentioned three times and is spelled three different ways. Besides the above spelling, it is also spelled Grenshaw and Grainshaw. For some time previously to 1827 Murrell lived in Frank- lin, and possibly Crenshaw also lived there for a time, but about that time they both appear to have left Williamson County for other fields of activity. TWO TRADITIONS AGREE. There are two points upon which the traditions which have come down in Williamson County from those days agree: (1) That the father of Murrell was a Methodist preacher having a good moral character; (2) that as between John A. Murrell and Daniel Crenshaw, the latter was the leader. The tradi- tion is also uniform and undisputed that neither of these men ever practiced murder as a means of carrying out his designs, and that no definite charge of murder was ever brought against 4 PARK MARSHALL them. The reference here made is to the tradition that has come down from their days, but naturally there have been some persons of later generations who supposed that they were murderers and "great land pirates," but this idea they received from reading faked stories, just as persons in other parts of the country have done. IN WEST TENNESSEE. After leaving Williamson County Murrell lived for some time in what is now Chester County, where his character was precisely the same as it was in Williamson County. Again, Murrell always positively denied that he or his "gang" ever committed a murder. No charge of murder in any definite form was ever brought to his door. And again, he was convicted of negro stealing in court at Jackson, and was sent to the penitentiary where he remained six years, at the end of which time he was pardoned because of his failing health. He went to Pikeville and died not long afterward in that part of the state. During all of this time he could have been tried for murder if the state had had a case against him. Yet the prevailing belief in the minds of the people in many parts of the country, and to a great extent locally at the pres- ent time, is that Murrell and Crenshaw—particularly Murrell —were the leaders of the greatest band of highwaymen the country has ever known, and could with justice be described as "tr t land pirates of the Southwest." NOT THE LEADER OF A BAND. This mistaken notion had its origin in a highly fictional and long since discredited story contained in a small book published by one Vergil A. Stewart, which owing to its sensa- tional character had a large sale and of course a very large number of readers. It is not at all an uncommon thing to hear this book referred to at this day, and it is still less un- common to hear blood-curdling stories told which had their origin in the same book. Only a year or two ago some one in the North published another book of fiction about Murrell, its "facts," no doubt, having been pirated, from Stewart's book of Murrell fiction of eighty or ninety years ago. The writer has never seen this last-mentioned book, but has seen it ad- vertised in magazines that charge high rates for ads. As it is certain that no facts can be found and no records resur- rected upon which to found a story containing anything very sensational about Murrell, it is naturally left to inference that the basis of any such story must be found in the former story, JOHN A. MURRELL AND DANIEL CRENSHAW 5 so that two books are no greater authority than the first of them alone. In his story Stewart pretended that Murrell was the head and front of an organized band of outlaws spread all over large parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas; that a large number of very prominent men were members of the band, bound under secret oaths to obey the orders of its chief and to protect its members under all conditions and situa- tions. The story went on to show that the whole country, in the area of the operations of these outlaws, was in a state of terror, so that no one dared to give any information or evidence in court. Stories were told of bloody murders and robberies, and of negroes being stolen, then sold for cash, and restolen from the last purchasers, and finally murdered, filled with stones and sunk in creeks or rivers. It is enough to know the fact that none of these stories was believed at the time and in the sections of the country named in the book, or in those sections where Murrell or Crenshaw had lived or performed any of their thievery. The fact is, they had the reputation of being merely common thieves, secretly stealing horses or negroes in one neighbor- hood and conveying them for sale to another. Neither of the two men was of any great consequence even in his character as stealer of horses or of negroes, and it is well that this fact should be recorded. The writer many years ago conversed on this subject with a great many old citizens of different parts of Tennessee and Mississippi with a view to finding out what the prevailing opinion was, and found it in all cases as above given. Maj. J. G. Cisco also made an investigation to the same end in Chester County, where Murrell lived for a time, and has informed the writer that he reached exactly the same con- clusion, there not being a single reason for reaching any other conclusion. SENSATIONAL STORIES. The comparatively unimportant character of Murrell and Crenshaw, and of their acts and doings, would not call for any extended notice in this publication, were it not for the fact that by fictions they have been "boosted" into a position of notoriety in many places where the facts of their humble and unimportant lives and acts are not so well known. Vergil A. Stewart, the author of the first-mentioned book, was in person brought before the grand jury in Jackson and was questioned for hours by the state's attorney, and was unable to give the name of any prominent man connected with 6 PARK MARSHALL the outlaws, or any fact bearing on their having an organi- zation, or any fact on which to base charges of murder. It was believed that Stewart was at one time associated with Murrell in his peculiar line of business, and for some cause fell out of Murrell's favor, and so wrote against Murrell for the gratification of a desire for revenge. The records of Williamson County relating to Murrell and Crenshaw will now be given, together with the disposition of several indictments there against them which were disposed of elsewhere. murrell's first offense. Murrell's first known offense does not appear to be shown on the records, but is handed down by tradition. It occurred when as a boy or very young man he robbed a poor peddler. He must have gotten out of that scrape some way or other, or possibly it is hidden in the records of the Quarterly Court, if it occurred at all.