Judy Cuthins interview with King Huddleston, Mary Huddleston, and Evie Mitchell

The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. This recording starts with chatter between King Huddleston and his wife, Mary Lavonia Dingler Huddleston. Huddleston tells a story of a man, either Al or Hal Mitchell, who hired a killer to murder his wife. The killer was then tried and hung for killing the wrong mans wife. He also discusses the home of his grandparents and parents, which did not have a floor. Evie Mitchell tells the same story, which is credited as being closer to the truth. In her more detailed version, Charlie Waldrop claimed that Hal Mitchell hired him to kill his wife; however, instead he killed the wrong Mitchells wife, Bing Knight. Evie Mitchell contends that no one hired Waldrop, he made the claim to avoid punishment. She also describes Biny Knight Mitchells grave, her family, the dress she was wearing when she was killed, and the comb in her hair. She also explains that no one will visit the place where the killer was hung because its said to be haunted by lights. She also discusses what happened to the killers body. King Huddleston (1891-1973) was born in Clay County, Alabama, to James Ira Huddleston (1843-1923) and Eliza Jane Knowles Huddleston (1846-1935). He married Mary Lavonia Dingler (1897-1972), and they had three children, Irene McVey (1915-1985), Helon L. McVey (1919-2001), and James Ira Huddleston (1924-2003). Evie Wilder Mitchell was born in Clay County, Alabama, to Cornelius Circero Wilder (1851-1939) and LaDora Jane Betterton (1856-1949). She married Charles Hampton Mitchell (1877-1964); they did not have any children. Additional biographical information has not been determined. -3- The first person I interviewed was Mr. King HUddleston, seventy-six years old, who lives in the mountains along Crooked Creek, several miles from Cragford. He did allow me to record his variant of the story. Mr. Huddleston sooke freely, but rambled considerably. He is known by many as the town's local "big talker"; and although his story may be nowhere near a true account, I am sure he has spread it widely throughout the years. The first part of the tape is a conversation between him and his wife; I left it in simply because of its folklife element. King Huddleston - "Mother, vlhenl'd you do that?" Mrs. Huddleston - "Tetcht the darn kittle when I went to cut off the stove." King Huddleston - "Bless thet thang. She .uz in the hospital; I didn't know nothin' bout how t~erate the old lectric stove nor nothin'. I went in thar; decided I'd heat me some water, make me some coffee, and I turned the thang on here n' the thang on there n' they never would no eye get hot. I started moving my coffee water bout' Or/it; to tell, I jest laid ma hand on one- it jest burnt ma hand, blacked rna fingers n' all; I says, yeah, I found it now. Mrs. Huddleston - "NoW, vlhatever you told her out yonder, tell her agin". King Huddleston - "h'e were jest ta",kin' about ole man Waldrop. I knowed his name jes as good as I knowed Uncle ? (trouble with recorder). Ready - you ready? Yep, she's got thet, too. She gets it all. Uh. . I wouldn't say for sure if Hal and Al Mitchell - - -- ----------------------------------------, -4- was brothers; and one of em wanted to make way of his wife, I'll jes put it thet way, get shed of his wife, and he hired this fella Waldrop to kill his wife .. When he killed her, he killed the wrong one. He didn't kill the woman thet he's hired to kill. He killed the other Mitchell's wife. Well, course they got angry perty quick, people did. This country never did have no mob law like Georgia used to have and Florida and Texas and such as thet, n' we never did do much uv thet in this part of the country. But, anyhow, they got after him and they followed him over in Georgia and the Georgia law helped capture him They brought him back dmm here near Cragford - rite below Cragford school building; you know whar thet's at I know. And thet's whar they lynched him at and he told the whole thing; he said thet Hal Mitchell or Al Mitchell)one, I won't say ,'Thich, but one of em hard him to kill his wife ... He met her on the trail; he knowed she had to go this trail and he met her on this trail and he said if he hadn't been the man he was with this big pocket knife - she was much better man than he wa~n' she'd a killed him, but he killed her. And they brought him back there and hung him to an old hickory tree ... He confessed to the whole thang. Hell, thet jest let this other Mitchell down to nothin' ya mite say (Hal), and this one who got his wife killed said he's gona kill him even if he was his brother. He uz gona kill him when he put his eyes on him, any way, form or fashion -5- fer haring his wife being killed, his wife, instead he killed his wife and he's gona kill'tm no matter whar he found him ... He (King's grandfather) said, 'Baby, thet's the worst loss we ever had in this country was lettin' I'1itchell get away.' By being a said murderer . This fella Mitchell, he jes disappeared n' none a his people never did know ltJhat become of him." This is the story according to Mr. King Huddleston. The following is also transcribed from Mr. Huddleston's interview. It is not related to my legend. It is a brief description of folklife, left in for interest sake: King Huddleston - "11y Grandaddy and Great Grandaddy jest alike lived in old log houses with no floor, dirt floors even. My mother and daddy lived in one seve~ears fore they ever got a floor in it.. lived in thet fer seven years; didn't know 1'ihat a winda wuz or nothin' or they'd make a slidin' one outa wood, slide thet at nite, ya know, fer wind er anything, keep it in". The next aC'count of the event comes from an interview with Doctor Barrett Mitchell, eighty-two years old. Doc Mitchell was born several years after the murder, but he also had heard the story numerous times, since the husband of the murder victim was his uncle. The following is a verbatim account of my interview, taken down in short-hand. Doctor Mitchell told me -6- I could take down anything I wanted on paper, but he wouldn't fool with "that machine". Barrett Mitchell - "Loblna Elizabeth Knight !1itchell, born in 1862. She was nineteen years old when she died. Fa got Uncle Al to come help him, (Al was Lobina's husband). He left and Aunt Biny (Lobina) was going to come later. Dinner came and Al $.~sked his mother where Biny was and she didn't know. Well, he just went on and ate. Al went do~m the road lookin' for her later and passed right by where she was and didn't see her. He passed old man Bill Farrell plowing, who said he had seen her earlier, carrying some apples. They took the mule and went lookin'. The mule smelled the blood and found her. This WaS on June 30, 1881. Nobody could figure it out. But, old Jack J'fanning and some neighbors were fishing at the river in a boat, and a man called to ern' and asked em' to take him across the river and they did. When they got back from fishing, they learned of the killing and they said they thought it was the same man, cause' he had had blood on his sleeve. Men on horses lit out towards Roanoke, Alaba;liJa lookinf for him. They trailed him into the swamps but couldn't find him. They had handbills (wanted posters) passed out allover Georgia. Finally, word got back that he had been caught and was in -7- the Franklin jail. Uncle Mace (Lobina's brother) went out, determined to kill him (Waldrop); so, he got together a bunch of friends and they rode on horses to Franklin to mob the jailhouse. They surrounded the jail, and broke in, lwke up the jailer and took the keys from him. They bought a chain at a hardware store with two locks, and locked Vlaldrop to him (Uncle Mace) and they rode back (to Cragford). They hung him using Dee Vlalker's barn door as a scaffold. They didn't hang him"rith the chain (other variants have it that the rope broke so they hung him with the chain). The rope broke so they used a plow line. Haldrop sold his body to some doctors for five dollars before he died, if they would send the money to his mother. Doctors cut off the flesh and put the skeleton in a box. It's still around somewhere. Waldrop was mean, not hired. He had made an improper proposal to her and when she ran, he was afraid she would tell on him, so he killed her. He did say Hal Mitchell had hired him, but when nobody believed him, he told the truth. He cut her all up, then stomped on her to be sure she was dead". This is the end of Mr. Mitchell's transcriDtion; the information in Darentheses is my o.m. Barrett Mitchell has the actual chain used at the hanging, which he brings out to show folks when he relates the story to anyone. -8- He said that a few years ago, some reporters had come to do an article on the murder and lynching, but all they wanted was a good story, whether or not it was true wasn't important. This is an example of how a legend like this one can spread and change. people, unfortunately, look to newspapers as the truth. When people read the article, it will be an even more exciting story than it probably really is, thus it will spread and more variants will be formed. The following variant would probably prove to be closest to the truth. It is that of the late Mr. Hamp Mitchell's wife, Evie Mitchell. Mrs. Mitchell is eighty-eight years old now and was two years old at the time of the murder. She still lives by Crooked Creek in the Cragford community. The true account of the crime died with those who lived years ago and were involved in the incident. No records exist in the county courthouse or anywhere else. There WaS no court trial, in fact, the hanging and murder were probably unknown even to the county sheriff for several days thereafter, since the only means of transporta.tion or communication at the time was horseback and buggies. Those who know most nearly what haooened are those who were close friends or relatives of Lobina Mitchell. Transcription from tape of Mrs. Mitchell's variant: Evie Mitchell - "Well, it happened in eighteen and eighty, eighteen-eighty; Biny Mitchell (Lobina), Biny Knight Mitchell was murdered by Charlie Waldrop one morning as -9- -ti1e.-j the school children was goin' to school, ~heard her screaming and hollerin', but nobody paid no attention to o.~ it and they \'1ent on and she was .goin'; to Hamp' smother's to spend the day and had some sewing in her aaron and some apDles. Her husband went on earlier, Uncle Al vlent on earlier that morning to, he's goin,'; to work that day and he ,,,anted to do a full day's "TOrk; and. she told him, says 'AI you just go o~ says, 'I got some more thangs to do here' says, 'I'll come on after a little.' And she didJ and Uncle Bill Farrell was plowin, and he was plowin' an old gray mule and she passed through where he was plowin' and he told her, says,'Biny, now you be careful', says, 'I had a bad dream about that mule last night' and says, 'You be careful with it.' Well, that mule was the one that found her. When Uncle Al come to dinner he says, 'Where's -dtueJS Biny?' Ma says, 'I haven't seen her.' Says, 'well, some~ thin~ wrong then', says' she got sick or somethins' wrong because she told me to come on so I could do a whole days work, said she'd come on dereckly; and she had some sewing she wanted to do today'. Well, he goes on by Uncle Bill s"..-c-<IFarrell's that was rjg~ out from his house where they lived, and he asked Uncle Bill if he had seen Biny and he told him yes, and he told him what she'd said to him; be careful with that mule, she'd dreamed a bad dream about him the night before (earlier Mrs. Mitchell said Bill Farrell had warned Biny to be careful with the mule, I believe she was confused). -10- And,of course, he gets on the mule; Mr. Farrell gets on the mule and Uncle Al was walkin' and in the washed-up side the road, it was kindly soft ground and Uncle Al looked down - says, 'Here's Biny's track' and says, 'she's a-runnin; says, 'I can tell by this track that she's a-runnin". Well, they tracked on then and after while they found some apples a lyin' side the road and they just kept comin' and when that mule, that mule got even with where she was, she was lyin' over behind a big pine tree; he drug her there after he killed her. And so, that mule got even with that place) he jest rared up on his hind feet~ "jest brayed) and they couldn't do a thang in the world with him, and Mr. Farrell said,'I never knew this mule to be unruley before in my life.' Says, ' there's somethin I the matter Al, somewhere.* I know he must've smelt the blood - what made him do that.' But they never could do nothin' with him and they began to look around then and they found her body over behind this tree." He - "Who killed her?" Mrs. l1itchell - "Charlie Waldrop". Me - "Was he hired tQ,"? Mrs. 11i tchell - "Well, he claimed that he ..ras hired to kill her by a fella by the name of Hal Mitchell. They was a HalMitchell that lived across the river over here, but this Al l1itchell wasn't related. It was Al l1i tchell ,'ms Hamp' s daddy's and Uncle He (Waldron) told -11- Charlie's brother, the Al Mitchell was. /Wf'> on the scaffold; he said'A 'Hal Mitchell told me about three weeks before that '. They was in his garden and pulled up some little onions,and told him, says, 'Hal, you know that you hired me, told me you'd give me fifty dollars if I'd kill your wife'.(and he had mistakenly killed the wrong Mitchell's wife) Uncle Al, (I think she meant Hal) says, 'Charlie Waldrop, you know I never done such a thing in my life', and then Al Mitchell was at the hanging and everybody else in Clay and Randolph and Tallapoosa County- for three or four counties there wasn't nobody, but what was there. (she leaves out the part refering to Al Mitchell's mob chasing Waldrop through Georgia before the hanging, but she goes back to it later) And, the'rope broke. They got the scaffold, now is over yonder at Hamp's daddy's old place - his barn door; they of went up there and took the door off"his barn and made Jvs"C the scaffold for him to stand on. TheY"had a plow line for a rope to hang him with and that plow line, when they drawed him up, it broke and he fell back on the scaffold and that's when he told that Hal Mitchell give him fifty . I 54'1$) dollars and he (Hal) said, 'then 'we'll go kill old man ) Jack Hanley because he's got ~lot of money and we'll divide. I'll divide the money with you when we get that' , but he didn't get that. (here she goes back to the chase before -12- the hanging). &~d everybody in this whole country lit out on horses, an' there's some feller a fishin' " (here I tried to straighten out the story because now she has gone back to the episode before the hanging) Me - "Are they looking for Hal?" Nrs. Mitchell - "They ,JaS a lookin' fer Charlie Haldrop." Me - "Oh, when the rope broke he got away?" Mrs. !'!itchell - "No Honey, that was when they got him and chained him to her brother; No, he never did get away, but he escaped when he killed her. He left and crossed the river down here this side of Malone and they was some man &fishin' and he said that he was in amongst the bushes ya know, and Waldrop. never did see him, but he swum the river and he pulled off his shirt and washed the blood and washed it, because this man was ~watchin' him and he went on across the river and there's an ole shop right this side of Roanoke - a blacksmith ,'JaS there and he says, 'I've got a tack in my boot and I'm gona take off my boot and get this tack out', and just as he got his boot off, uh this man that run the shop, he looked and says, 'Lord! What is, does all that mean; all that army of men on horses.' Waldrop grabbed his boot and run and went on and they caught him at Franklin, Georgia. This crowd of men di') and they brought him back. Uncle Hark 11ullins, Haud -1]- Ose~ grandaddy, was sheriff of Wedowee at that time, Randolph CountyJand they didn't take him to no law, no court, nothin' (Waldrop). They just brought him back here where they's two trees - hickory trees - they's about that far apart, ya know, grow'd up there just alike; right there just acrost the road where they found her. And they brought him right back there to these hickory trees. and put him on the scaffold - went and got this board Its tellin' you 'bout, put him on this scaffold; and when the rope broke, they got a chain and locked it. They's sure then that he \~asn' t gona get m~ay from them . Chain, it stayed on that tree for years and years just a-hangin' up on that tree." Me - "Did they ever get the man that really hired him to kill him ?" Jl'jrs. !'iitchell - "They didn't nobody hire him, that was just his tale, he thought that'd get him b~ you see. No, nobody didn't hire him. He just killed her and said she was runnin', she got away from him once and there's a little hill ~hit ~s steeper than this hill up here \'bad in the L @lit and she got avlay from him and run and he's a small man and she was much of a woman, she was a stout, healthy woman and he said if she'd ever got to the top of the hill, that he never would've killed her or said if she'd had the knife that he had, she'd a killed him. -14- Me - "Well, why did he kill her?" Jl'irs. Mitchell - "Jest meanness, just meanness, that's all." Jl'ie - "Why did they put the tombstone up Hhere tha:told tree used to be?" Mrs. ~litchell - "In remembrance of ths family, her, the woman that Has killed)and the family. They was fourteen children in her family and she was the third daughter and they's three Mitchells married three Knights. Three brothers married three Knight sisters." Me - "I've heard that the dress is still around that she "TaS killed in; do you know anything about it?" IVirs. IViitchell - "Yes, I've seen that a good many times, and they - even the gashes where he cut her with this knife; it "',las a new print dress, the gashes is still in that dress." Me - "14hen did this happen, h01'I many years ago?" 0/1-" IVirs. l~itchell - "Eighty year ago." ~ One of this lady's nieces has her comb. She had a high, old time, they called em' tuckin' combs that they wore in their hair; and she had that in her ha)r when she was killed and this niece has that comb today and another niece has the dress she "TaS killed in." It's at Lula's, too; '"('s lA"t: I gnd. Dee Halker's house." (the extra voice on the tape is that of Lena, the negro maid) Mrs. Mitchell - "comb was that high (measures), They used to -15- wear tuckin' combs in their hair with (here she goes into a mumbled conversat i on 1'iith Lena) ... Perty, they' s perty things and it'd stand way up here some of em's about (now ~lrs. Hitchell goes on to talk about the "hanging grounds" of Charles Waldrop) Hrs. Mitchell - " they called it the hanging grounds - they's afraid to go by there after dark and you couldn't get nobody to go; one boy passed there one night and he said something got after him. And he ran and got in, at that time they was a lil' old house in the cemetary and he run til' he got to that cemetary and he ,lent and crawled in that little old house, at the cemetary - that was Levelle Dean ... You couldn't get nobody, white " nor colored)nobody else to go by that hanging ground after night. They claim that you could see lights a burnin' ~ between tj<o.e~e two trees, every night. 1-'lell, you know it wasn't so, but they would, they'd. just get scared to death about that hang in , ground. And_this little Will r's gona tell you about, colored boy that worked - lived with Uncle Charlie; one evenin', Uncle Charlie, when he got out of tobacco, he just had to have him some tobaccer, and one night after they ate supper and they didn't eat dinner early 1'1' the evenin', they ate at dark, and he said to Will, says,'Will, you go down to Cragford and tell -16- Hamp I said to send me some tobacco.' He (Will) said, 'OH! Mr. Mitchell, I can't do that. You know that I can't pass that hangin' grOUnds,';~!Hitchell) says, 'there ain't nothin' gona bother you at the hangin' grounds, ain't nothin' &gona tetch you.' He (Will) says, 'No Sir, I know nothin'c gona tetch me, but I don't want it runnin' after me'. (~) He - "Now, start over and tell me what they did with 1,valdroiD' s body and all the other things." Mrs. Mitchell - "Well, his mother asked for it, but when the time come for her to get the body, she told them to let Dr. Gay have it, that she didn't want it, but Dr. Gay uD'k~ ~.') said, ~. ae carried it and put it in his crib. Of course, (\. back then they had horses and buggies and that night, he told this colored man - he forgot the skeleton~r the body was in there, and he told this colored man, he said, ~~ddle up my horse' says, 'I've got to make a call.' and when he went in there he went over to that with Waldrop's body in there and it liked to scared him to death; he like to run hisself to death." He - "They didn't bury Charles Waldrop at all?" Mrs. 11itchell - "No! They didn't bury him, they uh.. doctors examined his body what is it they call it?" I'ie - "Autopsy?" !'Irs. Mitchell - "Dissected, his body .., I don't knovi" hOl'I they -17- took the flesh off. Then is when they strung these bones. Did you ever see a person that died, just the bones?" r1e - nNo 1il l<Jrs. !1itchell - "1.,rell, I have. Don't never look at it." Me - "I won't, I won't ... In final evaluation of these variants of the legend, it is obvious, as in all legends, that there are certain points agreed upon by all, and others that are indefinite and thus told in a different way by each person. I found that if these folk are unsure about a point in a story, they are quick to make up a good substitute rather than admit they are unsure. This is another clue to the creation of variants. Certain folk believe that the killer was hired by Hal Mitchell to kill his wife, and killed Al Mitchell's wife by mistake. Others believe that waldrop was just lying to take some of the blame off himself, and he was actually not hired by anyone. The motives for the murder were different in each story as no one ever knew for sure or ever will, what the truth really was. The time of day of the murder and even the details of the hanging of ',valdroy vary. The only fae ts that really hold true are that Al Mitchell's wife, Lobina, was murdered by Charles Waldrop, and he was caught in Georgia, brought back, and lynched near Cragford by a mob. Most of the details and descriptions outside of thills differ with every teller. A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access. Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions. 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