Jerry Summers
The rolling farm land, covered woods, and occasional waterfalls are part of a much quieter area of northern Hamilton County than what existed in 1947-1950.
Although the origin of the Parker/Ashley and Harris/Millsaps feud is often in dispute, it usually boils down to one of three theories.
Theodore “Pap” Parker was the head of the family that had manufactured and distributed moonshine in the county for many years. He allegedly purchased a house from Willie Harris in 1947 and he later found out that there was an existing mortgage on the property after Harris represented that it did not have any lien.
The second version of the origin of the bloody feud was that Harris was attempting to take over the moonshine industry in Hamilton County which Pap Parker had controlled for many years.
A third theory was that the troubles between the two family groups originated out of the high jacking of a load of illegal liquor.
The feud achieved local and national notoriety similar to the famous Hatfield and McCoy deadly quarrels in West Virginia and Kentucky.
During the administration of Hamilton County Sheriff Frank Burns (1948-1950), enforcement of the liquor laws against the manufacturing and sale of unstamped whiskey were not as vigorously prosecuted as some law and order supporters advocated.
However, with the rare election of Republican Sheriff Rex Richey in 1950 the moonshiners were subjected to vigorous prosecutions. He had successfully campaigned upon “a pledge of honest, courageous, and vigorous law enforcement” which attracted national attention including renowned radio personality Arthur Godfrey.
During his first two years in office he allegedly destroyed 209 stills, 125,775 gallons of mash and 12,662 gallons of whiskey with an estimated street value of $9,136,705.
Although the feud may have originated in the house sale issue it blossomed into murder and assault cases in 1948-1950 when four murders and 15 felonious assaults occurred after the high jacking of a load of illegal liquor by one of the factions against the other.
The first fatality occurred on September 19, 1948, nine months after the feud erupted, when 26-year-old Army Veteran David Wilcox was ambushed in his convertible automobile and his passenger, Willie Lee Harris, narrowly escaped with his life.
The second murder victim was George Trusley who operated a restaurant and was killed on November 5, 1948, on the porch of his East Ridge, Tennessee home. Trusley had a felonious assault charge pending against him at the time of his death arising out of the moonshine feud.
Three members of the Harris clan, Joe Coleman, Harrison Leming and Raymond Bell, were acquitted in Chattanooga in September, 1949 of the murder.
The third ambush victim during the feud was William L. “Boots” Parker who was found lying on a muddy slope of Daisy Mountain after being shot three times and bludgeoned with an ax. Two Bell brothers, Raymond and Ed, were charged with Parker’s murder.
Gunfire was subsequently directed towards Parker’s supporters who had testified against the defendants at trial.
Pistol and rifle shots were directed towards the automobiles and homes of the two competing factions in that period of the feud.
“Pap” Parker and his wife, Ethel, had both sustained gunshot wounds during the feud. Mr. Parker was ambushed in the yard of his Daisy Mountain home and was hospitalized for several months. Mrs. Parker, a school teacher, claimed she still had a bullet in her head when a car in which she was riding was ambushed on September 7.
Six sheriff deputies were sent out on special night patrol to stop the gangland attacks on Daisy Mountain.
When neighbors spied law enforcement officers on the mountain they would fire two rifle shots as a warning of the presence of the sheriff deputies. On other occasions the moonshiners would warn the local citizenry by blowing car horns or women would sometimes bang tin pans.
At the time of the October 1949 police action neither Pap Parker nor Willie Harris were present in Hamilton County. Parker was serving an 18-month sentence in a federal prison in Kentucky for illegal manufacturing and distribution of moonshine. Harris had allegedly fled the area for his own safety and was rumored to be working in a Detroit, Michigan tire plant.
Criminal Judge Raulston Schoolfield, who had represented many of the participants in the feud prior to becoming elected in 1948, took direct action and revoked the bonds of all of those that had pending charges to hopefully stop additional violence.
Harrison Leming, Joe Coleman, Mark Leming, and Tommy Frederick were initially convicted of one of the murders and Schoolfield granted them a new trial but would not give them a bond and they remained in jail pending the retrial at which time they were acquitted on July 14, 1949.
During December, 1948 the two warring factions made an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the continuous conflict on the national radio broadcast “We the People” show by proclaiming an end to the feud.
However, it sporadically reoccurred and the rising price of sugar needed to manufacture moonshine, the cheaper cost of growing marijuana, and more sophisticated law enforcement methods probably contributed as much to the end of the “Daisy Mountain Moonshine Wars” in the 1940’s-1950’s.
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Jerry Summers can be reached at jsummers@summersfirm.com