[Granville-Hough] 30 Mar 2009 - Uncle Amos

[Trustees and Executors for Granville W. Hough]

  There are those who said Uncle Amos was the black sheep of the 14 
Arender children. Here are the reasons.
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Did Uncle Amos Do It? (updated)

My father, Lisha Hough and my grandmother Mary Richardson generally got 
along like two peas in a pod, but there was one subject which caused 
heated disagreement. We learned never to mention it in the presence of 
either. The question was: “Did Uncle Amos Arender kill the contract mail 
carrier, Moses Boone?” Lisha Hough said yes, with a lot of support from 
the people, the court, and the circumstances. Grandma Mary said no with 
the absolute conviction of a devoted sister and on other circumstances 
and rumors. My brother, Dueward Hough, talked years later to some 
distant neighbors in the Shady Grove Community to our north and became 
convinced that evidence was suppressed which would have freed Uncle Amos 
and incriminated other people. I remember his informant by the surname 
of Butler.
Why was Moses killed? Apparently it was a robbery or hold-up gone wrong. 
Someone must have thought the mail carrier had money or other valuables. 
One report is that the robbers had handkerchiefs over their faces, but 
that Amos Arender’s handkerchief fell off his nose, exposing his face. 
Moses had to be killed because he would report Uncle Amos as one who 
robbed him. Just exactly who killed Moses among the robbers became the 
question. For some reason, Uncle Amos became suspect and could not prove 
he was not present. It is not known that he even had a gun, but he was 
tried and convicted. My recollection of the story is that he did not 
take the stand. So my mother’s first recollection of that family was of 
her Aunt Kate (Kennedy) Arender and her children moving in with Lizzie’s 
grandparents, Sampson and Nancy Arender in the upper Cohay community. 
Where Uncle Amos had lived before, I never learned. Lizzie found Aunt 
Kate to be a person of charm, natural beauty, and kindness. She became 
Lizzie’s favorite aunt, whether by blood or marriage. Lizzie was 
probably playmates with the oldest daughter, though Lizzie only 
mentioned Aunt Kate in general discussions about the family.
When Uncle Amos was born in 1872, older sister Mary was seven and 
probably became his “little mother” and caretaker. Mary would brook no 
evil words about Amos or his family. I remember nothing about Moses 
Boone or about the time or place of the homicide, but I would guess it 
was before 1900. Anyway, when Lizzie first became specifically aware of 
the family, Uncle Amos was in prison with a long sentence. The story I 
heard in childhood was that his parents had engaged Anse McLaurin to get 
him out. It took several years but Anse was successful. (Anse McLaurin 
was a former Governor and possibly U. S. Senator whose skills as a 
lawyer were renown.)
Maxine Watts remembers another story told by Uncle Thomas Richardson 
about how Grandpa and Grandma Arender got Amos out of prison. For this 
story to be true, it must have been that the state prison was still near 
Jackson, not at Parchman where I remember it. Grandma Arender is said to 
have decided Amos had been in prison long enough. She directed Grandpa 
Arender to hitch up the mules to their wagon and drive to Jackson to get 
Amos. This they indeed did. On arrival, they went into the Governor’s 
office (presumably in the Old Capitol Building) to tell Governor James 
K. Vardaman (“The People’s Choice”) they were there to see him. The 
secretary asked if they had an appointment. Grandma Arender assured him 
they had no appointment, but had driven fifty miles by mule and wagon 
from Smith County to see the Governor on urgent business. (One must 
remember that Grandma Arender at the time was a very large woman, 
weighing over 300 pounds, with a powerful voice, and had had 14 
children.) The secretary must have explained to the Governor, who agreed 
to see the couple after his regular appointments. Governor Vardaman then 
heard their story that Amos had been in prison long enough, as there 
were doubts that he had done the crime at all. He explained it would 
take time to study the case, go to a Parole Board, get a review, and 
hopefully get Amos released. Grandma Arender assured him, “We will wait 
right here. You do what you have to do. But we have come to take him 
home. We have little children at home, please work as fast as you can.” 
So Grandma takes the largest chair in the Governor’s office, and settles 
down to wait, all 300 pounds of her. She seemed impervious to any 
suggestions that she go to a hotel, or go back to her wagon to wait.
Governor Vardaman must have considered his options, his public image, 
and his political future. How could he get Grandma Arender out of his 
office without doing damage to his calling card, “The People’s Choice?” 
The end result was that he found a way to let Amos go home. Whether it 
was a pardon, a furlough, or a suspension is not clear. Grandma and 
Grandpa Arender drove out of Jackson back to Smith County with Uncle 
Amos in their wagon. Governor Vardaman had averted a crisis in his 
office. It may have been one of those events which he did not record in 
the daily journal of official actions. (That Anse McLaurin became 
involved may not be inconsistent with this version. He may have 
completed the paper work. Or it could be that his involvement was in the 
later ox case.)
In the long wait with Amos in prison, Aunt Kate had finally given up and 
had left the community with a man from near Raleigh named ??? Grant. 
They were said to have set up housekeeping as a married couple and 
family in Pearl River County. As soon as Uncle Amos was free, he tracked 
them down. He assured Aunt Kate and Grant he came in peace; he just 
loved Kate and wanted her to know he would take her back, or he would 
give her a divorce and let her go with Grant. It was up to Aunt Kate to 
choose. It is said Uncle Amos said: “ I’m so sorry you cannot be two 
Kates. Then I could have one and Grant could have one.” Finally, Aunt 
Kate chose Amos. (The logic of this decision escaped every one concerned 
at the time; but it may have been Kate’s intuition that Amos wanted her 
and would likely kill Grant to get her, promises notwithstanding. So her 
decision may have saved Grant’s life.) She and Amos apparently came back 
to Smith County to live. What Grant did I do not know.
Uncle Amos then had another disaster. He had a neighbor with an ox which 
was a very good work ox. Uncle Amos offered to swap for the ox, he 
offered to buy it; he pleaded for it, but the man would not part with 
his ox. So Uncle Amos finally just plainly and simply took it. When the 
man reported that Uncle Amos has stolen his ox, the case was tried, and 
Uncle Amos went back to prison for another year. To my father, the ox 
case indicated Uncle Amos was one of those persons with uncontrollable 
desires. If he saw something he wanted, he would kill to get it. Grandma 
Mary would not discuss the ox case.
Uncle Amos was still in MS in 1910 but moved to LA at some point and 
died there in 1926. What happened to his children? Some of the daughters 
had married and remained in Smith County. Uncle Tom Richardson only 
shows one Arender son in the Amos family.
Another story I heard from Aunt Terry Richardson is that one of her 
Arender first cousins settled in AR just west of Memphis. He was a 
wife-beater, and one day his grown son got tired of seeing his mother 
beaten and got into a fight with his father and shot and killed him. 
This was all in the Memphis papers, and Aunt Terry, who lived in 
Memphis, went over into AR to try to help. I cannot say what she did or 
could do, but my impression at the time was that the first cousin was 
son of Amos. That could be entirely wrong as there were ten Arender 
uncles and Aunt Terry surely had over 30 Arender first cousins.
In my Bible Study sessions for Alzheimer’s patients, at least yearly we 
go through the ten commandments. I probably spend more time on the 
words, “Thou shalt not covet…neither thy neighbor’s ox nor his ass,” 
than anyone ever before heard. But coveting to me also covers gambling 
in all its forms. So I am a social and religious maverick because of my 
life experiences. Uncle Amos and his neighbor’s ox still influence me.
(Note: Maxine (Richardson) Watts of Poplarville, MS, was daughter of 
Luke and Joan (Sullivan) Richardson, and is thus my first cousin. 
Recently, among her family heirlooms she found a campaign pin for James 
K. Vardaman, “The People’s Choice” c 1900, which she was able to give to 
a grandson of Governor Vardaman in Hattiesburg, MS. He proudly displays 
it. Maxine was able for some time to work with Uncle Thomas F. 
Richardson in recording family stories, one of which is the one about 
the wagon trip to Jackson to get Uncle Amos.)




P. S. 6. "Take it from a businessman: The War on Drugs is just money 
down the drain." Gary E. Johnson, Governor, New Mexico, 1995-2003.