[Granville-Hough] 31 March 2009 - Saratoga

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:59:59 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Saratoga - 31 Mar 2009

Frances M. Fannie Sullivan (23 Dec 1867 MS  ) md Frank Lucas, and 
LUCAS ch were: Terry; Guy; Alphie; Wiley; Sam; twin Milton; and twin 
Louis. Fannie md (2) Walter Carter, and had Donald CARTER. Fannie M. was 
noted for running the boardinghouse at Saratoga during its heyday. 
Fannie M. was daughter of Big Bud or Bud/Eph and Anna M. (Hubbard) 
Sullivan. Big Bud had moved a few miles west into the Merry Hell 
community of Hubbardtown, in Simpson County.

The Saratoga Boardinghouse. In Chester Sullivans chapter on Saratoga, 
the Railroad Town, pages 71-73 are devoted to Fannies boardinghouse. 
Fannie was a widow with ten children struggling to make a living when 
she went one day with Taylor Sullivan (from her home on Merry Hell) to 
Saratoga to sell vegetables. She liked the looks of the place and was 
able to open a boardinghouse for the timber and railroad workers passing 
through. It was so successful that it took a whole cow and a barrel of 
peas for the evening meal. Fannie had a boarder named Walter Carter who 
came through as a cattle buyer, and Fannie took a liking to him. They up 
and married and had one child, Fannies eleventh. All boardinghouses 
sold whiskey, and Fannies was no exception. She was indicted on six 
counts of selling intoxicating liquors in 1906 and 1908, arrested, and 
bonded by A. B. and W. A. Sullivan. On the day of the trial, there was 
no accused, no witnesses, and no bonders. The judge fussed and fumed, 
and ordered the Sheriff of Simpson County to do this and that, everybody 
made comments, but boardinghouse business continued as usual.

Taylor Sullivan's Death. Pp 98-99, 133, Ann Hammons, Wild Bill Sullivan: 
King of the Hollow, 1980. The account of Taylor Sullivans death is 
carefully recorded on pages 98-99 by Mrs. Hammons. (This was the same 
Taylor Sullivan who had introduced Fannie Lucas to the town of Saratoga.)
Near Saratoga, another murder episode involved the Sullivans. Taylor, 
one of Wild Bills nephews, was a veteran of the Spanish-American War. 
After the war, he became an employee of the Gulf and Ship Island 
Railroad. He was married to Della Wood, sister of Annie Jane Wood who 
had married W. M. Howell.
On Sunday morning, Nov 16, 1902, Taylor boarded the train at Saratoga 
and went to Laurel, but he did not return on the train that afternoon. 
When the train reached Saratoga, the postmaster, J. T. Robinson, and his 
brother-in-law, T. J. Walters, went through the cars searching for 
Sullivan. They were heard to say that they were going to kill him once 
they had found him. A short while after dark, gunshots were heard in the 
neighborhood of the depot. Sullivan was found dead with his brains shot 
out, and a hole in his right side where a load of buckshot had been 
emptied. His head was severed from his body, apparently by an ax. There 
were no eyewitnesses to the shooting. However, a pistol which had been 
pawned by a man named Homer to T. J. Walters for some whiskey was found 
near the body.
The killing may have resulted from a family quarrel which involved 
questions about a womans chastity. Grover Bishop said that T. J. 
Walters worked for the railroad company also, and that Taylor Sullivan 
had said something to Mrs. Walters that she did not like, so she told 
her husband whereupon he shot and killed Taylor.
After the inquest was held, Sheriff Magee of Simpson County arrested 
both Robinson and Walters, and on November 18, he took them to the Hinds 
County Jail in Jackson. On November 19, the two prisoners were taken to 
Mendenhall, the seat of Simpson County, for arraignment. Several shots 
were fired as they got off the train. Consequently, the officers did not 
think it was safe to let the prisoners stay in Mendenhall for fear of an 
impromptu rope-stretching party. The two prisoners also requested to be 
taken back to Jackson. On November 20, they were returned to Saratoga 
and were released on a bond of $1000 until the next term of circuit 
court. Sylvester L. McIntosh and George W. May served as attorneys for 
the two men and the McIntosh brothers served as prosecutors in the case. 
Howells history says Robinson was found guilty of this crime. Mrs. 
Hammons footnote states: For information on the Taylor Sullivan affair, 
see Jackson Daily News, Nov 17, 18, 20, 1902; Simpson County News, Nov 
20, 27, 1902; Laurel Chronicle, Nov 18 1902; and Smith County Reformer, 
Nov 27, 1902.
 
Brown Lee's Cut Throat. There is one story about Saratoga people which 
has been repeated many times. You could get on the train at Saratoga, go 
for a weekend to the Gulf Coast, carouse and have a whooping good time 
there in the red light districts, and come back on Sunday night. One 
such expedition was organized at Cousin Waddy Walkers store (which was 
actually in Coat, a couple of miles away), but the people were the 
regulars of Saratoga, including a man named Brown Lee, who worked for 
the railroad at Saratoga, firing the boiler. Another passenger was Dr. 
E. L. Walker, who was later a highly respected doctor in Magee. Of 
course there may have been Sullivans and Sullivan descendants along for 
the festivities. On the way back, they fell into customary card playing 
and shooting craps when there was a fight and Brown Lees throat was 
cut, ear to ear, including his jugular vein. Dr. Walker of course had 
his medical bag and was able to hold the jugular vein with one hand and 
sew it back together with the other. As soon as he had completed this 
feat, he sewed the neck together. All this was said to be done on the 
speeding train. Brown Lee recovered and lived a long mean life 
afterwards. Chester Sullivan also heard accounts of this fight and 
stated it was Tim Thames of Mendenhall who cut Brown Lees throat. Bud 
Hicks was also involved. A three-way fight is hard to imagine, so I 
suspect neither Chester Sullivan nor I have it quite right. It was in 
the generation before we were born, but the basic facts of Dr. Walkers 
ingenuity as a surgeon became widely known; and Brown Lee was there to 
prove it until his death about 1920 at age 70.



P. S. 6. "No punishment could be too severe for those {prisoners} who 
were kingpins of the drug trade and who ruined so many lives. But, by 
far, the majority of these prisoners are guilty of only minor offenses, 
such as possessing small amounts of marijuana. That includes people who 
used it only for medicinal purposes." So stated Walter Cronkite, 
Award-Winning Journalist.