Bob Burchette: Authors' town, warts and all
Sunday, April 12, 2009
(Updated 3:00 am)
Shades of the Wild West can be found in the book “Wicked Kernersville,” which became available in bookstores and online this week. And a lot of hot words may be flying at Kernersville researchers Michael L. Marshall and Jerry L. Taylor.
The book, based mostly on 13 stories found in old newspapers, is not flattering to a town that once was a place where riders of passenger trains were told to duck when the train lugged through town.
But every town has its historical warts.
The 13 stories are documented by newspaper accounts that were written from 1885 to the early 1930s, according to Marshall and Taylor. “I don’t know that Kernersville was much different than other towns back then but we found the stories interesting,” Taylor said.
Neal Stockton, Kernersville police chief for the past 25 years, said Kernersville is “no different from other places. We have crime. We don’t have anything that’s not manageable.” He’s not bothered by the dark side of the town’s history.
The full title is “Wicked Kernersville: Rogues, Robbers, Ruffians & Rumrunners.” All of these types of criminals can be found in newspaper archives in many towns.
Not that murder and mayhem are funny; the descriptions of the crimes and perhaps some embellishment by the newsmen of the day lend a bit of humor to the tales. Perhaps, the uniqueness of the writing better describes the series of stories and makes them amusing.
Many of the stories are among the fabled tragedies of the town, such as a man and his son known for selling whisky being killed by two lawmen who invaded their home; a murder in which a man slashed his wife endlessly with a razor then committed suicide; and the lynching after Kernersville men formed a posse and took the man away from a jailer in Greensboro.
The whisky dealers apparently were well-liked and considered good citizens in the community.
The Union Republican newspaper in the town of Winston noted, “There was more excitement in Kernersville Monday morning to the square inch, than at any previous time in the history of that town 'and old corn liquor was the cause of it all.’ The origin was a shooting unto death of Rob’t and Banner Jordan, father and son, by revenue officers James Smith and Walter Davis, while the latter carry wounds that will mark them for life.”
The 128-page book was published by The History Press of Charleston, S.C., the same publisher that produced “Winston & Salem: Tales of Murder, Mystery and Mayhem” by Jennifer Bean Bower in October 2007.
Some stories, such as that of a vigilante lynching, are simply sad and speak of an embarrassing time in history — and one that’s not confined to Kernersville.
Other tales are some that were part of town lore for years, such as the mysterious dynamiting of the town hall, a Christmas Eve shootout between a doctor and a man who insulted the doctor’s wife; a lady bootlegger disguised as a man; and a dog introduced as a witness in a federal court case in which a man was selling stray mutts via mail after advertising them as animals with pedigrees.
“I think the dog story is the funniest story in the book,” Taylor said.
There were others, such as the sarcastic response from the parson who conducted the funeral of a man who was exhumed after the minister left the cemetery. Someone thought they had seen the deceased breathing. At least the minister who administered final words over the man should have been consulted before the casket was removed, the reverend concluded.
Stories also include “Ade Walker: A Bad Man and Dangerous Character”; “The Great Bank Robbery”; “Yeggmen and the Town Post Office”; “The Rider Who Shot Conductor Holden” and “A Little Child Shall Lead Them.”
The book isn’t merely old newspaper clippings. Taylor and Marshall have included history about Kernersville and information about families involved in the stories.
This information comes from the researchers’ primary interests: the town’s history and its families.
“Many of the people in these stories were related. They about had to be because there weren’t a great many families in town during those early years,” Taylor said. He added that some of the people involved in the stories were related to his family and his wife’s family.
“We don’t have even half of the 35 stories that we collected in the book,” Marshall said. “We have enough for another book.”
The authors soon will schedule book signings and a walking tour of some of the places where events in the book took place.
The town is their town, and not a place they want to ridicule, they said. Marshall and Taylor love the town’s history, the bad and the ugly as well as the good.
They dedicated the book to “all of the men and women who worked at Adams-Millis Plant #4 in Kernersville.” That was the plant where their parents worked, and where their fathers became friends.
Contact Bob Burchette at bburchette@triad.rr.com
Want to read?
Book signing: “Wicked Kernersville” by Michael L. Marshall and Jerry L. Taylor will be available at Shakespeare & Co., 210 N. Main St., Kernersville, where the authors will have a book signing at 10 a.m. April 25. The signing will be followed by a walking tour of some of the crime sites the authors write about.
Book cost: $19.95
Also available: Online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The History Press or from the authors. Contact them at jtayor140@triad.rr.com or mmarshall13@triad.rr.com
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