"For those of us whose parents took them to see Walking Tall, this is like finding out that, Santa isn't real." FB quote
Sheriff Buford Pusser (circa mid-1960s)
Pauline Pusser
According to evidence, Tennessee officials have determined that McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser likely killed his wife, Pauline, in a staged ambush in 1967. The entire 1000 page report has been made public and will soon be available to view online.The story of Buford Pusser has been told in film, books, and songs, but apparently most had the story wrong. Buford Pusser was lionized as a rural sheriff from humble beginnings who took on organized crime and won, but at a hefty price. The story launched a string of sequels in the early and mid-70s. There was a television series, and a recent remake based loosely on the original storyline. The first film, Walking Tall (1973), was made on a budget of less than $500,000 and grossed over $40 million at movie box offices. The film grossed $10 million in additional revenue from rentals. In Walking Tall Buford Pusser and his wife are ambushed and killed on a lonely country road. After a brief recovery, and Pauline Pusser's funeral, Buford and the locals drive to a fictional bar/impromptu casino/whorehouse where Buford runs his car through the establishment killing the last of the mobsters. Then the local townspeople help him burn the place. This was one of the few movies I got to see in a theater as a young boy. It was really a good story and fairly well made considering the budget, but it was just a "story".I had heard for years that the sheriff was "crooked" from people who had firsthand knowledge in this subject (McNairy County is not far from where I was raised). One of those was a local moonshiner I knew. In the mid-1960s my friend had a moonshining operation in McNairy County TN. This man was full of "Buford" stories. He told me that the first time he met the sheriff it almost ended in bloodshed, but that they later became "friends" more or less but business was business and he still had to "payoff" the sheriff to operate and he said he did. Buford killed two people during his time as sheriff (Louise Hathcock and Russ Hamilton). Buford told my friend that some locals had "hired" Hamilton, a small time hood who had recently been arrested for beating his own mother, to kill Pusser. He told my friend on Christmas Eve 1968 that he was going to kill the killer before the Hamilton could do the job. He also told my friend, who lived in Florence, AL at the time to turn his television on when he got home and hear all about it (which he did and the shooting was reported on the local news). Buford shot Russ Hamilton after investigating a "threat" Hamilton had allegedly made to his landlord, threatening to shoot him. Several articles say Hamilton got off four or five shots at Pusser, but that is not the way Buford told my friend it happened. That version is much less dramatic. Allegedly, Pusser kicks in the door on a the tiny shotgun house/apartment where Hamilton was living. Hamilton was passed out on the couch and there was a pistol and a bottle of whiskey on the coffee table. Hamilton woke up and reached for the pistol and Pusser shot him twice before he could reach it. Based on this and other firsthand accounts involving multiple girlfriends of Buford Pusser, I'd have to say the "movie sheriff" was dirty. Pusser died from injuries sustained after crashing his brand new 1974 Corvette (there was a fire after the crash). That was the same day Pusser had signed a movie contract in which he would play himself. There was a lot of speculation surrounding Pusser's death such as the the car may have been sabotaged, etc., but nothing was ever proven.Way back when the internet first came along, I stumbled across a discussion board pertaining to the Pusser stories I followed for years until they moved to Facebook. The author of this discussion site and FB page was a retired LEO from AR (Elam is his name I believe) and he dug up all sorts of inconsistencies. The story is just breaking, but I believe this guy, Elam was the driving force behind this investigation. There is a lot of information on this subject there (link below) . I wonder if the Buford Pusser museum, BP Festival, monuments, named highway, etc. will remain or will Buford be "innocent until proven guilty"?
Walking Tall (1973) trailer
Pusser with his 1974 Corvette
According to evidence, Tennessee officials have determined that McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser likely killed his wife, Pauline, in a staged ambush in 1967. The entire 1000 page report has been made public and will soon be available to view online.
Big fan of "innocent until proven guilty". There's always people willing to badmouth a better man (or woman). Let's see some evidence.
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing a lot of heresay.
ReplyDeleteI have the 195 Hp small block version of the 74 Corvette. It had the 4:10 rear gear that could easily smoke the rear tires and run a 90 mph quarter mile. A stock big block could easily perform past the brake capabilities. I almost doubled the Hp with aluminum heads, cam, headers, Double-pumper, electronic ignition, and geared to 3:73. That made the car difficult to drive at less than 60 miler per hour. It took a new front suspension to go with the Wilwood brake system to tame it. I need to find stickier tires.
ReplyDelete