Dr. D.T. Chambers

Divine Truth “D.T.” Chambers (1885-1970) was a prominent physician in the Norma and Smokey Junction communities for much of the mid 19th century. He was murdered inside his stately Norma home in 1970.

Biography

Born Jan. 7, 1885, D.T. Chambers was a lifelong Scott Countian. His parents were Rev. Francis Marion Chambers and Rachel Deliah Lay. He was the second-great-grandson of Revolutionary War veteran William Chambers, who migrated to present-day Scott County after the war and was one of the first settlers of the Buffalo Creek community. His great-grandfather was Thomas Chambers Sr. His grandfather was Jeremiah Jackson Chambers. His mother was part of the Lay clan from Elk Valley in western Campbell County that eventually spread across the mountain into the Rock House community. His mother’s paternal grandfather was John Michael “Missouri Jack” Lay.

D.T. Chambers was the sixth of 10 children born to Francis and Rachel Lay Chambers.

Family

D.T. Chambers married Artie Minsy Byrd (1892-1945) shortly after 1910. Their first child, Clovis Tyson Chambers, was born in 1912. Other children included Galen and Janis Marian.

According to an obituary, Chambers also fathered a daughter, Bernice Lowe, born in 1919, with Isabell Lowe, who was a great-granddaughter of Mikel Low, Scott County’s first settler.

Clovis Chambers married Reeda Newport. He died in 1964 at age 57. Galen Chambers married Margarette Bailey. He died in 2000 at age 86. Janis Chambers married Willis Bible Jr. She died in 2013 at age 95. Bernice Lowe married Johnnie Hembree. She died in 2013 at age 93.

Artie was the daughter of Oliver Perry Byrd and Hannah Sharp. She died Nov. 16, 1945, at age 53, of lung paralysis that was caused by lateral sclerosis, more commonly known today as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was buried at Norma Cemetery.

At the time of Chambers’ death, he had five grandchildren.

Professional Life

Chambers graduated from the University of Tennessee with a medical degree and practiced medicine in rural eastern Scott County for more than 50 years.

Immediately out of medical school, Chambers started a practice at Smokey Junction, which at the time was a depot on the Tennessee Railroad that linked Oneida with Devonia in Anderson County. At the time, the New River Lumber Co. mill at Norma was at its peak, employing hundreds of people. Even though the mill had its own company doctors, Chambers moved from Smokey Junction to Norma after approximately five years , and moved his practice with him.

Chambers began his medical practice “as poor as a church mouse,” but his patient base quickly grew. He saw patients in his home, and also visited them at their home, traveling on foot, by horseback, and on occasion using a cow to cross streams. An engineer on the Tennessee Railroad would disconnect the cars from his train engine and use it to bus Chambers up and down the railroad to answer emergency calls.

It is estimated that Chambers delivered more than 4,500 babies during his career — mostly in the homes of the expectant mothers. During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, he worked day and night to care for sick people of the Norma and Smokey Junction communities.

Chambers was highly-respected, almost revered, by residents of the Norma and Smokey Creek areas. He lived alone after his wife’s death in 1945 and continued to see patients in his stately home in Norma until near the end of his life.

In addition to being a physician, Chambers served on the Scott County Board of Education and helped start Norma High School. He was a 32nd degree Mason, and belonged to the Oneida Masonic Lodge. He frequently donated to area churches and other causes, and eventually joined Norma Missionary Baptist Church.

Killing of Hoyle Byrd

On Oct. 25, 1941, Chambers killed another Norma man — Daniel Hoyle Byrd — inside the Scott County Courthouse.

Chambers had sued Byrd over an unpaid medical bill. During the trial, which was being presided over by Squire Luther Phillips, Chambers drew a gun and shot Byrd several times. According to newspaper accounts at the time, Byrd was unarmed.

The 46-year-old Byrd was the son of Zack Byrd and Sintha Marcum. His first wife, Cassie Newport, died in 1938 and he remarried to Ruby Vann Lawson. He had four children, one of whom was only about a year old when he was killed. He was buried at Fairview Cemetery. His children were Reba Byrd, who married Elmer Gibson and is buried at Fairview Cemetery; Nila Byrd, who married James H. Marlow and is buried at Hazel Valley Memorial Cemetery; and Josie Bernie Byrd, who was his child with his second wife, Ruby. Josie was only one when her father was killed. She married Fielding Mason Jr., who is buried at Smokey Creek Cemetery. There was also a child who died in infancy. Josie is the last of Byrd’s surviving children.

Chambers was charged with manslaughter and released on $5,000 bond following a preliminary hearing that was presided over by justices of the peace Claude E. Storey and Gladney Woodward. The case was prosecuted by the office of District Attorney General Howard H. Baker Sr., with assistant D.A.s John Lee West and Clarence Templeton representing the state at trial. Chambers was defended by attorneys H.K. Pemberton and William York. Ironically, Chambers was a member of the Scott County Board of Education at the time, and was prosecuted by the county’s superintendent of schools.

Following a lengthy trial, a jury deliberated for four hours before handing down a guilty verdict and sentencing Chambers to 18 months in prison. Chambers appealed for a new trial, which was denied. Judge J.L. Rogers denied the motion and upheld the original sentence of 18 months following a hearing at Wartburg.

Death

On May 29, 1970, Chambers was murdered by two Scott County men during the course of an armed robbery at his home. James Pennington was the man who killed Chambers. His brother, Clifton Pennington, Clifton’s wife, Martha Carol Vanderveer, and Robert Lawson and Robert’s wife, Brenda, were also charged in connection with the murder.

According to court testimony, Robert Lawson and his wife Brenda were cruising around Oneida when they were flagged down by Cliff and James Pennington. The foursome drove around some more, drinking beer, and eventually picked up Cliff’s wife, Carol. At some point, James Pennington retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun from the home of his great-aunt.

Testimony revealed that the Pennington brothers had planned to rob D.T. Chambers all along. The old doctor lived in a stately, two-story home in the Norma community and was rumored to keep a large sum of cash in a safe inside his home.

Brenda Lawson drove the men to Norma and parked in the driveway of Norma High School, which was located next-door to Chambers’ home. He told the Lawsons of their plan to rob Chambers, and threatened to kill the Lawsons if they stood in his way.

The three Penningtons went to Chambers’ door. When James Pennington stuck the shotgun in the doctor’s face, Carol Pennington returned to the car. When Chambers told the Pennington brothers that he didn’t have a gun in his home and then they found a .32-caliber revolver in a dresser drawer, James Pennington became angry and shot the doctor in the face with the shotgun.

What resulted was the biggest manhunt in Scott County’s history, according to newspaper accounts at the time. The Lawsons and Penningtons left Scott County for Cincinnati. But the Pennington’s became increasingly nervous, and that ultimately spelled their doom. A week after Dr. Chambers’ death, Cliff Pennington called the Scott County Sheriff’s Office to inquire if any warrants had been issued on the Penningtons for Chambers’ murder.

All five suspects were arrested at a home in Attica, Ind. on Monday, June 8. At trial, District Attorney General Arzo Carson argued that the Lawsons were not accomplices to Chambers’ murder but were instead accessories after the fact.

Eventually, Cliff Pennington, Carol Pennington and James Pennington were each found guilty of first degree murder. Cliff and James were sentenced to 99 years in prison. Carol was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Robert Lawson was charged with involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Brenda Lawson was not sentenced to prison. Clifton Pennington died of a heart attack at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in 1980, at age 37. Carol Pennington had her sentence commuted to time served by Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton and returned to the Cincinnati area, where she later remarried. Brenda Lawson also left Scott County and moved to Ohio. Robert Lawson served three years of his sentence and was released, after which he moved to Kentucky.

Chambers was buried at Norma Cemetery, next to his wife. His funeral was held at Norma Missionary Baptist Church and was conducted by Rev. Hubert Wells, the church’s pastor.