Jerome Boyatt

Jerome Boyatt (1911-1933) is a legendary figure in the history of the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. He and his family lived near the headwaters of No Business Creek, and he was at the center of a 1933 tragedy that resulted in the deaths of five people, including himself.

See Also: Noteworthy Settlers of the Big South Fork Region

Biography

Born March 16, 1911, Jerome Boyatt was the son of Ransom Boyatt (1869-1933) and Poppie Litton (1884-1978). His paternal grandfather was Jordan Boyatt III, who married Mary Ann Slaven — the daughter of No Business Creek’s first settler, Richard Harve Slaven — and settled near the headwaters of the creek.

Jerome Boyatt was one of seven children. His siblings included sister Delma, who died at a young age in 1911, Eugene, Lola, Violet, Bonnie and Dulcie Irene.

The Tragedy of 1933

On Friday, April 21, 1933, 22-year-old Jerome got into a fight with his uncle, 55-year-old Albert Boyatt, at a mining camp near Rock Creek, across the ridge from No Business in Pickett County. Albert Boyatt was a noted moonshine bootlegger, and was angered that his nephew had been selling liquor in the mining camp, which was owned by the Stearns Coal & Lumber Co.

As the men fought, the camp’s foreman summoned law enforcement, who were told that someone had been shot at the mining camp.

Pickett County Sheriff George Winningham, his deputy son Floyd Winningham, and another deputy, Brahm Garrett, drove to the remote camp at Rock Creek. There, five men were being held in a train box car: Jerome Boyatt, his 19-year-old deaf-mute brother, Eugene, another of his brothers, Ted Boyatt, brothers Walter and Charlie Crabtree, and Lige Terry.

The details of what happened next are disputed. Newspaper accounts from the time said that the lawmen ordered the men out of the boxcar and Jerome Boyatt opened fire with a .45 handgun. Witnesses at the Rock Creek camp told a different story. They said that Floyd Winningham fired first — perhaps into the air as a warning, or maybe firing into the boxcar. As the first shot was fired, they said, Eugene Boyatt fell back, screaming. Believing that his brother had been shot, Jerome Boyatt opened fire with his handgun.

Floyd Winningham was shot twice in the face and died instantly. George Winningham was shot twice in the stomach, and died the following day at a Nashville hospital. Jerome Boyatt fled into the night, while Garrett took the remaining men into custody. They were transported to a jail in Cookeville, Tenn. for holding.

George Winningham was immensely well-liked in Pickett County, and more than 2,500 people attended the double funeral for him and his son. A posse of well over 100 men was assembled to comb the woods in and around No Business for Jerome Boyatt. Leading the effort was George Winningham’s lawman son, Willie Winningham, who served as sheriff in Clinton County, Ky., just a few miles to the north.

As anger swelled in Pickett County and posses failed to locate Jerome Boyatt — who was able to elude capture with the help of No Business residents who aided him with supplies and information — Willie Winningham resorted to extreme measures. Acting illegally, having no jurisdiction in Tennessee, he rounded up the entire Boyatt family and imprisoned them at Byrdstown, the county seat of Pickett County. In addition to Ransom and Poppie Boyatt, all four of Jerome’s sisters, including 18-year-old Lola, 16-year-old Violet, 13-year-old Bonnie and 8-year-old Dulcie, were arrested.

Several days later, Ransom Boyatt was released to return to the family farm at No Business. There he was allowed to tend to chores on the farm, and some newspaper reports said that he was to persuade his son to turn himself in.

Whether Ransom Boyatt made contact with his son while he was on release is not clear. However, he returned to Byrdstown and signed an affidavit stating that Jerome would not turn himself in. Later, he was released again. This time, according to reports, it was made clear to him that he would persuade Jerome to give himself up, or lose his own life.

Several days later, concerned neighbors entered the Boyatt home at No Business and found Ransom Boyatt’s decaying body in his bed. An inquest was held, and it was determined that he had been killed. It has always been assumed that Boyatt was hanged in the barn, and his body was then cut down and carried into the home. However, the body was so badly decomposed by the time it was discovered that it was impossible for authorities to say for sure how he had died. He was buried in a small family cemetery on the edge of the farm.

Following the murder of Ransom Boyatt, the rest of the family was released from the Byrdstown jail and allowed to return home. Poppie Boyatt was adamant that she didn’t want Jerome to know of his father’s death, fearing that he might turn himself in to prevent further harm from coming upon his family. However, concerned neighbors eventually told him, and Boyatt did exactly what his mother had feared he would do. He turned himself in to Scott County Sheriff Esau Laxton, who met Boyatt on John Smith Road near present-day Angel Falls Village.

Read More: The Jerome Boyatt Lynching

Death

On June 9, 1933, a mob of 25 masked men arrived at the Scott County Jail in Huntsville, beat the jailer, and kidnapped Jerome Boyatt and Harvey Winchester, a 19-year-old accused of killing a lawman’s son. The next day, their tortured and bullet-ridden bodies were discovered in the woods off Highway 27 in Helenwood.

According to witnesses who surveyed the scene, Harvey Winchester was the first to die. His body was tied to a tree, shot six times, and a rope noose was located nearby. He was forced to run in circles with a rope tied to him as the shots were fired.

Several hundred yards away, Jerome Boyatt’s body was discovered. He was naked. He had been stripped and turned loose to run as the mob fired at him. He was shot twice in the back, and once in the back of the head at close range, execution-style.

No one was ever arrested in connection with the lynchings. Suspicion centered on Sheriff Willie Winningham, but he was not charged.

Clinton County, Ky. deputy sheriff Herbert Marcum died on June 10, 1933 from a gunshot wound. Willie Winningham said his deputy was wounded accidentally when he dropped his own gun at a tourist camp near Albany, Ky. However, the wife of the tourist camp’s owner told a newspaper that Marcum was not shot at their camp, and the newspaper reported that he had been killed by a bullet from a .38-caliber gun, while his own gun was a .44-caliber gun.

It was later reported that Jerome Boyatt had managed to grab a pistol from one of the vigilantes and wounded a man before he was killed. It was commonly believed in Scott County that Marcum was a member of the mob that had killed Boyatt and Winchester. However, the case was circumstantial and never proven.

Jerome Boyatt was buried at Foster Crossroads Cemetery.

The remaining five men in the box car that night in April 1933 — Eugene Boyatt, Ted Boyatt, Charlie Crabtree, Walter Crabtree, and Lige Terry — were cleared of wrongdoing by a Pickett County grand jury and released from jail on June 15, 1933.