Riley Lowe

Riley “Rollie” Lowe (sometimes spelled “Low,” born 1863) was a Scott County man sentenced to be hanged for the murder of his 8-year-old stepson in 1900. However, he was later acquitted of the crime after the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned his original conviction.

See Also: What the Mother-In-Law Knew (Murders in the Heartland)

Biography

Born in 1863, Riley Lowe was the son of Andrew Lowe (1827-1923) and Mary Carroll (1832-1894). He was descended from two of Smokey Creek’s earliest settlers, Mikel Low and Drewry Carroll. His siblings included Martha Jane “Patsy” Lowe Bunch (1849-1929), John R. “Bigfoot” Lowe (born about 1863), Parsed Lowe Goodman (1867-1940), Andrew Low Jr. (1872-1942), Louisa Jane Lowe Carroll (1873-1923), and Joseph S. Lowe (1880-1969). He also had three half-siblings, whose mother was Nancy Louise Hembree (born 1833). She was the daughter of another of Smokey Creek’s first settlers, Meshack Hembree (1812-1885), who married the daughter of Drewry Carroll. She was Andy Lowe’s first wife.

Riley Lowe married Samantha Carroll (1869-1953), the daughter of Huston “Huse” Carroll (1850-1909) and Angeline Mason (1855-1915). Her father was a great-grandson of Drewry Carroll.

Samantha’s first marriage

Samantha Carroll was first married to William Mullins. They were married on Jan. 3, 1891, in Scott County. It isn’t clear what became of him. However, they had at least one child together. He was listed in the 1900 census as Lonas M. Low, age 6, and his birth was placed at February 1894. In later newspaper articles, he was called “Lonis.” He was also referred to as “Johnnie.”

By 1900, Riley Lowe and Samantha Carroll had married. It is not clear exactly when that happened, although the 1900 census states that Samantha had been married four years, which would place the date as about 1896.

Other children who were living in the household when the 1900 census was taken included Effie Low (age 4), Kisiah (Kizzie) Low (1), and Elana (Mary Elaney) Low (6 months).

Riley’s children

The record is confusing. The 1900 census clearly states that Effie Lowe was born May 1896, and was four years of age. However, Effie’s death certificate — she died Jan. 3, 1937, in West Virginia — states that she was born in 1887, and that her father was Riley Low. The 1910 census states that she was born in 1895, which is in line with the 1900 census. However, the 1930 census states that she was age 48, which would have placed her birth around 1882.

In any event, it is assumed that Effie, Kizzie, and Elaney were all Riley’s children. There were also two other children born after 1900: Cora Lee and Howard, born about 1905 and 1907, respectively.

Murder accusation

Lonis Mullins (listed in the 1900 census as Lonas Low) died on Sept. 9, 1900. Newspapers said at the time that he was eight years old. If the 1900 census was accurate, he was six. Samantha’s mother, Angeline Mason Carroll, claimed that he had been poisoned. It was known that Riley Lowe had recently purchased strychnine — a potent poison used to kill rats and other vermin. Angeline told authorities that she heard Samantha yell, “Run here, Riley is burning Lonis up!” She said she went to the house and got the child, and that the boy told her that “Riley had given it something to kill it, and that its throat was burning up, and that the child lived about an hour and a half and expired,” according to The Journal & Tribune newspaper.

Although the attending physician did not arrive until several hours after Lonis died, and no autopsy was performed, he said that the manner of death was consistent with poisoning.

Riley Lowe was arrested and charged with first degree murder. Newspapers who reported the arrest in September 1900 said that Lonis was expected to recover. One said he had recovered. However, Lonis died the same day. It is not known where he was buried.

Lowe’s trial began on May 13, 1901, in Scott County Circuit Court. The jury returned a guilty verdict on May 15, 1901. Lowe was shocked; he did not believe that he would be convicted. He immediately appealed, and the judge rejected the appeal on May 17, 1901, sentencing him to death by hanging on July 12, 1901. He was the second person sentenced by a judge to hang in Scott County. The first was Mike King.

Lowe appealed again to the Supreme Court of Tennessee, which agreed to hear his case. The cause for the appeal was that the lower court’s conviction had been based heavily on the testimony of Lowe’s mother-in-law, who his attorneys claimed was malicious toward him. His attorneys argued that Angelina Carroll had always despised her son-in-law, and had said even before the boy died “that she would some day cause (Riley) serious trouble.”

After hearing the testimony, the Supreme Court vacated the guilty verdict, and remanded the case back to Scott County Circuit Court for a new trial.

Lowe told the Knoxville Sentinel after the Supreme Court’s decision that “I am just as sure as I am living that when I am given another hearing I will be acquitted. I did not kill my little stepson, John Mullins, nor did I have anything to do with it. I went to a store and bought some strychnine, it is true, but this was some time before the night the child died and the only thing that they had against me was that I had been seen to buy the stuff … My mother-in-law always hated me, and when she saw that it was a good opportunity to cause me trouble, and had me arrested on the charge of killing the boy. When the trial took place, she was the principal witness and did all in her power to work the case up. I am not guilty and I can easily prove this when the time comes. I have heard from my wife several times since I have been here, but her people have been keeping her at home and will not let her write to me, and she can do so only when she steals out.”

Lowe’s claim was backed up by a letter his wife wrote to him in July 1901:

“Dear husband I write you a few lines to let you know I am well and hope this will find you well. I would luft to see you awful well and the children said to tell you they wished you would hurry and come back home to us and I wish so much that you was with me now. Well Riley I don’t want you to think hard of me. You know who caused all this trouble. You know my mother caused all this trouble and that I would never have been against you if it had not been for mother persuading me to mistreat you. I am so sorry I ever listen to her persuading me to leave you. You know she was always against you and she was always tellin’ me to get shet of you somehow or other. She sed that I could live without you and she sed I mite live on the place and that some one would help me along, and she sed that she would give me things along, but now she has kinder turned against your children and I can see now where I done wrong. The children sed they would luft to see you. I hope you will get a new trial and be a free man. Don’t let mother know I wrote you any letter. If you do she wont let me stay on the place with your children. She has done sed that if I didn’t hold my tongue she would put me off the place. I will come to a close by sayin tearing up this letter. I would not have mother know I wrote you for nothing.

“From your wife until death. Samantha Lowe to Riley Lowe.

“I would have rote sooner but they was a watchin to see if I was going to rite to you good by.”

At the new trial, which was held in May 1902, the jury originally said it was deadlocked, but eventually acquitted Lowe. He had been jailed nearly two years at that point.

Lowe’s attorneys were E.E. Houk and Sam Epps Young of Sweetwater, Tenn. The latter was the namesake of Sam Young Parker of Scott County, and prosecuted Parker’s killer at trial several years later.

Aftermath

Lowe apparently returned home to his wife and family; two more children were born in the years immediately following the trial — Cora Lee Low and Howard Low, born around 1905 and 1907.

When the 1910 census was taken, Samantha was living alone with her children, and going by Carroll. Her marital status was listed as “divorced,” and all the children were going by Carroll, as well.

However, Lowe died on May 21, 1910, which would have been just before the 1910 census was enumerated. In all future censuses, Samantha’s marital status was listed as “widowed.”

Lowe was killed by former Scott County Sheriff Frank Hughett, who was part of a posse pursuing Lowe on a charge of larceny, after it was suspected that he had stolen a moonshine still. Three months later, Hughett was killed in retaliation by friends and family of Riley Lowe.

Nelson Low, one of the men accused of shooting Hughett, was himself shot and killed by his brother, Harrison Low, during an argument on Nov. 7, 1911. Nelson Low was shot in the abdomen during the dispute. He was placed on a train to Harriman, then to Knoxville, but he died after undergoing surgery at Lincoln Memorial Hospital. A newspaper said that Harrison Low was threatening suicide. He died eight days later. His death certificate stated that he died of a shotgun blast. Nelson and Harrison had a brother, Meshack Low, who was also implicated in Frank Hughett’s death. They were the first cousins of Riley Lowe.

Lowe was buried at the Phillip Lowe Farm Cemetery at Smokey Junction.

See Also: Vengeance on the Sheriff (Murders in the Heartland)