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Speaker 4: Welcome to the Stabbin' Stylists podcast. I'm Randa. And I'm Ashley. We are just two stylists who love true crime and hair, and we're gonna tell you about both.

Speaker 5: This is a true crime podcast. Some of these cases and stories may be disturbing to some, so listener discretion [00:01:00] advised.

ashley: so this really truly has been, like, a historical summer. Big historical facts. A lot of local cases, though, which is actually really funny to us, because we do... We literally do this for local cases. We do this so people know about like, our local cases, and to tell people about our local cases, but then so many of our listeners aren't even local.. But yeah, so many of our listeners aren't even local, so I think I've said this before, but as morbid and crazy as it sounds, thanks for listening to us, because- Thank you ... we are gonna be reading about this stuff either way.

So this episode is another very localized case that's kinda like wrapping up our Cleveland Through History series that we've done.

ashley: Israel [00:02:00] Smith was the only sheriff to be killed while on duty in Cleveland, Tennessee, Bradley County.

So this is in 1922, so we've kinda seen like,, the progression of, like,, how Cleveland was. And one thing that me and Randa were talking about before we even started about, started this, well, so we've talked about the Indians and the start of Cleveland, and we've talken, talkin', and we've talked- When we're talkin' and talkin' and talkin'

and talkin' and talkin'. We've talked about the railroad boom of Cleveland, and the kind of, rebuilding after the Civil War. And now we're to the '20s. This is 1922, and by this time, downtown Cleveland was modernizing, and the railroad was still a really big part of life. There was freight, livestock, lumber, coal, you know, travelers.

We had the Church of [00:03:00] God, and they did their um, camp meetings. I can't think what those were called. Anyway, the Church of God had this meeting every year Like a, it's not like a revival. It was like- No. Yeah, I can't think of what it was. But like, thousands and thousands of people came to Cleveland just for this, for the Church of God.

So there were, you know, things going on. It was a booming town. There was businesses. look at our downtown now. All of those were actually businesses. Yeah. A lot of that's even gone now. Well, and if you take a little walk down by Lee University, you'll see that like, a lot of the old houses have plaques out front- Yeah

commemorating like, this was such-and-such's house like, uh, built in 18-something, but those houses are all old, and right there, the main part of Cleveland, early 1900s, that was all really built up.

Yeah. Cleveland started being a town in [00:04:00] 1836, so by this point we're almost 100 years in almost, not completely there. But there was a whole community at this point, and downtown it was thriving. There were things, but as you get further from downtown, this is still farm life. This is still country life.

This is still rural life. This is still Appalachian life, you know? There's still places that have dirt floors.

There are communities like McDonald, which is where my family still to this day lives. So a lot of people don't know anything about McDonald, it's its own little community. It's always been its own little community.

And in that community is White Oak Mountain, and especially back then, there wasn't an interstate going through. The interstate didn't go through until my dad was a little kid. My mamaw used to tell me stories about taking a picnic down around the corner from her house and [00:05:00] literally watching them build the interstate like, while my dad was a kid and would play right there.

Yeah. So none of that was there. It was mountains, it was hollows, it was dirt roads, it was all family lives on one road, so it was kind of like two different worlds to where you had a busy Chattanooga, you had a busy Cleveland, and in between that there was a whole area of a different kind of life.

Yeah. Tennessee had prohibition before the United States had prohibition. Tennessee's had prohibition a long time, and especially when it became illegal nationwide in 1920, it really exploded across Bradley County, Hamilton County, and all the surrounding mountains, because out in the mountains, there was plenty of places to hide stills and whiskey and all the things.

So inside of hollows, creek beds, ravines, wood and mountain areas, there's plenty of [00:06:00] places to hide to make their liquor, and White Oak Mountain became one of those places

this wasn't like an organized crime thing. This was literally just mountain people trying to make money and, you know, keep some, a little bit for themselves. So this isn't as much like Dixie Mafia, but it kind of leads into Dixie Mafia and ATF and old cases we've covered, but this is even kind of much- And NASCAR.

Yes. This is even kind of before all that So Owl Hollow. Al Hollow, Al Haller has a reputation, and especially at this time, it was a remount- mountain area, and outsiders were noticed because it was a very tight-knit community out there, and especially lawmen were noticed And there was still rumors of hidden whiskey, whiskey stills through that kind of region.

And the people that lived out in these mountains, they knew every [00:07:00] single holler, cave, creek, every single inch of it, because this is where they lived So they had lookouts all around, and lookouts easily knew when someone was coming. And by 1922, it was a thing. The lawmen were trying to get the moonshiners, and the moonshiners were trying to outsmart the lawmen

on March 13th, 1922 Sheriff Israel Smith spent part of his evening at the Star Dry Cleaning Company in downtown Cleveland, Tennessee. Is that where we get like, the Star View Drive-In? I'm thinking this is the one- Like, saying ... that was actually like, downtown. Yeah? Like, Next to the Cherokee.

Okay

he's- Right there by the bus depot. Right. Yeah. And he's meeting with deputies and member, uh, members of his raid party,

They are getting ready for an early moonshine raid in the [00:08:00] mountains of White Oak. Okay. And according to newspaper accounts- So they're staging up here. Yes. And according to mynewspaper.com newspaper accounts, he had like casually remarked to a reporter, because this is something, like back then when they were doing stills-

randa: That was a big deal.

ashley: Yes. And that was a big thing. They'd come take pictures of it, they'd put it in the paper, and they'd be like, "Look how great our deputies are. They're fighting crime out in these mountains."

But anyway, the 1920s of it all, the prohibition of it all, honestly. You know how we talk about we have long-running episodes in the background that like we're always kind of working on- Mm-hmm

but it's too big to finish? Mine is Al Capone's connections to moonshining in Tennessee. Well. Yeah. He's already got connections to Chattanooga. Yeah. So. So, and like he has connections to McMinnville. I have a whole thing. But, so he casually [00:09:00] remarks to a reporter that night that he was surprised he had never been forced to shoot a prisoner, because you never know what can happen in a raid.

You never know. So, hours later, he would become the only sheriff to ever be killed in Bradley County history in the line of duty. So by this point in 1922, these raids were pretty dangerous, and they would like, strap up whenever they went Yeah They'd have um, rifles, and pistols, and lanterns, and flashlights, and literally be, like, climbing a muddy mountain in the darkness , to surprise these guys.

This was, like, rough and dirty living back then. And these people were gonna protect these moonshine stills, 'cause you gotta think, this is like, their livelihood. Yeah, and they're, like, tucked back in the deep woods too. Right. So this is literally like a good guy, bad guy situation. This is a tale as old as time.

This is part of Appalachian history. This is why I get so excited about these stories. [00:10:00] So Sheriff Smith was really respected in his community, and even people who didn't like Prohibition still pretty much had respect for this man. And one detail that really is always sticks with this story is supposedly the night before, he had not slept, and he had stayed awake, caring for his sick wife.

So when the posse prepared to leave around 3:00 AM on the 14th, he was already really tired. He wasn't completely on his game. Yeah. But he was going to this really dangerous raid under the darkness of Owl Hollow. It's dark, it's dirty, it's muddy. This is really gonna be a mission

they locate the still, they know where the still is, and the suspects have taken off, fled into the darkness. So he ran towards the north side of the operation, and he was trying to cut off the escape [00:11:00] route of where the guys were running to. Yeah. And that's where gunfire starts going in the woods. Head him off at the pass.

Yes, and that's when just gunfire starts going. One bullet struck him near the heart, pierced a major artery. He's immediately dead. So the jailer, G.G. Bryant, rushed to his side and-

randa: Is that like, two capital G's- Yes ... or is that? Okay.

ashley: And he, he was already dying by the point. There was nothing he could do. But he later said that he placed Smith's hat over his face and straightened his body while the rest of the posse attempted to go after the shooters.

Uh-huh. So he wanted to give him a respectful, as they- Rest ... continued to- But almost instantly, the weather turned against them and a storm moved into the mountains, washing away [00:12:00] all tracks of the people they were pursuing

randa: Well damn

ashley: And you're already back in the woods, you're already back, you know, at this moonshine still, so it's already not the best conditions.

It's rugged mountain terrain, and now it is just dumping buckets of water also obviously, instantly, this just shocked Bradley County, and the reporters were already involved in this. Oh, yeah. And so it just immediately- Big

randa: news.

ashley: Big, big news ... yes, immediately starts going. And the newspapers treated the murder like it was, like, an attack on the county itself.

Like, These men personally victimized Bradley County by doing this. So the rewards quickly started being offered up, and they led to the... where it's like, if you give any informations about the killers, you know, we'll pay you for it. Well, one of the [00:13:00] public organizations that decided to start offering the reward money was the Ku Klux Klan.

And-

randa: Oh. Oh, those guys ...

ashley: so that, I mean, that shows you that in the early '20s how prevalent they were in this area And obviously very prevalent 'cause they were brave enough to offer a reward- Oh, yeah ... for the sheriff's murder

So authorities return to the site and they interview a 12-year-old boy who lives nearby, and he identified Luther and Jasper Boren, B-O-R-I-N, as the shooters. And the Boren brothers immediately hightailed it out of here and headed to Polk County. And they're, you know, just traveling deeper.

randa: They said, "Gotta go."

ashley: So they're in the mountains in [00:14:00] Polk County. They're trying to hide the best they can. And at that time, it was super isolated still. And they were actually ultimately captured by the Polk County Police and brought back under super heavy guard. And obviously newspapers were there, and they described it as an intense public interest surrounding the arrests, and it was viewed as the most serious crime imaginable at Bradley Count- in Bradley County at the time.

randa: Okay

ashley: with notorious prisoners in this time, they were worried that there was gonna be mob violence, and that mobs were gonna get break into the prison, because everybody was so pissed that they had personally victimized Bradley County. So they made sure to give, I don't know what precautions, but like, [00:15:00] extra precautions to actually like, ensure that a crowd didn't accost to them before they were able to go to any type of trial.

And they were later tried for the murder, and the newspaper coverage stretched on for months, and the court, I mean, it was obviously sensational. It went on for forever. It was the talk of the town the whole time. And they were both convicted, and they were sentenced to long prison terms.

That's all it says.

randa: Just long prison terms?

ashley: Yeah, every source kinda differs on the exact sentencing details. So this is actually one of the most infamous prosecutions in Bradley County during the Prohibition era. My dad said that when he was a kid, my grandfather and my grandfather's brother, my dad's uncle, were out cut- cutting trees. We lived literally in this area, and [00:16:00] they found a bunch of bullets in a tree, and they wondered if it was from the shootout, which I'd say probably back then people just shot at trees too, but-

randa: Yeah

ashley: he said that was just one of those random core memories, that he doesn't know why he remembers it, but he deeply remembers that situation. There's a memorial to Sheriff Israel Smith at the Bradley County Justice Center. The story of Sheriff Israel Smith in Cleveland, Tennessee. And we're going into spooky season

Speaker 10: Don't whistle in the woods at night. Bye y'all.