This image is the cover for the book Murder & Mayhem in East Tennessee, Murder & Mayhem

Murder & Mayhem in East Tennessee, Murder & Mayhem

East Tennessee is gorgeous country, but the hills and hollers have a dark side. James Earl Ray, who had already assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., created mayhem at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary when he led six other men in a short-lived escape. Several thousand Cherokee Indians from East Tennessee were forced on what would later be called the "Trail of Tears." In the "Hankins Murder" case and in the triple killings in Oliver Springs, chaos and confusion resulted from the wrongful arrest and public accusations of innocent people. Jake and C.H. Butcher brought about bedlam with their banking scandal that at the time was unsurpassed in scope in the nation's history. Author Dewaine A. Speaks details these stories and more.

Dewaine A. Speaks

Dewaine Speaks graduated from the University of Tennessee with a major in economics. He retired in 2002 following a career in the marketing of industrial controls, both domestically and internationally. While at Knoxville Central High School, he was named All-East Tennessee in football and All-County in baseball. He went on to play outfield for the University of Tennessee Volunteers. While a member of the Tennessee Air National Guard in 1961, Speaks was sent to eastern France when President John Kennedy called several thousand guardsmen and reservists to active duty. For this deployment, he was awarded the "Berlin Crisis" medal. He was a member of the East Tennessee Veteran's Honor Guard for seventeen years and during this time received the "Presidential Volunteer Service Award."

The History Press