Order Cases Online
The files located in the Tennessee Supreme Court Cases represent an especially valuable resource for historical and genealogical research at the Tennessee State Library and Archives [TSLA].
Use quotes for an exact search. ex. "J. W."
View Entry | Year | Case Name | County | Cause/Crime | Case Description | Division | Location | # Pages | Order |
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View Entry | 1919 | Bud Ivie v. State | Rutherford | Murder | Middle | Range: 21 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 140 | 0 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1919 | Comer McBroom, et al. v. State | Putnam | Murder |
Additional plaintiffs: Sid McBroom, Carlos Flatt, Arlis Flatt, George Mills, Rucious Whitaker, Hop McBroom, Lum Bryant, Charlie Bryant. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 165 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | C. O. West v. State | Fentress | Murder | Middle | Range: 21 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 141 | 0 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1919 | Fletcher Rhodes v. State | Rutherford | Murder |
Victim: James Alexander |
Middle | Range: 32 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 225 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | Hobert Roberts v. State | Putnam | Murder |
Murdered Ammon Hutchinson |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 128 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | Jim H. Barrett v. State | Warren | Murder |
Murdered Polk Smartt, African American |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 128 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | John T. Webb v. State | Rutherford | Murder |
Victim: Howard Elrod. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 165 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | Ross Donnell v. State | Henderson | Murder |
See WT oversize box 4 for exhibit property map. Ross Donnell accused of shooting and killing Buster Donnell. |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1563 | 90 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Baalam Smith & Henry Smith | Pickett | Murder | Middle | Range: 21 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 121 | 0 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Amos Allen | Putnam | Murder | Middle | Range: 20 Section: J Shelf: Box Number: 72 | 277 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Daily Cotron | Macon | Murder |
The name of the victim in this case was Will Miller. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 139 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Syren Borum | Shelby | Murder |
Victim: Alberta McClatcher. The defendant shot the victim in the forehead, citing self defense after the victim, who was a much larger woman than the defendant, came at her with a hatchet. |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1562 | 53 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Dock Ross | Shelby | Murder |
Murder of William Burton on December 5, 1917. |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1566 | 54 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Richard Smith | Shelby | Attempted Murder |
Smith is charged with assault and attempted murder with a shotgun. The victim was Henry Britton. |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1566 | 49 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Herman Smith | Obion | Murder |
Smith is charged with the murder of William Mumford on April 25, 1918. Mumford's 16 year old brother, Herman Mumford, testified that he was there when Smith killed his brother. He recalled that they were "setting around the fire" when Smith and his brother resumed an old quarrel. Smith proceeded to pick up a Cyprus, set out for stove wood, and beat his brother with it. |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1566 | 207 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Ernest Wilson | Madison | Murder |
3 folders. Wilson is charged with the murder of B. E. Dickinson. "The deceased, B. E. Dicikinson, a man about forty-four years of age, was sitting in his home, reading to his wife from a Bible, on the night of April 3, 1918, when he was shot by someone standing on the outside of a window in the north side of the room." |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1567 | 483 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Claud Clark | Haywood | Murder |
Murder in the second degree. Claud Clark was indicted for wilfully, maliciously and with malice aforethought shooting and killing Herbert Smith on 5/27/1918. |
West | Range: 78 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1630 | 215 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | Shake Haire v. State | Fayette | Murder |
Shake Haire was indicted for unlawfully, deliberately, maliciously and premeditatedly shooting Charles Whitmore with a shot gun. He was indicted for first degree murder. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and appeals his conviction. |
West | Range: 78 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1630 | 41 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Clyde Gourley & B. E. Gourley | Dyer | Murder |
Victim: John Asa Barnett |
West | Range: 78 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1615 | 434 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Taylor Johnson | Chester | Murder |
Murder in the first degree. Taylor Johnson was indicted for first degree murder in the death of S. W. Johnson. |
West | Range: 78 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1630 | 63 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Ernest Tolbert & George Self | Dyer | Murder |
Murder in the first degree. Victim is Walter Erwin. Walter Erwin was shot when he, Autie Hodge and Charlie Plunk went to the home of Ernest Tolbert and his girlfriend and tried to rape her. They were asked by Tolbert to leave and Tolbert shot Erwin when Erwin struck Tolbert with his knife. |
West | Range: 78 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 1665 | 301 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Dave Wilder | Carroll | Murder, 1st degree |
Victim was Bettie Green. Murder occurred in July of 1913. Housed in 2 folders. |
West | Range: 78 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 1784 | 319 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. E. F. Ketchens | Shelby | Murder |
Additional parties: James H. Causey. The murder of James Causey took place on the steamboat "Kate Adams" while tied to the wharf boat in Memphis. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 123 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Kelly Brown et al. | Overton | Murder |
Additional defendant: Willie Davis |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 132 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Keeble Broiles | Rutherford | Murder | Middle | Range: 21 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 140 | 0 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Luther Stewart | Lincoln | Murder | Middle | Range: 20 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 55 | 0 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Wiley Maples | Rutherford | Murder |
Victim: Johnson Buford. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 144 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Maggie Cato | Rutherford | Murder |
Maggie Cato was indicted for Murder in the First Degree on one page and Murder in the Second Degree on another page on the body of Christine Holden by stabbing her throat and cut her neck. Jury failing to agree on a verdict, so it was a mistrial. |
Middle | Range: 20 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 49 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Maurice Mays | Knox | Murder |
This case became one of the most notorious cases in early 20th century Tennessee jurisprudence. Mays, who was black was the target of a lynch mob after being accused of killing Bertie Lindsey in her home in August 1919. He claimed innocence but was later convicted and sentenced to death after two appeals. He was executed on March 15, 1922. This case has been microfilmed. MF # 705. 5 folders. |
East | Range: 5 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 99 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Eugene Rogers | Shelby | Murder |
Includes printed brief. Victim: Leona Gillon. Indicted for the murder of the victim, which occurred in 1916. The defendant is a Negro man, 21 years old, the victim was 15 years old and the two were romantically involved. The State posed the theory that the defendant had become enraged when the victim was unwilling to go somewhere in accordance with his wishes. The defendant was seen coming from the place where the victim's body was discovered. |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1565 | 173 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Edgar Price & Raymond Rice | Hardeman | Murder |
Victim: Jack Ford. |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1565 | 61 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Henry Tabor | Obion | Attempted Murder |
Tabor is charged with "unlawfully, willfully, feloniously, deliberately, premeditatedly, and maliciously" shooting John Robinson with a pistol "with the unlawful, willful, felonious, deliberate, premeditated and malicious intent then and there to kill and in the first degree murder the said John Robinson." |
West | Range: 79 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1567 | 34 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v John Matthews | Henry | Murder |
Significant discussion concerning defendant's safety and potential mob presence at trial. Name of victim: Almus Moore |
West | Range: 78 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1613 | 334 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Will Vandyck | Henry | Murder |
Defendant is a colored man with only one usable arm, the other being paralyzed. Victim: Isaiah Martin, also a colored man. Issue over a quarrel from a craps game. |
West | Range: 78 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1615 | 193 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Will Moore | Henderson | Murder |
Will Moore accused of murdering Felix Overman, his neighbor. |
West | Range: 78 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 1662 | 144 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | State v. Virgil (alias Casey) Jones | Dyer | Murder |
Jones was accused of killing Bryan Cannon in March 1918 by shooting him with a pistol. According to testimony in the case, Cannon was dating Alma Wyrick, niece of Virgil Jones. A group of people attended a concert. Afterward, the men were walking the ladies home. When they reached the Wyrick house, Jones, Mary Miskelly, and Cannon all walked Alma to the house. Jones and Cannon began to quarrel. The witness testified that he thought it started because Cannon wanted to walk Alma to her door alone. |
West | Range: 78 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 1663 | 165 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1919 | Will Jones v. State | Rutherford | Murder |
Additional parties: Marvin Jaco, Gracie McNally, Josh Armstrong, Minos Tucker, Dr. Murfree, Dr. Jamison, Scoby Dill, Will Jones, George Youree, Horace Carter |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 113 | 0 | Order A Copy |