Constable Vernor Butler of Wayne Co. TN

The Wayne County Historian, Volume 18, Number 3 - September 2005

Reuben Vernor Butler

Reuben Vernor Butler was born July 25, 1894, in Decatur County, TN, the son of Thompson Christopher Butler and Mary Hulda Hay Butler (Thompson was a brother to the author's great grandpa James Russell Butler). Following his wife's death of May 1, 1900, Thompson moved to Wayne County. Shortly after this Thompson married Nancy Wade Strickland and had a son, Matthew Wade Butler, (half brother to Vernon) born on May 18, 1905. Marriage records show he married Nancy on July 24, 1904. I assume Vernor came to Wayne County with his father. The 1910 census shows Vernor as living in Wayne County.

During World War I, Vernor was stationed at the Panama Canal. After the war he returned to Lutts, TN. He worked as a carpenter in Memphis, driving back and forth home to Wayne County every weekend. He also worked as a carpenter in Lutts. He later spent several years working at Oak Ridge, TN.

From the earliest records I can l locate, he first became a Deputy Sheriff in Wayne County on June 5, 1948. He remained in this position until February 14, 1953. On April 13, 1953, he became a constable and remained in this position until he was wounded and paralyzed in the line of duty on May 18, 1954. From what I can find out by way of newspapers and other sources, after he became constable his primary job was raiding moonshine stills throughout rural Wayne County. The Wayne County News refers to Vernor a lot as Special Officer. I am led to believe he could have been working in part or had connections to what was then the Tennessee Alcohol Tax Unit. He also raided stills in Hardin County. Other information states that he and Mr. John Allen, a county constable who later became the Wayne County Sheriff, were good friends.

Some of the stills Constables Vernor Butler and John Allen destroyed were in the Middle Cypress area on September 18, 1953, and several in the Olive Hill community east of Pickwick.

The following is a combination of information taken from The Wayne County News and from information I have gathered from interviewing people who knew Vernor. I discovered that Vernor Butler was one of the most aggressive special law enforcement officers in Wayne County. He was shot and seriously injured at approximately 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, May 18, 1954, after raiding a whiskey making outfit close to May Branch Loop Road near the Tennessee/Alabama state line. Vernor, working alone, raided the still and arrested one of the two men there. The other individual there made his escape. The shooting was done, according to the report, by the captured man, as Mr. Butler was pouring a quantity of the liquor into a bottle from a larger container to be used as evidence. The shot that felled Mr. Butler was fired from his own 38 caliber revolver, but the second bullet missed as Mr. Butler fell. He would have been shot again as he lay on the ground but persuaded his assailant he was fatally wounded. The man asked him if he knew his name, and he said he did not, whereupon he left taking the officer's revolver with him. Mr. Butler was found about 9:00 p.m. that night by coon hunters and taken immediately to a Florence hospital.

It was reported the bullet passed entirely through his body from right to left, and that his gun holster belt possibly kept him from bleeding to death. Following this ordeal, Mr. Butler spent several years in the Veterans Hospital in Memphis, TN. He was never married. He passed away on June 11, 1966, and is buried in Pinhook Cemetery in Lutts, TN. I would gladly accept any information on his brothers and sister or any information about this or with a different version of the story.

Vernor's siblings were Omer Witt Butler, Benjamin Harrison (Ben) Butler, Henry Arthur Butler, Terry Cordelia (Cordie) Butler Strickland, William Hobart Butler, Matthew Wade Butler and Earl Cranston Butler.

Sources of information for this article were the Wayne County Court House records and The Wayne County News. Also, Stan Butler found some of this information while researching the Thompson Christopher Butler family. Article written and submitted by Russ Butler, 931-724-5702.