Oral History: A Double Murder on Beefhide
As told by Lois Wright Tweedy
Lois Wright Tweedy has collected oral histories of the Bates family for over 40 years, while traveling with her husband John and her brother Orville Wright. She has the most extensive collection of documents and pictures of any other person in the Bates family. She will be a regular contributor to our online magazine found on Medium: The Life & Times of the Martin Van Buren Bates: The Kentucky River Giant.
She shares with us an event that occurred in the small community of Beefhide in 1906.
These pictures of Joel Wright and Margaret Elmira Greer were found in the home of their great granddaughter living in Naples, Florida. My husband, John and I went by and she graciously let us take the pictures to a photo shop to get copies. She said,
“There must have been a scourge going ‘round for they died within a week of each other.”
We did not tell her what had really happened.
Background of the Story
Beefhide, KY is located along Beefhide Creek which runs east and north out of Letcher County and into Pike County. The creek straddles across the county line between Letcher County and Pike County, Kentucky (from 1901 to 1956 Beefhide had a post office).
Beefhide has historical significance because it was on an early Indian trail which ran through Eastern Kentucky from Virginia. Early settlers reported that the Shawnee, Cherokee and Iroquois tribes were present and engaged in warfare for this area. In fact, oral histories from old timers claimed that Daniel Boone had spent time in Letcher County during the late 1700s. To support this claim, they cite the presence of Boone Creek and other Boone claims.
There are stories about Daniel Boone wintering in Letcher County in the areas of now known as Kona and Neon. Evidence for these claims cite Daniel Boone’s signatures on several trees in these areas. The most well-known of these signatures was found at Kona and this tree was later cut down and the signature removed.
As to the origins of its name, Beefhide, there are alternative explanations. Some people claim that Beefhide received its name from an early engineer when the railroad was built. While passing through that location, he saw a beef hide tacked onto a barn and later referred to the place as Beefhide. Other sources say the name originated from Boone’s surveying activities. The Beefhide name came from the many pieces of beef hide that Boone’s surveyors (one of whom was a Thomas Bates) tacked onto the trees to mark their locations.
What is clear, however, is that early settlers, including the Bates, Webb and Bentley families held very large land holdings in Letcher, Pike and Knott counties that included many huge valleys of prime bottom land along the creeks and rivers. These properties of the founder’s families appear to overlap those regions that were claimed to have been discovered and surveyed by Daniel Boone and his men while in Eastern Kentucky.
During the 1880’s a search for minerals intensified throughout the United States. In Eastern Kentucky engineers looked for “coking coal” used in the iron and steel industries. They searched along the Big Sandy River. Then as they went to the headwaters of the Elk Horn Creek (Jenkins, KY) they reported a major discovery. Later surveys in 1907 showed an average coal seam height of over 14 feet stretching along miles of the fault line.
Recognizing the investment opportunities of coal production, John C.C. Mayo with others formed the Consolidated Coal Company (now know as Consol Energy) and began the process of purchasing coal rights for hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Letcher, Pike and Knott counties.
By 1908–1913 plans were initiated to build railroads from Jackson, KY through Hazard and Whitesburg to Jenkins, KY. This railroad would move coal out of the area to markets both east to Virginia and west to Ravenna and Winchester, Kentucky and all points West.
These large economic forces of change that set into motion our story…
The Double Murder on Beefhide Creek
The following is a story as it was told to us.
Joel was the first son of Samuel, (son of Joel and Susannah Wright) and his wife, Elizabeth “Bessie” Adams Wright. Samuel Wright (Joel’s father) gave them ground to live on (as he did with all his children). Joel Wright and wife, Margaret Elmira Greer Wright lived in the head of Beefhide, Ky.
The couple was religious, going to church often. Margaret Elmira was a “public prayer” which was very unusual in that day and time. Normally men were called to do prayers in public and in church. Women did not participate in these services although they attended church. Margaret must have been extraordinarily gifted or had a “special calling” if preachers permitted her to speak and say a public prayer during services.
During this time (1880–1915) large outside investors began investing in Eastern Kentucky by acquiring thousands of acres of land in Letcher, Pike and Knott counties. Their practice was to engage land agents to buy the “mining rights” to coal on those properties along the surveyed coal seam so the engineers could follow the coal seam and make plans to remove all the coal.
Devil John Wright (their first cousin) was hired as a land agent and began working on those living property owners at the head of Beefhide Creek. The usual procedure to obtain the land was to offer small amounts of money to sell their rights to the coal. Often, for those individuals who could not read or write, these documents were signed for them, if they could not write to their name.
With little cash available elsewhere, many land owners accepted the deal that was offered. However, the amount of money was small and it usually would be doled out with a small amount for a first payment and the rest in two payments later. But more often those payments did not always happen. Only the first payment was received because the land was sold twice. After the property had changed hands two times, the original agreement did not hold up in court and the first owners were never paid.
Old Sammy Wright (the father) refused to sell his property holdings and told his children to hold onto their land. But other residents on Beefhide Creek saw that “not to sell” was very dangerous and signed anyway.
One day Old Sammy heard that his oldest son’s life was in danger.
“He told Joel to leave out of the head of Beefhide and don’t let anybody in (your house) unless you knew they could be trusted.”
Joel and his wife moved to a place where they felt they would be safe. One day, a nephew that Joel thought he could trust visited their new home. When he opened the door, both Joel and Margaret were killed.
“No one knew whether the nephew or Devil John had killed them.”
There was a creek across from the place with small bushes enough for hiding. We never learned the nephew’s name.
Years ago, we went back to the place where their home had been when they were killed. Many very high bushes had grown up and my brother Orville, although it was very hot, began crawling beneath those bushes. He was trying to find stones or a partial wood beam where their house had been. He found nothing.
Last year, Jeff Wright and his wife, Susan came from Virginia and asked to be shown where his ancestors, (I think, fourth great grandparents,) lived and had died. We went and showed him exactly where the house had been, Nearby on a sloping area near a fenced cemetery, we found where descendants of Devil John, the Calhouns, the Greers and others from Beefhide were buried.
“Did blood kin take advantage of their relatives for a “kick back” from the coal company? The coal company couldn’t have done it so easy without a turncoat.”
“It is an example of the Golden Rule- Whoever has the gold rules.”
This chilling story raises a number of questions about Bates Family culture, lifestyle and traditions. The desire to “take care of family” by sharing parent’s resources (mainly property rights) is a tradition practiced by generations of Bates family members. The generosity of parents and grandparents is readily apparent as they shared and cared for their families and protected their children from the world-at-large. They did not trust outsiders and it was difficult for an outsider to enter into their culture. In this story trust was won and then betrayed by a member of their own family.
The story certainly documents the nefarious practices of large outside investors who acquire the rights to coal though economic advantage: control the courts; bribe the politicians, and hire the law enforcement. It is a textbook example of how to invade and conquer a region thorough use of money and political influence to build railroads and extract valuable resources.
Acknowledgement
We gratefully acknowledge the excellent work of cousins Ben Luntz, Nancy Wright Bays and Patty May Brashear for providing essential background on early Beefhide Creek and the surrounding area. Their website explains and documents the Wright/Bates families and their connections with the founding fathers of Eastern Kentucky.
About Lois Wright Tweedy
Lois has collected oral histories about the Bates family for over 40 years, traveled with her husband John and her brother Orville Wright. She has the most extensive collection of documented files and pictures of any other person in the Bates family. She will be a regular contributor to our online magazine found on Medium: The Life & Times of the Martin Van Buren Bates: The Kentucky River Giant.
About Ira J. Bates
Ira is the Editor of The Life & Times of the Martin Van Buren Bates: The Kentucky River Giant found on Medium. If you are interested in contributing articles for our magazine please contact Ira at Medium.
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