Wilson-Smith County TN Archives History .....Murder On The Lebanon Pike, 1890 September 23, 1890 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Fran Cutrell Rutkovsky franrutkovsky@comcast.net April 7, 2014, 5:16 pm MURDER ON THE LEBANON PIKE, October 23, 1890 by Fran Cutrell Rutkovsky On March 7th, 1886, W. B. Highers married his cousin, Nannie Dice, in Smith County, Tennessee. She was about 19 years old, the daughter of Henry Dice and Tennessee Highers Dice of Rome. W. B., "called Johnnie by his friends", was about 17 years older than Nannie. She was said to be a handsome woman and had an excellent reputation before she ran away to marry Highers. A newspaper account states that "Both are of good parentage", and the numerous relatives who live around Rome "are well-to-do and highly respectable people." Soon after the couple married, they moved to Indiana and then to Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky. In the spring of 1890, W. B., Nannie, and their two-and-a- half-year-old daughter, Bessie, were living as tenants on the farm of George Ditmore, a wealthy married farmer. That summer W. B. began to suspect an affair was going on between Ditmore and Nannie and moved his family to a small cottage in Franklin. In September, 1890, Nannie told W. B. that she wanted to go visit her father in Rome. W. B. purchased some clothing for Nannie and the child, a train ticket to Nashville, and gave her $25 cash. After Nannie had left, W. B. learned from Ditmore's cook that he (George Ditmore) had also left that very day for Louisville. Highers took a later train to Nashville and discovered that Nannie had not gone there. It was three weeks before W. B. heard from Nannie, and then it was a letter from Louisville. Highers once again left for Smith County and found his wife and child at the home of her father, Henry Dice, in Rome. Nannie told him that Ditmore had met her train in Nashville, and they had gone to Lookout Mountain to Louisville to Seymour, Indiana, and back to Louisville. From there Nannie and the child traveled to Smith County. After finding a photo of Nannie and George Ditmore taken at Lookout Mountain, W. B. took Nannie back to Franklin, KY, as he wanted to try to prosecute Ditmore for kidnapping. Nannie refused to say she had been with Ditmore, but several people testified they were seen together. An account from the Louisville Courier-Journal stated that George Ditmore, "a well-to-do married man.. had eloped with Highers' s wife". The Nashville American mentioned an attempt by Highers to shoot his wife while on board the train. "His wife divining his intentions saw him and saw the revolver and caught his arm, the ball crashing through the coach window harmlessly." Back in Franklin, W. B. disposed of their household belongings, and Nannie made plans to return to her parents' home in Smith County. Highers arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday, and Nannie arrived by train on Wednesday, October 22. W. B. picked her up, and they spent the night at Barnett's toll gate, about one mile east of the town of Lebanon. Mr. D. Barnett stated that they wanted to find a house and take up residence in Lebanon. W. B. gave him money to pay the expenses and sent him to town to get her trunk. No one knows exactly what happened between W. B. Highers and his young wife, Nannie, but after Mr. Barnett left, W. B. cut her throat with a large pocket knife. An account in the October 24, 1890, Atlanta Constitution states they were fighting over a photograph taken at Lookout Mountain of Nannie and George Ditmore. "In a scuffle to recover it from him, she got him so incensed as to draw his knife and cut her throat, causing instant death." A passerby driving in his buggy happened upon the scene almost immediately. An October 23 front page article in the Lebanon Democrat states: “Dr. J. R. Lester beheld the perpetrator of the foul crime leaving the dying woman lying on the side of the pike, her life blood fast ebbing away, and at same time closing the murderous weapon with which he had committed the deed. .....The woman was lying not fifty feet away, the blood gushing from the ghastly wound in her neck in a perfect stream. By the time he had driven opposite her, she had gasped her last." Dr. Lester immediately sent a nearby tenant to town for an officer. Highers seemed unconcerned about what he had done and said he was driven to do it. Dr. Lester suggested they move the body from the mud and rain to a nearby house, but Highers said, “No, better wait until the inquest is held.” Soon thereafter, a large crowd gathered, and an inquest was held on the side of the road. Mr. T. J. Lea, coroner of Wilson County, and a jury of 7 men, ruled that a felonious act had occurred. Highers was arrested and committed to jail without bail. While waiting for the officer, Highers had written a statement of confession. During the writing he was said to have got up, wiped the blood off the knife with bits of paper, and threw the paper in the fire. Excerpts from the confession are as follows: “Ditmore has caused me to do this awful deed, and has caused me no more happiness on this earth. I am willing to die and I want to make a long talk before I die, for I know I have to die....I was driven to it by Ditmore... He has caused me to kill my dear wife...I want you to send for Ditmore...I will say to people that I am willing to die for he has caused my life to be destroyed. He is the lowest down man on earth...Before you hang me, please send for him...Everyone knows George Ditmore in Franklin, KY.” The October 23rd Lebanon Democrat article states: "Highers is perfectly indifferent to everything except his little child. He says he wants it sent to Golconda, Illinois, where he has a brother." The story of "The Blackest in All of Wilson's History" is continued the following week on the front page. After the roadside inquest was held, W. B. Highers was taken without bail to the Lebanon jail, all the while repeating, "I am willing to die. George Ditmore has caused this." Soon after he was in jail, Highers spoke to several people about the circumstances leading up to the murder of his wife. The newspaper account took a somewhat sympathetic tone toward W. B. Highers at this point "...he almost worshipped her, and while not living in affluence they had lived happily until Ditmore with his oily tongue and deception had laid the foundation of this bloody and deplorable affair. Time and again, by what means no one knows, he enticed her from her home, leaving her husband entirely ignorant of her whereabouts." Late afternoon at the jail, Highers expressed fear that he was going to be lynched by a mob and gave Capt. Bandy, the jailer, a watch and some other jewelry to give to his wife's relatives for his little girl. He asked for a cup of coffee from Mrs. Bandy and told her he wanted to be buried next to his wife. A story in the October 25 edition of the Atlanta Constitution gave the following details of what happened next: " He (W. B. Highers) tore a strip from his blanket, and tied it around a gratebar about seven and one-half feet from the floor. He then looped a large red cotton handkerchief that he had worn around his neck through the blanket rope, and standing on an inverted bucket, tied it around his neck. He then took his feet off the bucket and choked to death with his toes on the floor." A note found in his pocket included the words, " I am going to die So good By to the World." The dead man was taken to the undertakers and placed in a coffin, where his body was viewed by hundreds of curious onlookers. Nannie's relatives took her body to Rome in Smith County, where she was buried near the family home. "Highers' relatives were notified of the deplorable affair but refused to have anything to do with the dead body. Accordingly he was buried at the expense of the county in the city cemetery Friday about 2 p.m. " Though the Lebanon Democrat article noted that W. B. Highers was said to have the reputation of "a roaming and rather rude fellow", two telegrams from his friends in Franklin, KY, sent to the Lebanon City Marshall were in his favor: "Protect Hyers' life that the guilty man in this tragedy, Ditmore, may be punished" and "Don't mob Hyers. He's crazy. Send him to kill Ditmore". RESEARCH NOTES: W. B. Highers was said to be the son of Richard Highers, deceased. This is probably Richard Dixon Highers, born in Smith County, son of Josiah Highers and Nancy Simpson. He married Hannah Craig and moved to Pope County, Illinois, before the 1850 census. However, a newspaper account states that W. B. and Nannie were reared in the same neighborhood, Rome, in Smith County, TN. Nannie's mother, Tennessee Highers Dice, was a sister to Richard Dixon Highers. The first wife of Henry Dice (Nannie's father) was Nancy Highers, a sister to both Richard Dixon Highers and Tennessee Highers (Nannie's mother). The second wife of Richard Dixon Highers was Martha Alliston. According to the 1860 census record, there were four sons in the Dixon Hyers household in Golconda, Pope County, Illinois: John, Thomas, Berry, and Dixon. Daughters were America and Mary. I have been unable to find John or Berry in later census records. It is possible that both parents died after the 1860 census, and the children were sent to live with other relatives, either in Illinois or in Smith County. The child of W. B. and Nannie, Bessie Highers, was living with a relative, George Dice, in Rome in the 1900 census. Nannie's father, Henry Dice, and her siblings moved to Cheatham County, TN. I do not know what happened to Bessie Highers. Newspapers quoted from in this essay are as follows: The Lebanon Democrat, October 23, 1890 MURDER! --The Blackest in All Wilson's History--ACT OF A MAD MAN-- W. B. Highers Kills the Wife of His Bosom The Lebanon Democrat, October 30, 1890 UXORCIDE -- Closely Followed by Suicide at the Jail -- Highers is Buried By The County -- His Wife Carried To Smith County by Relatives The Atlanta Constitution, October 24, 1890 THE WOMAN IS DEAD The Atlanta Constitution, October 25, 1890 PUTS AN END TO HIS LIFE The New York Times, October 25, 1890 A MURDERER'S SUICIDE -- In Fear of Lynchers, Highers Takes His Own Life File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/wilson/history/other/murderon41ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/tnfiles/ File size: 10.5 Kb