Patrick County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Hall, Turner March 19, 1897 - February 6, 1927
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ron Martin cindyandron@bellsouth.net September 2, 2023, 4:59 pm

Author: Ron Martin

  Turner Clayton "Jack" Hall was born on March 19, 1897, the youngest son of 
Henry Harden Hall, Jr. and Ruth Elizabeth Turner, a prominent family who lived 
in the Goblintown area of Patrick County, Virginia.

  Like many young men during this era, he grew up working on the farm while his 
father worked at the nearby grist mill.  By all accounts, Hall was a nice-
looking and sharp dressed man and was an excellent shot with his .45 Army 
automatic.

  In 1920, he married Flora Bell Shelton, the daughter of Thomas Alexander 
Shelton and Mary Elizabeth "Bettie" Snead who resided in the Dodson area of 
Patrick County. Sometime after September 1922, Hall and his wife actually moved 
into the Fayerdale area of Patrick County, where they rented the home that 
belonged to Hall's second cousin Euel Cox who was gunned down in September 1922 
at the Patrick-Henry County line in a shootout with left two people dead.

  As Hall matured and grew up, like many young men in this area, he became 
engaged in the lucrative but dangerous business of manufacturing illegal whiskey 
which was prevalent in this area due to the accessibility of creeks and rivers 
as well as the remote locaton. By all accounts, he was quite active in this area 
and eventually it led to his death.

  In the winter of 1927, a series of events began to play out as suspicions 
arose in the community which ultimately led Hall to travel to Stuart to secure a 
warrant for the arrest of his second cousin Dave Cox. All this suspicion and bad 
blood was even more surprising because the Cox, Hall, and Shelton families were 
good friends and were all related to each other either by blood or marriage. 
After securing the warrant, it was supposedly understood by all parties that 
Hall would give the warrant to a Patrick County Sheriff's Deputy to execute 
which did not happen.   It is unclear even now if Hall was ever deputized.  This 
proved to be a fatal mistake as Jack gathered up his brother-in-law Ernest 
Shelton to travel to the home of John Chaney where Dave Cox was located. 
Somewhere they picked up Frank Chaney and Ora Turner to travel with them to 
arrest the Cox brothers.

  The four arrived at the Chaney house on Sunday, February 6 which is located 
near where the Fayerdale Convention Center now sits, and a shootout ensued.  
Shelton already had disarmed Dave Cox and was in custody of him as he agreed to 
go with the group.  When Dave’s brother, Maynard Cox entered the house, Hall 
fired two bullets into Dave Cox killing him instantly.  His brother Maynard 
killed Hall with a .32 Colt automatic revolver before being killed himself by 
Shelton with a .38 nickel plated Smith & Wesson.  Cox died quicky and Hall died 
a short time later.  

  Hall was laid to rest in the Thomas Shelton Cemetery which is located off 
Union Church Road on land that is owned by the United States Army Corps of 
Engineers at this time.


Additional Comments:
The photo is courtesy of Ancestry but whoever posted it acquired the photo from 
the book "The Fayerdale Tragedy" by Elmer Haynes

Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/patrick/photos/bios/hall25nbs.jpg

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/patrick/bios/hall25nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/vafiles/

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