| Notes |
- "Old Uncle Bill" was considered a very overbearing man. He wassheriff or Roane County for several years. The story is told of himthat while he was sheriff he did not like Negro people. There was atrain going across the river near Harriman. T There were 7 black mentraveling on the train as hobos. His pistol held only six bullets.He wondered if he could shoot them all or not. So he started with theone fartherest away and come on down the line till he had emptied hisgun. Each time he fired, a black man fell into the river. He emptiedhis gun and reloaded. Before the last man on the train got across,Old Uncle Bill shot him and he fell into the river.
Another time, there was an outlaw that was hoboing the train throughElverton, a place between Oliver Springs and Harriman, Tennessee. OldUncle Bill received a telegram from the Federal Law to be on the lookout for him on this certain train. ThThey warned him he was heavilyarmed and very dangerous. Old Uncle Bill took safety measures - heput on his bullet-proof breastplate late that afternoon when he heardthe train coming. He stopped to check the train, and sure enough, theoutlaw was on that train. When he saw the outlaw, he was getting off.The minute he set foot on the ground, he saw Uncle Bill and emptiedhis gun at him. He had hit Uncle Bill three times - each one in thechest. On the last shot that the outlaw fired, Uncle Bill beganshooting at the outlaw. Uncle Bill saw the outlaw trying to reloadhis gun, but couldn't get the empty shells out of his gun. Uncle Billcaptured him. The shot that Uncle Bill had shot at the outlaw had hithis gun and lodged in the main spring of his pistol and put it out ofcommission. The three hits which had hit Uncle Bill in the chest onlyhit his breastplate and put a dent in it.
Uncle Bill was a large land owner. He had a large farm on the HenValley Road leaving Oliver Springs going toward Harriman. He was aprofessional gambler. He won anyway he could - whether honest ordishonest. Life was cheap to him.
Once he and a black man with two other white men were on the ridgebehind the old brickyard gambling. They had been there for 2 days.On Saturday evening, Uncle Bill's brother Thomas came up to him andtold him, "I need $200.00 really bad. If I ddon't get it, I will losemy home by Monday. They are going to foreclose on my home." Thomas,Bill's brother, was a different type of person. He was a Baptistpreacher. Uncle Bill told Thomas to come back the next evening and hewould see what ht he could do. So Thomas went back to see him the nextday at his home. Uncle Bill had just gotten home that morning. Hehad been on the ridge gambling for 3 days and 2 nights. Uncle Billtold his brother, "Yesterday, when you came by to see me, I had losteverything I owned - even my farm." He went on to say he and theblack man had broken the two white men. Then the black man had justabout broken him.
Nothing else was mentioned about the incident, but a few days laterthe black man was reported missing. When he was found, he was at theplace where they had been gambling with a bullet through his heart inan upright sitting position - right where he and Uncle Bill had beengambling for three days. No one knew for sure, but it was thoughtthat the black man had broken Uncle Bill, and Uncle Bill had shot himto get back everything he had lost." - - - - From "A History of theCoalfield Area" by W.B. Lyles
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Hi Chester, Thanks for the info. Was this incident in Morgan County?William Liles, brother of my g-grandfather Thomas (who was murdered);(also brother to Bill Lyles' - John Henry) lived in the Hen Valleypart of Oliver Springs, and was a professional gambler, according toFlo Liles, second wife of William's son Raymond, William, she said,had killed a couple of men over card games. But she seems to rememberit being on a river boat. She said Raymond retold a story aboutstarting to go into his father's travel bag once and being severelypunished and told he was never to touch this Dad's bag because it wasfor work and the family's livelihoo
William's land was his grandfather Reverend Thomas' old farm. Theoriginal house and barn burned down and William built a new houseacross the Hen Valley Road but didn't replace the barn because hedidn't consider himself to be a farmer. This property recently soldand I had visited Flo there twice. The back of this house faces thecurrent road to Harriman and is accessed from the same, as I believethe old Hen Valley Road has been abandoned across that property
I really think I need to get more into the Morgan, Andersen and KnoxCounty records to get the full picture of what the Liles clan wereinvolved in at that time Knox for the early records and later on forbetter news coverage, and the others because Oliver Springs touchesall three.........Larry Liles, your cousin
1910 Roane County Census
LILES, W.C.headmw53Farming
Maggie M.P.wifefw51
Maude M.daufw10
George R.sonmw6
1930 Roane County Census-2nd District Hen Valley Rd.
LILES, W.C.headmw74Farming
Maggie M.P.wifefw70
George R.sonmw23Farming
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1856 - 1934 (78 years)
Siblings
