Jerry and Linda Butler

Wayne County Historian - On Sunday, 2 December 1990, the Wayne County Historical Society honored all the veterans of World War I. As part of the program, surviving veterans and the families of deceased veterans were asked to submit to the Society a biography of the veteran and his activities during the war.

BUTLER, REUBEN VERNOR, was born 25 July 1894, the son of Thompson C. BUTLER and Mary Hulda HAY. He was a brother to Henry Arthur BUTLER. During the war he was stationed at the Panama Canal. Date of induction and discharge not given. After the war, he returned to Lutts, Tennessee. Later he worked as a carpenter in Memphis, Tennessee and at Lutts. He spent several years working at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Reuben later returned to Memphis and finally to Lutts, Tennessee where he served as a deputy sheriff. During his service as deputy sheriff, he was shot and paralyzed. He spent 12 years at the Veterans Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He died 11 June 1966 and was buried in Pinhook Cemetery, Lutts, Tennessee. He never married.

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 Constable 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.

R. V. Butler Constable Bond and Oath

Court met pursuant to adjournment, p____ and p____ as before when the following proceeding was had and entered of record on the minutes of the court.

Constable Bond
State of Tennessee, Wayne County.

Know all men by these presents, That we R. V. Butler principal & sureties, are bound unto the State of Tennessee in the penal sum of Four Thousand Dollars, to which payment will and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, and each and every of our heirs and representatives, severally and jointly.

Sealed with our seals, and dated this 13 day of April, 1953, The condition of the above obligation is Such. That wheras, the said R. V. Butler has been duly and constitutionally elected constable for District no. 9th, in the county of Wayne, for the ensuing two years; now, if the said R. V. Butler shall faithfully discharge the duties of his office, and pay over and account for all moneys by him collected by virtue of his office, to the person or persons authorized to receive the same and in all other respects discharge the duties of said office according to law, then this bond to be void; otherwise to remain in full force.

Acknowledged in your court.
Attest: Marie Phillips, Clerk
Approved April 13, 1953
Joel Yeiser, Judge.

R. V. Butler
L. B. Irwin
G. W. Byrd
Floyd Shults
L. T. Flatt
W. J. Barnett

State of Tennessee, Wayne County.

We, R. V. Butler & Sureties acknowledge ourselves bound and indebted to the State of Tennessee in the Penal sun of Five Hundred Dollars, to be void in condition that the said R. V. Butler shall well and truly account for and pay over to the county Trustee all fines and county tax collected by him for the County, and to the to the clerk of the County Court all State tax collected by him under the Small Offense Law.

Witness our hands this 13 day of April, 1953

R. V. Butler
J. E. Wilbanks

Oath
I, R. V. Butler, do solemnly swear that I will well and truly serve the State of Tennessee in the office of Constable, that I will cause the peace of the State to be kept to the best of my power; that I will arrest all such persons that go in my sight armed offensively, or who commit any riot, affray, or other breach of the peace; that I will use my best endeavor, on complaint made, to apprehend all felons, rioters, or person riotously assembled, and if such offenders flee or make resistance, I will pursue, and make hue and cry according to law; that I will faithfully, and without delay, execute and return all lawful process to me directed; and that I will well and truly, according to my Power and Ability, do and execute all duties of my office: and I do further swear that I have not, directly or indirectly, given, accepted, or knowingly carried a challenge, in writing or otherwise, to any person being a citizen of this State, either in or out of the State, and that I will not, during my continuance in office, be guilty of either of these acts.

Attest, Marie Phillips Clerk.
Laura Dixon D. C.

R. V. Butler

• from the research of John Russell Butler