Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine ( the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers ).

This will be a short and brief Post, Friday is just a day away and we all know that Fridays are Video Post Day here at the Wakefield Doctrine. Unfortunately, we were watching TV and a show came on about ‘an American Robin Hood’ and the idea got lodged in my head for a Post. The title came next, as it often does and now we are stuck with the task of writing something about Lewis Redmond and tying it to the Wakefield Doctrine.  With a Post Title like the one we have today? Damn.

On the surface, the  story of Lewis Redmond is one of  circumstance forcing an ordinary individual to act in extraordinary ways. The most commonly repeated version of the story of ‘Major’ Lewis Redmond tell us that Redmond was brought into the family moonshine business by his father and  (that)  his ‘contribution’ to the family business was to offer ‘home delivery’. This new service was welcomed by their customers and the business grew tremendously. Unfortunately, increased sales brought with it a much higher profile in what, after all was an illegal manufacture and sales of liquor. 
Given the combination of illegal distilling and high visibility, the next development was surely inevitable.

“…he was apprehended at gunpoint by Deputy U.S. Marshall Duckworth while driving a wagonload of the stuff across the Lower Creek ford of Walnut Hollow Road in the East Fork section of Transylvania County. After Duckworth read the warrant, Redmond told him, “All right, put up your pistol, Alf. I will go along with you.” As Duckworth lowered his weapon, Redmond produced a small derringer and from point-blank range gunned the officer down with a bullet that entered his throat, carrying with it a collar button. As Redmond fled, “Duckworth staggered to the ford … and bent over for a drink, but the water leaked out through the bullet hole in his throat.” The 24-year-old officer died shortly thereafter.

Thus began a violent and unlikely career during which Redmond became a national hero—a species of Robin Hood—for those who opposed federal revenue laws governing the manufacture of whiskey. Described as “a ladies’ man” who “was part Indian, having hawk-like eyes and raven black hair” and “a superb specimen of manhood, being six feet tall, stoutly built, very strong and active as a cat,” he was quite willing to play the romantic hero role in which he was cast.
… until the final bloody shootout on the banks of the Little Tennessee River in Swain County on April 7, 1881…”

George Ellison is a naturalist and writer who resides in Bryson City, North Carolina. His new book Mountain Passages: Natural and Cultural History of Western North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains was published by The History Press in June 2005. His essay about the life of “Major” Lewis R. Redmond is reprinted from Smoky Mountain News, a regional newsmagazine published in Waynesville, North Carolina, where it was originally published in December 2000.

copyright © 2007 Chattooga Conservancy, Inc.

Like ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok, Davy Crockett, Annie Oakley and other cultural icons from the late 19th and early 20th Century, Redmond attracted the attention of the tabloid press. Depending, of course, on the demographic of the publication, Redmond was either a ‘Robin Hood’ or a ‘bloated brigand’, in that nothing much seems to have changed in our culture’s treatment of popular figures. People that become highly visible are appropriated by any and all special interest groups intent on promoting their agenda,

Speaking of agendas (agendae?), we are not going to say that this guy Redmond was a roger…wait a minute….we are going to say that!

The guy is clearly a roger.  He gets famous for two reasons: he is garrulous and he is willing to shoot his friend (some versions of this tale hold that Deputy Duckworth was also a boyhood friend of Redmond…you’ve seen this countless times as a movie plot:  ‘two boys are best of friends but when they grow up, one chooses the life of crime the other’….
And in this story of Lewis Redmond,  there is a girl!  Her name was Gabrielle Austin, and  Redmond is said to have rescued her  from un-just captivity in the hands of  a neferious Revenuer Agent!  However, she appears to serve merely as a plot device in the Pulp Novels about Redmond, as the rest of the tale of Lewis Redmond includes the fact that he had a wife and family. Seeing how Redmonds wife’s name was not Gabrielle, so that would make her (Gabrielle) a clark. Perfect!

Time is running out and this Post was meant to be a short ‘set up’ for tomorrow’s Video Post,  in which, we will have the Progenitor roger as our guest!