Murder in Old Kentucky by Keven McQueen

Author:Keven McQueen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780253057501
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2021-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

15

KNOX COUNTY ATROCITY

THE DOUBLE-SIZE LOG CABIN OF THE POE FAMILY WAS LOCATED ON Trace Branch, a tributary of delightfully named Stinking Creek in Knox County. On the night of Friday, October 22, 1886, the house burned to the ground with eight persons inside. The charred bodies were those of Mrs. Kittie S. Poe; five children, named Mollie, Axie, Laura, Pearlie, and William Archer Poe; and two servants, Mary Carms (perhaps Carner) and Malinda Burns. The sole survivor was the patriarch, William Poe, who was logging in Bell County at the time of the tragedy. The conflagration was an all too common occurrence in rural homes during an era characterized by open fireplaces. In fact, the wholesale destruction of the Poes and their house appears not to have even been mentioned in the state news—initially.

William Poe heard about the tragedy the next day and hurried home. When he arrived, a number of people were staring at the smoking rubble, and among them he saw Parmelia Warren, a woman who had had a dispute with his family. In a moment reminiscent of the stories of the literary Poe, the father of the family examined the bodies, which were still at the scene, and concluded they had been murdered. But the law did nothing for a month.

In late November, a ten-year-old illegitimate son of Brice Mills was angry with his father for threatening him. It was a costly move on Mr. Mills’s part, because his son knew a secret, and, to get revenge, he told it to the Knox County authorities. Mills and his live-in girlfriend, Parmelia Warren, were known to have a grudge against the Poes. On the night of October 22, Mr. Mills had sneaked into the Poe home, shot all eight persons in the house, and cut their throats as well. Mills and Warren ransacked the house for bed clothing and other valuables, then set fire to the bodies and the house and made their escape. The police searched Mills’s house and found articles from the Poe residence in the cellar. After the pair refused to answer questions, they were arrested and taken to jail at Barbourville.

B. M. Mitchell, brother of Mrs. Poe, confirmed for the press that the family had been murdered. It appears local lawmen were still slow to take action, for Governor Knott requested an out-of-towner, Marshal George W. Hunter of Bardstown, to stop in Knox County on January 17, 1887, and arrest several people suspected of conspiring to kill the Poe family. Brice Mills and Parmelia Warren must have been released, made bail, or escaped at some point after their arrest, because Hunter had to rearrest them. Other arrestees’ names are garbled in early reports, but the extra captives were Alabama Mills, Felix Mills, Wright B. Smith, and Elias Jackson, all late of Stinking Creek. Marinda Hammonds was also arrested but freed and retained as a witness.

Of these, fifty-year-old Parmelia Gambrel Warren had a particularly bad reputation in the county. She was believed to have poisoned her parents.

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