-
2. The Prisonaires
- University of Massachusetts Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
19 CHAPTER TWO The Prisonaires If you get a jail sentence,/you must be Nashville bound. —Furry Lewis, “Viola Lee Blues” In an interview with Cass Paley, Johnny Bragg fondly recalled the singers who made up the Prisonaires: “[They were] a bunch of good guys: Edward Thurman, William Stewart, Marcel Sanders, John Drue; nice people. And they could sing too, good talent. And they loved everybody, they wasn’t the type that hated people. They was good guys. Happy go lucky all the time. And we never blew the privilege. We never broke the rules. When we were going out singing all over the state, we always did the right thing. Always.” Edward Lee Thurman (Tenor Vocals) At the time of his sentencing for first degree murder on August 12, 1940, Edward Lee Thurman had lived his entire twenty-three years in Nashville , dropping out of school in seventh grade to take a job as a cast iron burner for the Tennessee Enamel Company. Despite the hard, frequently dangerous work—his hands and arms were dotted with scars—the money was good, certainly better than what he earned farming. Still, the dangers outweighed the benefits, and in 1936 he was able to land a better -paying (at thirteen dollars a week) and slightly less dangerous job at the Davidson County Chemical Corporation, a fertilizer manufacturer. A steady job with steady pay meant he could propose to his nineteenyear -old girlfriend, Annie Mae Plumber. 20 / CHAPTER TWO Prior to March 7, 1940, Ed Thurman had never even been in trouble, let alone arrested. Things were fine at work, but his personal life, which he characterized as being disorganized, was made worse by Annie Mae’s sudden departure early in their marriage. He continued working at the chemical plant, but after clocking out, and with Annie Mae gone, he simply had too much free time, although drinking and gambling helped him get through the hours when he wasn’t working. On the night of March 7, Thurman was at a local pool hall drinking whiskey with a group of friends that included one John Will Hardimon. Another friend, Andrew Hunter, asked Thurman if he could borrow fifty cents. Thurman agreed to lend him the money but told Hunter to give him his pistol as collateral. Thurman then went to a nearby grocery store, where he met a coworker who was about to send a young boy to the chemical plant to pick up his paycheck. He suggested the boy could pick up Thurman’s check too. Thurman agreed and told the boy to bring it to his house. A few hours passed, and Thurman, worried that somebody might have mugged the boy and stolen his check, took matters into his own hands and headed out to Davidson County Chemical. On the way he passed Hardimon and another man identified as Hardimon’s cousin. No words were exchanged, but Hardimon suddenly hurled a rock in Thurman’s direction. Thurman warned him off. Angry and drunk, Hardimon threatened to knock his teeth in. Thurman picked up his check and returned to the grocery store to settle his bill, then went to the pool hall to get his fifty cents back from Turner. Hardimon was waiting there, drunker and more agitated, and, with two of his uncles supplying extra muscle, he was clearly fixing for a fight. As Thurman walked to the back room to meet Turner, Hardimon hurled another rock that sent a rack of pool cues clattering to the floor. As Thurman turned, Hardimon lunged at him with a knife, and Thurman, in self-defense, shot his assailant with Hunter’s gun. John Will Hardimon took two months and three days to die from the bullet wound to his abdomen. Edward Lee Thurman, though clearly not the instigator and having no prior record, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison. [34.205.246.61] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 14:32 GMT) The Prisonaires / 21 William Stewart (Baritone Vocals and Guitar) Bennie White beat Robert Lauderdale to death with a fence rail, but that didn’t prevent William Stewart from being convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to ninety-nine years at the Tennessee State Penitentiary . The eldest of nine children, Stewart was only eighteen years old when a white jury of “good and lawful men,” citizens of Trousdale County, convicted him, Bennie White, and White’s brothers Harding and Crawford of “unlawfully, feloniously, willfully...