(Editor’s Note: This article is being rewritten and republished because there were several historical dates and subjects that were incorrect.)
The infamous John Presswood, Jr. was a 16-year-old white (not black) man who was hanged on the Courthouse Square in Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee on May 24, 1872. It was the second legal hanging in this county – the first being Jim, a slave who murdered another slave in 1845. The Presswood hanging, was notorious and historic and emotionally challenging. Not to mention, Presswood, again a Caucasian male, was only 16-years-old at the time and a minor child by Tennessee law and observations. In attendance was the largest crowd ever assembled in Smithville at the time, estimated at 8,000 inquisitive persons, including children and teenagers.
The local synopsis from local county historian, the late Thomas G. Webb follows: “Presswood dismounted from his horse and began walking up the short flight of steps to the scaffolding. According to history enthusiast and Review reporter, Chris Tramel of Smithville, “Five days before his execution, Presswood was baptized in Fall Creek by Green Magness, a Primitive Baptist preacher.” The Rev. Jerry Cullom, age 27 and a Baptist preacher, preached Presswood’s funeral using the theme, “Look what happened to him and take warning.”
To preface, “The crime for which young John Presswood died was the killing of Rachel Fowler Billings, which occurred when Presswood was only 16-years-old,” wrote Webb. “The convicted teenager was baptized the day before he was hanged on May19, 1872.” The last sentence is also collaborated by Tramel.
The Smithville Review weekly newspaper reported during this time that “Mrs. Billings, Presswood’s victim, did not die quickly. Her cause of death was listed as “murder by ax.” She was about 36-years-old at the time of her death (Presswood was only age 18). The daughter of William and Mary Fowler, she was married in 1854 to Jason Certain. This union produced one daughter, Inez Certain, born in 1859. Jason joined the Confederate Army and died during the Civil War (around 1861.) Later, in 1866, Rachel married Jim Billings, 12-years her junior. After Rachel’s murder, Jason took their two children and moved to Nebraska where they made their home. Later, Jason married twice and had five more children, six in total, including Inez.
In his later senior life, Jim Billings returned to DeKalb County from Nebraska where he died in 1936. He is buried in the Billings’ Cemetery in the Peeled Chestnut community in DeKalb County. Inez and Chartly Parker had three daughters and resided in DeKalb County. The girls were the granddaughters of Jim and Rachel Billings. The three sisters were: Vella Love; Zona (John) Lockhart; and, Willie (Will) Hayes.
In continuation, Webb wrote, “Brave members of the crowd gathered intently in downtown Smithville. Following the Baptist sermon and Presswood’s confession read by T. N. Christian (signed with an X), Sheriff Henry Blackburn put a large dark hood over Presswood’s head and attached the pulling rope. After standing slightly backwards with his hand on the trip bar, Blackburn watched the crowd relax and then surge forward. After what seemed like hours while counting down the minutes, Blackburn said, “Presswood, you have three minutes to live,” while a few sobs echoed from the crowd, but there were no spontaneous outbursts from the gathered onlookers. Within a few minutes, the Sheriff broke the calm and nauseating silence with the words, “Presswood, you have two minutes to live.”
While young Presswood was standing under the hanging ropes with his head covered for protective injurious sightings, he was deathly quiet awaiting his then historical modern-day execution.
“Why are the heads of condemned guilty criminals covered during a hanging?” The website Quora details the following: “Executioners use the hood so no one sees the person’s face. The weight of the body pulling on the neck distorts the face. The eyes bulge, the tongue is forced out of the mouth by the pressure of the rope on the back of the throat, and many other things the public could see if the head is not protected. And, executioners and prison officials do not like, nor want, to see such things themselves.”
With calm demeanor and tranquil thought-processes, Sheriff Blackburn counted the minutes and said, “Presswood, you have one-minute to live.” As the young white man positioned his youthful apathetic posture, the Sheriff finally said: “PRESSWOOD, YOU DIE!”
Almost immediately, the Sheriff sprung the trap. Presswood’s body jerked and quivered slightly and then was still. Within seconds, he was pronounced dead by city and county officiants.
DeKalb County had its second and last legal hanging, John Presswood, Jr. “Society was paid in full for a heinous crime,” reported the local Smithville Review newspaper on May 24, 1872 – 151 years ago.
In his final letter of communications to the public, Presswood wrote, in part, (with a hand writer’s assistance), “I want Sheriff Blackburn to get a good, strong rope so it will not break, for I want the thing over with as soon as possible, and I don’t want to suffer like Logsdon did. When the time comes, I want the thing all over (May 19, 1872). Signed with an X, relaying more evidence that young Presswood was uneducated and could not read nor write.
