"Butten shoos" and the Death Penalty

We have a post card, dated 1908, from a young Hope Hart to "Miz Virginia Moran".  When Hope grew up she left Dresden and moved to Washington DC where she worked in the offices of elected Tennessee officials on the Federal level.  It was always nice to have a local girl in DC when someone from Dresden needed a political connection!  However, on September 1, 1908 she was just a 10 year old girl writing a postcard about her visit with Brud Moran and sealing it with a kiss (S.W.A.K.)

Sept 1 1908

dere Miz Virgina

i shure am having a big time while i am hear.  Mister brud is shure nise i like his butten shoos and his rubber tar bugy.

forever yure frend

hope hart

On the front side of the post card is the Dresden home of Duke Cayce Bowers.   I didn't know anything about Duke Bowers but I do now.  Duke was born in Mobile Alabama in 1874, the son of Calvin Thomas Bowers and Ida C. Cayce.  His mother died when he was still a young boy in 1879.  His father Calvin died in 1895. 

In 1893, at the young age of 15, Memphis City Directories show Duke living in Memphis and working at Bowers & Co with Walter E. Cayce in business together as cider and vinegar manufacturers. John E. Bowers was listed as a Travel Agent with the same company. 

In the 1900 Census Duke is living with his aunt and uncle, Enis and Lydia Bowers, in Hickman Kentucky. His occupation is Merchant Grocer.  On October 24 1900 Duke married Ethel Gibbs in Weakley County.   

The 1903 the Memphis City Directory shows that Duke is back in Memphis with his family living at 237 Vance and working, most likely owning, the Little New Grocery.

Their daughter Ida is born in 1905.  By 1910 the Bowers family is living on Pauline Street in Memphis where Duke is still in the grocery business.  

Duke Bowers appears continuously in Memphis City Directories through 1917.  In the 1915 Directory he has a total of 43 grocery stores in Memphis!!!  It appears that he and his wife moved back to Dresden in 1916 because the city directories indicate Dresden as his residence.   

In 1917 Duke died of "cerebral apoplexy" and was interred in Sunset Cemetery.

But what did Duke Bowers believe in besides building a successful grocery business?  It's not often we know

anything except facts gleaned from government records about those that came before us.  But with Duke Bowers we know he believed in God and was against the death penalty so much so he took his fight to the Tennessee Legislature.  

In 1913 he was the author of  a brief entitled Life Imprisonment vs. The Death Penalty which was submitted to the 58th General Assembly and to the Judiciary Committee for the State of Tennessee.  

From page 31:

Duke C. Bowers, retired grocery merchant of Memphis, has returned to Nashville to resume his fight for the passage of a bill in the Legislature abolishing capital punishment in Tennessee.  Mr. Bowers is entering into the fight with great enthusiasm, and is making a telling campaign among the legislators and with the public. Largely through his efforts the issue of capital punishment has been brought before the people of Tennessee, and will be kept before them until after the bill in the Legislature is passed or defeated...

Page 61:

Duke C. Bowers' Argument Against Capital Punishment.  The first case of murder of which we have any record was that of Cain killing Abel.  In this instance God himself was the judge, the jury, and the whole court.  He did not put Cain to death, neither would he allow the people to do it....

Christ came and changed the old law, "an eye for an eye," declaring that vengeance belonged to God....  The difference in the teaching of Moses and Christ was that Moses shed his enemies' blood, while Christ shed His own blood for his enemies.

Page 62:

Because we are Southerners is no reason why we should favor lynching or hanging.  Christianity should be the same all over the country.

Page 64:

There are people in the North who think that we of the South are a lot of hot-heads, blood-thirsty murderers.  Let us abolish capital punishment and show these people that they are mistaken.

Page 95:

REJECTED.

After an arduous and expensive campaign...Mr. Duke C. Bowers. of Memphis and Dresden, saw his bill to abolish capital punishment in Tennessee defeated by much larger odds than he was prepared to expect.

Page 95 and 97:

FIGHT NOT ENDED, SAYS DUKE C. BOWERS

My fight to abolish the death penalty is not ended, and the abusive language heaped upon me by some of the opponents to the measure is not going to stop me.  "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true.  I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have."

Duke C. Bowers,

Dresden Tenn., February 28

"Mr Aydelotte's Show" 1950

Hope Howard Hart was the daughter of Sterling Reece and Martha Nelson Kennedy Hart of Dresden TN. Among the papers of Virginia Shumate Moran we found a Washington Post newspaper clipping and two typewritten pages titled "Mr. Aydelotte's Show" from Hope Hart to Virginia and Jim Moran.  "Mr. Aydelotte's Show" was a play based on real people and real events that happened in Dresden around the year 1910.   The play featured current Dresden folks taking the roles of earlier Dresden citizens with names you may recognize: McCuan, Jeter, Tansil, Smith, Garrett, Hart, Ingram, Ward, McWherter, Gates and Marcum.

From The Washington Post, March 25, 1950
"There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight" at the National Press Club as this group helps
reincarnate "Aydelotte's Show at the Tennessee State Society Hoe-down.  From Left to Right,
James Dike, Mrs. Sarah Little Ward, Mrs. David Gates, Miss Hope Hart and Dr. David Gates,
all originally from Dresden, Tenn.  Their show, a reproduction of one which toured the South
some 40 years ago, will be part of an amateur contest to precede square and round dancing
at the Tennessee Party.

"Mr. Aydelotte's Show"

Presented by a group of former residents of Dresden, Tennessee, for the Tennessee State Society, at the National Press Club auditorium, Saturday Evening, March 25, 1950.

Introduction

Forty years ago... That's a long time.   So long that many of the things we like to associate with "the good old

days" have almost faded from memory.  Almost...but not quite.

Not yet forgotten, for one thing, are the first movies we ever saw...the old-fashioned "flickering tintypes." Most of us, nowadays, take our movies pretty much for granted.  But there was a time....back forty years ago...when motion-picture entertainment was...well, quite different.  We didn't have luxurious film palaces in those days...and the pictures didn't talk...and they weren't in Technicolor.

Go back with me, if you will, to the little town of Dresden, in Weakley County, Tennessee.  The year is about 1910. The citizens of this little county seat are all excited, for handbills have just been passed from door to door with thrilling news...Aydelotte's Tent Show is coming...It will present the last word in moving pictures, with musical turns and popular illustrated songs as added attractions.

Back then...as many will recall...Aydelotte's Tent Show was a well-known institution in rural Tennessee.  It came around every spring or fall, playing one-night stands and giving the towns and villages their only taste of the films of that day.  Mr. Aydelotte, himself, was a genial character who made friends with everybody.  He put up his own tent, with the aid of his piano player, Joe Pitts.  he placed the chairs and benches for the patrons and spread a piece of canvas down in front for the kids.  He sold tickets.  He strummed a guitar and sang a little between reels.  He also cranked the projector, read all the titles for the benefit of those in the audience who couldn't read for themselves, and gave a running commentary on the pictures as it unfolded.

And how the "neighbors"...as he called his patrons...ate it up.

I can see him now...ushering the good folks of Dresden into his little tent.  Perhaps some of those very same people are here with us tonight.  To them and to all of those "dear friends and gentle people" in our home town now, we dedicate this skit...an impression from "Mr. Aydelotte's moving picture show," as presented in Dresden, Tennessee, featuring the "Academy awar picture of 1910," John Bunny and Flora Finch in "Go Hang Yourself."

(The curtain opens on a scene representing the interior of Mr. Aydelotte's tent, with chairs arranged in front of the screen and a rug spread on the floor on which the children are to sit.  Mr. Aydelotte lays aside his guitar and busies himself taking up tickets and ushering the patrons to their seats.)

Page 2

At this moment, two well-known matrons of Dresden enter...Mrs. Will McCuan and Mrs. Maude Jeter. They want good seats so they can keep an eye on their young daughters, Ruby and Sarah, probably having their first dates.

And here's His Honor, the Mayor...the Hon. Rice McWherter.

Next is one of Weakley County's most beloved citizens, Colonel Egbert Tansil, a Confederate veteran who fought with Forrest, with his good wife, Miss Jackie. Col. Tansil likes to wear his uniform at all public gatherings.  With them is their niece, Rebecca Tansil, visiting from the nearby town of Sharon.  She's at the giggling stage.

Coming next are Sheriff and Mrs. Ben Wright.  The Sheriff is in on a pass and he'll see that all the young bucks behave.  He might even stop the picture if any scene should be too risky for the town's morals.

Closely following are Dr. and Mrs. Shobe Smith, with granddaughter, Nancy.  Dr. Smith is Dresden's "tooth-dentist."  His wife, known to all as Miss Mattie D., is the music teacher.

There are many greetings for Congressman and Mrs. Finis Garrett, home from Washington where the 61st Congress has just adjourned.  With them are their children, Burns and Virginia.

Last comes my Aunt Alice Killebrew, leading her six-year-old nephew.  It's the youngster's first show and he's quite excited.  And, confidentially, that youngster might be me...forty years ago.

Well, it's about time for the show to start.  The piano player takes his place to knock out some rag-time tunes.  Mr. Aydelotte gets ready to turn out the lights and start the projector.

And onto the screen, with much flickering and jumping, flashes the hit of 1910..."Go Hand Yourself."

******************

Characters in the skit

Mr. Aydelotte......................Dr. David Gates

Piano Player.........................James Dike

Mrs. Will McCuan................Estelle McCuan Gates

Mrs. Maude Jeter..................Sara Little Ward

His Honor, the Mayor............Rice McWherter

Col. and Mrs. Tansil..............Joe and Louella Ingram

Colonel Tansil's niece.............Rebecca Tansil

Sheriff & Mrs. Ben Wright.....Nell Wright Marcum, and

                                               son Jack

Dr. & Mrs. Shobe Smith........Clarence & Imogene Smith

Granddaughter.......................Nancy Smith

Congressman & Mrs. Finis Garrett...Burns and Hilda Garrett

Burns and Virginia Garrett.......Hildagarde & Ann Garrett

Aunt Alice Killebrew..............Hope Hart

Her Nephew..........................Sterling Hart

Introduction written and spoken by Key Hart