Life and times of a man who took on the criminal underworld

I came across an interesting story recently on Allthatsinteresting.com about a guy called Buford Pusser. It immediately brought to mind, images of ‘Dirty Harry’ Callaghan, the character played by the 6 foot 4 inch Clint Eastwood in the 1970’s movies. Harry Callaghan was a no-nonsense police detective in San Francisco who fought a war against crime armed with his trusty 44 Magnum. He rarely took any prisoners and neither, it seems did Buford Pusser.

Pusser was born on December 12, 1937, in Adamsville in McNairy County, Tennessee to the son of the police chief of that town. He was a natural athlete and played on both the football and basketball teams in high school. By the time he reached adulthood, he stood at 6’6” and weighed 250 pounds, a physically intimidating specimen. He later ed the U.S. Marines but was discharged when he was diagnosed as asthmatic.

In 1957, at a loose end, Pusser moved to Chicago and entered the local wrestling scene. Because of his massive size and strength, he earned the nickname “Buford the Bull.” It was there that he met Pauline Mullins, who he would soon marry. Shortly thereafter, they returned to Pusser’s hometown of Adamsville, Tennessee where he ed local law enforcement.

Though he was just 25 years old, the strong, no-nonsense Pusser was soon elected chief of police, a position that he would hold for about two years until 1964, when a car accident took the life of the McNairy County Sheriff, James Dickey.

Dickey, a U.S. Army World War II veteran, was driving near the Mississippi-Tennessee state line when he had a blowout. Having lost control of his car, he veered off the edge of the road, tumbled down an embankment, and crashed into a wooded area. There was a suggestion at the time that organised crime had a hand in the accident.

Following Dickey’s death, Pusser was elected to fill his shoes and at 27 years old, he became the youngest sheriff in the state’s history. Organised crime was becoming so violent that law-abiding citizens feared for their safety, but they noticed a change after Pusser took office.

He threw himself into his work, turning his attention to fighting the Dixie Mafia and the State Line Mob, two organized crime groups operating on the border between Tennessee and Mississippi making thousands of dollars from the illegal sale of moonshine, illegal gambling, prostitution, robbery, and murder.

Pusser was virtually the only member of law enforcement focusing on organised crime in this region at the time and he made some enemies. Not long after his election, he was assaulted by of the moonshining ring and stabbed seven times. They were trying to prevent Pusser from shutting down their operation.

It wasn’t the only attempt on his life. He survived multiple gunshot wounds and other assassination attempts over the years too. He also fended off physical attacks, once fighting off six men at the same time, sending three to the hospital and three to jail. On another occasion, he was run over by a car.

The most devastating assassination attempt though came in August 1967. 

At around 4:30 a.m. on August 12, 1967, Pusser received a call that there was a disturbance near the state line. Buford’s wife, Pauline, didn’t like him going there on his own so she insisted on riding along with him.

As they approached the area, a car suddenly pulled up alongside them and opened fire on Pusser’s vehicle. The initial shots missed Buford but struck his wife in the head. Pusser sped away to shake off his attackers and when he thought he had lost them, he pulled over and tended to Pauline’s wounds.

The other car then suddenly reappeared, and Pusser’s car was riddled with bullets again. Pauline was shot a second time and died while Buford Pusser’s was shot in the face.

The second car took off and Pusser was left for dead. He was soon discovered and taken to the hospital where he underwent multiple reconstructive surgeries on his face. After 18 days he was released vowing to avenge his wife’s killers. He could identify the four alleged assassins including Dixie Mafia leader, Kirksey McCord Nix Jr., as the mastermind who had orchestrated the ambush.

Pusser believed the assassination attempt was related to a case from the previous year, where he was shot at while investigating a robbery. He returned fire and killed Louise Hathcock, the common-law wife of Kirksey Nix.

Pusser was never able to bring Nix, or any of the others, to trial, but Nix was sentenced to life in prison in 1972 for a separate murder and was later charged with ordering two more murders while behind bars.

One way or another though, the three other killers eventually paid the price for their crimes. One of them, Carl Douglas “Towhead” White, was found fatally shot in Mississippi in 1969. Rumours quickly swirled that Pusser himself had a hand in the killing, though this was never confirmed.

Not long after that, the last two alleged hitmen, George McGann and Gary McDaniel, were also found shot to death in Texas in 1970. Again, many believed that Pusser had orchestrated their deaths, but this was never proven either. His alleged revenge for his wife’s death and the virtual one-man war he waged against organised crime made him a widely revered figure in Tennessee.

Pusser himself came to an untimely end in August 21, 1974, when he suddenly lost control of his car and crashed into an embankment. The car burst into flames, and he died in a similar fashion to the sheriff who preceded him. He was just 36 when he perished and while the crash is officially recorded as an accident, many believe he too was murdered by the criminal underworld.