Phoebe Judge
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
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Sheriff Buford Pusser said he believed that the early morning attack that killed his wife was, quote, linked to his crackdown on criminal activity at the Tennessee-Mississippi border.
He told reporters that he was sure the shooters were after him, not his wife.
The local district attorney who was leading the investigation said he believed that hired assassins were behind the shooting.
The chief of the Tennessee Bureau of Criminal Identification told reporters, we're not overlooking anything.
A ballistics expert who examined the car that Buford and Pauline had been riding in said that the bullets that killed Pauline and wounded Buford were from a .30 caliber rifle.
In September of 1967, a month after Pauline's death, the New York Daily News featured Buford Pusser in a two-page spread.
They wrote that during his time as sheriff, he was responsible for destroying more than 30 stills, seizing more than 15,000 gallons of whiskey, and bringing three dozen moonshiners and bootleggers to justice.
The article also talked about the many times that criminals had tried to kill him.
They wrote that he had been shot, stabbed, and dragged down the road by a car.
One deputy said Buford Pusser was jumped by six men while he was unarmed, adding, The sheriff took three of them to the hospital and three of them to jail.
The article said Buford was becoming a legend in West Tennessee.
A Tennessee singer named Eddie Bond recorded a song about Buford.
Eddie Bond went on to write a whole album of songs about him, including one called Buford Pusser Goes Bear Hunting with a Switch.
That same year, Buford Pusser shot and killed a man after he was called to a disturbance at his home on Christmas Day.