Phoebe Judge

Seven times while he was sheriff, attempts were made on his life.

He died, a victim of his love for speed.

After his death in 1974, what did you hear from people in McNary County about his death?

Cammie Wilson is a former investigative reporter who grew up in Mississippi, across the state line from McNary County.

In 1973, the year before Buford Pusser died, Cammie Wilson was working at a newspaper in Dayton, Ohio.

Walking Tall was playing in the local theaters.

Cammie Wilson went down to McNary County to talk with people about what they knew.

She talked with the mayor of Selmer, the county seat, who had previously said that the plot of Walking Tall, quote, has little, if any, resemblance to the truth.

She also talked with the sheriff of McNary County at that time, Clifford Coleman, who Buford lost to in 1972.

Cammie Wilson said she talked with local club owners, one of whom told her they had regularly paid Buford Pusser bribes.

People also told her that Louise Hathcock had also paid bribes to the county before being shot and killed.

In the movie version of his story, Buford Pusser gets robbed and beaten up at a state-line club before becoming sheriff, and then goes back to the club and gets revenge, beating people up with his stick and getting his money back.

He's put on trial and tells the courtroom he stood up for himself to show, quote, there's still a little law and order left.

He's found not guilty by the jury.

Cammie Wilson learned that in reality, something different had happened.

In 1960, while he was still living in Chicago, Buford had gone to a state line club seeking revenge for an earlier incident.

He beat up a man named W.O.

Hathcock, a relative of Louise Hathcock, who was so badly injured that he was in the hospital for two weeks.

Buford was charged with armed robbery.

But when he was put on trial, he said he wasn't there that night.