Middlesboro Daily News, Middlesboro, KY - 23 Aug 1921
Mob Forms at Jellico; Prisoners Taken Away Two Deputy Sheriffs Killed When They Make Attempt To Arrest Quartet of Men and Women For Disorderly Conduct. By Associated Press Jellico, Ky., Aug. 23
--Fred Jones and Virgil Reno (sic), charged with killing deputy sheriffs C.P. McDonald and Andy Wortham last night near here, were taken to Jacksboro, Tenn., for safekeeping today after threats of lynching were made last night by a crowd which gathered at the Jellico jail. The deputies killed attempted to arrest the two men and two women on the charge of disturbing the peace.
Harvey Harp, Armed With Two Big Stones, Takes Men When Ammunition Is Exhausted. Jellico, Tenn., Aug. 23 -- C.P. McDonald and Andy Wortham, two deputy sheriffs were shot to death near here late yesterday afternoon and Fred Jones and Virgil Renfro are in the city jail here charged with the murder, they having surrendered after their guns had been emptied. Feeling is high here and there is talk of taking the men out of jail and lynching them, the shooting coming as the culmination of a wave of lawlessness which has swept over Jellico the past several months. Word came to Jellico this afternoon that two men accompanied by two women, were on the Lafollette-Jellico road, about 5 miles out of Jellico, and that they were terrorizing everyone that passed that way, shooting into automobiles and other vehicles. Harvey Harp, superintendent of road work now being done along the Dixie Highway in Campbell county had discovered the men shooting and sent for the officers who soon came on the scene. Harp and the two officers went to where the men and their female companions had stationed themselves below the road, and called down to the men to surrender. "Don't you dare come down here," one of the men is said to have shouted. Despite the warning the officers started to take them, when the men opened fire, one bullet penetrating the heart of Wortham, while the other entered the side of McDonald. Both men were almost instantly killed. Harp, who was unarmed, dropped to the ground with the fusillade of bullets and after the shooting had creased he arose with a big stone in either hand. The guns of the desperadoes apparently had been emptied for they threw the weapons in the river and surrendered to Harp. Just about this time Fred Creel, Herbert King and Hudson Miller arrived on the scene and they helped to bring the two men into Jellico where they have been placed in jail. They will be given preliminary hearing tomorrow. The bodies of the two men who are highly respected citizens were brought into the city late this afternoon. McDonald is survived by his wife, who is a sister of Grover C. Davis, president of the Davis Mfg. Co. of Knoxville and Wortham is survived by his wife and five children. Both of the men held residence on the Kentucky side in Jellico. Jones being a member of a well known and respected Whitley county family. He shot and seriously wounded Policeman Tom Bowling of Jellico when that officer attempted to arrest him. Little is known of the other man.
The Kingsport Times, Kingsport, TN, 23 Aug 1921
Two Jellico Officers Killed In The Line Of Duty Jellico. --- Deputy Sheriffs P.C. McDonald and Andy Wortham were killed late Monday six miles from here on the Lafollette road when, it is alleged, they attempted to arrest Fred Jones and Virgil Renfro. Jones and Renfro, with two women, according to authorities, had been on the road all day, shooting at passing automobiles. Jones and Renfro were arrested later by Harvey Earp, a citizen, and are now lodged in the Jellico jail. Excitement here is running high, and mob violence is feared. Alleged Murders Removed To Safety Jellico, Tenn. -- Fred Jones and Virgil Reno (sic), charged with the killing of C.P. McDonald and Andy Wortham, deputy sheriffs, last night near here, were taken to Jacksboro, Tenn., for safekeeping today, after threats of lynching had been made last night by a crowd which gathered at the Jellico jail. The deputies who were killed had attempted to arrest the two men and two women on a charge of disturbing the peace.
Contributed by: "Mary Lou Hudson" hudgo@medt.com