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Suttree characters_May 2012
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Zorro
(last edited Aug 29, 2012 07:50PM)
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Aug 29, 2012 07:45PM
Pictures of the gravestones of some of the characters in Suttree can be seen at http://web.utk.edu/~wmorgan/Suttree/S...
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Alvin R. (Ab) Franklin"Ab Franklin was born July 27, 1911 and died on August 20, 1972 at the age of 61. He was known for many years as the operator of a gambling and bootlegging den on Belt Road, just off Maryville Pike, in South Knox County. He is buried in Sherwood Memorial Gardens."
~ http://web.utk.edu/~wmorgan/Suttree/A...
Billy Ray (Red) Callahan" Billy Ray Callahan was born in Knoxville General Hospital on February 24, 1934, the third child of Clifford and Anna Callahan. According to a newspaper report at the time of his death, Red had a rap sheet consisting of 33 charges including public drunkenness, fighting, prowling, housebreaking and larceny between 1953 and 1963. On February 3, 1963, Red Callahan was shot and killed by George Kenneth Wagner, the operator of the Copa Club at 4422 Clinton Highway. Wagner stated that he asked Callahan to leave because he was a “troublemaker.” Later, five customers complained that they had seen the victim going through purses that were left on tables as the couples danced. Wagner told Captain Lane that he approached Callahan and told him to give back what he had taken and leave. Callahan, instead, reached into his pocket for what Wagner thought was a weapon, he told Lane. Wagner then pulled a .38 caliber pistol from his own pocket and told Red to leave. Red then made a grab for the gun and Wagner pulled the trigger according to Lane. The bullet entered the front of Reds head at the nose and exited behind an ear at the rear of his head. The shooting took place about 3:45 AM and Callahan died later that afternoon at 1:40 PM at the University of Tennessee Hospital. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Mount Olive Cemetery."
David Joseph (Irish) Long"David J. Long was born in Tennessee on October 17, 1890, and died at home on July 11, 1938, at age 47 after a long illness. His father, James Long, was born in Ireland and his mother, Joana Fitzgerald, was born in Virginia of parents who had been born in Ireland. He married Bertha Estella Dossett on August 26, 1930, and owned Long’s Grocery Store located at 904 Ft. Sanders between Dale Avenue and Curton Alley. He started in the grocery business in 1929 about the time of the great depression. He married Bertha Estella Dossett on August 26, 1930, and by 1933 had expanded his business to five grocery stores several of which were located in McAnally. He was survived by his wife Estella and four children: James W., David (Joe) Jr., and two daughters. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery."
Lester W. (Tarzan) Gwinn" Lester Woodrow (Tarzan) Gwinn was born on January 17, 1915. As the name “Tarzan” might suggest, Gwinn was a large man standing 6 ft.-3 1/2-inches tall and weighing some 280 pounds. He had been a local Golden Gloves heavyweight boxing champion and an amateur and professional wrestler earlier in his career. During the Second World War he had earned the Silver Star, the Oak Leaf Cluster, as well as the Purple Heart, Good Conduct and marksmanship medals while serving as a sniper in the Pacific. Gwinn joined the Knoxville Police Department on July 9, 1949. As a police officer he was known to be particularly tough on drunk “repeaters” and “shady characters” who made trouble on his beats. Some who remembered him described him as a sadist.
He had another side to his personality as well. He grew flowers and operated a seller’s truck on Market Square during flower season where he habitually gave away the flowers that did not sell on a particular day. He was well known for his youth work and worked as a counselor at the FOP boys’ camp. He and his wife Rose adopted a son, Harlas, after the child’s father was made an invalid in an accident and could no longer care for the child.
On January 31, 1955, Tarzan Gwinn died in Knoxville General Hospital of five gunshot wounds suffered in a shoot-out with Roy Porter at the home of Robert and Margaret Van Winkle. Gwinn is buried in New Gray Cemetery."
http://web.utk.edu/~wmorgan/Suttree/T...
I have read Wes Morgan's comments for years on the Cormac McCarthy Society Forum, but did not know about this wonderful resource since I had not read Suttree.
The names were not changed to protect the innocent. Apparently no one was innocent!
J Bone is being buried tomorrow.LONG, JAMES WILLIAM - age 81, of Knoxville, passed away on Friday, September 14, 2012
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/knox...
