19 comments

  1. Jeffery E. Morrison

    He said,”No one would ever run over him.” Now they do it daily!!!!!

  2. Pamela Tomczak Harper

    Thank you for these post. Love learning Alabama history I never would have known otherwise.

  3. Claude Thomas Jr.

    http://vulcan.bham.lib.al.us/search/o4008390 Apparently the book about all this is out of print and hard to find. I found a version on amazon for $100.

  4. Ron Crooker

    Actually, in researching my wife’s Chisholm heritage, some characters who were included in “The Bugger Saga”, I acquired a copy of that book some years ago. Having read of Tom’s burial, I drove my wife over his grave in Florence – and have done so quite a few times, since we have driven down Tennessee Street often. The book does chronicle a good bit of the activities of this group of fellas – trust me – they were not painted in a favorable light…

    1. Donna R Causey

      This must be the book you mentioned. http://amzn.to/1YseEN3

    2. Jerry Nobles

      Mr. Crooker,
      I too married a Chisholm. My wife is from Raleigh, MS-there is a big nest of ’em in Smith County, MS.
      She has a big book about the Chisholms in that area and wondered if your wife and she might share some common ancestry. If so, my email is: [email protected]
      My congratulations on your having a Chisholm on your arm.

      Best,

      Jerry Nobles

  5. Remember Tuscumbia

    He is not buried under the street, but rather an unmarked grave elsewhere. Makes a good folklore tale.

    1. Jo

      Were you there when they buried him?

  6. Alice Yarbro Holtin

    My grandmother used to talk about “Uncle Tom Clark.” Yep. The same guy. I think the local genealogical society has the book back in print.

  7. Ellis Darby

    Please, those of you who know, “what is the origin of the name of “The Bugger Gang?
    Thanks.

  8. Hayes Glenn Turpen Ellis

    Many claim this is not true. I submit figure out where the road into the cemetery was through the farm field that is now TN street and you have found the approximate location. The ladies of Florence asked the three lynching victims not be buried in the Florence cemetery.

  9. Tammy McCalpin

    Amanda Daniel Ridge, this is near Florence cemetery.

  10. Karen Jones

    Been driving over him for years 🙂

  11. Amanda Daniel Ridge

    I have heard a little about this story before. I didn’t know if it was truth or myth.

  12. Casey Arnold

    James Arnold

  13. Cindy Pendley

    The Bugger Gang??? Lol.

  14. Ben Wilson

    Local historians agree that he is most likely not buried under Tennessee Street, but his burial location is not known. His gang did torture and murder some of my ancestors though.

  15. Greg Gresham

    Hi Donna, in your caption in the photo of the marker, you mention that he “terrorized helpless citizens after the Civil War”. I believe it would be more accurate to say “during the Civil War” or “during and after the Civil War”. As for his burial site. I’ve seen nothing from local historians that show that he wasn’t buried there, other than comments from Clark’s descendents. We’ll probably never know for sure, and it really probably doesn’t matter.

  16. Lee Freeman

    According to the *Lauderdale Times* “Extra!” of Sept. 5, 1872, written the day of the lynching: “The indignation of citizens at the outrages of these men, was so great that, the ladies of the community , and many of the colored people, requested the Mayor [Neander H. Rice] to have the bodies buried outside of the Cemetery. Esq. Rice, in accordance with this request, has ordered that the bodies be interred in one of the old fields near our town.”

    The legend of the burial under E TN St doesn’t begin until the 1930s, with a story told by his aunt, Mrs. Lizzie D. Liles, to author Dr. Maurice “Wade” Pruitt.

    Clark family folklore, as told to me by the late Lewis Patrick (Tom’s gr-grandson), has it that two of Tom’s sons dug up his remains from this “old field” and had them reburied in an unmarked grave at Oakwood Cemetery, in Tuscumbia, Colbert Co., AL, but this, too is only folklore. No one really knows where Tom and the two anonymous thieves were/are buried.

    But as Florence historian Harry Wallace says, he should be buried there, as it would’ve beeen great poetic Southern justice.

Leave a Reply