At the Dead Hours of Midnight: A Bloody Reign of Terror in the Great Smoky Mountains

The White Caps of Sevier County Tennessee were an extralegal vigilante group that dominated that county in the 1890s, through the corruption of the Justices of the Peace legal system. Prominent landowners hijacked the legal system by "organizing White Cap gangs," who were able to avoid prosecution because of the aforementioned corruption. The bloody reign of terror effectively ended when one wealthy Sevier Countian contracted the murder for hire of two of his tenants, a young married couple who had testified against him at a Grand Jury. That wealthy landowner had used Whitecapping methods to deal with another problem tenant who would not vacate a cabin owned by the landowner.

Interestingly enough, the saga had begun when a group of Sevier County wives formed together in a vigilante response to a house of ill repute that had begun operating in their mountainous community. Legend has it that a judge lamented the fact that he couldn't get convictions, because of the reluctance of men in the community to testify against the prostitutes. The wives threatened the women with a whipping with hickory branches if they didn't leave their community, and when the prostitutes didn't heed their warning, masked vigilantes visited the house, dragged the defenseless women into the night, and unleashed a cruel beating on them. And it worked. The women left, and their methods were commended some members of the community. Believing their methods were an approved expression of "community consensus," The White Caps ostensibly became the upholders of Victorian morals and King James values.

Since The White Caps had infiltrated the Justice of the Peace legal system, which provided protection for those members who swore The Oath, thugs and petty criminals joined their ranks for the protection. At its height, the organization was believed to have had between 650-1500 members, in a rural, moutainous county with a population of about 20,000.

A counter-vigilante group, The Blue Bills, rose up to combat The White Caps. But their leader, Dr. James A. Henderson was killed by the husband of the woman he was having an affiar with, after which became ineffective.

There was a time when paranoia an suspicion ruled the day, as the Sevier Countians didn't know who they could trust and who they couldn't.