Sevier County High School Yearbook Head Coach Tom Bass, left, and assistant coach Jack Ogle are carried from the field after Sevier County High School upset Young High School 13-0 on Aug. 30, 1963. Running back Charles Moulden is number 22.
How this long-ago story of an unpunished cold-blooded shooting of a black man on the Tellico River in 1968 finally got told.
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Comments » 56
iscara#246263 writes:
Mr. Venable, this series of articles has been, by far, the best I've read since I started following you. After reading about the outcome of the trial, I'm a bit ashamed to say I'm an East Tennessean, even if I wasn't born at the time the events happened. Sadly enough, your article is the only retribution (not sure if that's even the right word I'm looking for) Mr. Moulden will probably ever receive but you certainly conveyed his story with the right amount of history and personal introspective. You've outdone yourself.
Kelley Snyder
trekrunner#221864 writes:
Thanks to the Sam and the KNS for publishing this excellent story. So sorry that Mr. Moulden and his friends had to experience this deplorable situation. Those of us that enjoy fishing know, that everyday spent fishing is meant to be a good day.
The character of Mr. Moulden speaks for itself, as he did not let this incident transform him into someone other than the great man he is, and someone that we all should look up to and truly respect.
Ernest_T_Bass writes:
Well, I really very much enjoyed the first two installments. But steering it back around to the final installment being more about him and his (Sam Jr. and his family) does not do the subject justice and is self serving.
The Moulden piece stood quite well on its on and all by itself and should have been wrapped up much better than that. It didn't need this appendage of self absorption curving back around to Sam Sr. tacked on, which more appropriately should have been a completely separate story unto itself reflecting back on the three part series but not a part of the three part series.
A stronger angle to play to wrap up the piece and that he touched on was people's assumptions of 'well, that's just how things where 40 and 50 and 60 years ago, but the good news is we don't operate that way now.' Oh yes you do. Sam touches on it when he writes "(Consider: What chance for a nonprejudicial jury would, say, an American Latino or Islamist receive today under similar circumstances?)." He should have followed that thread instead. His Pulitzer chances would still be intact. He'll probably still get a TPA award.
gordon.sisk#1402717 writes:
Excellent story. This will find its way into my teaching of Civil Rights. I disagree with ernest raging against Sam. This makes the story personal, not just some musty old piece of history. When I teach I share my personal experiences and push my students to find theirs. That connection makes history real and what they learn will stay with them forever. I know, they message me on facebook and tell me so. Thanks again Sam for the great article. We need to all step back and see that we do not repeat this prejudice today.
ccjensen writes:
Yes, times have changed. Think how this story would be different if Ellis had a modern assault rifle instead of a fusty ole pistol.
The hate behind the trigger is the same, the damage to be inflicted is multifold.
southernbelle79 writes:
Thank you, Sam.
I am glad you wrote all three installments.
citizenmom writes:
Your third installment gave me chills, Sam Venable. I am truly a writer at heart and your honest, driven, gut-check journalism on this one is the what good writing is all about. Thank you for sharing this story, and your journalistic talent, with us.
redgemon#603176 writes:
Thank you Sam, a great job on the story. I have lived in this area 72 years and had never heard about the shooting. I was raised in the Paint Rock Community of Roane County and the black people lived on a hill at the edge of Paint Rock now called Cedar Grove. The children were bused to Rockwood, Tn., 30 miles away. I am happy times have changed for the better.
bbeanster#229563 writes:
This is the best stuff I have ever read in the News Sentinel – all three chapters.
You've done Big Sam proud.
Betty Bean
ricktate#207061 writes:
Has the News Sentinel ever had a Pulitzer Prize winning writer? This should be the year.
SeekTruth writes:
Sam:
Now everyone knows the untold story of Charles Moulden, a man of courage. Terrific writing. I share your passion for life, if not your talent. I was so relieved to read that I'm not the only one who reflexively raises his hand to a dearly departed dad in the starry heavens above. When we get there we'll regret the opportunities that we missed to make a difference down here. You just scratched one off the list.
ORboy writes:
At first I was going to write a reply to Earnest T's comment. But then I realized it would be better to extend kudos to Sam Venable on a very well written series. Sam, you did good.
nattybumpo writes:
Charles Moulden and Sam Venable share the Big Man Award!
Pay no attention to Earnest T. He's been voted off the island.
hvpmurphy#520336 writes:
There will always be Earnest T's sad to say
Crocket1911 writes:
Once again the millionaire CJ never misses a chance to take a poke at common folks with firearms, no matter how off topic his post is.
I think CJ is insinuating times have changed with respect to firearm technology. In fact, other than the advent of lighter weight polymer type material used for stocks and other non-stressed parts, small firearm technology has not advanced much since the first semi automatics came into their own in the early 1900's.
In 1968 when this incident occurred "assault weapons", what ever that means, were readily available with little or no purchasing restrictions and were much less expensive. Consequently, CJ's attempt at presenting a bogus scenario regarding firearms is baseless.
CJ got the first part of his last sentence right. The hate behind the trigger is the same now as it was then and is what needs to be addressed.
murphy writes:
Terrific series. Thanks so much.
Axemeagain writes:
Great series. Hopefully it got some who pine away for "the good ole days" to see what was really happening instead of the "Pleasantville" some seem to believe in. There are those here who regularly argue that things like the Voter's Rights Act and the NAACP and unions have outlived their usefulness and should go away. Maybe this glimpse back will open their eyes and help them see we wouldn't be where we are without them and we still have a long way to go. Getting those people outraged by what happened to Moulden is a good start.
luvs2paint writes:
Thank you Sam Venable for this incredible story. Mr. Moulden is indeed a man of true character and bravery. It broke my heart to read how horrible and unjustly he was treated.
govols1961 writes:
Haslam and the state needs to proclaim a "Charles Moulden Day". Does anyone know how to get this accomplished?
cf.heck#1426982 writes:
Great job Sam. As the pendilum swings it seems some things improve... I think... and hope. Guns have improved since the l900s. Now more people are armed and the Glock has eclipsed the old revolver. If Moulden had been armed he would probably have been convicted of murder over this incident. I wish you and Mr. Moulden the very best.
Deergirl writes:
I have to agree that this is a great story and I'm very appreciative that it's been written. I've looked forward to opening up the paper every day this week. Charles Moulden - you are owed a huge apology!
Ed_Hominem writes:
Unqualified kudos to Sam. Unqualified admiration for Mr. Moulden.
Chai_Time writes:
Shoe Leather Journalism 101:
1. You make cold calls.
2. Leave messages.
3. Follow road maps.
4. Knock on doors.
5. Ask questions.
6. Approach total strangers, identify yourself and say “I wonder if you could help me with a story I’m working on.”
Excellent job Sam. I particularly like how you had to reach back to the journalism basics to get to the “real” facts about Mr. Moulden's terrible ordeal. I wonder if some of your colleagues, who also call themselves journalists, can revive their own Shoe Leather Journalism 101 techniques...perhaps we would know what really happened in Benghazi, or how much the President really knew about the IRS scrutinizing his opposition, or how bad Obamacare is really going to affect our economy. Oh well...maybe when the Obama Library opens...nah...I don't think so either ;-(
southernbelle79 writes:
Oh good grief. Did it really take 23 posts for a rwnj to take a story about blatant racism and injustice in our local area to twist it into a story about Benghazi and the Affordable Health Care Act? I guess these are things that reactionary conservative southerners have knee jerk reactions to, just as they had reactionary knee jerk reactions to equal civil rights and justice for black citizens.
As in the case of blatant racism in the south, in depth reporting on these newer subjects may uncover some inconvenient truths the rwnj's don't want to hear.
Axemeagain writes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkTb9G...
Chai_Time writes:
Some of us do prefer the truth.
Racism isn't a major issue right now in our country...is it? This story is linked to Black History Month...period.
Some of us Americans want the same transparency in our government other Americans demanded back in the 60's and 70's. And like Kennedy, Johnson and most of Nixon's presidency did in those decades, the current administration hides behind the media and is protected from anything derogatory by the very people dedicated to uncover the truth through journalism.
Funny, how the shoe is now on the other foot, you immediately name-call by referring to me as a nut job and somehow want to link me to racism ?!? I guess turn around is fair play...I'm sure you were called names like hippie and tree-hugger for merely standing up for what you believed in...huh?
Axemeagain writes:
If what Obama gets from the press corp is "protection" I would hate to see what it would look like if they were out to get him. He's had the most scrutinized, criticized, second guessed presidency in history but that's not enough for some. The trouble for you is that he has taken his bullets and got up and when on with his presidency. Some of you guys are apparently impressed with Moulden because he's a black man who didn't just quit and stay on welfare but you hate Obama for not quitting. "nut job" only scratches the surface.
Chai_Time writes:
Delusional as always, Axe.
Nixon would have cut off his right arm to get a fraction of the protection Obama gets from the press...
Axemeagain writes:
You don't seem to understand that there was Nixon before Watergate and Nixon after Watergate. Before Watergate he was the President who got us out of Vietnam, started diplomatic relations with China, created the EPA and started thawing the Cold War. That Nixon enjoyed a lot of positive press coverage and subsequently won re-election by a bigger landslide than Reagan. You should be embarrassed.
Axemeagain writes:
Started getting us out of Vietnam.
Chai_Time writes:
Embarrassed? Hardly. Yes, Nixon had his moments, but if he had the same type of protection Obama gets from the media, we may not have even known about Watergate.
Axemeagain writes:
You are tripping. There's an entire media complex devoted to doing nothing but negative reporting about Obama. Funny thing, they're the same one's who tell you that Obama get protection from the "main stream media". Check this chart out and tell me who the "main stream media" is.
http://stateofthemedia.org/files/2012...
Atypical_liberal writes:
Amen to that!
Axemeagain writes:
Hey you two, get a room. You already share a bubble.
Ernest_T_Bass writes:
Raging? Really? Well thought out constructive criticism is raging?
Ernest_T_Bass writes:
I gave him credit for 2 out 3 parts that were really good. He just screwed it up with that last installment by making it all about him. That was unprofessional.
Ernest_T_Bass writes:
But even sadder, there will always be people like you and many of your fellow East Tennesseans who see critical thinking and analysis as a foreign threat. Why, it's just down right unSouthern to think and speak critically about something. Of course, if Tennessee were capable of such critical thinking, it wouldn't be in the mess it's in... last in everything that matters and first in everything to be ashamed of.
Ernest_T_Bass writes:
That's the other thing about that last installment in the series that's so poorly done.
A professional journalist need not crow about how hard he worked on a piece. With a piece like this, even an idiot reading it should realize the amount of work that went into it in terms of trips to libraries, courthouses, and newspaper archives. You don't do this work and then pat yourself on the back in your own article for what really is very basic research techniques and gumshoe journalism.
phoenix1 writes:
"As in the case of blatant racism in the south"
You continue to imply that everyone in the south is some toothless, inbred, uneducated, klan member, who has always and continues to hate blacks and discriminate against them.
Are there still racists - absolutely. Are some in the south - absolutely. Are all or most people here racist - absolutely not.
Perhaps with your apparent lack of knowledge of actual US history, can you explain if the south is the only racist area, why were the VAST MAJORITY of race riots not in the south? Unless your geography is challenged and you think that east st. Louis, Omaha, LA, Detroit, Newark, Washington, Chicago, springfield, Tulsa, Toledo, Cincinnati, Rochester, Pittsburgh, new York city, etc., are in the south? ALL had race riots?
You might also want to address the FACT that the vast majority of racists in the south who wore white sheets, who stood in doorways and used dogs and waterhoses on blacks were DEMOCRATS!!!!
The continued slurs against southerners are unfair, not historically accurate, and pretty mean spirited. Perhaps the left needs to discover the inconvenient truths about why after 70 years of imposing liberal policies on blacks, they are worse off on every single economic and moral indicator?
Nobody wants to go back to slavery or jim crow days, except our current government which wants to take away everybody's right and enslave all of us. The worst thing we have ever done to blacks is to continue to blame all their ills on slavery, jim crow, or racism. They have way more opportunities than many other demographics who have stopped complaining and became part of the American dream and become successful.
Ernest_T_Bass writes:
Yes, he did good. The first two parts were wonderful
That last part, not so much.
The smug self satisfaction of the Venerable Venable and how pretty much everything he writes ultimately circles around to be all about him is getting a little old.
When he writes "As more than a few of my colleagues have noted, it’s about time ol’ Venob did a little honest work." there's probably more truth than jest in that.
And the tedious detail about how much hard work went into it is a given and should have gone without saying. Some of those details were interesting to know but it would have been more appropriate as an epilogue to the series and not in the position of competing with and horning in on the much bigger and more important story and message. It was a pristine series until that last part.
Axemeagain writes:
No one is saying everyone in the south is a racist, the "Southern Strategy" flipped the parties in the South, the worse thing to happen to every low skill worker, white or black, in the latter day South is the offshoring of jobs which is about greed, not policy. Your government can't even put together a website much less enslave all of us. And slavery is by far the worst thing ever done to blacks and it's nutty diatribes like yours that make continued slurs against southerners completely fair.
phoenix1 writes:
Actually the worst thing that has happened in recent times is the massive illegal immigration which put millions of blacks and low wage workers out of work and put them on welfare. It certainly was ill advised government action that encouraged and rewarded companies for offshoring jobs. We are all to blame for continuing to buy krapola from china which is mostly poor quality.
It's bad enough to continue to blame everything on bush, let alone blaming current problems on a practice which ended 150 years ago in America, but which continues today in black/muslim countries (wonder why that is?). At some point one has to move on and not dwell on the past and use that excuse forever, especially since no former slave owners or slaves are still alive.
MNJN writes:
AWESOME!!!! You should get an award for the articles. I also had tears in my eyes after reading the last one. You Dad is very proud of you. Thanks for the articles!!!
burpee_von_rotweiler_IV writes:
It is not often I agree with your posts but you are spot on here. The story is about the brave and admirable Mr. Moulden--not the ghost of "Big Sam."
Axemeagain writes:
"It certainly was ill advised government action that encouraged and rewarded companies for offshoring jobs."
During the campaign Obama called for getting rid of incentives for companies to move jobs overseas and Republicans as a whole claimed those incentives didn't exist.
You also seem to be operating under the belief that all or most black people are on welfare, they're not. The majority of black people work for a living. You said welfare was the worst thing to ever happen to black people. Moulden went on welfare while he recovered from being shot and then went back to working for a living when he could. What was the worst thing that happened to him? Getting welfare or being shot by a racist who was then acquitted by a jury of racists? Or are you going to go Nietzsche and say it was the shooting and the trial that made him strong enough to work for a living?
Atypical_liberal writes:
I see you are still telling that tired, worn-out, discredited lie. The rise of the middle class in the South flipped the parties.
Axemeagain writes:
Maybe it's discredited to you, but you probably also believe the Civil War was about state's rights, Obama was born in Kenya, the ACA is a government takeover of healthcare, etc., etc.
Atypical_liberal writes:
If Lyndon Johnson was right, and that civil rights legislation would lose the South for the Democrats for a generation, how did Bill Clinton carry the South in 1992 and 1994, a generation later? Not only that, but Democrats continue to win local elections all over the South.
Axemeagain writes:
LMAO, how long is a generation? Looks like LBJ's prediction actually came up a little short if you base it on Clinton carrying the south in 1992.
phoenix1 writes:
During the campaign Obama promised a lot and the only promise he has delivered on is he is fundamentally changing America by getting rid of what is good and replacing it with socialist, left-wing drivel. He also lied about his GM building plants in china.
Right now the unemployment rate for black young men twice as high as whites and in some demos is over 50%. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/youth...
Blacks slightly edge out whites on the number getting welfare (39.8% black/38.8 Caucasian). when they only make up 13% of the population. The liberal great society has destroyed black families and culture.
Moulden is typical of blacks his age. Most of them got jobs, raised families, and did okay. That is not the case with the later generations. Moulden had good values and didn't look to government for a hand out. There isn't a single economic/social indicator for blacks that is better now than in the 60s.
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