DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Reuben Gaines' memoir, undated

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Page 44

PAGE 44 BUXTON,
Will Nichol was the County Attonery and Charley Miller was from the firm of Miller and Everett. The trial was a rediculous farce and I could not understand the questioning by Charley Miller because he made the questions so simple and plain that Tom Roman could not be in error on anything so later I found out why, Charley Miller and Tom Roman were real clost friends consequently he served only six years in the pen and after he was discharged he died within the year. He must have had ample pay while he was serving as a law officer but from then on he was always short of funds. As a matter of fact his wife had left him and gone down south and without any means to get her without money; he delibertly planned this crime, thinking it would solve all of his problems. I have always wondered how did he intend to move far enough away from the scene without being reconized, for a building of that size and on the top of a hill with two and a half stores being 120 foot long and 30 foot wide would be seen for miles. Tom Roman knew James Henery's personal habits as well as others. So ends the story of the Tom Roman Murder; Robbery and Arson case. 
The years were 1921; 1922 and 1923 and everybody that knew how to distill and produce alcohol was selling at $12.00 per gallon which price had been reduced but still made a sizable profit because it only cost about one dollar per gallon to produce it. There was a young fellow who had helped me in the past and he wanted to start operation for about 100 gallon so we went into the distilling business for a short period. because I had already used and prepaired an underground subterranean distillery that was built in a wooded bend of Bluff Creek by concrete walls and floor with a well inlet for cooling purposes and an outlet for disposal. There was another line for fresh water and another for oil that came from 150 yards away The top was covered with oak boards three inches thick with one foot of dirt thereon with a small entrance at the top. Bluff Creek was wild and would overflow often to several feet over the top and fill it with water but only for two or three hours with no damage to the contents inside. Dady Redd who had lived in one of my Fathers house for seven years without paying any rent was hunting birds down through the creek bottom saw a small crack in the groun start digging and found the entrance but he was seen and reported to me. He ha Tommie Givins staying with him at that time who was a regular informer so I wa onmy guard until we disposed of what we had produced. It so happened that we made out last delivery in Haydock. The Federal men were well informed and I could see that we were in real trouble with only one gallon left so I made a straight beline for the Pool Hall where there was a big pile of brick but I saw they were going to beat me to it so I broke the Jug on an Iron floor

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PAGE 44 BUXTON, Will Nichol was the County Attonery and Charley Miller was from the firm of Miller and Everett. The trial was a rediculous farce and I could not understand the questioning by Charley Miller because he made the questions so simple and plain that Tom Roman could not be in error on anything so later I found out why, Charley Miller and Tom Roman were real clost friends consequently he served only six years in the pen and after he was discharged he died within the year. He must have had ample pay while he was serving as a law officer but from then on he was always short of funds. As a matter of fact his wife had left him and gone down south and without any means to get her without money; he delibertly planned this crime, thinking it would solve all of his problems. I have always wondered how did he intend to move far enough away from the scene without being reconized, for a building of that size and on the top of a hill with two and a half stores being 120 foot long and 30 foot wide would be seen for miles. Tom Roman knew James Henery's personal habits as well as others. So ends the story of the Tom Roman Murder; Robbery and Arson case. The years were 1921; 1922 and 1923 and everybody that knew how to distill and produce alcohol was selling at $12.00 per gallon which price had been reduced but still made a sizable profit because it only cost about one dollar per gallon to produce it. There was a young fellow who had helped me in the past and he wanted to start operation for about 100 gallon so we went into the distilling business for a short period. because I had already used and prepaired an underground subterranean distillery that was built in a wooded bend of Bluff Creek by concrete walls and floor with a well inlet for cooling purposes and an outlet for disposal. There was another line for fresh water and another for oil that came from 150 yards away The top was covered with oak boards three inches thick with one foot of dirt thereon with a small entrance at the top. Bluff Creek was wild and would overflow often to several feet over the top and fill it with water but only for two or three hours with no damage to the contents inside. Dady Redd who had lived in one of my Fathers house for seven years without paying any rent was hunting birds down through the creek bottom saw a small crack in the groun start digging and found the entrance but he was seen and reported to me. He ha Tommie Givins staying with him at that time who was a regular informer so I wa onmy guard until we disposed of what we had produced. It so happened that we made out last delivery in Haydock. The Federal men were well informed and I could see that we were in real trouble with only one gallon left so I made a straight beline for the Pool Hall where there was a big pile of brick but I saw they were going to beat me to it so I broke the Jug on an Iron floor