Skeltons of Scottsboro

SKELTON FAMILY NEWSLETTER-IIe

No. 1c ------------------------------------------------------------------ 18 August 2000

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The following article has been extracted from 19th century court records: specifically, the impeachment trial of Judge John B. Tally.[1] On Sunday morning, 04 February 1894, James, John, Robert, and Walter Skelton ambushed and murdered Robert C. Ross. Apparently, Mr. Ross, a married man, had had improper relations with Miss Annie Skelton, a sister of three of the named Skeltons.

The case file was kindly provided by Mr. Matthew Skelton, a descendant of John Skelton (ca. 1750-1816) and his wife, Catharine Hepler (ca. 1750-ca. 1821), of Shenandoah County, Virginia.[2] Matthew holds a B.S. degree in Urban Management and Policy and a Masters degree in Urban Planning, both from Indiana University. At present, he is the Senior Planner for the Town of Westfield, Indiana and a law student at the Indianapolis School of Law, Indiana University. Matt is unmarried and an amateur musician, playing both piano and drums.

Matthew Skelton in July 2000

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Four Skeltons Commit Murder in Alabama in 1894

As detailed in the article "The Skeltons of Union County, South Carolina", Robert Skelton (b. ca. 1747; d. ?) and Elizabeth Bobo (b. ca. 1756; d. ca. 1827), his wife, were parents to ten children.[3] Their first child, Solomon Skelton (b. ca. 1773; d. ca. 1826), relocated from Union County, South Carolina to Madison County, Alabama. And the first son of Solomon Skelton and his wife Mary (née -?-), Robert B. Skelton (b. ca. 1803; d. 1860), married Martha Amelia Vance in Madison County on 25 April 1826. Robert and Martha were parents to sixteen children, the first of whom was James T. Skelton (b. 1829; d. 1882). James married a woman known today only by her forename, Charlotte, and with her had ten children, three of whom committed murder, and one of whom was the reason for the murder.

Map of northeastern Alabama and Jackson County.

The Tennessee River enters Jackson County, Alabama at its northeastern corner, meanders slowly through the county, and exits at its southwestern corner, then forming the southern border of adjacent Madison County. The lands touched by the river are a part of the rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Scottsboro, the seat of Jackson County, is on the northwestern shore of the river, about twenty miles south of the Alabama-Tennessee border. The town of Stevenson, also on the northwestern shore, is located about eighteen miles northeast of Scottsboro. The two towns are connected by a road, a railway, the river, and history. Aside from the Skelton murder reported here, in 1931 the national spotlight was focused on Scottsboro because two white women claimed to have been raped by several black men. Those men became nationally known as "The Scottsboro Boys." Details of the trials that followed can be found at the following URL address: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scottsboro/scottsb.htm

In 1894, several of the children of James T. and Charlotte Skelton lived in Scottsboro. James passed away on Christmas eve, 1892 in adjacent Madison County and the older sons may have felt protective of the family. Robert Scott Skelton, the oldest son, was about 38 years old at the time, married, and father of a 6-1/2 year old daughter. His two younger brothers, Walter A. Skelton and James M. Skelton, were about 35 and 24 years of age, respectively. Sidney Skelton, their then 32 year old sister, was married to John Benton Tally, a judge of Alabama’s Ninth Judicial Circuit. At the time, James was a resident in the household of Judge Tally. Also residing in Scottsboro, was one John Skelton, then about 26 years in age and a first cousin to the four mentioned siblings.

The last member of this family to play a role in the tragedy was Miss Annie Skelton, then about 22 years old and the youngest sister of Robert, Walter, Sidney and James Skelton. Also a resident of Scottsboro at the time was one Mr. Robert C. Ross, a married man. Apparently, it had been well established by letters, that had been read by the Skelton boys, that Mr. Ross had "seduced or been criminally intimate with" their little sister, Miss Annie Skelton. It was well known by the community and by Mr. Ross, that the Skelton boys sought to avenge the good name of Miss Annie.

On Saturday, 06 January 1894, Mr. Ross left his home in Scottsboro and did so surreptitiously, as he believed his life to be in peril at the hands of Skeltons. He remained away from Scottsboro for twenty-four days. On Tuesday night, January 30th, he returned home because of the illness of his wife. He remained secluded in his home until the morning of Sunday, February 4th.

At about 6 o’clock that Sunday morning, Robert Ross fled Scottsboro. He left in a hack bound for Stevenson and there planned to catch a train for Chattanooga. Accompanying him in the hack were three men: his brother-in-law, Mr. Bloodwood, a Negro man by the name of John Calloway, and the hack driver, Mr. Hammons. All four were armed: Ross had a gun and pistol, Bloodwood had a gun, and Calloway and Hammons each had pistols.

One of the Skelton boys was up and about that Sunday morning. He spotted Ross leaving town and quickly alerted his kin. In a flash, the four Skeltons, Robert, Walter, James, and John, were armed, mounted, and in pursuit of the Ross party. They followed the tracks of the hack northeast, along the Scottsboro-Stevenson Road. The Skeltons were concerned that Ross might leave the road and head south across the Tennessee River, as apparently he had done on his previous flight in early January.

About a mile outside of Stevenson, they caught sight of the hack. It was crossing a small stream at a point where the rail tracks and the road converge. They could have attacked Ross there, but according to the testimony of Walter Skelton, he said to his group: "Let’s surround them and demand of him where Annie is."[4]; the others said, "No, that probably would bring on a fight, and some one of us could get killed." Instead, Robert and James dismounted, left their horses, and ran along the railroad track to Stevenson. They arrived just ahead of the Ross party and took up positions behind the station platform.

Mr. Ross and the others in the hack arrived in Stevenson at about 10:45 that morning. Driving to a point about midway between the passenger station and hotel, Ross, Bloodwood, and Calloway alighted from the hack - still unaware of the presence of the Skeltons and the potential danger of the moment. They took out their arms and unloaded their baggage, three valises. At this time, a person by the name of William Tally was walking from the hotel to the station. Mr. Tally greeted, shook hands, and exchanged the usual salutations with Mr. Ross, and then continued on his way toward the depot. Just then a shot was fired at Mr. Bloodwood from behind the depot platform. This was followed by several more shots, some coming from behind the platform and some coming from a pile of telegraph poles a short way down the road along which the hack had just traveled. Ross was hit in the leg and fell to the ground. Bloodwood was also wounded and ran away. So too did Calloway and Hammond, along with the horses and the hack.

Ross managed to get to the side of a small oil house, a short distance beyond where the hack had stopped, and took a position affording some shelter from the persons behind the platform and the telegraph poles. While standing there, with his gun in his hand, and looking in the direction of the telegraph poles, a man came to the corner of the house behind Ross. The man shot Ross with a Winchester rifle through the head, from back to front. Ross fell and died. The man who fired first from behind the platform was Robert Skelton; the man who fired the other shots from that position was James Skelton; the man who fired from the telegraph poles was Walter Skelton; and the man who shot Ross through the back of the head with the rifle was John Skelton. After he was dead on the ground, Robert Skelton walked up to the body and also shot him through the head.

Robert Skelton then sent a telegram to his brother-in-law, Judge John B. Tally, still in Scottsboro, reporting that Robert Ross was dead and that none of the Skeltons were hurt. The four Skeltons next surrendered themselves to one Mr. Huddleston, mayor of Stevenson. Mayor Huddleston took them back to Scottsboro where they were confined in jail. Subsequently bail was posted for Robert, James, and Walter. John escaped.

The impeachment case against Judge John Benton Tally was based on the fact that he seemed to be in collusion with the Skelton boys in their plot to kill Ross. The day before the ambush, Saturday afternoon [February 3rd], Judge Tally was in consultation with Robert Skelton, oldest of the Skelton brothers. The following morning, Walter Tally, the 15 year old son of Judge Tally, went to the livery stable and hired a horse which was charged to Judge Tally. A witness testified that this horse was for Walter Skelton to pursue Robert Ross. Another witness, one J. D. Snodgrass, reported that he saw Judge Tally talking with several of the Skelton boys on Sunday morning, before they took off after Ross. It also was recorded in the court testimony that: "The flight of Ross and the pursuit of the Skeltons at once became generally known in the town of Scottsboro, and was well nigh the sole topic of conversation that Sunday morning. Everybody knew it. Everybody talked about it. Everybody was impressed with the probability of a terrible tragedy to be enacted on the road to Stevenson, or at the latter point."

According to other witnesses, sometime after the Skelton boys took off in pursuit of the Ross party, Judge Tally went over to the telegraph office in Scottsboro. Dr. Rorex saw him there and "...said to Judge Tally that I thought we had better send a hack and a physician to their [the Skeltons and Ross party] assistance up the road; that these parties might get hurt, and they might need assistance." Judge Tally replied that his folks could take care of themselves. He further said that he was waiting to see if anybody sent a telegram to Ross.

Just as the westbound passenger train passed the Scottsboro station at 10:17 AM, Mr. E. H. Ross, a relative of the fleeing Robert C. Ross, went into the telegraph office at the Scottsboro station. Mr. E. R. Ross wrote a wire addressed to R. C. Ross which said, "Four men on horseback with guns following. Look out." Judge Tally saw this and immediately wrote a message himself addressed to William Huddleston stating, "Do not let the party warned get away." And before the telegraph operator sent the message, Tally said to add the words, "Say nothing." William Huddleston was both the mayor of Stevenson and the telegraph operator. Later, when Judge Tally was questioned about the message he sent that Sunday morning, he replied, "Yes, sir, I sent one [message], but not about this matter. It was to a friend about another matter; nothing concerning this case."

Soon after 11 o’clock that Sunday morning, a message was received at the Scottsboro telegraph office from Robert Skelton, still in Stevenson, addressed to Judge Tally. The message read: "Ross dead. None of us hurt."

Judge Tally was impeached and removed from office because of his involvement in the murder of Robert Ross. What punishment, if any, was imposed upon the Skeltons for their act of violence has not yet been learned. However, it is noted that each of the three Skelton brothers and John Tally are recorded as residents of Alabama in the 1900 census.[5] As a matter of fact, James Skelton, who was still a member of the household of John and Sidney Tally, reported his occupation as that of Deputy Sheriff.

Three years later, in 1897, a related case was brought before U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit.[6] The widow, Mrs. Ross, sued the Western Union Telegraph Company because the warning message sent by Mr. E. R. Ross was never delivered to Robert Ross. The argument being that, had he been warned in time, his life might have been spared. The ruling of the court was "... that the [telegraph] company was not negligent in not delivering the message, as it was not charged with the duty of sending out messengers to watch for his [Robert Ross’] arrival."

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[1] State v. Tally, in Southern Reporter Vol. 15, p. 722 (09 Aug. 1894).

[2] The earliest known history of the family of John Skelton and Catharine Hepler, his wife, is reported in the following: Earl F. Skelton, “The John Skelton - Catharine Hepler Family: From the Shenandoah to the Midwest,” in National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 80, No. 4, 245-264 (1992).

[3] Earl F. Skelton, Skelton Family Newsletter-II, No. 4, 45-64 (03 Sep. 1993).

[4] It is not clear from the court record whether Annie Skelton was being held by Mr. Ross or simply missing. However the former seems unlikely, based on the fact that the Skeltons killed Ross without first talking to him.

[5] James M. Skelton: 1900 U.S. Census (population) Alabama, Jackson Co., Scottsboro Twp., Pct. 21; Enum. Dist. 39; p. 3; line 27; National Archives Microfilm Publication T623, Roll No. 20.
Robert S. Skelton: 1900 U.S. Census (population) Alabama, Jackson Co., Scottsboro Twp., Pct. 21; Enum. Dist. 39; p. 9; line 14; National Archives Microfilm Publication T623, Roll No. 20.
Walter A. Skelton: 1900 U.S. Census (population) Alabama, DeKalb Co., Fort Payne City, Super. Dist. 7; Enum. Dist. 69; p. 8; line 81; National Archives Microfilm Publication T623, Roll No. 14.
John B. Tally: 1900 U.S. Census (population) Alabama, Jackson Co., Scottsboro Twp., Pct. 21; Enum. Dist. 39; p. 3; line 22; National Archives Microfilm Publication T623, Roll No. 20.

[6] Ross v. Western Union Telegraph Co., Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern Division of the Northern District of Alabama, 5th Circuit, 1897; Federal Reporter, Vol. 81, p. 676 (07 June 1897).

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Earl F. Skelton, Ph.D., CG
6311 29th Place, NW
Washington, DC 20015-2221

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Edited by Lisa M. Hightower-Chadwick
Camarillo, CA