Appalachian crime Archives - Appalachian History

Old money, blackmailed judges, moonshine and murder

He hiked without care through the lawless back country of Mitchell County. His tweeds & mahogany cane telegraphed ‘revenuer’ to moonshiners.

Locals claim that you can see the spirit of the traveling man, carrying a lantern through the woods, searching for his way back to Kentucky.

Floyd’s last words? Asked by agent Melvin Purvis about the Kansas City Massacre, he snapped, “I won’t tell you anything, you son-of-a-bitch.”

Howard Little was convicted of the murders on Laurel Creek and sentenced to death. He was electrocuted in Richmond on January 7, 1910.

On September 21st, 1909, Howard Little allegedly came to visit Elizabeth E. Baker Justus and her extended family in Laurel Creek, VA.

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