January 1, 1936 Birmingham Post

TUSCALOOSA, Jan. 1.- (Special.) -At large with a shotgun which he used in "holding up" relatives while"he snatched his mother's body out her casket, Hugh Scott, 57, a World War veteran, was hunted in the woods near the University of Alabama campus today. Scott carried the body away with him on horseback after other relatives of the dead woman-Mrs. Harriet Elizabeth Scott. 75, Taylorville--had refused to change burial plans at his request.

The body was found in a ravine about 100 yards from the house from where it was taken--the home of Perry B. Hughes, superintendent of grounds at the university and former sheriff of Tuscaloosa County, and a son-in-law of the dead woman. 

Argument Over Funeral 

Mrs. Scott died yesterday morning in Druid City Hospital here, of pneumonia. Relatives planned to have her buried at 11 a.m.today at Little Sandy Cemetery, near Taylorville, five miles south of here, Hugh Scott held out for burial at Nazareth Cemetery, several miles north of the city. Last night Scott left the Hughes house in anger. He returned shortly before dawn this morning, on horseback. He carried a doublebarreled shotgun. Four of the relatives were "sitting up" with the body while a half dozen others slept.

Suddenly Mrs. Hughes, in a room adjoining that in which the casket stood. heard a noise as if the coffin were being, moved. 

Threatened Mourners

 She stepped into the next room and was met by Scott. "Get back I'll blow your head off." Scott told his sister, according to Mr.Hughes. He also threatened the other three mourners, all grandchildren of the woman. They were Milton Ramsey Jr., Winfield Hughes and Estelle Ramsey, Scott rolled the casket to the doorway and, still brandishing his weapon, took the body out of its resting place with his free arm. Then he carried it outside, mounted his horse, pulled the body of his mother up with him and rode away. Winfield Hughes obtained a shotgun and ran out in pursuit.

He fired several times at the vanishing horseman with his grim burden, but missed in the darkness. Officers were notified and citizens joined in the search. The body was found at 8:18 a.m. by a policeman. It was carried back and placed in the casket.

Scott's horse was later found, tied to a bush beside the Warrior River at Lock 12. This is about a mile from the Hughes house. 

Grave Diggers Strike 

funeral was to have been held at 11 a.m., but Negro grave diggers refused to work when they learned the vengeful son of the dead woman was probably hiding nearby, armed. Finally they proceeded with the digging when officers were posted around the grave to guard them. It was decided to go ahead with the funeral at 2 p.m.

Meanwhile an armed guard was maintained at the Hughes house, which is on the university campus, just behind Comer Hall. Officers were kept busy all morning chasing down tips of residents of the neighborhood who thought they had seen Scott. The war veteran. a farmer of Taylorville, had treated in both Gulfport and Tuscaloosa Veterans' Hospitals, Mr. Hughes had resided with his mother from time to time they said..

1. United States
2. Alabama
3. Birmingham
4. The Birmingham Post
5. 1936
6. Jan
7. 01
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13. Article clipped from The Birmingham Post
    

    'MOTHER'S WISH' GUIDED VETERAN       Tuscaloosan Who Took Body From Casket Will Be Put In Hospital Tuscaloosa. Body Found Later TUSCALOOSA, Jan. 2.-(Special.) -A mild-mannered. gray-haired man was in County Jail today after he had provided Tuscaloosa with a "case of the kidnaped corpse." He is Hugh Scott, 57-year-old War veteran, who took his mother's body from her coffin in sister's home after a quarrel with relatives over the burial place. Papers to be filed today to transfer Scott to the Veterans' Hospital here.         

    He probably will be taken later to Veterans' Hospital at Gulfport, Miss. Explains Actions The papers were to be filed by Perry B. Hughes, superintendent of grounds at the University of Alabama and Scott's brother-in-law, from whose home Scott took the corpse while holding other members of the family at bay with a shotgun. Scott, father of seven children, explained in his cell today that he had taken mother's body because she wanted it so. He said his mother-Mrs. Harriet Elizabeth Scott, 75, of Taylorville, who died in the Druid City Hospital Tuesday pneumonia wanted to be buried in the Nazareth Cemetery, 25 miles from Tuscaloosa, and not at Taylorville, where she was buried yesterday. Taylorville is five miles from here. After arguments with relatives, he entered the Hughes home on the university campus, and, holding three nephews and a niece at bay with his shotgun, took the corpse from the casket and rode away with it on his horse. The body was found about three hours later in a ditch 150. yards away from the home. Apparently he had gotten off his horse, made a pillow of leaves for his mother's head, and then rode away after smoothing her dress.

    A search was begun for Scott and he was found yesterday afternoon about two miles out of Tuscaloosa talking to some children near railroad track. He offered no resistance to Dick Elliott, city police officer, who arrested him..

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    Man Snatches Mother's Body From Mourners Had Quarreled Over Burial Place; Defends Act After Capture By Posse Tuscaloosa, Ala., Jan. 1-(UP) -In the half light of gray Alabama dawn today, Hugh Scott, 57-year-old war veteran, gently laid the lifeless body of his 75-year-old mother across his saddle horn and galloped away. Tonight in the Tuscaloosa jail, still burning with the filial fervor that impelled his macabre act, he told officers: "I was only doing what mother wanted done." Enraged because other members of his family refused to bury his mother in the plot she had chosen,. Scott stealthily slipped into the room of.

    the dead early today, lovingly raised the corpse from the coffin and fled. As his equestrian figure vanished into morning mists with the grim burden across his saddle bows, Winfield Hughes, a relative, emptied his shotgun at him without avail. Outraged relatives and horrified neighbors organized a search -and found the body an hour later, carefully concealed in a ravine 100 yards from the house where Scott had taken it. They captured Scott hours later in Moody swamp near here where: officers surprised him with his loaded, double-barreled shotgun out of reach. Incoherent with the feeling that led him to defy relatives and to gallop away his mother's lifeless body, Scott would say only that he "did what was right."

    The aged mother--Mrs. Harriet Elizabeth Scott of: Taylorsville, Ala. died Tuesday in a hospital of pneumonia. Scott said before she, died she asked to be buried.at Nazareth Cemetery, several miles north of the city, The rest of the family, however, arranged to bury the mother. at Little Sandy Cemetery, near Taylorsville, five miles south of here.

    Late today, amid wintry afternoon shadows, the family buried the mother at Little Sandy after they had recovered her. body in the ravine where Scott had deposited it. The war-veteran son quarreled violently with the family Tuesday night over the burial site and raged out of the home of his brother-in-law, Perry Hughes. In early dawn half-darkness he returned on horseback, carrying a shotgun. He slipped into the house, subdued other mourners with his gun, and lifted the body from the flower covered coffin. Still brandishing the gun with one hand, he laboriously backed out of the door, gently laid the body across his saddle bow and galloped away.

    The Macabre theft was accomplished in the center of a section where the culture and the superstitions of. the deep South closely are intermixed. Hughes, son-in-law of the dead woman is superintendent of grounds at Alabama University, When Negro grave diggers learned of circumstances of the case, they refused to dig the grave until officers were posted. Their fears were partly superstitious, partly the dread that the shotgun-armed son would return. Officers here placed no formal complaint against Scott when they Jailed him.

    He Is held on an open charge. Meanwhile, he sat in bitter silence in his Jail cell, breaking his reflection only to say: "I WAS only doing what mother wanted done,"

    1. United States
    2. Maine
    3. Portland
    4. Portland Press Herald
    5. 1936
    6. Jan
    7. 02
    8. Page 10
    9. Article clipped from Portland Press Herald

    
    
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