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Calvin Fee Blanton and Angeline (Osborne) Blanton |
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Calvin Fee Blanton and Angeline (Osborne) Blanton |
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was generously provided to us by Carol Black great-granddaughter of Mastin Green Noe (from another of Mastin's marriages) THANKS, CUZ CAROL, FOR SHARING! |
Lindy (Blanton) Gilbert, in 1919"Barbourville [KY] Mountain Advocate" October 21, 1949 (p. 21) M. B. BLANTON ~~~~~~~ Funeral services were held Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Blackwater in Laurel county for M. B. Blanton, 26, who was killed Sunday afternoon on Big Richland, near the Knox-Laurel county line. Interment took place there under the direction of the Hopper Funeral Home. Blanton is survived by his wife and one child, eighteen months old. Blanton was a former service man, having served with the U.S. Army. ~~~~~~~ |
was provided by  Elaine (Helton) Lorinczi d/o Bob &Cathy(Hayes) Helton gd/o Bob &Avis(Sasser) Helton g-gd/o George &Matilda(Vaughn) Helton gg-granddaughter of James &Lucy(Osborne) Helton THANKS, CUZ ELAINE, FOR SHARING! |
news item was provided by  Glenn E. Perry ~ a Cobb-Sasser Website "cuz-team" member ~ THANKS, CUZ GLENN, FOR YOUR INPUT! |
London, Kentucky October 20, 1949 M.B. BLANTON SLAIN SUNDAY AT BLACKWATER ~~~~~~~~~~ M.B. Blanton, 26 year old Blackwater farmer, was shot and killed instantly about 1:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon and Walter Rush, 40, same address is in the Knox County jail charged with the crime. He is held without bond. According to State Police from the London office who made the arrest, Rush was threatening Mrs. Champ Sasser with a postol, and as Blanton begged Rush to leave the woman alone, Rush turned the weapon and fired at Blanton as the latter threw up his hands to plead for his own life. The tragedy occurred near the barn on the property of Mrs. Wallace Sasser in Knox County, near the Laurel county line. Rush was taken by State Police to the Barbourville jail and at examining trial in that city Tuesday he was held to the Knox grand jury without bond. Blanton is survived by his wife and one child. Rush is the father of nine children. Funeral and burial services for the victim were held yesterday at the Blackwater cemetery. ~~~~~~~~~~ Champ Sasser (1912 - 1992) was the son of Wallace &Cora(Perry) Sasser (clicking on the links will open separate browser windows) Champ's wife was Una Mae (Wagoner) Sasser (spelled with one "g") (1912 - 1967) the daughter of Joe &Lucy(Botkin) Waggoner Clickon Champ to find a subsequent news account about a moonshine still being found on (and confiscated from) Champ's property during M.B.'s murder investigation! Walter Rush (1913 - 1997) was the son of James &Sally(Brock) Rush and POSSIBLY the grandson of Jacob &Lucy(Day) Rush (clicking on will open a separate browser window). |
remember from the days when he was one of my grandfather, Clabe Taylor's, tenant farmers at what long before had been the Wallace and Susan Jones Gilbert place at the "fork's of the road" on Big Richland, Knox County, KY. He was a hard working man that, as everyone knew, could be depended on. But it was said that he would kill anybody who threatened him--that he had once been in prison for stabbing someone and had been released after spending the minimum time behind bars because he was a "model prisoner." And the word was that he carried a Colt 45 at all times. It seems that, having heard about this, a few people expressed fear of him, but others liked him and felt safe as long as they did not antagonize him. Then came the shocking news in 1949 that he had killed M.B. Blanton, apparently in a drunken brawl, up the creek at Mt.Ararat/Gibbs. Walter Rush was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, but I remember people saying that that meant seven years for him, as he of course would be a "model prisoner." And I suppose that was about right, for I heard in later years that he had been released, with one of the conditions being that he never return to "this country" (that is, to the Knox/Laurel County area). Instead, he made his home in the Blue Grass (north-central Kentucky), again as a tenant farmer. I understand that he died long ago, but only after killing his landlord in the Blue Grass. This time, as the story goes, he did not get a prison sentence, as he showed that he had been defending himself from the landlord's cruelty. As for the killing of M.B. Blanton, that was an "O.J. Simpson-type case" around there for many years. I remember many occasions when people argued excitably about whether it was Walter Rush or someone else who committed the crime. I rarely thought of the matter over the following decades, but during the past two or three years I have asked members of the older generation about the controversy. I am told that a man who came along for the ride from Barbourville with the sheriff after the murder occurred later claimed that Walter Rush's gun had not been fired and that Tom Sasser (s/o Wallace Sasser, son of Jesse), who was present at the shooting, insisted that another man killed M.B. Blanton. The implication is that the sheriff was dead set on pinning the crime on an "ex-con" regardless of the facts, but all of this is gossip and speculation, and I personally have no opinion on the matter. -Glenn |
Pearl (Blanton) Gilbert"Matt/Beulah" branch was taken from an obituary about their son Matt J. Blanton, provided to us by Elaine (Helton) Lorinczi d/o Bob &Cathy(Hayes) Helton gd/o Bob &Avis(Sasser) Helton g-gd/o George &Matilda(Vaughn) Helton gg-granddaughter of James &Lucy(Osborne) Helton THANKS, CUZ ELAINE, FOR SHARING! |
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