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Everyone in Corinth says that when Toehead came into town that the women would flock around him like Elvis. This cop told me that all women loved him. He was also one of the top criminals in the southeast. He was in on the Gypsy Camp Robbery. He was also buddies with Bill Clubb & Kirksey Nix--2 Dixie Mafia heavyweights. The FBI files on Toehead are enormous & they started photographing him in the 1960's.

Someone told me that Toehead had a screen test in Hollywood.

Toehead also killed George Fuqua & Doris Grooms after he got out of federal prison.
quote:
Originally posted by e:
My vote would have been for Steve McQueen.


Oh he would have been a good one too... but what about a modern day movie, with actors who are alive, lol... I have sit here and thought and thought and thought about it, and knowing what the Dawson's LOOKED like, I cannot think of any modern day marvels who could do it up right... Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones are the only two who come to mind.
George Clooney for Toehead. AS much as I love Tommy Lee, he's getting too old to be too rowdy any more. Billy Bob is white trashy enough. Maybe old fat beady eyed ponytailed Steven Segal? Naturally, he'd have to wear that long gown they put him in now. It really hides his weight gain well, don't you think? Mel Gibson is looking haggard enough but still good looking, how bout him?
Notice the spelling of Towhead White


The State Line Mob was an association of criminal elements that operated in the 1950's and 1960's at the Mississippi-Tennessee state line in Alcorn County, Mississippi and McNairy County, Tennessee along U.S. Route 45. The State Line Mob was involved in bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, tourist fleecing, robbery, and murder. Many of the members were from Phenix City, Alabama, having been displaced from that town when martial law was declared and the United States Army attempted to clean the town up.
The organization owned and operated motels, restaurants, and clubs at the Mississippi-Tennessee state line and in the southern portion of Alcorn County, just south of Corinth, Mississippi. These establishments were centers for every form of vice and reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars from sales of illegal moonshine and other contraband products. Primary owners were Jack and Louise Hath****, Carl Douglas "Towhead" White, and W.O. Hath****.
The State Line Mob gained national attention throughout the 1960's for its ongoing feud with famed McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser. The film Walking Tall and its sequels were based on Pusser's war against the State Line Mob and other criminal elements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Line_Mob



Drive-By Truckers wrote songs about the events surrounding Pusser's wife's death and his colorful tenure as sheriff. Most notably, The Dirty South contained three consecutive songs, "The Boys from Alabama", "Cottonseed" and "The Buford Stick", that purported to tell "the other side of that story".

· Pusser's predecessor as sheriff, James Dickey, died in a car accident about two weeks before the 1964 election.
· During his tenure as Sheriff, Pusser was shot eight times and stabbed seven.
· The Buford Pusser Museum has been established at the house where he was living at the time of his death in 1974.
· Each May, there is a Buford Pusser Festival in his hometown of Adamsville, Tennessee.
· George McGann, one of Pauline Pusser's murderers, was the husband of Beverly Oliver who in 1970 claimed that she was the famously mysterious Babushka Lady who appears with her own movie camera in the Zapruder film of the actual Kennedy Assassination.
· Parents: Carl Pusser, was the Police Chief of Adamsville, Tennessee, and Helen Pusser.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buford_Pusser
Toehead was dark headed & brown eyed. He was about 6'2" & weighed around 185. He was muscular. He pumped weights in prison. Many women said he was downright pretty.

He got the name Toehead because of his fighting style. They say he could kick somebody in the head 3 or 4 times before they even knew the fight was on. Toe to the head.

He wore expensive suits. Many people thought that he was a wimpy pretty boy until they got their clocks cleaned. A guy told me that he saw him whip 3 guys at a joint near Drew, MS in the MS Delta one night.

I saw an FBI report where he got in a fight outside the Plantation Club in Corinth, MS with a golden gloves boxer. Toehead beat him so bad that his eyeball was hanging out on his cheek.

The Dixie Mafia book has a whole chapter dedicated to him & it claims that he never lost a fight. I was told by a cop that he had gotten beat down pretty bad in Parchman Prison a couple of times.
You have to watch that book called the Stateline Mob. Morris got a lot of his facts wrong. It talks about Dewitt in there & shows his picture. He looks real young. I think he said that Dawson was one of Alabama's most sought after outlaws. They say Toehead & Dewitt were real tight & that both were ladies men.

Have ya'll ever heard anything about a Balentine-Dawson feud? I think the Balentine's were from Tennessee. I have heard that Dewitt's wife's maiden name was Balentine. Do ya'll know if that's true?
My dad was a Gambler & played Poker & Shot Dice with Dewitt many times, once I remeber out in the middle of of a cotten feild under a huge shade tree , a huge dice game , my dad & Dewitt had a lot of dealings together ,once Dewitt came to our house in Town Creek looking for dad , & Mom met him at the front door & as Dewitt was walking off the proch, she kicked him in the arse . Dad was working & trying to do better , so Mom didn't want Dewitt around . Dad had a lot of the same connections from up north as Dewitt with bring Macnics in to games , as the are called, Dealers. Dad worked constrution , but gamblered & in his later years he & two ohers ran a Gambling house just out of Decatur, Poker , Back Jack, Dice , & Booked sports, cattered to Doctors , Lawyers, Car Dealers , money people they would start on a Friday & go on thru early Momday morning, with food , drinks & what ever & No they was Not going to Win! this was thru the 60' tell the early 80s for my dad.
quote:



Drive-By Truckers wrote songs about the events surrounding Pusser's wife's death and his colorful tenure as sheriff. Most notably, The Dirty South contained three consecutive songs, "The Boys from Alabama", "Cottonseed" and "The Buford Stick", that purported to tell "the other side of that story".



The Dirty South is an excellent album. I highly recommend it.
quote:
Originally posted by ppb:
You have to watch that book called the Stateline Mob. Morris got a lot of his facts wrong. It talks about Dewitt in there & shows his picture. He looks real young. I think he said that Dawson was one of Alabama's most sought after outlaws. They say Toehead & Dewitt were real tight & that both were ladies men.

Have ya'll ever heard anything about a Balentine-Dawson feud? I think the Balentine's were from Tennessee. I have heard that Dewitt's wife's maiden name was Balentine. Do ya'll know if that's true?


I'm think I remember hearing about the feud.

I'm related by marriage to the Balintine family in reference so I will ask about it and let you know what I find out.
quote:
Originally posted by Bamafnatk:
My dad was a Gambler & played Poker & Shot Dice with Dewitt many times, once I remeber out in the middle of of a cotten feild under a huge shade tree , a huge dice game , my dad & Dewitt had a lot of dealings together ,once Dewitt came to our house in Town Creek looking for dad , & Mom met him at the front door & as Dewitt was walking off the proch, she kicked him in the arse . Dad was working & trying to do better , so Mom didn't want Dewitt around . Dad had a lot of the same connections from up north as Dewitt with bring Macnics in to games , as the are called, Dealers. Dad worked constrution , but gamblered & in his later years he & two ohers ran a Gambling house just out of Decatur, Poker , Back Jack, Dice , & Booked sports, cattered to Doctors , Lawyers, Car Dealers , money people they would start on a Friday & go on thru early Momday morning, with food , drinks & what ever & No they was Not going to Win! this was thru the 60' tell the early 80s for my dad.



Did you happen to have the pleasure of meeting Nick Nicholson? He lived near Town Creek. He passed away about 4 or 5 years ago. He was a jolly story telling fella that has some of those connection you are referring to.
There is a web site hosted by Barbara Blevins. Google or Yahoo it. She was married to one of the muscle men around the state line that was a ex marine and was bad to the bone. He and Toehead got into a fight at one of the joints and he was supposedly winning until Toehead shot him in the face. I forgot his first name but if you go to the site she talks a lot about things that used to go on there. She still lives about 50 feet fron the concrete pad that was the El-Ray motel. She is on the site talking quite a bit.
he looked back as if in shock , maybe she didn't make contact, but was sure trying to, Dewitt wasn't really a bad guy ... to his friends Wink.. he didn't dress in jeans , mostly casual wear but very nice, dad dressed in suits or dress pants & white dress shirt, when not working on a job , a real job as constrution work. I offten though of them as a modren day Robin Hood, if they was makeing money ,they shared- not saying it was right in how they made the money .
Bama, bet our fathers knew each other. I think one of those guys actually bought my grandmother's place when it was auctioned and let my father live there till he died. (The guy's wife bought the property, he was in jail for something.) My mom has Alzheimer's now and can't remember which one my father told her bought the place.
Vick , I thank it may have been Dewitt , he did serve some Federal time , at what some called the County Club , in Montgremg a lot of the ones there they worked at the Golf Course , at Maxwell, I beleave Tax evanion. from what I know his wife was a very nice lady, my Mom sure was ! Dad never was around the State Line Clubs & don't think Dewitt was a whole lot. --- Bamagurl I do remember something of the Balentines around the State Line , I never was around the State Line Clubs .Just some storys
A woman told me that 2 guys got in a fight one time in a truckstop restauraunt on the MS-AL-TN line. She said there were 2 Balentines eating at a table in the same place. She said that when those 2 fighting each other would get close to the Balentine table, they would stop & move away & then go at it again. She said they could hardly fight for worrying about bumping into them. They knew the Balentines would clean their clocks if they got hit.

She also told me that she recorded some songs one time at a club the Balentine's owned. I think it was in Savannah, TN. She had a song called the Ballad of Toehead White. She said that Toehead was friends with the Dawson's, especially Dewitt & that the Balentine's & Dawson's didn't get along. She said that they had just started the Ballad of Toehead White when some of the Balentine's walked in & sit down to listen. She said she stopped the song & gathered the band around & told them the history. She went ahead & sung the song & the Balentine's didn't do anything. She said she thought they were going to have to shoot their way out of that one. She didn't know what the Balentine's would do when they heard that song. She said they all left in a hurry.
I think I saw in Pride Dawson's obituary that he was related to a Willingham. His sister may have married one. My great grandfather's half sister married a Willingham from Alabama. My great grandfather's family was from Pontotoc County, MS. They lived in Northport, AL after they married.

How was Pride related to the Willingham's?
Don't know how to start this but here goes. I started going to the state line when I was 16 years old. Club 13 then oned by Mike, spent a lot of time at Todd's. If you played FOOS BALL I and my partner beat ya!! Both places were KOOL and trouble was seldom. If u went to johnny's, sow what ya reep!! My cousin Tony owned his club the music was great. Jackson Highway rules!! I worked for FAME studios for a while with Travis Womack, Bobby Sherill RIP ,Dumpy Joe Hamilton, an Don Cartee all state line music. TREE
Just got thru reading some old messaging about the dawsons and Toe head White,Johnny Hood, Eddy, and a couple more folks. I will agree with one person, It all would make a helluva book. Dewitt one time did try have his biography written. It was written and only a few copies were ever published. It was called 'The Kingpin'. I used to have a copy of it that he gave me...It's been long gone. I was in my early twenties when I was around the Dawsons. Matter of fact, I introduced Dewitt to his wife Her name was Joyce Beavis,from Central, I believe. Dewitt was in the Colbert County Jail on an appeal from the Alabama State Pen. Raymond Wheeler was Sheriffe. My father was a major Bootlegger that supplied Beer and Whiskey to Dewitt as well as every other boot-legger in North Alabama.I was directed by my Father to set up the old 157 motel in Leighton, Al. as a bootleg outlet for Dewitt. When he got out of prison, I had him around $20,000. to start with. Yea I knew the Dawsons, All of them Pride Pinky, Howard,Donald and Homer Gene, And my favorite Bobby. I could tell you stories that is worthy of publication. I have had a helluva myself. One of these days I just may put something together so that my kids would see what their old man was as a young man. I was a bad man at one time in my life but no more. Too old and too slow. It was great reading all the things that I read. To see how the Dawsons was viewed by stories passed down thru the years. Some of it is accurate some not. I will say this, Toehead White came by my house and visited my Dad and myself then drove to Corinth, Ms. to his death. You know, Buford Pusser shot Toeheads wife in a Stateline bar she operated she died. It really pissed Toehead off. I figure Pusser was quite scared of Toehead being released and all knowing revenge comes to those who wait. I think the shot came from a parked vehicle while Toehead sat behind the wheel of his car. Toehead was a good guy as was lots of these mentioned souls were. They just chose'the other side of the law'. Only thing is, back then, There was just as many bad law as good law, or so it seems, so who was bad or good was kinda up in the air.I've known both good and bad. I am 61 Years old now. One of the 'last of the Mohicans'. Write me at my e-mail address:::::: edhavnfun@gulftel.com You all take care now.

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