The Juke Joint King of the Mississippi Hills: The Raucous Reign of Tillman Branch

by Janice Branch Tracy

Overview

In the swamps and juke joints of Holmes County, Mississippi, Edward Tillman Branch built his empire. Tillman's clubs were legendary. Moonshine flowed as patrons enjoyed craps games and well-known blues acts. Across from his Goodman establishment, prostitutes in a trysting trailer entertained men, including the married Tillman himself. A threat to law enforcement and anyone who crossed his path, Branch rose from modest beginnings to become the ruler of a treacherous kingdom in the hills that became his own end. Author Janice Branch Tracy reveals the man behind the story and the path that led him to become what Honeyboy Edwards referred to in his autobiography as the baddest white man in Mississippi.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626194366
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	03/11/2014
Series:	True Crime
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Janice Branch Tracy is a sixth-generation Mississippian, with deep roots in Attala and Holmes Counties. After attending the University of Mississippi, she began a thirty-year career with the United States government, retiring in 2004. Avidly interested in history and genealogy, she started a genealogy blog in 2008. In 2011, and again in 2013, her blog, Mississippi Memories, was listed among Family History Magazine's Top 40 Genealogy Blogs.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Acknowledgements 9

Introduction 11

1 A Place Galled Holmes 15

2 The Editor and the Law 21

3 Makin' Moonshine 29

4 The Branch Family of Virginia and Attala County, Mississippi 31

5 Edward Tillman Branch 39

6 Marriage, Liquor and the Law 45

7 The Dry State of Mississippi 55

8 The Blue Flame 65

9 Tillman the Tough Guy 69

10 Tillman and Maxine 77

11 Big Jim Talks 81

12 The Arrest and Conviction of Matthew Winter 85

13 Winter's Appeal 89

14 The Right to Vote 93

15 Matthew Winter 97

16 Inez Talks about Tillman 101

17 Matthew Winter Tells His Story 105

Afterword 113

Appendix I Notes 115

Appendix II Court Transcriptions 119

Bibliography 147

Index 153

About the Author 159