Tom Crowe- The Man - The Hound
The Chase Magazine
November 1984
Page Two
By Dr. F. E.Beck
Rt. 3, Box 184
Dayton, TN 37321
I want to write to you about Tom Crowe the hound and about the man for whom the hound was
named.
Tom Crowe, the hound, is in nearly every pedigree, but very few know about the man the hound
was named after.
Mr. Jim Love bred the hound and he lived in Sweetwater, Tennessee which is in Monroe County,
Tennessee. His nickname was Squire because he had been or was a member of the county court
for many years. The county seat of Monroe County was Madisonville. Senator Estes Kefaver was
from Madisonville. Anyway, the Southeastern held a field trial at Decatur, Tennessee around 1930
and Sam Wooldridge wrote me that Mr. Love was going to run two male hounds in the Derby and to
watch them in the field as he was going to buy one of them for breeding purposes. They were
littermates to Red Love that had won the Futurity in 1931. Mr. Love had agreed to sell only one of
them.
In about a week Alex Parrish wrote me that he was coming and bring Bucky, his boy with him. So
Frazier Davis invited all of us to stay at his private home with he, Betty and their two boys about
three and four years old. Betty Davis was a wonderful hostess and she gave Alex a room of his own
while Bucky and I were roommates.
Spectators at field trials were just changing from horseback to pick up trucks. Alex rode with me
and Bucky rode with Frazier. the first day we had spotted running. Alex and I saw very little of the
action, seeing Mr. Lvoe's hounds, maybe once or twice.
The second day we cast toward the bottom lands of the Tennessee River and we struck a visiting
red and he immediately went north up the river runnin in the bottomlands. The main road North was
back away from the river and we could travel fast, hear the race, but not see it. We made a crossing
or two by leaving the main road and taking a ferry road toward the river. This red fox was going
home. He ran into Roane County and on and on North. We lost the pack and had to answer lost at
the third roll call. WE began to find lost hounds on North of Roane County in Morgan County.
Alex and I made one good crossing at the county line (Meigs-Roane) and saw my hounds and Alex's
hounds and also Mr. Love's hounds, all in the up front pack. Mr. Love's hounds were number 41
and 42, but I never knew which was Tom Crowe. The hounds had thinned down by then and as they
kept going North with the river, the main road wandered East and we lost the sound of these
hounds. The front hounds were running wide open and setting fire under that red fox tail the last
we heard of them. We never received a score that day and lost our hounds. This is racing luck, the
cream of the Derby hounds were lost and I wrote Sam Wooldridge the facts. Alex and I liked number
41 and Frazier and Bucky liked number 42 of this front pack. It was a flip of the coins as to which
was best of Mr. Love's hounds. I also saw one of Alex's hounds that he promised to lend me for
stud, but leater on I'll write about this if the readers find this interesting.
About Tom Crowe, the man. He was a legend in his own time as a peace officer. Since he worked as
a Federal officer he was known throughout the East Tennessee mountains, working for the alcohol
tax division. Tom Crowe was in many fire fights where a number of people were killed. Tom Crowe
survived because he was fearless and a sure shot, carrying fast guns.
Tom Crowe was killed on the streets of Madisonville (serving a warrant for the county high sheriff)
by a celebrated bad man who was almost as fast with a gun as Tom Crowe. While Tom Crowe was
reading the warrant to the man, the man drew his pistol and shot Tom Crowe in the chest aiming for
the heart. Tom shot the man square in the forehead killing him instantly. Tom Crowe lingered on
and died in about a week.
Tom Crowe was such a legend that the common citizens made up a poem of this fight and would
sing it. The man who Tom Crowe killed had a last name that rhymed with Crowe, but I've forgotten
his name. Maybe some of you readers remember it. Lake Russell, the celecbrated college football
coach told me part of the Madisonville gun fight. School children used to sing the Ballad of Tom
Crowe.