A Knoxville Legend, Revealed: The Truth Almost Thunder Road

This calendar month marks the 60th anniversary of the notorious Thunder Road crash on Kingston Pike inwards Knoxville, for which the famous ballad past times Robert Mitchum was named. It also marks the passing of Edward "Eddie" Harvey, a onetime racecar driver in addition to whiskey machine mechanic, who died on Monday, Apr 7th, 2014, at historic catamenia 91. 

I had the privilege of interviewing Eddie inwards 2008, when I was inwards journalism school, for an assignment most Thunder Road. Nearly vi years in addition to hundreds of interviews later, he remains i of the most interesting people I've e'er encountered. The even he contributed to is below; I volition last posting the total contents of my interview with him later. 

John Fitzgerald in addition to his buddies coasted on their bicycles into the parking lot of Mr. Galyon's service station, similar many mornings, inwards search of a Moon Pie or a Nehi soda. But this morning, Apr 1, 1954, was different. H5N1 cluster of unmarked cars in addition to suited men, their faces blood-red in addition to their bodies flitting nervously from machine to car, hemmed the commonly desolate dry ground store.

Suddenly embarrassed past times his bicycle, the sixteen-year-old quipped to his friends that the official-looking man, tall in addition to pot-bellied, sipping on a Grapette soda, should induce got bought an RC Cola instead. He sobered, however, when he heard the men whispering most Thunder Road. That cool jump morning, John in addition to his friends had inadvertently stumbled upon a federal functioning to capture a notorious Kentucky moonshiner known only every bit "Tweedle-o-twill." 

Let me tell the story, I tin tell it all | About the mount man child who ran illegal alcohol | His daddy made the whiskey, son, he drove the charge | When his engine roared, they called the highway Thunder Road

"Thunder Road" was the code call assigned to the undercover federal functioning to nab moonshiners, but to locals similar John, its important was no secret. In the Appalachian foothills, Thunder Road was a term coined to spot the nighttime route from Harlan, Kentucky, to Knoxville, Tennessee, traveled past times illegal whiskey haulers. The beginning of many a southern legend, it was this route that spawned Robert Mitchum's 1958 Hollywood hitting Thunder Road and his vocal "The Ballad of Thunder Road." But to the men who traveled the route, it was much to a greater extent than than legend. It was the route to liberty from economical despair.

Early 17th-century European immigrants to the US of America brought their noesis of distilling with them, in addition to inwards the hills of the Appalachians, where freshwater in addition to farmland were plentiful, moonshining proved to last a profitable venture. Isolated mountaineers fashioned makeshift stills to convert their crops to whiskey to merchandise at market. Eventually, moonshine spoke every bit loudly every bit cash, in addition to then the moonshine civilisation was born. 

On the commencement of April, xix fifty-four | H5N1 federal human being sent give-and-take he'd better brand his run no to a greater extent than | He said 2 hundred agents were coverin' the province | Whichever route he tried to take, they'd larn him certain every bit fate

In the early on morn hours, only downwardly the thruway from Galyon's, Tweedle-o-twill, the boy of an elusive mount moonshiner, was racing against time. As the Sun peaked through the trees, he rocketed downwardly the highway, sweeping across the final leg of his journeying downwardly Route 33 from Kentucky through Maynardville in addition to into Bearden. His misty light-green 1950 Ford was loaded with 'shine, probable concealed past times zip to a greater extent than than a blanket, in addition to daylight was dangerous.

Once exterior of Knoxville, he had the pick of an old truck route, today known every bit Papermill Road, or the populace highway, Kingston Pike. The 2 roads converged past times the crest of Bearden Hill, creating a stretch of highway with no through-roads, where the federal agents planned to environs the illustrious whiskey hauler. 

But at a charge per unit of measurement every bit high every bit $40 a run, petty could halt a determined driver similar Tweedle-o-twill.

"Farmers were compelled to discovery money somewhere," Alex Gabbard, writer of Return to Thunder Road, said. "There was no house to larn cash money except whiskey. So you lot had makers in addition to watchers in addition to haulers in addition to moonshiners in addition to bootleggers. This moonshine civilisation was an early on shape of sharing the wealth."

Economic necessity drove Ed Harvey, 86, possessor of Eddie's Auto Shop on Broadway, to come inwards the moonshining underworld. Somewhat of a local legend for his appearances on the Real LeRoy Mercer tapes in addition to Johnny Knoxville's MTV exhibit Jackass, Harvey commencement earned his larger-than-life reputation every bit a whiskey machine mechanic. 

Growing up, he watched his gramps industry whiskey at his four-story Union County distillery, when alcohol was legal inwards neighboring Kentucky, but soundless banned inwards Tennessee nether Prohibition inwards the 1930s. Although Harvey's gramps had a license to attain in addition to sell whiskey to the U.S. government, he also had some other beginning of under-the-table income. 

"I asked Grandpa, 'How come upwards you lot then rich? You got 3 buggies in addition to vi horses.' He said, 'The wagons come upwards at night,'" Harvey recalled. "They'd come upwards inwards at that spot from Kentucky every night, stuffed with cases in addition to cases of whiskey. I told him I was going to last rich that way."

In Harvey's teenage years, when difficult times hitting after his manlike someone rear left, aiding moonshiners seemed an obvious choice. 

"One of the biggest reasons they all did it was these were pitiable people," Jaymie Frederick, Harvey's niece, said. "Ed's woman rear would accept her children to run at Kay's Ice Cream in addition to throw H2O ice cream out the window then they would induce got food. You did what you lot had to do."

Sometimes into Asheville, sometimes Memphis town | The revenoors chased him, but they couldn't run him downwardly | Each fourth dimension they idea they had him, his engine would explode | He'd go past times similar they were standin' soundless on Thunder Road

Around the curvature from Kingston Pike's Mount Vernon Motel, today occupied past times World Futon, the federal agents devise a makeshift roadblock, 2 cars nudged nose-to-nose across the two-lane highway. They parked their fleet of vehicles inwards the cedar-lined driveway of a roadside farm in addition to waited. But every bit Tweedle-o-twill raced toward them at xc miles an hour, it became apparent that he had no intention of stopping. He flew off the road, crashing over fences in addition to baby trees, evading the roadblock in addition to barreling past times the agents unhampered.

High-speed hot rods were every bit critical to moonshiners every bit the half-gallon jars of whiskey they hauled. Closely intertwined southern traditions fueled past times fast cars in addition to competition, whiskey driving in addition to stock machine racing went hand-in-hand. Whiskey drivers competed both on in addition to off the racetrack, in addition to mechanics similar Harvey battled to build the best whiskey car. They removed the dorsum spot from the cars—Harvey preferred 1940 Fords—to brand infinite for the loads, but the existent magic happened nether the hood.

"We'd modify the motor inwards them, lay a big, high-speed motor in. That's what makes 'em go, go, go," Harvey said. "We had racecars. They'd larn away from anybody."

Anybody, important the law.

And at that spot was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road | Thunder was his engine, in addition to white lightnin' was his charge | There was moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil's thirst | They law they swore they'd larn him, but the devil got him first

On rare occasions, the law managed to corner whiskey drivers in addition to seize their cars, keeping some for themselves in addition to selling the residue at auction. 

"I'd purchase them all dorsum at the courthouse inwards Knoxville," Harvey said, laughing. "I got to where I'd go downwardly at that spot in addition to purchase them, in addition to they'd say, 'You can't induce got no to a greater extent than cars. They're dorsum on the damn route inwards a week.'"

Raised inwards the harsh hills of Appalachia, moonshiners were resilient past times nature, determined to go along their stills operating in addition to their cars running. But it wasn't without risk. Moonshining was a serious gamble, its offenders dependent acre to federal charges of conspiracy, operating an unregistered still, brewing unregistered whiskey, in addition to trafficking an illegal good.

"If you lot got caught, they'd give you lot fourth dimension inwards the workhouse, or they'd lay you lot inwards the Big House," Harvey said. "You'd remain at that spot for mayhap a year."

But with the federal revenue enhancement on whiskey at $9.50 a gallon inwards 1950, when a six-gallon representative sold for $5 or $6, profit-seeking moonshiners willingly took their operations underground.

Roarin' out of Harlan, revvin' upwards his manufacturing works life | He shot the gap at Cumberland, and screamed past times Maynardville | With T-men on his taillights, roadblocks upwards ahead | The mount man child took roads that fifty-fifty angels feared to tread

After clearing the commencement roadblock, Tweedle-o-twill roared downwardly Kingston Pike, unaware that a instant roadblock, a row of cars, bumper to bumper, was aligned at the intersection of Morrell Road in addition to Kingston Pike. John in addition to his friends watched from a nearby farmhouse, located on the present-day site of West Town Mall.

"As he came dorsum on Kingston Pike, he's got an uphill, right-hand turn. This turn, Dead Man's Curve, is what's called an off-camber turn," Gabbard explained. "This was a notorious turn."

Rocketing roughly the bend, he lost control, sending the machine into a dirt banking concern bordering what is today the parking lot of Bearden's Cat Music. The high-speed collision whipped upwards a cloud of blood-red clay dust visible from the instant roadblock. As the federal agents raced to the scene, John pedaled downwardly Kingston Pike to grab a glimpse of the accident that would go legendary. 

In writing Return to Thunder Road, Gabbard encountered a lay out of people claiming to induce got been witnesses of the famed crash, others identifying Tweedle-o-twill every bit a distant relative. While ultimately finding John Fitzgerald's concern human relationship to last most historically accurate, Gabbard didn't write off the others every bit solely false. 

In the Thunder Road days, two-lane highways spidered across the southern countryside, roughly constructed with insubstantial macadam, their paths determined past times the lay of the dry ground in addition to farmers' willingness to sell their property. Accidents alongside moonshiners, traveling past times nighttime in addition to oftentimes dodging the law, were inevitable.

And after the Thunder Road film popularized the accident, southerners set claim to the legend, in addition to it became something of a storytelling tradition. As the Thunder Road tale passed through generations, its tellers adapted the concern human relationship to include their friends in addition to menage unit of measurement in addition to came to regard each even of a local moonshiner's run-in with the law every bit "the" Thunder Road.

In fact, Harvey has a Thunder Road even of his own, regarded past times his married adult woman Barbara every bit the "true Thunder Road."

"Rufe Gunter, he drove a race machine I made, was coming from Newport to Knoxville. Somebody had ratted on him," said Harvey. "When Rufe constitute out, he bought an old car, an old Studebaker, in addition to loaded it down. He idea the law wouldn't know him."

But every bit Rufe neared Knoxville, only exterior the metropolis limits at Swann Bridge on Highway 70, the law began tailing him, determined to grab the Newport outlaw.

"They couldn't grab Rufe," Barbara Harvey said. "It became a vendetta."

He swerved in addition to struck a tree stump, propelling his car, loaded with every bit many every bit 20 cases of whiskey, into the Holston River.

"The law never did stop," said Harvey. "I went upwards there, in addition to I constitute him hanging on a limb inwards the creek, drowned."

For Harvey, Rufe's expiry signaled the fourth dimension to abandon his moonshining days. "When Rufe got drowned upwards there, I quit. I didn't fool with it no more," he said.

Son, his daddy told him, brand this run your final | The tank is filled with hundred-proof, you're all tuned upwards in addition to gassed | Now, don't accept whatsoever chances, if you can't larn through | I'd rather induce got you lot dorsum i time to a greater extent than than all that mountain dew

In an interview with Gabbard, John, at i time deceased, recalled his boyhood amazement at the crash site of Tweedle-o-twill. "That banking concern looked similar a bulldozer blade had cutting into it," John told him. "He hitting direct on with such an affect that it buckled the frame of his car."

As the machine launched through the ground of a roadside utilities substation, its torso sprung open, shattered jars of whiskey seeping their contents amidst the electrical equipment. John watched every bit the substation flare-up into flames, the olfactory belongings of whiskey stiff in addition to biting.

It was the distinct olfactory belongings of cooking whiskey mash that lured law dogs to the moonshine stills dotting the mount landscape, tucked away inwards rocky crags or betwixt grassy knolls.

"They stayed till somebody ratted on them," Harvey said.

The illegal brewing procedure started with mash, a heart in addition to soul consisting of liquefied fruit or grain manufacturing works life in addition to warm water, eventually to last mixed with yeast in addition to covered for several days to ferment. After fermentation, the soundless was placed over a fire, bringing the alcohol to a boil in addition to pushing the vapor through copper tubing submerged inwards a mutual frigidity H2O bath. The alcohol vapor condensed into a H2O whiskey, called singlings, in addition to was heated i time to a greater extent than to yield a crystal clear liquid. Some called it 'splode; others called it mount dew. Most only knew it every bit 'shine.

Blazing correct through Knoxville, out on Kingston Pike | Then correct exterior of Bearden, at that spot they made the fatal strike | He left the route at 90; that's all at that spot is to say | The devil got that moonshine in addition to the mount man child that day

John gazed at the motionless, bloodied shape of Tweedle-o-twill lying adjacent to the crushed car. Thrown upon impact, the small-framed, twenty-something human being was crumpled on the pavement, his body resting humbly inwards the fetal position. His pilus was black in addition to cutting inwards the typical 1950s fashion, in addition to the sleeves of his light-colored shirt were stylishly rolled.

The officials tried to shoo John, but every bit good entranced to leave, he only stepped onto his father's acre that bordered the scene.

"I recall looking at the driver in addition to thinking, 'What a waste,'" John told Gabbard. "He induce got his life for a torso of whiskey."