The best laid plans go awry and they see Pauline in the car with Buford as they pass by. The other men would kill her in revenge of Louis Hathcock. The plan was to lure Pauline out with a innocent crippled boy. Those conspirators planned to send the sheriff off on a wild goose chase, then return to the house. Allegedly, there were three others involved in the ambush and the purpose was to kill Buford Pusser’s wife. Time would witness the deaths of three of the conspirators, but Kirksey Nix would remain on the loose. I cannot explain it in this post, but I will tell you about it in the next one. Some people say that the target was actually Pauline. Now here’s another rumor that might ring true if you think about it. Towhead White was furious and ordered a hit. Whatever the state of his home life, Buford Pusser had just killed the girlfriend of a very prominent member of the Dixie Mafia. I don’t know very many people willing to blow their own face off to avoid getting a divorce.Īlthough I am not about to dispute Sheriff Pusser’s marriage troubles, I am a little skeptical when it comes to a man blowing off half of his face. If this was the case, he would have taken a high powered rifle, put it in his non-dominant hand, and shot himself in the face. I would never claim the sheriff was a saint, but to claim that he staged the ambush so he could kill his wife is a bit ludicrous. Did Sheriff Pusser blow off his own face to avoid getting a divorce? I reached out to the man, but he wouldn’t respond to my interview request.

Many locals had family members that were bootleggers, so their view of the authorities was automatically negative. Of course if you talk to all the locals they are going to repeat the rumor mill. So, it must be true, right? Wrong! What kind of…never mind. The man’s main critic claims that he talked to a bunch of the locals who told him this story. Some claim that Pusser had girlfriends on the side and Pauline was about to divorce him. Some of his critics claim that he refused to attend the funeral, but I haven’t seen any official documentation to prove it. Pauline Pusser was laid to rest while the sheriff was in the hospital. Perhaps he had a temporary bout of amnesia, or perhaps the sheriff was planning to go rogue. After 18 days in the hospital and a dozen surgeries to repair his face, Pusser declared he couldn’t tell who had shot him. A few others were involved in the ambush but the proof wouldn’t come out for decades. Somehow the sheriff would survive the attack, but Pauline was killed.Īt first, Pusser declared he knew precisely who was responsible and named Towhead White, George McGann, Gary McDaniel, and Kirksey Nix. Moments later the assassins again found their mark and gunshots rang out hitting Sherriff Pusser in the face and jaw blowing it apart. He sped up the road a couple of miles until he was sure he had lost his tail, and then pulled over to check on Pauline.

The engine roared to life, and the car lurched ahead of the assassins. The sheriff ducked and stepped on the gas. The Cadillac’s passenger opened fire hitting Pauline in the head. (Some accounts claim there were two cars following the sheriff.) As the two cars reached a narrow bridge, the Cadillac flashed on its headlights and came racing up beside the officer’s car. A dark colored Cadillac pulled out from behind the church and followed the sheriff with its lights off. Pusser passed the New Hope Methodist church looking for the reported disturbance but continued driving when he found the place quiet. In reality, the disturbance was a ruse to ambush the young sheriff and his wife. The pair drove out to New Hope Road to check it out. Pauline Pusser decided to ride along with her husband as she had done on many occasions. Sherriff Pusser received a drunk & disorderly disturbance call at his home in the wee hours before dawn. Upon hearing the news, White called his friend Kirksey Nix, Jr and ordered the hit on Sheriff Pusser and his wife, Pauline, or so we’re told. A grand jury would find the sheriff had acted in self defense and no charges were filed. White was in prison when his lover, Louise Hathcock pulled a gun on Sheriff Pusser and was killed. The Dixie Mafia was known as the State Line Mob and was led by Carl Douglas “Towhead” White. Whatever your view of the legendary man, the following story is fact. Some people loved him and thought he was a hero and others demonized him. The sheriff was a controversial character from the moment he pinned the badge to his shirt. Re-published from Synova Ink with permission

Sheriff ambushed