Clyde Tolley

Notes:

TOLLEY, Clyde
"Elizabethton Star," Sunday, October 16, 1938
JOHN CARVER IS GIVEN 10 YEARS IN TOLLEY DEATH
John Carver, white-haired 68-year-old Buffalo mountain resident, was sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary after having been found guilty of second degree murder by a circuit court jury which deliberated two hours before returning its verdict late Friday afternoon.
Carver was charged with the fatal shooting of Clyde Tolley early last summer in the front yard of the Carver home. Tolley died shortly after being hit in the stomach with a shotgun charge filed by Carver, who admitted, was "too drunk to remember anything about it."
Carver and his 26-year-old daughter, Betty, testified that the three had been drinking prior to the time of the shooting. Tolley was a visitor at the Carver home, having spent the previous night there. The defendant's daughter declared that Tolley and her father had been "good friends," and that the shooting was the result of an accident.
She stated that her father had slipped on the porch of their home and that the gun, which he had brought out "to shoot rabbits with" had gone off accidentally as Carver sought to keep his balance. Betty was with Tolley in the yard when he was struck.