Edward Ward Carmack

Ever noticed the statue front and center of the State Capitol Building on Charlotte?

Edward Ward Carmack - By Ilikecheese (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Tennessee State Capitol - Image, Metro Nashville Archives, Nashville Public Library digital collection

The likeness of Edward Ward Carmack keeps watch over Legislative Plaza, and just beyond, the corner of Union and 7th, where he was shot and killed in 1908. My grandfather, Ernest Oeser, was 13 year old newsboy, selling papers at the corner of 6th and Church on November 10, 1908 when shots rang out.  He ran in the direction of the shots along with many others.  He saw Mr. Carmack lying in the street.  He had been shot.  Duncan Cooper was also shot.  Carmack and Cooper were enemies.  Their feud was both personal and political. The tale did not end with the death of Carmack.  Bill Carey told the story in the Nashville City Paper a few years ago, in the Nashville City Paper.  Click here to read Carey's story - A century later, no one really knows Nashville’s most famous murder




Click on the several links below to read more about Carmack and the Coopers.


Edward Ward Carmack
Duncan Brown Cooper
Cooper v. State