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Tales from the 40s, 50 and 60s Long Gone
Tales of the Old Days
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A Month long Manhunt
For more than a month Law En-forcement officers combed the hills and hollows of the portion of Sullivan County known as Blairs Gap searching for Richard Hickman, their chief suspect in the unusual death of Ernest Dykes, 52, whose battered body had been found lying face up, partly submerged, in a small creek running through a wheat field on a farm.
A coroners jury had been called by Coroner J.E. (Monty) Upchurch, and Sullivan County Physician E. O. Depew, who had examined the body, and testified that a blow on the right side of the victim’s head was a contributing factor in his death.
The doctor also said that since the body was found in a creek, freezing could also have entered into the causes of death.
Other testimony established strong circumstantial evidence.
Hickman, according to official investigators, had appeared at the home of Ted Dykes, brother of the victim, and told the family of the slain man that he and the victim, who worked in Oak Ridge and was home for a brief visit, had been “drunk” together on the night before in the wheat field, and that he had found Ernest’s body in the creek.
Investigators said there were signs of something having been dragged through the wheat to the creek where the body was found.
Dr. Depew reported that there was no evidence of water in the victims lungs, indicating that the man had probably been dead before he was placed in the creek.
Coroner Upchurch informed the jury that the victim’s hands had been neatly folded across his chest, much on the order of a layman’s idea of how undertakers place bodies in caskets. That established proof, the Coroner said, that the body had definitely been placed in the creek.
After Hickman had reported the location of the body to Ted Dykes, he simply walked away down a country road, and made himself unavailable for officers to question.
A rather extensive man hunt followed.
For weeks Constables and Deputy Sheriffs drove the Blairs Gap roadways, seeking even a glimpse of the missing suspect.
At last, on a Monday night in mid April, officers found Hickman walking down a country road about 9 p.m. in the evening.
Coroner Upchurch, who was also a Sullivan Deputy Sheriff, along with Chief Deputy Sullivan County Sheriff Amos Robinson and Chief Deputy D. L. McConnell made the arrest. Hickman was immediately taken to the Sullivan County Jail at Blountville to await a preliminary hearing before Magistrate W.N. Showalter on the following Friday.