Death of Hank Williams
 Entrance marker of the Oakwood Annex Cemetery in Montgomery, Alabama | |
| Date | January 1, 1953 |
|---|---|
| Location | Oak Hill, West Virginia |
| Cause | Insufficiency of the right ventricle of the heart |
| Burial | January 4, 1953, at Oakwood Annex Cemetery in Montgomery, Alabama |
| Inquest | January 1, 1953, in Oak Hill, West Virginia |
| Coroner | Ivan Malinin |
Williams was scheduled to perform at the
Tributes to Williams took place the day after his death. His body was initially transported to Montgomery and placed in a silver coffin shown at his mother's boarding house. The funeral took place on January 4 at the Montgomery Auditorium, where an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 attended while the auditorium was filled with 2,750 mourners.
Background
In 1951, Williams fell during a hunting trip in Tennessee, reactivating his old back pains. Later, he started to consume painkillers, including morphine, and alcohol to ease the pain.
Due to Williams's excesses,
Williams was scheduled to perform at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, West Virginia, on Wednesday, December 31 (New Year's Eve), 1952. Advance ticket sales totaled US$3,500 (equivalent to $41,443 in 2024).[7] Because of an ice storm in the Nashville area that day, Williams could not fly, so he hired a college student, Charles Carr, to drive him to the concerts. Carr called the Charleston auditorium from Knoxville to say that Williams would not arrive on time owing to the ice storm and was ordered to drive him to Canton, Ohio, for the New Year's Day concert there.[8] Williams and Carr departed from Montgomery, Alabama, at around 1:00 p.m.
The final trip
Williams arrived at the
Carr stopped at a small all-night restaurant and asked Williams if he wanted to eat. He said he did not, and those are thought to be his last words.[11] Carr later drove on until he stopped for fuel at a gas station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, where he discovered Williams seemingly asleep in the back seat. He was unresponsive and his rigor mortis had already begun to set in. Carr immediately realized that he was dead and informed the filling station's owner, Glenn Burdette, who called the chief of the local police, O.H. Stamey. Because a corpse was involved, Stamey called in radio officer Howard Janney.[12] Stamey and Janney found some empty beer cans and the unfinished handwritten lyrics to a song yet to be recorded in the Cadillac convertible.[13]
The town's coroner and mortician, Dr. Ivan Malinin, a Russian immigrant who barely spoke English, performed the autopsy on Williams at the Tyree Funeral House. Malinin found hemorrhages in the heart and neck and pronounced the cause of death as "insufficiency of [the] right ventricle of [the] heart." Malinin also found that, while apparently not contributing to his death, Williams had also been severely kicked in the groin during a fight in a Montgomery bar a few days earlier[14] and had injured his left arm, which had been subsequently bandaged.[15] That evening, when the announcer at Canton announced Williams's death to the gathered crowd, they started laughing, thinking that it was just another excuse. After Hawkshaw Hawkins and other performers started singing "I Saw the Light" as a tribute to Williams, the crowd, now realizing that he was indeed dead, followed them.[16]
Controversy
The circumstances of Williams's death are still controversial. The result of the original autopsy indicated that Williams died of a heart attack.[17] Author Colin Escott concluded in his book Hank Williams: The Biography that the cause of death was heart failure caused by the combination of alcohol, morphine and chloral hydrate.[18]
The investigating officer in Oak Hill declared later that Carr told him that he had pulled over at the Skyline Drive-In restaurant outside Oak Hill, and found Williams dead. Having interviewed Carr, the best that Peter Cooper of The Tennessean could offer was that "somewhere between Mount Hope and Oak Hill", Carr noticed Williams' blanket had fallen off.
"I saw that the overcoat and blanket that had been covering Hank had slipped off," Carr told another reporter. "When I pulled it back up, I noticed that his hand was stiff and cold." When he tried to move his hands, they snapped back to the same position the hotel porters had arranged him in.
Carr told Cooper this happened at the side of the road six miles from Oak Hill, but investigating officer Howard Janney placed it in the Skyline Drive-In restaurant's parking lot, noting that Carr sought help from a Skyline employee. Another researcher decided it could have happened at any of the gas stations near Mount Hope.
Regardless, Carr said he next drove to "a cut-rate gas station". "I went inside and an older guy, around 50, came back out with me, looked in the back seat, and said, 'I think you've got a problem'. He was very kind, and said Oak Hill General Hospital was six miles on my left," and that would place him in Mount Hope.
They later drove to Oak Hill in search of a hospital, stopping at a Pure Oil station on the edge of town.[19] Carr's account of how he discovered that Williams was dead outside Oak Hill is challenged by Dr. Leo Killorn, a Canadian intern at Beckley hospital, West Virginia, fifteen miles from Oak Hill, who claims that Carr drove up to the hospital and asked him to see Williams. Killorn stated that the fact that Carr told him it was Hank Williams caused him to remember the incident. Carr was exhausted and, according to the police reports, nervous enough to invite suspicion that foul play had been involved in Williams' death.[20]
Funeral
The body was transported to Montgomery on January 2. It was placed in a silver coffin that was first shown at his mother's boarding house at 318 McDounough Street for two days. His funeral took place on January 4 at the Montgomery Auditorium,
Aftermath
The president of MGM told Billboard magazine that the company got only about five requests for pictures of Williams during the weeks prior to his death, but over 300 afterwards. The local record shops sold out of all of their records, and customers were asking for all records ever released by Williams.[26] His final single released during his lifetime was ironically titled "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive". "Your Cheatin' Heart" was written and recorded in 1952 but released in 1953 after Williams's death. The song was number one on the country charts for six weeks. It provided the title for the 1964 biographic film of the same name, which starred George Hamilton.[32] The Cadillac in which Williams was riding just before he died is now preserved at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.[33]
Oklahoma investigation of Horace Marshall
As part of an investigation of illicit drug traffic conducted by the Oklahoma legislature, representative Robert Cunningham seized Marshall's files. During an initial hearing, Marshall insisted that he was a doctor, refusing to answer further statements. Marshall gave Cunningham a list of his patients, including Hank Williams. Defending his position, he claimed that Williams possibly committed suicide. Marshall stated that Williams told him that he had decided to "destroy the Hank Williams that was making the money they were getting". He attributed the decision to Williams' declining career: "Most of his bookings were of the honky-tonk beer joint variety that he simply hated. If he came to this conclusion (of suicide), he still had enough prestige left as a star to make a first-class production of it ... whereas, six months from now, unless he pulled himself back up into some high-class bookings, he might have been playing for nickels and dimes on skid row."[34]
On March 10, Marshall was called again to testify. He acknowledged that in previous testimony he had falsely claimed to be a physician. Representative Cunningham presented the committee a telegram from Marshall's seized files, directed to the estate of Hank Williams for $736.39, and stated that the committee was evaluating the revocation of Marshall's parole.[35] On March 12, 1953, Billie Jean Jones appeared before the Oklahoma committee. She stated that she received after Williams' death a bill for $800 from Marshall for the treatment. Jones refused to pay, and further stated that Marshall later intended to convince her to pay him by assuring that he would "pave her the way to collect her husband's state". Jones declared, "I have never accepted the report that my husband died of a heart attack."[36]
On March 19, Marshall declared that he felt Williams was depressed and committed suicide by taking a higher dose of the drugs he had prescribed. Marshall admitted that he had also prescribed chloral hydrate to his recently deceased wife, Faye, as a headache medicine. He denied any responsibility in both deaths.[37] On March 21, Robert Travis of the State Crime Bureau determined that Marshall's handwriting corresponded to that of Dr. Cecil W. Lemmon on six prescriptions written for Williams.[38] The same day, the District Attorney's office declared that after a new review of the autopsy report of Faye Marshall, toxicological and microscopic tests confirmed that her death on March 3 was not related to the medication prescribed by her husband.[39] Oklahoma Governor Johnston Murray revoked the parole of Horace Raphol "Toby" Marshall, who returned to prison to complete his forgery sentence.[40]
References
- ^ Tyler 2008, p. 176.
- ^ Williams, Roger M. p. 96
- ISBN 9781604733037.
- ^ Koon, George William; p.70
- ^ Wolff 2000, p. 160.
- ^ Koon, George William; p.74
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Lilly, John. "Hank's Lost Charleston Show". West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- ^ Olson, Ted p.296
- ^ Olson, Ted p.298
- ^ Olson, Ted p.300
- ^ Olson, Ted p.303
- ^ Koon, George William p.79
- ^ Olson, Ted p.306
- ^ Celon, Curtis p.79
- ISBN 9781604739343.
- ^ "Find Attack Killed Hank Williams". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. January 11, 1953. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- ^ Browne, Ray Broadus; p.65
- ^ Escott,Colin p.241 & 242
- ^ Escott,Colin p.242
- ^ a b Hank Williams Trail Brouchure (PDF). Retrieved March 14, 2011.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ "Long forgotten Montgomery auditorium to see new life". WSFA. February 11, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
- ^ The Montgomery Auditorium, located at the intersection of Perry and Monroe Street,[21] was renovated in 2011 to serve as Montgomery's city hall.[22]
- ISBN 9781416595755.
- ^ a b p.70
- ^ ISBN 9780226662855.
- ^ Finch, Jackie Sheckler;p.73
- ^ Finch, Jackie Sheckler; p.72
- ^ Birk, Carl S; p.184
- ^ Curtis, Ellison p.80
- ^ Williams, Roger M; p.251
- ^ Koon, George William p.161
- ^ "The Hank Williams Museum".
- ^ Flippo, Chet; p.228
- ^ "'Doctor' Admits Ordering Drug". The Telegraph-Herald. March 11, 1953. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- ^ "Conspirancy Studied in Singer's Death". The Victoria Advocate. Vol. 107, no. 68. March 18, 1953. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- ^ "Convict Says Williams Depressed... Singer Said Possible Suicide". Vol. 51, no. 298. Pampa Daily News. United Press International. March 19, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved March 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Name is Forged to Prescriptions, Expert Says". Vol. 57, no. 242. Corsicana Daily Sun. Associated Press. March 21, 1953. Retrieved March 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "No Connection of Pills and Death". Vol. 52, no. 52. Ada Weekly News. Associated Press. March 26, 1953. p. 10. Retrieved March 5, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Five-State Probe Launched Into Death of Hank Williams". The News and Courier. Vol. 151, no. 70. March 11, 1953.
Cited texts
- Browne, Ray Broadus (2005). Profiles of Popular Culture: A Reader. Popular Press. ISBN 978-0-87972-869-4.
- Celon, Curtis W. (1995). Country music culture: from hard times to Heaven. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-934-3. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- Hefley, James C. (1992). Country Music Comin' Home. Hannibal Books. ISBN 978-0-929292-27-4.
- Koon, George William (2002). Hank Williams, so lonesome. University of Mississippi press. ISBN 978-1-57806-283-6. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
Hank Williams.
- Olson, Ted (2004). Crossroads: A Southern Culture Annual. Mercer University Press. ISBN 978-0-86554-866-4. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- Peterson, Richard A. (1997). Creating country music: fabricating authenticity. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-66284-8. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- Sheckler Finch, Jackie (2011). It Happened in Alabama. Globe Pequot. ISBN 978-0-7627-6113-5.
- Stanton, Scott (2003). The tombstone tourist: musicians. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7434-6330-0. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
- Tyler, Don (2008). Music of the Postwar Era. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-34191-5.
- Williams, Roger M. (1981). Sing a sad song: the life of Hank Williams. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-00861-0. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
- Wolff, Kurt (2000). Country Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-858-28534-4.