Everett Ord Winningham was born October 1, 1911, in Pickett County, son of Porter V. Winningham and Addie Mae Garrett. Ord was killed when a fellow convict stabbed Ord twice in the back at the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville on June 22, 1942.  The family’s residence in 1942 was Linary in Overton County.  Ord was buried at Big Lick Cemetery in Cumberland County.

The Crossville Chronicle, June 25, 1942:  “Everett Ord Winningham, 30, was killed almost instantly at the State Penitentiary, Nashville, on Monday by a fellow convict. Porter Winningham, father of the deceased, went to Nashville Monday and brought the body to the Winningham home in the southern part of the county; burial was on Tuesday.”

An article in The (Nashville) Tennessean on June 23, 1942 (pages 1-2) describes recent discoveries of evidence to overturn Winningham’s conviction.

Convict Claiming Innocence of Murder Stabbed to Death

Proof Said Found Ord Winningham in Florida at Time of Overton Crime

The strangest murder case ever recorded in the Upper Cumberland country took another bizarre turn yesterday when its central character — a man who first confessed the murder and then offered substantial proof that he was not guilty — died at the hands of a fellow convict in the state prison.

He was Everett Ord Winningham, 30, of Cumberland County, serving a 20-year sentence. He would have been eligible for parole next spring.

Warden Thomas P. Gore sald Winningham was killed early yesterday morning by Howard Overby, 26, Georgia native who was serving a 19-to-22-year sentence for larceny and second degree murder. Overby was quoted as saying that Winningham attacked him in their cell block shortly before breakfast, wielding a putty knife. Overby said he picked up a screwdriver and stabbed Winningham in self-defense. Winningham was stabbed twice in the neck [death certificate says back].

A larceny conviction was made against Overby in Rutherford County and 10 years were added la 1940 when Overby was involved In the slaying of a guard at the Brushy Mountain prison, according to penitentiary records.

Winningham was sentenced to 20 years for participating in the murder of William Holbert of Overton County on March 25. 1932. Two alleged companions also are serving prison terms. Sanford Dodson, convicted in his third trial, is serving 20 years while Jess Huckaby, who pleaded guilty but later retracted his confession and claimed that he had confessed because of his fear that he would be convicted anyway, is serving 30 years.

Winningham, who also maintained that he was forced into confession, actually was working in Florida on the day the crime was committed, according to the testimony and records of his employer.

First definite evidence that Winningham, Dodson and Huckaby might have been innocent was obtained by John Nichols, Nashville insurance adjuster who formerly taught school at the prison and who hear Winningham’s story.

“Most of the fellows out there will tell you that they are innocent,” Nichols said yesterday, “but Winningham’s yarn was so strange that I decided to investigate it.”

Farmer Slain in Home

Holbert, an Overton County farmer, was shot to death in his home and his wife and daughter were beaten into insensibility.  The two women were unable to identify the killers.  The motive, as charged in later trials, was robbery. However, the proof showed only that Holbert had possessed $14 on the day before the murder and that $10 was found in his pockets afterward.

Warrants first were issued for Alonzo Hayes, Otis Smith and Winningha. After Winningham surrendered, however, the first warrants were voided and new warrants filed for Huckaby and Dodson.

Winningham, after retracting his confession, maintained that he was in Florida at the time of the murder and had not heard about the crime until he reached his home in Cumberland County about the middle of April — approximately 20 days after the crime was committed.  He claimed that, when he reached home, he was informed by Dodson that he was wanted for murder in Overton Couty and that there was a $700 reward for his arrest.

Sought Reward

“I knew I wasn’t guilty and I could prove it,” Winningham told investigators, “so I told Dodson to take me over to Livingston and collect the money.”

He and Dodson then picked up Huckaby and all three started to Livingston. At Crossville, however, a deputy sheriff took charge of Winningham and carried him to Livingston, where he was charged with murder. Warrants then were issued for Huckaby and Dodson. Huckaby confessed, implicating Dodson and Winningham.

Winningham’s confession was made, he charged later, after he was beaten, drugged and carried to the scene of the crime where officers told him that if he would confess, the real blame would be shifted to Dodson and Huckaby and he would be let off with a brief sentence of a year or so.

Winningham said he was working in Florida on the farm of W. B. Howland, at Live Oak, at the time of the murder, but claimed that prosecutors told him this could be disproved.

Sees Employer Enter Court

Howland, however, came to Livingston when the trials opened. Dodson — the only one of the three who had not confessed — went on trial first, with Winningham and Huckaby testifying against him.

While Winningham was on the witness stand he saw Howland enter the courtroom. Winningham immediately quit testifying, conferred with his attorney, and then announced that he had been coerced into confessing. He then said that “there is a man in this room who knows I’m innocent.”

The jury failed to agree in the first trial of Dodson, despite Howland’s testimony, but Winningham was convicted. Huckaby accepted the 30-year sentence without trial. Howland’s testimony was not accepted by the jury because he had brought no records with him, relying on his memory to fix the date of Winningham’s employment, members of the jury said later.

When Dodson was brought up for his second trial, both Winningham and Huckaby refused to testify against him, since both had repudiated their confessions.

Jury Disagreed Again

The principal evidence offered in the second trial was the testimony of two youths who claimed the saw a car, driven by Dodson, dash out of the lane leading to the Holbert home and crash into an embankment at the intersection of the lane and the main road. The defense, however, offered proof that there was no embankment at the intersection, and again the jury disagreed.

In his third and last trial, the main evidence against Dobson was the testimony of a girl listed as Laura Houston, then serving her second term at the Tullahoma reform school for girls.  She testified that she and another girl, Stella Sullivan, were with the three boys on the night of the murder and waited in the car while the boys were in the Holbert home.

The Sullivan girl, however, testified that Laura Houston was lying. Nevertheless, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty, and Dodson said he had no money for an appeal.

Returns with Record

Nichols, after hearing the boys’ story, made a trip to Florida several months ago and brought back a farm ledger which contained an entry dated 3-28 (1932) showing that Winningham was paid $2.71 on that date for his work.

Nichols also went to Waycross, Ga., where he learned that on March 30, 1932, two days after Winningham left the Howland farm, Winningham was arrested by Waycross officers for hoboing.

He was given a suspended sentence of four months.  Winningham, according to records  of the Salvation Army, then spent some time at one of the Army homes in Macon, Ga., before returning to Tennessee.

Affidavits from a county judge, a doctor, and other influential citizens testifying as to the honor of the Howland family also were obtained by Nichols, who presented all the new evidence to the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles. The case was in the “pending” file at the time of Winningham’s death, Nichols said.

Howard Overby

The inmate who killed Ord Winningham, Howard Overby, had several murder convictions and jail escapes on his record before the 1942 murder.  All murders appear to be stabbings.  With the exception of his first victim, Overby’s victims were inmates and guards in the prison system.  He was captured, paroled, and revoked several times until the on-line Georgia prison record ends (1963).