Written by Jim Tucker; edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter
Martha Jane Morgan Tucker was married to James “Jim” M. Tucker, and lived at Eldorado, in Montgomery County, North Carolina. Born in 1833, her parents were Matthew Morgan and Sarah Harris Morgan. In May of 1876, an incident occurred between Jane Tucker and John H. Davis that was described in an article in the Carolina Watchman on June 8, 1876 (article attached). Mrs. Tucker reportedly assaulted Davis with “hoop poles, hand spikes, and the like with a fury not often exhibited by one of her sex.” Apparently, Davis was “badly beaten,” the doctor was called to attend him, and Mrs. Tucker was taken into custody of the local law enforcement. Readers were not informed of the cause of the dispute between Mrs. Tucker and Mr. Davis; nor were they informed of what punishment was meted out on Mrs. Tucker. Indeed, the writer of the article, identified only as “Traveler,” seems more amused by Mrs. Tucker’s actions than dismayed: He wrote, “Eldorado has many things to boast of…not least a woman who has whipped two men.”
Jane died in 1905 and was buried alongside her husband at the Henderson Family Cemetery near Eldorado, N.C.
Cynthia Gordon found and shared the attached Carolina Watchman article with me. Here is a transcription of an excerpt of the article, in case the image is difficult to read: “The quiet of this remote section was broken day before yesterday by an unprovoked attack upon the person of Jehu [sic] H. Davis by the wife of James Tucker. Davis was raised up among the Quakers and when smitten ‘on one cheek turns the other also,’ but Mrs. Tucker not accustomed to ‘shuffle, cut and deal’ and play both hands herself, became provoked with quaker usages and fell upon yank with hoop poles, hand spikes and the like with a fury not often exhibited by one of her sex. The result was Davis was badly beaten. Dr. McCanless [sic] was called in without delay, and after carefully examining and dressing his wounds pronounces the case critical if not fatal. Mrs. Tucker is in the custody of the proper officers.
Eldorada [sic] has many things to boast of, viz: fine waterpowers, rich gold mines, fertile soil, pure atmosphere, romantic hills and mountains, fine deer and turkerys [sic], fish in every stream, pretty ‘corn fed nymphs,’ big rattlesnakes and last but not least a woman who has whipped two men.
P.S. Davis is improving and will get well.
Yours etc.,
TRAVELER”
Editor’s Note: According to an article published in the Raleigh Sentinel on September 28, 1876, Mrs. Tucker was fined $10 plus court costs after being tried for physically attacking “John H. Davis (‘Yankee Davis’) formerly senator from Montgomery and Randolph” (p 3). (article also attached)
Sources:
Carolina Watchman, Salisbury, North Carolina, June 8, 1876, p 3.
Montgomery County Heritage, NC Vol. ll. p 508.