In the winter of 1905, Posseman John Carver, a male officer, was on a raid in Cocke County, Tennessee, when he was shot and killed. The events leading to his death began when a federal posse, including Carver, discovered a 70-gallon still just over the state line in Haywood County, North Carolina. At the still, the posse arrested one of the operators, a man named Wilson Price.
Following the initial arrest, Posseman Carver and another posseman, Oscar Hopkins, were dispatched to the nearby home of the second operator, John Brown, in Cocke County to take him into custody. Upon their arrival, Brown refused to allow the officers to enter his log cabin. Instead of surrendering, Brown fired a shotgun from over the door of his home, striking Carver in the chest and killing him instantly.
After the shooting, Hopkins retreated to get reinforcements. The suspect, John Brown, managed to escape, and it is not known if he was ever apprehended for the murder of Posseman John Carver. The other still operator, Wilson Price, was successfully taken to Newport, Tennessee, and jailed. Posseman Carver was survived by his parents. The location of his murder was tragically close to where Cocke County Sheriff Joseph Dawson had been killed on a similar raid years earlier.
