The Doctor and the Photographer
Many questions remain unanswered to this day such as where the photographer come from that snapped the death shot of Harmon Teaster and the other four men. Did the photographer actually shoot pictures of the destroyed mill? Was he called as word spread and he and many others came up the mountain from Del Rio? Finding those photographs would be a treasure in the telling of this story. There was no information on the photographer or the other photos until this month with my recent discovery. I talked to one historian from Newport who states he had copies of all of the photographs and loaned them to a lady who never returned them. So we know that at least a few photos were taken and exist somewhere.
News reports state the doctor who was called from Newport to investigate the incident was Dr. R. C. Smith. However, in 1905, it was not a state law that death certificates had to be registered or done. That said, I would think that some type of report was done and also exists somewhere.
Note: The state of Tennessee did not require the keeping of death records until 1908. This law expired at the end of 1912. In 1913, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a new law that called for the keeping of more detailed death certificates. This law went into effect in 1914.
Note: Harmon Teaster’s name is already being spelled incorrectly.
background photo courtesy of Tennessee Historical Society
Tennessee State Library and Archives
