Clarence Leon Raby

Case record: Clarence Leon Raby

Background

Clarence Leon Raby became one of the FBI's 10 most wanted criminals after he shot and killed two men. Raby was 26. The case record described him as a “Career criminal; shot holdup victim and policeman”. Raby lived near Knoxville.

Police said Raby served a brief term in the state prison for theft and had escaped from the Knox County workhouse near Knoxville the day before Frank C. Keith was slain. Raby was serving a sentence on a drunken driving conviction.

Raby was lodged in the Knox County jail for safekeeping after he turned himself in.

The offence

Raby was sought in relation to the robbery and killing of Frank C. Keith, an Andersonville, Tenn., merchant. The merchant was slain July 7. Officers said two gunmen took about $1,000 from Keith before felling him with a shotgun blast.

Raby was also linked to the killing of Union County deputy sheriff Ben DeVault and the earlier killing of another man during an exchange of gunfire with police searching for Raby.

Authorities said Raby gunned down Ben DeVault, Union County deputy sheriff, after he and a brother, Lloyd, spotted the fugitive on a rural road 20 miles to the east.

Raby was armed with a pistol when he killed DeVault, shooting him with a bullet in the head while DeVault shot at him in a truck which Raby commandeered from Fred Rutherford, a farmer. The killer released Rutherford unharmed and later abandoned the truck on the outskirts of Knoxville, 25 miles to the southeast.

Police said that after the truck was abandoned, a man answering Raby’s description held up a couple outside a tavern, pistol whipped the woman, and fled in their car. The car was found abandoned a few miles from Knoxville.

The record also stated that Dan Cooper, 27, was killed and that Dan Cooper’s father, Kaley Cooper, 52, was wounded by Knox County officers who were hunting for Raby with bloodhounds. The Coopers were described as residents of the Heiskell community where Raby lives.

Kaley Cooper had been charged with felonious assault with intent to murder.

Investigation

Police and authorities conducted an intensive search for Clarence Leon Raby in east Tennessee. Police were seeking Raby in the robbery-slaying of an Anderson County merchant and the killing of a Union County deputy sheriff.

Knox County Sheriff E. B. Bowles said four of his deputies felled the Coopers after the latter opened fire at the officers with a rifle and shotgun.

The sheriff said Kaley Cooper, “shot in the arm and chest,” had been charged with felonious assault with intent to murder.

Bowles said the Coopers, residents of the Heiskell community where Raby lives, had ambushed his officers. Heiskell was about 15 miles southeast of here.

Dan Cooper’s father, Kaley Cooper, underwent surgery at a Knoxville hospital and told police: “We thought you were Raby.”

Chief Deputy Sheriff Jim Colquitt, one of the four officers, said: “I don't see how it was possible for them (the Coopers) to think the four of us were Raby.”

Arrest / surrender / custody

On Aug. 28, the fugitive, bearded and dirty from living in the hills, turned himself in to former Knox County Sheriff E. B. Bowles and was lodged in the Knox County jail for safekeeping.

Raby then died while trying to escape custody.

Escape attempt and death

Clarence Leon Raby called officers to his fourth floor cell on the pretense he wanted to make a statement in connection with another death in his case. He pulled a gun on them and said: “I'm getting out of here”.

Raby forced Tennessee Bureau of Identification agent Walter Bearden and Sgt. Clarence Brown of the highway patrol to get on an elevator—the only way out of the building—with jailer Dave Humphreys.

On the first floor, Raby got off the elevator, fired at other officers through the glass partitioned jailer’s office, and ran toward the front of the building.

Raby was felled by two bullets on the front lawn.

Raby was shot to death Monday night as he tried to shoot his way out of jail on October 24, 1960. A deputy, Kenneth Milligan, was wounded as he shot it out with Raby in the jail’s corridor.

Trial

Clarence Leon Raby faced trial on Nov. 7 at Clinton on charges he killed Frank C. Keith, an Andersonville, Tenn., merchant last July during a robbery.

Sheriffs deputy Ben DeVault was killed Aug. 1 as he tried to arrest the fugitive on the murder charge.

Raby and another Knox County man, Billy McCoy, 22, were charged with murder in the holdup-slaying of Frank C. Keith, 61, at his Andersonville, Tenn., store last month.

Officers said Raby and Billy McCoy were described as gunmen who took about $1,000 from Keith before felling him with a shotgun blast.

Police said McCoy had been sentenced on a forgery charge and escaped with Raby.

Outcome

Clarence Leon Raby was shot to death on October 24, 1960 as he tried to shoot his way out of jail.

A deputy, Kenneth Milligan, was wounded during the shootout in the jail’s corridor.

Other details

The record listed the disposition as “Killed in escape attempt, Oct. 24, 1960”.

The record provided the following details of the killings and search:

• Dan Cooper, 27, was killed.
• Kaley Cooper, 52, was wounded by Knox County officers.
• The elder Cooper underwent surgery at a Knoxville hospital.
• Kaley Cooper was charged with felonious assault with intent to murder.
• Kaley Cooper told police: “We thought you were Raby.”
• Chief Deputy Sheriff Jim Colquitt said: “I don't see how it was possible for them (the Coopers) to think the four of us were Raby.”
• Raby was described as “bearded and dirty from living in the hills” when he turned himself in.
• Officers said Raby released Fred Rutherford unharmed.
• Police said the killer later abandoned the truck on the outskirts of Knoxville, 25 miles to the southeast.
• The car used in the tavern holdup was found abandoned a few miles from Knoxville.

The record listed:

• SEX: M
• RACE: ?
• TYPE: T
• MOTIVE: CE
• MO: Career criminal; shot holdup victim and policeman
• MARGIN text included “home last updates contact” which was not part of the case details.