Richard “Dick” Drummond, a young coal miner was hanged from the bridge after he was framed that he never committed at Coal Creek in the early 1890s in eastern Tennessee, near Knoxville.
The story goes that during the Coal Creek War, when local miners felt they needed protection, convict labor was used instead, which was considered cheap labor at the time.
A young, dashing, 25-year-old, Dick Drummond coal miner, who was an instant hit with the ladies. The soldiers became upset, as the women often overlooked them in favor of Drummond.
One evening at a local dance, Drummond found himself in trouble, where a fight erupted later that evening over a girl. Later, a soldier found a private dead. Sixteen soldiers immediately thought it was Drummond who fired the deadly shot, and went to the local boarding house to drag the young man out…
They dragged Drummond down a road to a bridge, where a farmer found his lifeless body the next day, hanging from a notch in the railroad tie on the bridge.
Legend has it that Dick Drummond still roams the area seeking revenge. Another legend has it that Drummond still comes out at night looking for his girlfriends.
The bridge is at 531 Lower Briceville Road in Briceville, Tennessee.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.