Executed
Joe Brassell
Joe Brassell was one of two brothers, and his sister and another brother rode behind the wagon that carried him and his brother from the Cookeville jail. On March 27, 1878, he was hanged in a field about half a mile southwest of town, before a crowd that a Cookeville correspondent estimated at eight to ten thousand. Before the drop, he spoke to the crowd, asking them to take warning, to leave whisky alone, and to keep the Sabbath holy, and he bid them farewell. According to the newspaper report, his sister stayed near the scaffold throughout and was visibly affected.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state
Reported by: Cookeville special to the American, reprinted in the Memphis Daily Appeal (reporters).