Oxford’s Olden Days: Local Writer Shoots his Wife’s Doctor

Since Oxford always has people visiting that are interested in the life and works of William Faulkner, I began looking for an interesting event in the life of Faulkner to write about for this column. As a child in Oxford in the fifties and sixties I had always had an interest in Mr. Faulkner. At times, when I was playing in the front yard of my mother’s home on South Lamar, people would stop and ask directions to Faulkner’s home. When they would drive off I would always note their car tag to see where they were from. There would be cars from New England, the west coast, many Southern states, and even Canadian provinces.

I knew that these people would not be able to get very close to the famous writer. His home is so far off Old Taylor Road, you just can’t see it. Plus he has a “Private—No Trespassing” sign up on the front gate. If these people had been local children they would have had easy access to him. When I remembered that, I had the topic for my column—Faulkner and Children.

While doing my research on Faulkner and children, I found the topic for this week’s column. Next week look for some insights into Faulkner’s interaction with Jill and his stepchildren and their friends, plus some of the other local children. One thing I found interesting was the fact that Faulkner had been a Scoutmaster for a church sponsored Boy Scout troop. His camping trips with the scouts must have been a great deal of fun, sitting around a campfire and listening to yarns spun by a master story teller.

The story I found while doing my research concerns Faulkner and his wife, Estelle, their new born child, Alabama, along with Dr. J. C. Culley, the local physician that delivered her. Estelle was just two months shy of her delivery date when her baby was born. Since the child was two months early she was very tiny but with beautiful features. Faulkner’s father, Murry, remarked that “she looks a lot like Billy.” He sent a telegram to his Great Aunt ‘Bama, the sister of his grandfather Falkner. ALABAMA FAULKNER BORN SUNDAY. BOTH WELL.

When the baby was born, Faulkner was at one of the times in his life when he was strapped for cash. After bearing a week of Estelle and baby Alabama being confined to Dr. Culley’s hospital on Van Buren, Faulkner decided that he and Mammy Callie could take care of them at home as good as they could at the hospital. The hospital did not have an incubator that little Alabama would surely need.

After Faulkner got his family home to Rowan Oak he and his brother Dean drove to Memphis to buy an incubator.   This is where the story takes a turn in two directions. As in Absalom, Absalom! where Faulkner tells the saga of Thomas Sutpen several different ways, he tells a story of with himself as the lead character several different ways.

In one version, Alabama dies while he is on his way back to Oxford. The other version is that he is at Rowan Oak with the baby lying beside him in the bed because Estelle is too frail to handle the care of the baby. As the story is spun by Faulkner, he becomes very upset with the actions and the lack of assistance by Dr. Culley. In his grief, Faulkner’s imagination ran wild. There were rumors around town that he had shot Dr. Culley.

One account has Faulkner calling Dr. Culley’s home just up South 11^th from Rowan Oak. Dr. Culley tells Faulkner nothing can be done for the baby and abruptly hangs up on him. He gets very angry at Culley even though his wife Nina is a great and long time friend of Estelle. He then goes to Culley’s home and shoots him in the shoulder when he answers the door.

Another account has Culley coming to Rowan Oak and Faulkner shooting at him through the screen door, but missing him. Still another account had Faulkner meeting Culley on the Square and putting a pistol to his stomach. He tries to fire at Culley, but the gun misfires. The third account has Faulkner going to Culley’s office and shooting him. Some people said Culley had not been seen for two weeks outside of his home.

Faulkner is said to have stated, “The bastard deserved to die.” He went on to state that there were no charges brought against him because the town agreed with him shooting Dr. Culley. These were all interesting accounts of Faulkner shooting the local physician that had delivered little Alabama, but none of them were true. No such thing ever happened, but it is true that he rode to the family plot at St. Peter’s Cemetery with the casket of his daughter on his lap. Faulkner may have been, as one biographer stated, only “working out in fiction what he had not worked out in real life—and the story, as usual, made him a hero in his own eyes.” Also if you happen to go by William Faulkner’s plot at St. Peters Cemetery note that the Culley’s are buried in the next plot.

Jack Lamar Mayfield is a fifth generation Oxonian, whose family came to Oxford shortly after the Chickasaw Cession of 1832, and he is the third generation of his family to graduate from the University of Mississippi. He is a former insurance company executive and history instructor at Marshall Academy in Holly Springs, South Panola High School in Batesvile and the Oxford campus of Northwest Community College.

In addition to his weekly blog in HottyToddy.com Oxford’s Olden Days, Mayfield is also the author of an Images of America series book titled Oxford and Ole Miss published in 2008 for the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage Foundation. The Foundation is responsible for restoring the post-Civil War home of famed Mississippi statesman, L.Q.C. Lamar and is now restoring the Burns Belfry, the first African American Church in Oxford.