Appalachia Unsolved: The MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY of Richards Sisters

On a cold winter day in 1940, a shocking crime rocked the small town of Oliver Springs, Tennessee. and soon became one of the greatest who done it mysteries in American history. Buckle up, folks, for the incredible true story of the Richard Sisters and Powder Brown. Our story begins in the sleepy hills of Oliver Springs, Tennessee.
A charming little village with majestic mansions still lining its streets as a reminder of the town’s heyday during the late 1800s. You see, Oliver Springs was once known as Winter’s Gap long before any industry came to the area. For centuries, the natives believed that this was a spiritual oasis because it contained nine different medicial springs that were prized for their healing properties.
By the conclusion of the war between the states, wealthy industrialists took a keen interest in this picturesque corner of East Tennessee, not only for its beauty, but for its rich veins of coal that ran deep beneath the hills. Enter into this story a man named Joseph Richards. Now Richards was born in Wales where his family had scratched out a meager living working in the dark city iron mines for generations.
As a young man with a new wife, Joseph realized that his family’s future in Wales now it held little promise. and he had heard the stories of that far away land on the other side of the world that flowed milk and honey and where hard work could still change a man’s destiny.

So in 1848, Richards and his wife sold everything they owned except for the family Bible in exchange for a one-way ticket across the mighty Atlantic waters into the unknown. all for their chance at the American dream. After all, the iron industry was booming in the new world. And before long, Joseph and his family settled in Pennsylvania, where Joseph quickly worked his way up the ranks with hard work.

And he saved his money too for nearly 20 years before risking it all again and a daring move south to the Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee where he vowed to start his own iron works company. [Music] The move proved to be wise and soon Joseph Richards was one of the most prominent men in East Tennessee. He had his hand in the iron works and the coal industry.

And by the 1880s, those famous mineral waters of Oliver Springs had caught his attention. So Richards purchased nearly $2,000 acres. That included the springs for $20,000. And that was an absolute fortune in those days. But Richards, oh, he was a true visionary. And soon Oliver Springs was a boom town. With both the coal and iron industry, attracting workers from faraway lands via the mighty railroad.
The quaint town began to spring up beside the railroad tracks with merchantiles selling store-bought goods. Next, Joseph hired the finest craftsman available to build him an 18 room three-story mansion to overlook all that he had created, complete with an observation tower with imported stained glass and handcarved staircases that were imported from Europe.
The basement contained a modern marvel of the era, a gas plant, which miraculously provided lighting throughout the house. No expense was spared and the end result was nothing short of spectacular. Richards even helped to establish the Presbyterian Church where he was a leader in Oliver Springs. Yet, as plentiful as the natural resources were in the area, it was the majestic beauty of the mountains where Richards saw its greatest potential.

He was sure that the wealthy elite from all over America, heck, even Europe would pay top dollar to visit this place, as well as bathing and drink in those healing waters that flowed from the hills. Before long, Richards had built an elegant hotel, and soon a booming tourist industry was born.

Sure enough, Oliver Springs became a national destination and began appearing in travel magazines around the world. But tragically, Richards wouldn’t live to see the fruits of his labor. That’s right. During a short business trip on December 29th, 1888, he began feeling ill and his health quickly deteriorated. And by New Year’s Eve, Joseph Richards was dead. As it so often goes in this life, once the mourning and weeping was over and Joseph Richards was buried beneath the dirt, his seven children turned from grief to greed.

And before long, they were battling each other in court for their share of their father’s vast fortune. And years later, when the grandchildren came of age, the cycle began all over again. Cousins suing cousins. Family turning on family. Each one fighting to claim their slice of the Richard’s estate. [Music] Well, by 1940, the elegant mansion that Richard had built along with the surrounding farmland had been inherited by his granddaughters Anne, Margaret, and Mary Richards. The three sisters were known as spinsters because none of them had ever married. But don’t get me

wrong, these were highly respected women who carried the proud and well-known last name of Richards. All three were highly educated, independent, and admired by everyone in the tight-knit town. Mary was the youngest and a popular teacher who was beloved by her students for her kindness and her gentle nature down at the Oliver Springs School.
7:02
While Anne was the oldest for many years, Anne worked as a cashier in a local bank. She was deeply musical and played organ in the church that her grandfather had founded as well as teaching music lessons to children. She was deeply involved in the community, even serving on the local school board. And then there was Margaret, the steady hand of the family.
7:28
She had worked as a bookkeeper for many years and served as the treasurer on the local PTA, as well as singing in the choir at the Presbyterian church. Locals said that Anne and Margaret were inseparable. They could always be seen walking side by side on their way to church, smiling and greeting everyone they passed. That’s right.
7:50
They were pillars of faith, serving together on the missionary board. And they were known for their generosity and good hearts. The three sisters employed a black teenager to help with the chores around the sprawling estate, 16-year-old Leonard Brown, affectionately known as Powder. Now, Powder would visit the sisters each day, delivering groceries and mail, and even coal for the fireplace. Even Powder was treated like family.
8:17
Simply put, life in the Richard’s house seemed to be picture perfect harmony. However, the events that occurred on February 5th, 1940 would soon rock the mountain community and shatter the seemingly perfect life of the Richard sisters. It was a Monday, cold and gray. One of those winter mornings where a looming fog hung low over Walden’s Ridge and wrapped the small town like a blanket. Mary rose early that day.
8:49
Then by 7:30, she had headed off to teach her daily classes down at the schoolhouse. Pan and Margaret stayed home and tended to the chores at the mansion while preparing for their missionary meeting that would take place that afternoon at 2 p.m. But truth be told, the two sisters hearts were most excited about something else.
9:12
And that was the two new dresses that they had bought in Knoxville a couple of days before. That’s right. They were planning to wear them publicly for the first time later that week down at the highly anticipated screening of Gone with the Wind. Still, they did the best they could to contain their excitement as they finished their morning chores and then sat down to eat lunch together in the dining room.
9:36
Now, I need to pause here for just a moment and remind you that this is a true story and what happens next has been debated by historians to this very day. But here are the facts as they unfolded. Around 9:00 a.m., a local miner stopped by the Richard’s home to pay for his daughter’s weekly piano lessons, and everything seemed perfectly normal.
10:07
However, a couple hours later, over at the school, Mary handed two students a handwritten note with details about the missionary meeting that afternoon and told him to take it to Margaret and Anne. And since there wasn’t a phone at the school, the third grade boys set out to deliver the handwritten note. But as they approached the back door of the house, they heard strange noises coming from inside.
10:31
So one of the boys leaned down and pressed his face against the basement window glass. And there inside he saw the shadow of a man with a lantern moving around. Terrified, the boys ran back to school and told their teacher what they had seen. But Mary thought little of it. After all, every kid in town said the old Richard’s ma
10:56
nsion was haunted. Around 11:00 a.m., a local Avon cosmetic saleswoman paid a visit to the home where she knocked on the back door repeatedly, but no one answered. Curiously, she took notice of some strange gurgling sounds like someone was moaning or maybe even crying.
11:20
So, she walked around to the front door and just as she was about to knock, she froze. From the other side of the door, she heard two men who were talking to each other in low voices. Something about it all seemed strange. So, she slowly backed away from the door and left the property. By 300 p.m., the school day was finally over, and Mary hurried down to the missionary meeting that was already well underway.
11:47
But to her surprise, when she arrived and surveyed the faces in attendance, she quickly asked, “Where’s Margaret and Anne?” To which one woman replied, “Well, we haven’t heard from them. They never showed up.” Well, I’ll just give him a call,” Mary said as she picked up the phone and dialed. And yet, the phone just rang and rang. There was no answer.
12:09
Mary got a bad feeling in her stomach, and she quickly left the meeting to go check on her sisters. No, something wasn’t right about this. They would never just skip a meeting. Minutes later, she walked up the steps to the front door and attempted to enter, but the door was locked. She quickly dug her keys from her purse, unlocked the door, and then slowly stepped inside.
12:33
And as that door swung open, a horror slowly settled upon Mary’s eyes. There was something some body laying at the foot of the grand staircase in a pool of blood with a bullet hole in the throat and another right between the eyes. Oh my god, it’s Margaret. [Music] Mary’s scream pierced the cold afternoon air as she frantically ran out of the house and across the yard, screaming for anyone to help.
13:08
Moments later, the closest neighbor, who was a former deputy sheriff, ran out to see what was happening. Something horrible has happened. Margaret’s dead. Come quickly. The deputy sprinted to the Richard’s house and took one look at Margaret’s body and then ran out of the house for help. The killer might still be in there. He quickly called another man who lived by and happened to be the town’s undertaker.
13:27
Both men grabbed their pistols and made a mad dash back to the Richard’s mansion, hoping to catch the killer before he escaped. [Music] They slowly entered the front door with guns drawn. Margaret was gone, but where was her sister Anne? Methodically, they searched all the front rooms and then they made their way down the long hallway towards the back of the house when to their horror they discovered Anne lying in a pool of blood with a single gunshot right between her eyes.
14:00
Both men were shaken and their hearts were pounding in their chest as the house of horror revealed its victims. There was no sign of forced entry, no signs of a struggle as they made their way back to the foot of the grand staircase, any entry of the home.
14:21
When the deputy looked up and he noticed an arm hanging from the second floor, “Get your hands up.” “Get them up now or I’ll shoot,” he called out. But his commands were only met with deafening silence. The deputy motioned for the Undertaker to cover him while the lawman stepped over Margaret’s body and carefully made his way up the staircase.
14:40
As soon as he reached the top, yet another horror awaited him. There was Powder Brown, the house boy, who had also been shot perfectly right between the eyes. Within minutes, word of the crime at the Richard’s mansion spread all over town, and hordes of mountain men arrived outside the home as the local sheriff began his grim investigation. There in the dining room, one of the sisters plates was still on the table while another was already taken back to the kitchen sink. M they had just finished lunch, the sheriff surmised.
15:18
And there, sitting beside Anne’s body in the kitchen, was a bucket of fresh coal, which appeared to have just been delivered. Then he examined Margaret at the staircase. One of her hair pins was missing, and one of the bullets had first went through her wrist, indicating that she had her hand up at the time it was fired.
15:44
She must have seen the killer, perhaps even put up a fight, the Wy lawman concluded. Then he made his way up the stairs. There was blood smeared on the staircase. And there was Margaret’s missing hair pin. H. She must have been shot the first time here. And then she fell down the stairs where she was shot again. The cunning officer determined. Then the sheriff made his way to powder.
16:04
He’d been shot at point blank range and there were burns on his face indicating that the barrel had been pressed against his head. He leaned down and thoroughly examined the teenage boy. But just then, something caught the officer’s eye. It appeared that some sort of object might be hidden underneath Powder.
16:27
So, the lawman reached out and lifted Powder’s arm. And there, right next to Powder’s hand, was a 38 caliber pearl-handled pistol with four fired cartridges still in it. Powder Brown had committed this unthinkable crime. An open andsh shut case, right? Well, not so fast, my friend, because things aren’t always as they seem. And what happens next would send shock waves across the mountains and would soon become one of the greatest who done it mysteries in American history.
17:08
[Music] This video is sponsored by H1. Every morning before the coffee pot even starts perking, I reach for a glass of AG1. AG1 is packed with vitamins, minerals, pre and probiotics, and real whole food ingredients, all working together to support my energy, focus, and gut health.
17:27
Before I started using AG1, I’d chase that extra cup of coffee to keep me going. But it never lasted, and I’d crash halfway through the day. But with AG1, I feel great because it’s foundational nutrition, meaning that it helps to fill the gaps in your diet so your body can do what it’s meant to do. I take it at home and when I’m on the go, I take the convenient AG1 travel packs.
17:44
I like to think of it as giving my body a little head start before my day gets busy. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it helps me stay sharp whether I’m working, riding, or just out enjoying these mountains. Heck, even my wife loves AG1. If you want to give it a try, head over to my link or scan the QR code to get a free welcome kit, including a bottle of vitamin D and free AG1 travel packs when you first subscribe.
18:11
[Music] The sheriff’s announcement that Leonard Brown committed the awful crime divided the town of Oliver Springs overnight with one side believing his guilt and the other side in disbelief. Newspapers quickly picked up on the sensational story and even began offering $2 to anyone who wrote a letter to the paper and could solve the crime.
18:40
And soon thousands of letters from amateur sleuths poured in for weeks as folks sought to win the $2. I think it’s perfectly obvious that the house boy killed the sisters. All the evidence is against him. All that’s hogwash. He wasn’t the type to commit premeditated murder. Whip. I think someone else stole the pistol and committed that crime.
19:01
He did it, I tell you. Out of jealousy. Well, I don’t believe he did it. I believe he died trying to protect the sisters. There’s no way Powder Brown could have shot those perfect shots. [Music] So, just who was this mysterious 16-year-old boy? It turns out that Powder was actually an orphan with a mysterious past.
19:32
Some said he was from Pixsburgh, while others said he might have been from Kentucky, but no one knew for sure. It was rumored that his father had killed another woman before his own death when Powder was just a baby. While the boy’s mother, well, she suffered from a severe mental illness before she too died when Powder was just 10 years old. It was then that a local family who were known for helping children in Oliver Springs took Powder in.
19:55
And yet, even as a boy, it was up to Powder to earn his keep, which he had been doing for the past few years, working odd jobs for wealthy white families and local businesses. And in return, Powder was paid a few pennies. Many folks said Powder was a gentle soul and that he was harmless.
20:19
It was said that he was terrified of guns or anything to do with death. Heck, Powder even refused to wash the hearse down at the Undertaker’s business. And he wouldn’t even walk in that garage anytime that car was parked there. Once some boys tried to get Powder to shoot a can with their BB gun, but Powder was terrified and refused to touch the gun. Many said he was kind-hearted, timid, and always smiling.
20:42
But there were others who said there was another side to him. That for the most part, he kept well hidden. That’s right. Others said that Powder had an explosive temper that flashed with white heat. After all, that’s how he got the nickname powder, as in gunpowder. And rumor was that recently the Richard’s sisters had purchased Powder along with another worker brand new suits.
21:14
And when Powder saw that the other boy got a more expensive suit, well, he flew into a rage. And when the Richard sisters found out about it, they threatened to take away Powder’s suit. And word on the street was that Powder was still burning hot about the entire incident. But which version of Powder was true? or were they both? [Music] In the days following the tragedy, a coroner’s jury was called and they summoned 28 witnesses to testify as to the events surrounding Powder Brown on the day of the crime.
21:55
Here’s how it all happened, according to the sheriff. Now, after some additional investigation, detectives learned that Powder had asked to deliver a load of coal earlier than usual to the Hannah home. Now, the Hannah’s were wealthy neighbors of the Richards. That day, Powder carried his coal delivery upstairs to Mr.
22:14
Hannah’s bedroom, where it just so happens that the homeowner kept an 80-year-old pearl-handled 38 caliber pistol. Powder had seen that gun countless times before as he made his deliveries. But today, unbeknownst to the homeowner, Powder picked up the revolver and put it in his coat.
22:36
Next, Powder entered the Richard’s mansion at the back door in the kitchen to deliver their daily heating coal, and he was still fuming about that new suit. There he confronted Anne, who was bringing the lunch dishes to the kitchen when Powder pulled the pistol and shot her right between the eyes.
22:56
Then the teen, still blind with rage, walked up the grand staircase where he encountered Margaret, who saw the gun in his hand and briefly struggled with him before he wildly fired a bullet that went through her wrist and then lodged in her neck. Then she fell down the stairs when powder fired again, shooting her right between the eyes.
23:16
And after his rage subsided, he realized what he had done and he couldn’t go on living. The story sounded fine and well. Yet, as far as Mary Richards was concerned, this nonsense about a new suit wasn’t true at all. And for her part, stunningly, she didn’t believe Powder committed the crime. He was terrified of guns.
23:41
How could he have pulled off those perfect assassin-like shots? After all, the Undertaker had stated that her sister’s time of death was around 12:00 p.m., but Powders was nearly 2 hours later. No, something wasn’t right here. This timeline didn’t quite add up. Even a local groceryer testified that Powder had purchased a loaf of bread just a few mi
24:07
nutes after 100 p.m. And then a post office worker testified that Powder had picked up a piece of mail for the Richard household around 1:15 that afternoon. In fact, Mary contended there must have been someone else behind the crime. What about those male voices that the Avon salesman had heard? And what about the man that the school children had seen in the basement window? And what about that saucer upstairs that was full of half-sm smoked cigarettes that investigators later found? No one in the Richard’s house smoked, not even powder.
24:39
Finally, when the coroner’s jury had heard all the evidence and reached their verdict, a divided court broom stood in silence as it was read aloud. We the jury find that Margaret and Anne Richards along with Powder Brown met their deaths at the hands of parties unknown. So there it was. The official cause of death was as divided as a town was.
25:07
On one hand, the medical report concluded that an unknown person committed the crime. Yet the official sheriff’s report maintained that Powder Brown was the killer. For decades, the debate continued behind closed doors. And even in heated public debates, the motive couldn’t have been robbery since nothing was taken from the home just who committed this crime.
25:33
Many theories arose. Many folks began to wonder if it was a coincidence that just a year before their murders that the Richard sisters had been in court with their cousin over possession of the Richard’s mansion. And even more curious was the fact that Mary Richards, who could never bear to live in that home again, sold the mansion to the American Legion 7 years later for $1, only to have the home burned to the ground immediately after the sale.
26:07
Was there more evidence to be found in that house? [Music] Give someone you love the gift of oldfashioned storytelling. Five books for the young and old alike that will make your heart smile. Click the link below to order your copy of The Appalachin Storyteller. Today, [Music] I decided to travel to Oliver Springs myself.
26:32
I needed to see this place with my own eyes and to visit the final resting places of the victims. Nestled here in the shadow of Windrock Mountain, the old coal town of Oliver Springs is a place where time seems to stand still. 85 years ago, this little community was shaken to its core.
26:54
And even today, folks are divided when it comes to what really happened on that cold winter day in 1940. Hey guys, JD Phillips here and we are on location here in Oliver Springs, Tennessee in the old cemetery where an and Margaret Richards were buried. Now, they were buried 4 days after the shocking crime right here behind me. It was a a big ceremony.
27:22
And one of the most ironic things about it to me is that they were buried in the same dresses that they had just bought to go see the premiere of Gone with the Wind. Now, I’ll tell you this. I have walked around this entire cemetery. Like, this is the main cemetery where people were buried back then.
27:44
And I’ve walked the whole thing twice and I could not find Powder Brown. And so I got to thinking, well, this was 1940 and as you know, the world was completely different then. So he probably wasn’t even allowed to be buried in this cemetery. Now, you also have to keep in mind that in the days after this crime, this entire town was completely divided.
28:11
On one side, half the town believed the sheriff and believed that Powder Brown had committed this crime and they were ready to drag his dead body through the streets. So to keep that from happening, they secretly buried Powder in an unmarked grave at an undisclosed location. But where? I got to find it. [Music] Well guys, here we are. We finally made it here.
28:51
After traveling down several rabbit holes and uh all kinds of back roads, I finally made it to where they buried Powder Brown in 1940. But as you can see, it’s on private property. Now, when they buried him here, they buried him a day before they put the sisters in the ground. And he didn’t have some big ceremony, nothing like that.
29:17
Matter of fact, they buried him in an unmarked grave. And um in a twist of irony, a few years later, the Richard’s family, which never believed that he committed the crime in the first place, actually purchased powder or tombstone with their own money. As the decades went by, many folks began to believe that the truth would never be known. and secretly many others just wanted folks to simply stop talking about the tragedy.
29:52
However, 60 years later in 2000, a stunning radio interview not only brought the story back to front pages across Tennessee, it actually resulted in the Oliver Springs Police Department reopening the investigation. It all started when an anonymous 75-year-old black man was interviewed on a local radio broadcast about that fateful day.
30:16
Refusing to state his identity out of fear for his life, he stated that he was 15 years old in 1940. And on the day before those murders took place, he saw two white men spying on the Richard’s house where the two men confronted the youth and threatened to kill him if he ever told anyone what he saw.
30:37
This bombshell caused a sensation in Oliver Spring. Families braced for what would come next. Folks feared that many families who still lived in the area would be exposed once the truth came out. And many began to pressure the sheriff to just let old ghost lie. And in the end, because of the likelihood that those that committed the crime were already dead and the risk of embarrassing families who were still living, the police department refused to implicate anyone in the murders. However, finally, in 2001, after 61
31:11
years, the Oliver Springs Police Department officially declared that Powder Brown did not commit the crime. [Music] Wow, what a story. Will we ever know just who killed the Richard’s sisters in Powder Brown? Was it Powder? Or was he framed because of the color of his skin? Or was this something much deeper? Perhaps it was jealousy over the division of a family’s fortune.
31:44
And who were those mysterious two men? Were they actually hit men? And what about the neighbor, his revolver that was found underneath Powder’s body at the crime scene? If Powder didn’t commit the crime, who put that gun there? And why were no tests run to see if Powder actually fired those shots? Were there potentially some very, very powerful people behind this? It’s definitely a mystery for the ages.
32:15
What about you, my friend? What do you think really happened? Let me know in the comments below. And please be sure to hit that like and subscribe button for more true stories from Appalachia’s past. [Music]