A Tennessee sheriff’s wife was murdered. He blamed the mob. The truth was darker.

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The “Biggest Little Town in Tennessee” had called a town meeting, and its entire identity was at stake.

It was Oct. 27 in Adamsville, in the southwest of the state, about 100 miles from Memphis. The town is a living shrine to a long-dead man named Buford Pusser. If you’re under the age of 60, you’ve probably never heard of him. If you’re over that age, you likely have. Pusser was a local sheriff whose legend was immortalized in the hit 1973 film Walking Tall , two sequels, a separate made-for-TV movie, and the more recent 2004 movie of the same name starring the Rock.

The original 1973 movie depicted a renegade Southern sheriff willing to meet the violence of t