"
One of "Tinker" Beaty's men was Pres Huff, who lived in the "Valley of
the Three Forks o' the Wolf." It was generally believed that he was the
leader of the band who had ridden out of the woods and killed Jeff Pile,
as he traveled unarmed along the Byrdstown road.
Huff's father had been shot. The scene of his death was where the branch
from the York Spring crosses the public road at the Pile home. The deed
was done by a band of Confederates who had taken the elder Huff
prisoner, and neither Jeff Pile, nor his brothers, were to be connected
with it, except in the quickly prejudiced mind of the victim's son.
The desperate character of Pres Huff is evidenced by the records of the
United States Circuit Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in the
suit of the McGinnis heirs for land in Fentress county. Their bill
recites:
"Armed men who were led and controlled by one Preston Huff, who was a
brigand of the most desperate character, forced complainants' father and
themselves to leave the county to secure their lives and kept them from
the county by threats of most brutal violence. The history of these men
and the times prove clearly that these threats were not idle, nor those
who opposed them survived their vengeance."
At the foreclosure on the McGinnis property, Pres Huff rode his horse
between the court officers and those attending the sale, and pistol in
hand declared the land his by right of possession.
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