Stringbean - "Crazy Vietnam War"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

David "Stringbean" Akeman

David Akeman (June 17, 1915 – November 10, 1973), better known as Stringbean (or String Bean), was an American country music banjo player and comedy musician best known for his role on the hit television show, Hee Haw, and as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Akeman and his wife were murdered by burglars at their rural Tennessee home in 1973.

[left-of-center2012]

1. More on his murder

Akeman was modest and unassuming, and he enjoyed hunting and fishing. Accustomed to the hard times of the Great Depression, Akeman and his wife Estelle lived frugally in a tiny cabin at 2308 Baker Road, near Ridgetop, Tennessee. Their only indulgence was a Cadillac. Depression-era bank failures caused Akeman not to trust banks with his money. Gossip around Nashville was that Akeman kept large amounts of cash on hand, even though he was by no means wealthy by entertainment industry standards.

On Saturday night, November 10, 1973, Akeman and his wife returned home after he performed at the Grand Ole Opry. Both were shot dead shortly after their arrival. The killers had waited for hours. The bodies were discovered the following morning by their neighbor, Grandpa Jones.

A police investigation resulted in the convictions of cousins John A. Brown and Marvin Douglas Brown, both 23 years old. They had ransacked the cabin and killed Stringbean when he arrived. His wife shrieked when she saw her husband murdered. She begged for her life, but was shot as well. According to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, "Upon their return, Mr. Akeman spotted the intruders in his home and evidently offered some resistance. One of the Brown cousins fatally shot Mr. Akeman, then pursued, shot, and killed Mrs. Akeman. At their trial (where Akeman's fellow cast member and friend Grandpa Jones testified, as he recognized one of the stolen firearms in the defendants' possession as a gift he had given Akeman), each defendant blamed the other for the homicides."

The killers took only a chain saw and some firearms. In 1996, 23 years after the murders, $20,000 in paper money was discovered behind a chimney brick in Stringbean's home. The money had deteriorated to such an extent that it was not usable and had to be turned in to a bank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_"Stringbean"_Akeman#Murder

[Lars39]

2. Pretty daring song for its time.

Their murders just shocked everybody I knew. He and his wife just seemed so nice and harmless.