Lay Down With Dogs: The Story of Hugh Otis Bynum and the Scottsboro First Monday Bombing | 
 enlarge | Author: Byron Woodfin
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $79.30
New (2) Used (7) from $37.75
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 969491
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 231
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.4 x 1
ISBN: 0817308458
Dewey Decimal Number: 345.73025230976195
EAN: 9780817308452
ASIN: 0817308458
Publication Date: February 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Expedited shipping is not available for this item. Items are mailed via USPS media mail within 2 business days and should arrive 4-14 business days later.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Tourists, traders, and bargain hunters congregating in the town square for Scottsboro's traditional First Monday Trade Day initially thought the explosion they heard was a sonic boom. On that morning of December 4, 1972, people in the small north Alabama town were shocked when they learned that a bomb consisting of five sticks of dynamite had ripped through the car of a prominent attorney, Loy Campbell, blowing off both his legs and nearly taking his life. Investigators found Campbell barely alive and his disintegrated car in his driveway just across the street from the school attended by his six-year-old daughter. What followed this horror were two years of unyielding investigation resulting in the arrest of the town's wealthiest landowner, Hugh Otis Bynum, great-grandson of the founder of the town. Bynum was charged with masterminding and funding the attempt on Campbell's life. His arrest and the trial that followed pitted Bill Baxley, a young, ambitious Alabama attorney general, against the state's most prominent defense lawyers.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 I was there January 30, 2007
G. Haws (AZ)
I can't vouch for the authenticity of the facts of this story, which some here are disputing, but I did find this book a fascinating read. I was one of the students at Caldwell Elementary when the bomb went off, and I will never forget that day. My family left the south a few years later, and I never knew what the bombing was all about, although I knew Ramona Campbell slightly (we had the same piano teacher), and Hugh Otis lived next to a family friend. This book answered all my questions and was real page-turner as well.
More July 27, 2006
Jim Denis
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Byron's account of the attemped killing of Loy Campbell is very accurate. There are many other stories about Hugh Otis, enough to write other books. Like the time that Hugh Otis Bynum cornered a man on dead end road in the Langston, Alabama community. This coward of a man Hugh Otis Bynum, held a pistol on a man and with his other hand took a pocket knife and cut the man up. Hugh Otis was feared in the community by man people...In the end Hugh Otis got what he deserved.....buried in Alabama Department of Correction clothing!
 byron schmyron October 29, 2003
richard byron keown
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
as the only grandson (and namesake as well) of a very good friend of hugh otis bynum, i found the book amusing at best and i note that the tome is economical with the truth.my grandfather visited hugh otis in prison on a regular basis after his sentence was passed down. in fact, i still have several pairs of hugh otis bynum's shoes; they were given to my grandfather by hugh otis since he would not be able to wear civilian garb for the remainder of his days...they wore the same size shoes. my grandfather was an electrician by trade; he was very capable at utilizing wires. i am aware of this since he lived with my family on a farm when i was a child and many days were spent listening to his tales of the jackson county area...the unvarnished truth. i visit scottsboro regulary. how unfortunate that i share anything in common with the author, much less a name. even less fortunate is the fact that the truth has yet to be told. when i visited scottsboro last week to visit my family gravesite (i shall be buried in cedar hill cemetery next to my grandfather), i was aware that there will never be another "first monday". i'm certain that the author is cognizant of this as well. if the author wishes to contact me, he may feel free. as an aside, you may view more about me on my aol homepage; my aol screen name is "Drone Note". i bet that hugh otis and "papa" are laughing their respective asses off even as i write this. i know that i am. imagine the realization of the author when he finds that he doesn't even really know what happened or even why it took place. all in all, the book is a primer of some interesting people in some interesting times in a very interesting place. other than that, the book serves quite nicely for the reader who wishes for a spartan attempt to describe a Spartan of a man.
 Running in "Packs" June 6, 2002
Kim "Hale" Lanham (Robinsonville, Ms..............raised in Scottsboro, AL)
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Let's get into the doghouse, your story may come from trial transripts but where's the rest of the story......you see, I'm the sister of a character in your book. Where are the other fleas bags you forget to mention?
 As Good As Grisham December 7, 1999
Curtis Jones (Chattanooga, TN United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Someone please make this into a screenplay! The story is of course, true, and far more gripping than any of the nonfiction crime stories out there. The characters of Bynum, McCrary, and Baxley are larger than life, and the peripheral players (other witnesses and attorneys) are memorable as well. Author Woodfin did his homework and tells the story in an entertaining, yet unbiased manner. At just over 200 pages, this book is a great way to spend a quiet weekend, or a flight. It will transport you to 1970's Alabama...a fascinating place to be.
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