Reuben Wooten

Reuben “Tennessee” Wooten was a “safe blowing” outlaw in the early and mid-1900s from Barren County.

On Aug. 10, 1933, at 10:30 p.m., he and his men shot at and robbed Ray Martin, operator of the roadhouse Roy Moorman’s Pig Stand in Bristow. Then, at 1:30 a.m., they blew a safe in the Coleman Store in Smiths Grove. In all, they absconded with $210 (about $4,000 in today’s economy).

Wooten was very industrious in his profession, participating in burglaries spanning from Indiana to Florida, targeting banks, businesses and homes, before meeting a sad end, shot by police in 1966.

– “Way Back When in Warren County” is compiled by researchers at the Warren County Public Library and appears twice weekly in the Bowling Green Daily News. For more information about the library, visit warrenpl.org.